• Welcome to BradleyFans.com! Visitors are welcome, but we encourage you to sign up and register as a member. It's free and takes only a few seconds. Just click on the link to Register at the top right of the page, and follow instructions. If you have any problems or questions, click on the link at the bottom right of the page to Contact Us.

Who is the World's Greatest Athlete?

Hey -- I revived this old discussion because I was watching some of the "extreme" sports and skateboarding yesterday and I heard a comment that just puzzled me to no end...

one of the announcers droned about how these skateboarders were among the most highly trained and well conditioned athletes in the world...and suggested that they rivalled Lance Armstrong or Michael Jordan in this category.

I guess everyone's entitled to their opinion....but here's my take...
Many of the skateboarders are, of course, good at what they do, but I highly doubt they can do anything else whatsoever athletic -- as most don't look that athletic, they're short, scrawny at times, chubby at other times, and outside of a few good tricks on a skateboard most appear to have absolutely NO jumping ability, speed, etc..

Lots of my own kids' friends are pretty good skateboarders, yet invariably they are terrible athletes, kinda nerdy, and really can't do much more than their skateboarding plus wearing their baggy pants below their butt cracks.


In this same vein -- since our older discussions always seemed to highlight Lance Armstrong as one of the world's greatest athletes -- I would move to withdraw his name from any further consideration because of the powerful suspicion that he's been doping.

Here's my take...
in every sport it's debatable who was even the best athlete IN THAT SPORT..
if you ask who was the best baseball player or football player -- you get a wide range of legitimate answers...

BUT -- if you ask who was the best basketball player -- about 90% will agree it was Michael Jordan. He dominated his own sports as no other athlete has ever really dominated their own sport.
PLUS -- he was moderately good -- good enough to play professionally -- in TWO other sports (baseball and golf).
I think when all is considered, MJ was the best athlete in any sport ever..
 
Good points, T.

I'll argue a few other names...

Dave Winfield was a phenomenal athlete in his day. I believe he's the only human drafted in four professional sports leagues - MLB, NBA, ABA, NFL.

Jim Thorpe was the first person regarded as a multi-sport superstar. I'm pretty sure that in addition to his Olympic fame, he played in the NFL and MLB, and possibly played pro basketball.

Of guys from my generation growing up, Bo Jackson would have been other-worldly if injuries wouldn't have grounded him. Deion Sanders, nevermind his broadcasting, was fantastic in the NFL and very good in MLB.

I'm the same age as Antwaan Randle El, and I don't know that I've ever seen a better multi-sport amateur athlete in person.
 
electricmayhem said:
Good points, T.

I'll argue a few other names...

Dave Winfield was a phenomenal athlete in his day. I believe he's the only human drafted in four professional sports leagues - MLB, NBA, ABA, NFL.

Jim Thorpe was the first person regarded as a multi-sport superstar. I'm pretty sure that in addition to his Olympic fame, he played in the NFL and MLB, and possibly played pro basketball.

Of guys from my generation growing up, Bo Jackson would have been other-worldly if injuries wouldn't have grounded him. Deion Sanders, nevermind his broadcasting, was fantastic in the NFL and very good in MLB.

I'm the same age as Antwaan Randle El, and I don't know that I've ever seen a better multi-sport amateur athlete in person.
Click to expand...

all good athletes...but I'll toss ex-Bradley Brave Ray "The Rocket" Ramsey into that discussion..

I know it was a long time ago without modern training techniques..

BUT -- Ray actually PLAYED or competed in THREE different sports at the top pro level (basketball, football, track) and was asked, drafted, and offered to play pro baseball as well but did not have the time!
That makes him one of the only four-sport athletes ever!
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12981
 
Right now you need to look at Usain Bolt as the best athelte in the world. The guy can run like a deer and is also considering playing soccer. No one mentioned gymnasts. My god talk about athletics. They have power, speed, endurance and agility beyond most athletes.

Swimmers probably can knock the charts out of power, speed and endurance but most lack any sort of agility. Michael Phelps will even say he is completely clumsy outside of the pool. Agility and extreme coordination is part of the equation. That is why I'll always say that the NBA has the best collection of athletes in the world.
 
SFP said:
Right now you need to look at Usain Bolt as the best athelte in the world...
Click to expand...

Maybe you could make that argument a year and a half ago, but he hasn't won anything lately. His times have gone down since the 2009 World Championships and he hasn't won anything since the summer of 2009.
 
SFP said:
Right now you need to look at Usain Bolt as the best athelte in the world. The guy can run like a deer and is also considering playing soccer. No one mentioned gymnasts. My god talk about athletics. They have power, speed, endurance and agility beyond most athletes.

Swimmers probably can knock the charts out of power, speed and endurance but most lack any sort of agility. Michael Phelps will even say he is completely clumsy outside of the pool. Agility and extreme coordination is part of the equation. That is why I'll always say that the NBA has the best collection of athletes in the world.
Click to expand...

In the world of professional sports, it probably goes to either an NBA or NFL player. Baseball players don't belong on a list of best athletes. I can't find the exact quote, but Barkley basically has said that baseball players are made out of tissue paper. When they run into each other, one isn't getting back up. Baseball is mainly a niche skill sport like golf. Or bowling.

For pure athletics it would have to be an NFL player. Strength, speed, and agility are all required for the NFL more so than the NBA (or soccer...).

I would vote for Chris McCormack, but I'm biased.
 
user1 said:
Agree 100% LB.
All sports require some strength and agility, but I would put my two cents on top level competetive swimming as the sport which requires the performer to use the MOST muscles over the most span of time.
Neither runners nor any other game-athletes are required to use virtually 100% of all their musculature for several minutes continuously. Even studies have demonstrated that swimmers use more calories per minute of competition that any other sport.
I place my vote on one of the world's top swimmers,
Click to expand...

Swedish studies many years ago rated Soccer the number one most physically demanding sport in the world....followed by motocross .

ONE of the factors was time involved.....soccer is basically 40 yard wind sprints for 40 minutes at a time. Professional motocross was two 45 minute "moto's.

In football, basketball....you get lots of breaks through timeouts....offense/defense....

I agree with whomever said it depends on what you call an athlete. Is it the best at his/her sport OR someone like a decathalete that can do alot of things well....(run, jump, throw....)
 
Rafael Nadel

Rafael Nadel

I know many people, especially those who have never played tennis, think tennis players are not top pro athletes. But, most of the men are in top condition, and have to perform with agility and mental toughness without the benefit of a team (except in doubles) or a coach during the match. If you have ever seen Rafael Nadel in person, who know he is one of the top athletes in the world and has dominated his chosen sport.
 
The best athlete I ever knew was the type of guy where you would head to some waterfalls and while you were scared to jump off the cliff into the water he would do a double back flip. He could pick up any sport and within a week be the best. He was called up to senior varsity in basketball while only a freshman. This guy could never have made it to the NBA or NFL because he was only 5'8" but he was a professional wind surfer and did go on the Planter Peanuts World Tour for a lot of years. I tend to believe extreme coordination is the number one trait of a great athlete.
 
Back when ABC used to do the "Superstars" competition...they had athletes from all sports competing in various events and scoring points to see who was the best overall athlete.

Many of the track, decathalon, baseball, football, and basketball players did very well...but routinely the guys who were race car drivers, skiers, skaters, hockey players, and other minor sports did a whole lot worse...

Here's the Wikipedia page about that Superstars competition which was long enough ago that steroids probably did not play into the results or contaminate the competition.

as you can see, the winners almost every single year were either football players or some form of track athletes.
I know it won't convince everyone, but I think it proves that if drugs and steroids are removed from the equation, then the guys who did football & track were probably the best athletes and trained the hardest and most intensely.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstars

Even (as you can read) the British and European versions of Superstars had the same result with either rugby or track athletes dominating

EVEN OJ Simpson won one season!!!
 
tornado said:
I was watching some of the "extreme" sports and skateboarding yesterday and I heard a comment that just puzzled me to no end...

one of the announcers droned about how these skateboarders were among the most highly trained and well conditioned athletes in the world...and suggested that they rivalled Lance Armstrong or Michael Jordan in this category.

I guess everyone's entitled to their opinion....but here's my take...
Many of the skateboarders are, of course, good at what they do, but I highly doubt they can do anything else whatsoever athletic -- as most don't look that athletic, they're short, scrawny at times, chubby at other times, and outside of a few good tricks on a skateboard most appear to have absolutely NO jumping ability, speed, etc..

Lots of my own kids' friends are pretty good skateboarders, yet invariably they are terrible athletes, kinda nerdy, and really can't do much more than their skateboarding.

Here's my take...
in every sport it's debatable who was even the best athlete in that sport..
if you ask who was the best baseball player or football player -- you get a wide range of legitimate answers...

BUT -- if you ask who was the best basketball player -- about 90% will agree it was Michael Jordan. He dominated his own sports as no other athlete has ever really dominated their own sport.
PLUS -- he was moderately good -- good enough to play with professions-- in two other sports (baseball and golf).
I think when all is considered, MJ was the best athlete in any sport ever..
Click to expand...


If steroids can make a good athlete into the "Best Athlete in the World" - then is there any doubt that what the Lance Armstong thing does -
is to essentially tell every athlete, college jock, or even kid who wants to make it big - to go out and dope - just be careful enough..
don't do it right in front of other people, don't ask someone else to give you the shots, don't share your story with others, etc...
Obviously Lance Armstrong is discredited - as is Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi, etc... but...
there are gobs of players who have made enormous sums of $, and gotten famous - but who have not been caught or who
have not fallen under suspicion because they either kept their mouths shut or they just didn't rise high enough in their sport
to fall under suspicion....but if you look at even the most mediocre of baseball or football players - then you see the evidence of using
bodybuilding steroids....they all have muscles that they didn't have in college or in the minors...
http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-s.../2013/01/sammy-sosa-before-after_steroids.jpg


In the end - Lance is the biggest advertisement and promotion that will drive young athletes to find ways to use steroids because
without a doubt the use of them have made him a wealthy, famous person whose life has been envied..
 
The big lesson is that if you are going to use PEDs, don't get greedy and win too much, or set too many records. When you start breaking virtually unbreakable records, or doing incredible career-best performances after age 40, it raises too many questions, and other athletes get jealous (including other cheaters). The next generation of cheaters will have to be satisfied with just being pretty good, having long careers, and makings tons of money.


BTW- as disgraced as Lance Armstrong is now, is there any doubt that all the top cyclists he was competing with and against were also doping? So it's possible that Lance indeed was a superior athlete, since though he was doping, so was everyone else he was competing with.
 
but then - what about the guy who won FIVE Tours de France right before Lance did and right after Greg LeMond retired?

One of Lance Armstrong's most powerful statements to Oprah was that he never viewed taking steroids as cheating...
only that it allowed him to "level the playing field"...meaning that he had to do it to compete with the other guys like Indurain
who were apparently ALL doing it!


Miguel Indurain

miguel-indurain.jpg
 
LA

LA

I haven't listened to anything he said. But I think the big lesson would be-

Don't be a jackass and sue people even though you are the one lying.

I think every cyclist is cheating. I would have forgiven that. It was the lawsuits and attacks and denials forever that I won't forget. Hope he goes broke.

Payback.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top