Greatest sportsmen of all time?

[Cuthbert]

Let's say the 10 best. Any sport goes, contact sports/team sports/Olympic sports... this is a thread all MB sports fans can post in and put arguments forward for your chosen sport and shit, whether you're a football fanatic, a cricketing connoisseur or an avid follower of handegg . Maybe post examples of said sportsman showcasing their greatness.

Some obvious candidates to get the ball rolling:

Sugar Ray Robinson (Boxing), Lionel Messi (Soccer)*, Usain Bolt (Sprinting)*, Michael Jordan (Basketball), Ronnie O'Sullivan (Snooker)*, Roger Federer (Tennis), Tiger Woods (Golf), Phil Taylor (Darts), Don Bradman (Cricket)

* = Ones I agree are #1 in their sport. The rest are there for discussion. Some sports are maybe not athletic enough to be considered for this type of list (snooker & darts). There's a bunch of Olympians and other names I've seen like Wayne Gretzky and Jim Thorpe but don't know enough about these to argue or form a real opinion.

I would include Messi and Bolt in a top 10.

[Goofle]

Jordan isn't up for debate. Comfortably the best.

I'd personally say Messi because it's my favourite sport, and he's reaching levels that go beyond what you can expect of humans.

[Neapolitan]

There are probably a few more I should had/could had mentioned...

Lou Gehrig - Baseball

Bobby Jones - Amateur Golf

Shoeless Joe Jackson - Baseball

Joe Frazier - Boxing

Yogi Berra - Baseball

Mario Lemieux - Hockey

Jim Thorpe - Olympian (Gold medals for pentathlon and decathlon) Football (collegiate and professional), Baseball and Basketball.

Terry Bradshaw - Football, QB

Troy Polamalu - Football, Strong safety/TV commercial actor

André the Giant - Pro wrestler/Movie actor

Bamboo Harvester - Horse racing/TV actor

Rollie Fingers - Baseball

[Chula Vista]

1970-71 Season

MVP of the regular season. Scoring title. Best defenseman. MVP of the playoffs. Stanley Cup. Sportsman of the year. Canadian athlete of the year.

[YorkeDaddy]

There are so many factors you'd have to consider here, this discussion is a little too open-ended

For instance, if we're talking about just the best athletes, how many are gonna beat out Bo Jackson or LeBron James? If we're going by pure success, how does Jordan make the list but not Bill Russell?

[Chula Vista]

Originally Posted by YorkeDaddy

Bill Russell?

Ya, he's the best in my book. He freaking owned Chamberlain.

[Cuthbert]

Originally Posted by YorkeDaddy

There are so many factors you'd have to consider here, this discussion is a little too open-ended

For instance, if we're talking about just the best athletes, how many are gonna beat out Bo Jackson or LeBron James? If we're going by pure success, how does Jordan make the list but not Bill Russell?

Depends on the sport, I'm just going by talent for the most part (which is why I included O'Sullivan over Stephen Hendry). For example Messi isn't as good an athlete as Ronaldo or as decorated as Xavi, but he's the better player by a distance cos of what he can do.

It's there to be discussed (I don't know shit about Basketball ftr I'm just putting a name out there to get the ball rolling)

Educate me innit, why is Russell better than Jordan?

[Chula Vista]

Originally Posted by monkeytennis

Educate me innit, why is Russell better than Jordan?

Phil Jackson, Jordan's coach.

If given the choice of any player in NBA history to start a franchise, legendary coach Phil Jackson says Celtics center Bill Russell would win out over his former player Michael Jordan.

"In my estimation, the guy that has to be there would be Bill Russell. He has won 11 championships as a player," Jackson said in an interview with Time. "That's really the idea of what excellence is, when you win championships."

In addition to his 11 titles with the Celtics in the 1950s and 1960s, Russell was a five-time MVP and 12-time All-Star. Jordan won six championships playing for the Bulls in the 1990s under Jackson, earning five MVP awards and 14 All-Star Game selections.

Jackson dodged when asked to select between Jordan and Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, whom he coached to five titles between 2000 and 2010.

"I would flip a coin," he said. "Whichever one came up heads or tails, I'd take that person. They were that good."

[Black Francis]

Well he was a Center, Jordan was what, a shooting guard? though i wasn't his biggest fan i think Jordan was the best Nba player ever, he was a ballhog but he certainly was a ballhog that won championships and his talent to thrive under pressure made the guy seem almost super human.

Phil jackson is probably right but he also comes from a different era of basketball where centers dominated the game.

[YorkeDaddy]

Kind of hard to argue against 11 championships...which is basically unprecedented in any modern sport