Author Topic: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?  (Read 29039 times)

tu_holmes

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #150 on: March 10, 2007, 03:54:31 PM »
It's funny to me as an american that most of the best athletes of all time hail from the US by most of your opinions.  There must be lots of foreign athletes who were equal or better than our athletes that we have never even heard of.  And the topic is all sports so rowing does count

Well, if you really want to get technical, since "futbol" is the biggest sport in the world...

You'd have to say Pele I suppose... Since he's probably more recognized in the world than anyone else in the 20th century.

LAMA-PAI

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #151 on: March 10, 2007, 03:56:20 PM »
JOHN KRUC !
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tu_holmes

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #152 on: March 10, 2007, 04:02:58 PM »
JOHN KRUC !

"If you don't like me... I'll take my "ball" and go home!"

johnnytosh

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #153 on: March 10, 2007, 04:44:49 PM »
JIM BROWN Hands Down.
1) Greatest football player all time
2) One of the best Lacrosse players in history
3) Averaged 38 pts per game in high school basketball
4) NY Yankees offered him $150,000 to play for the YANKEES
5) 5th in the nation in the Decathlon
6) Excelled in boxing at a young age. Boxing coach at Syracuse said he could have been heavyweight
    champ.   Bert Sugar (espn boxing analyst) called Brown the greatest   
    athlete in history
7) Acting career
8)  Met with the gang leaders in Los Angeles in his HOME to quell the violence (after the Rodney King
    fiasco I believe.)
9) Named #4 athlete of all time by ESPN. Everybody that placed higher than him was a 1-sport athlete.
10) Earned 10 Varsity letters at Syracuse University
11) Was the KICKER on the Syracuse football team

JIM BROWN STANDS ALONE

ARNOLD ??  Paleeeze !! A one-dimensional athlete ?  No comparison

See link below:

http://www.orangehoops.org/JBrown.htm

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #154 on: March 10, 2007, 08:18:13 PM »
HE ALSO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF ALL THREE OF HIS WIVES LOL ! :-*
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onlyme

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #155 on: March 10, 2007, 10:19:31 PM »
HE ALSO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF ALL THREE OF HIS WIVES LOL ! :-*

Well I guess he is the best at that too.

TheBigAristotle

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #156 on: March 10, 2007, 10:25:48 PM »
Jackie Robinson

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #157 on: March 10, 2007, 11:00:54 PM »
     Wow, I don't know where to begin.

    First, since the thread says the 20th century, to even mention Tiger Woods or Federer is crazy. Jack Nicklaus is clearly the best golfer up till 1999, and you would also have to put Palmer, if not Hogan ahead of Woods in the 20th century. Even counting to the present, sure Woods and Federer are most likely going to break each sports' record for majors. But what if they don't win anymore majors somehow? Are they still better than Nicklaus and Sampras? Of course not.

    Other people have been mentioning one sport people, and either saying how much they accomplished and dominated that sport, or have been arguing how famous or far reaching across the globe they were. Well by this criteria, you have to mention George Herman Ruth, better known as the Babe.
   Not only did he tear it up as probably the best left-handed pitcher ever up until the time he stopped pitching, but he totally dominated with his bat. The league leaders in homers were often single digits, or just over. Ruth's last year in Boston, when they let him play rightfield when he wasn't pitching, he set the all time record with 29 homers. His next year, his first as a Yankee, he hit 54 almost doubling his own record, which he did do the next year, hitting 59 homers. He also out homered every other entire team in the majors those years. The Babe even outhomered some teams 7 years later when he set the record again with 60.
    Ruth saved the game after the 1919 Black Sox scandal, and kept  it the most popular sport in America, which it stayed, until the mid 50's. But he was easily the first true sport celebrity. Babe Ruth lived life large. He hung out and partied with movie stars, gangsters, and high level politicians. He was the first athlete to make a higher yearly salary then the president. When asked about this, Ruth said he deserved it, as he had a better year. He endorsed everthing under the sun, and was the first athlete to be more popular endorsing products than movie stars.
      Ruth was routinely in the news on the radio, newsreels at the theaters, and in the headlines of every paper , without even doing anything on the field. Either he was caught carousing with strippers or gangsters, or he was donating his money and time to underpriveled or sick children, And with no internet or television, people knew who were Babe Ruth was around the globe. During WW2, more than 5 years after he retired, Japanese soldiers would yell " To hell with Babe Ruth " as they would attack the allied forces.
      In short, Babe Ruth was Jordan and Tiger, about 6 or 7 decades before them.

TheEgoCrusher

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #158 on: March 10, 2007, 11:13:18 PM »
You're all idiots...serious....

It's CARL FREAKING LEWIS and it's NOT CLOSE.  Just look at what the man DID, along with his pathetic National Anthem presentation....

No one has done more...

bmacsys

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #159 on: March 11, 2007, 01:26:31 PM »
JIM BROWN Hands Down.
1) Greatest football player all time
2) One of the best Lacrosse players in history
3) Averaged 38 pts per game in high school basketball
4) NY Yankees offered him $150,000 to play for the YANKEES
5) 5th in the nation in the Decathlon
6) Excelled in boxing at a young age. Boxing coach at Syracuse said he could have been heavyweight
    champ.   Bert Sugar (espn boxing analyst) called Brown the greatest   
    athlete in history
7) Acting career
8)  Met with the gang leaders in Los Angeles in his HOME to quell the violence (after the Rodney King
    fiasco I believe.)
9) Named #4 athlete of all time by ESPN. Everybody that placed higher than him was a 1-sport athlete.
10) Earned 10 Varsity letters at Syracuse University
11) Was the KICKER on the Syracuse football team

JIM BROWN STANDS ALONE

ARNOLD ??  Paleeeze !! A one-dimensional athlete ?  No comparison

See link below:

http://www.orangehoops.org/JBrown.htm

Yeah but Pumpster insists Cookie Gihlchrist was a better running back than Jim Brown!
The House that Ruth built

bmacsys

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #160 on: March 11, 2007, 01:27:13 PM »
This has to be the most ironic statement I have ever seen.

Christ


Sage words.
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JasonH

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #161 on: March 11, 2007, 01:39:36 PM »
Can't think of one specifically but I've had a few ideas:

Michael Johnson - the way he took a 200m world record which had stood for nearly 25 years and utterly destroyed it would have to put him up there.

Carl Lewis - excelling in both sprinting and long jump for so many years.

Steve Redgrave - I don't care what the Yanks say - this guy's acheivements were phenomenal irrespective of the sport.

Tiger Woods

Muhammed Ali - even though he did lose a coupla times.

Pele - best in the world at what he did in the biggest sport in the world.

Diego Maradona - singlehandedly took an average Argentina side to World Cup glory. Who says football/soccer is a team sport?





And finally, if one more person says Arnold I will freak - bodybuilding is not a "sport".  >:(

ribonucleic

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #162 on: March 11, 2007, 01:58:12 PM »
In short, Babe Ruth was Jordan and Tiger, about 6 or 7 decades before them.

He dominated at a time when the best competition was prevented from playing against him.

There are probably 2 or 3 Negro League players equally as impressive.

tu_holmes

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #163 on: March 11, 2007, 01:59:38 PM »
He dominated at a time when the best competition was prevented from playing against him.

There are probably 2 or 3 Negro League players equally as impressive.

I wish there was more history about the league itself.

bmacsys

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #164 on: March 11, 2007, 02:25:36 PM »
He dominated at a time when the best competition was prevented from playing against him.

There are probably 2 or 3 Negro League players equally as impressive.


Thats not true. Josh Gibson's statistics were greatly exaggerated and there were few great pitchers in the Negro leagues. Satchel Paige withstanding. As a matter of fact there has been some extremely great black pitchers since 1947 in MLB but they have been few and far in between compared to the many great black position players.
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Hedgehog

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #165 on: March 11, 2007, 03:37:49 PM »
Roger Federer has nothing to do with the last century Hedge...do some math...;)

Ouch. Got owned there.

Hehe.

I'd say whoever is the best footballer ever, could also be considered the best athlete.

Since football is the biggest sport in the world, it's also the sport where it's the hardest to become number one.

So this debate is the eternal "Pelé or Maradona" argument.

Personally, I'll give the nod to Pelé.

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EL Mariachi

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #166 on: March 11, 2007, 03:54:23 PM »
LEE PRIEST

EL Mariachi

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #167 on: March 11, 2007, 03:55:42 PM »
Ouch. Got owned there.

Hehe.

I'd say whoever is the best footballer ever, could also be considered the best athlete.

Since football is the biggest sport in the world, it's also the sport where it's the hardest to become number one.

So this debate is the eternal "Pelé or Maradona" argument.

Personally, I'll give the nod to Pelé.

zinedine zidane was better

-Hedge

comebackkid

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #168 on: March 11, 2007, 04:00:35 PM »
If you consider pure dominance of one's particular sport compared to other athlete's dominance of their sport...there is only one answer:

Ed Coan.

The rest of your opinions are wrong.

tu_holmes

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #169 on: March 11, 2007, 04:05:40 PM »
If you consider pure dominance of one's particular sport compared to other athlete's dominance of their sport...there is only one answer:

Ed Coan.

The rest of your opinions are wrong.


While I do consider powerlifting and athletic endeavor, I do not consider it a sport... like bodybuilding is not a sport, and "Motor Sports" are not sports... Neither is golf.

They are athletic endeavors, but I define a sport as something which requires offense and defense... Soccer (futbol), Football, (futbol americano), baseball, basketball, hockey, boxing, mma, any martial art, lacrosse, field hockey... list goes on and on...

They are sports... they require offense and defense... things which do not contain an offense and defensive element while athletic endeavors, are not sports.

Hedgehog

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #170 on: March 11, 2007, 04:15:03 PM »
If you consider pure dominance of one's particular sport compared to other athlete's dominance of their sport...there is only one answer:

Ed Coan.

The rest of your opinions are wrong.

Well, considering that Eddie got caught cheating in IPF three times...

I definitely disagree.

Besides, Eddie isn't even the greatest strength athlete ever.

Alexeiev, Rigert and others comes to mind, although Suleymanoglü is in a league of his own.

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luc

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #171 on: March 11, 2007, 05:19:58 PM »
Jordan, Carl Lewis or Sergey Bubka...Bubka's records will last a very fuckin' long time... ;D

coltrane

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #172 on: March 12, 2007, 01:23:05 PM »
EASILY Jordan or Gretzky

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #173 on: March 13, 2007, 06:14:20 AM »
Jim Thorpe could do it all!

suckmymuscle

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Re: Who was the best athlete, considering all sports, of the 20th century?
« Reply #174 on: March 13, 2007, 04:34:04 PM »
Ouch. Got owned there.

Hehe.

I'd say whoever is the best footballer ever, could also be considered the best athlete.

Since football is the biggest sport in the world, it's also the sport where it's the hardest to become number one.

So this debate is the eternal "Pelé or Maradona" argument.

Personally, I'll give the nod to Pelé.

-Hedge

  Exactly! One of the patterns I have observed is that it's always Americans who were the greatest at some American sport who are regarded as the greatest ever. Like I said in my previous post, it's close to impossible to say who's the best athlete o the 20th Cetury, because there are so many diferet sports which involve so may different skills.

  Regardless, some o the World's highest paid atheltes are American, for the simple reason that Americans have more money to pay them. However, I stand by what I said that Pele was the greatest ever, because he was the best of times at preferred sport of 96% of the World's population. People who have won the seven Olympic gold medals(Spitz, Popov, Lewis) ARE also contenders.

SUCKMYMUSCLE