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comment by lessismore
lessismore  ·  4676 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Greatest athlete of all time? If not, who is?
My two cents worth from the major sports:

1. Football - Bo Vincent Jackson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgYYaL--1qc)

2. Basketball - Kobe Bryant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR_OazshgG8)

3. Baseball - Ken Griffey Jr. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FS8UxXiaPw)

4. Hockey - Wayne Gretzky (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTliAjNiS7A)

5. Boxing - Mike Tyson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHnL7wqtQLs)





ecib  ·  4676 days ago  ·  link  ·  
notseamus  ·  4676 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I think Messi is/will be soon better than Pele. He's playing in a time where so much more is demanded and standards are higher, and Pele keeps calling him out too, so he's obviously worried about Messi.
ecib  ·  4676 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Unfortunately, I don't watch enough soccer. The US is terrible about broadcasting matches save every 4 years during the World Cup. Messi is great, though I have to say, with a lot more footage to draw from, Messi's 'best of' clips http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZnUr8lcqjo aren't as inspiring as Pele's imho ;)
lessismore  ·  4676 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Most football players do not even consider their kickers athletes. :)
thenewgreen  ·  4676 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Great highlight real ecib. My grandpa played soccer for the Army prior to the Korean war. He always talked of Pele with great reverence, it's easy to see why.
ecib  ·  4676 days ago  ·  link  ·  
The best of his highlights don't even involve him scoring imho.
thenewgreen  ·  4676 days ago  ·  link  ·  
There must be some amazing athletes from history that unfortunately, we will never get to see. The men that braved the coliseum, the earlier baseball players whose names we vaguely recognize but can't associate with any theatrical highlight reels. Oh to have a sports center top 10 plays prior to television. That'd probably be pretty kick ass.

Graglack throwing a rock further than margdel at #3.

cgod  ·  4675 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Just guessing in that you have suggested Mike Tyson as great that you don't really follow boxing. Boxing is a sport obbsed with list making, pound for pound, divisional (wieght class), all time (weight class and over all). There are boxing books that are nothing but lists (greatest fighter, in weight class, greatest fight in weight class, greatest fight, any of these subdivisions in a particular time frame or weight class, greatest knock out, greatest decision, greatest Jew, Irish, Italiano, Mexican, Cuban ect.

Mike Tyson doesn't make some list makers top heavy weights of all time list. When Tyson does make the list it's because he popularized boxing in the time he was active. He is much like the Klitchko bothers are today, dominate, but not "great". Tyson would probably have been crippled by Ali, Fraser and 8-9 other guys who stood out as great heavy weights in their time.

You want to see greatness look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C84ZxM1txLA That being said, Tyson was an terrible force to be reckoned with in his day, but as far are skill goes couldn't be compared to Mayweather or Pacio today.

lessismore  ·  4675 days ago  ·  link  ·  
You're right. I don't really follow boxing. I stated as much in another post (http://hubski.com/pub?id=16795). I was fortunate enough to have seen Ali in person a few years back in Los Angeles for a Microsoft function. He was not having a very good night that night and didn't really speak. All he did was raise his arms, but the whole place still went nuts. What a presence.
caio  ·  4676 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I know zilt about boxing, but Tyson over Ali? Why?
lessismore  ·  4676 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I placed Tyson ahead of Ali based on his complete dominance of his opponents. Tyson destroyed his foes. Ali was certainly a much better boxer than Tyson.
caio  ·  4676 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Last year, I watched The Fighter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_fighter). On reading about it, I found out there was boxing before and after Ali. If I'm not mistaken, Ali brought technique to boxing, whereas before him, the sport consisted mostly of brawlers beating each other up. Is that true? And if so, was Tyson a "brawler"?
thenewgreen  ·  4676 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I believe cgod is a big boxing fan. Any thoughts on what Ali brought to the sport and the differences between Tyson and Ali?
lessismore  ·  4676 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Truth be told, I am not exactly a student of the sweet science. I would definitely put Tyson on the brawler crowd. He also packs a pretty mean bite too. Just ask Evander Holyfield.
b_b  ·  4676 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I'd give the baseball nod to Pujols. But obviously just for the hitting; there's no comparison between center field and first base.