Most popular athlete IN THE WORLD ever to wear no. 23: Jordan or Beckham?

I read thing magazine article a while back and it presented the most popular athlete in any sport to wear a particular number. This article was a while back and at the time Jordan was considered number one at the time to wear number 23. This was in SI so it may have been a little bias and now it's 2008. On a world-wide level of all-time, who is the more popular athlete:

Michael Jordan or David Beckham?

Jordan.

/thread

well beckham wears it because of jordan and so does lebron. so the answer is jordan.

Am I the only one who remembers Beckham more with #7 than with 23?


[IMG]http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/796/beckham7uv0.png[/IMG]

Take into account how popular futball is in comparison to basketball on a worldwide stage. Not only the fact that Beckham has some sort of celebrity status being married to Posh. I don't think it's as lopsided as people are thinking. Think outside the North American box.

[QUOTE=miller-time]well beckham wears it because of jordan and so does lebron. so the answer is jordan.[/QUOTE]


Not really that relevant to who's more popular though.

edit:sp

[QUOTE=hateraid]Not really the relevant to who's more popular though.[/QUOTE]

well you can't compare them right now since beckham is still active and jordan has been retired for sometime. i was just pointing out that even beckham himself is a fan of jordan.

but i think if you want to compare beckham's popularity to the height of jordan-mania then i'd have to say jordan.

Seriously, it's easily Jordan.

Even though basketball wasn't the most popular sport, Jordan was the most recognizable athlete in the world. Only athlete I can think of that has achieved similar success is Tiger.

Beckhams fame wasn't all from his sports. A lot of it was being a fashion icon. Jordan on the other hand was recognised as being the best at what he did. Which Beckham on the other hand wasn't for very long. Only one season can you really say that Beckham was the best in the world.

[QUOTE=hateraid]Take into account how popular futball is in comparison to basketball on a worldwide stage. Not only the fact that Beckham has some sort of celebrity status being married to Posh. I don't think it's as lopsided as people are thinking. Think outside the North American box.[/QUOTE]
Thing is, everyone in Europe knows who Michael Jordan is. Not everyone in North America knows David Beckham especially before his move to LA.

Id have to assume the most popular soccer players are more popular than just about anyone. There are places where almost an entire country roots for a guy. And not like we root for like...USa basketball. these people will fight...riot...kill for their teams. Sounds absurd but...it does happen. Soccer fans will fight to the death over some rivalries. Knicks and Bulls fans hated eachother...we are bringing out a tire iorn and beating someone to death or throwing flaming bottles onto the court in protest. Even those less extreme seem to care more than we do. The world cup gets a hell of a lot more interest than anything basketball related ever will.

Beckham is more famous world wide. The Asians love him.

[QUOTE=i seen hippos]Beckham is more famous world wide. The Asians love him.[/QUOTE]

What? How many asian kids do you see wearing Air Beckhams? Oh wait ...

[QUOTE=Kblaze8855]Id have to assume the most popular soccer players are more popular than just about anyone. There are places where almost an entire country roots for a guy. And not like we root for like...USa basketball. these people will fight...riot...kill for their teams. Sounds absurd but...it does happen. Soccer fans will fight to the death over some rivalries. Knicks and Bulls fans hated eachother...we are bringing out a tire iorn and beating someone to death or throwing flaming bottles onto the court in protest. Even those less extreme seem to care more than we do. The world cup gets a hell of a lot more interest than anything basketball related ever will.[/QUOTE]
The question is how popular each guy is. Meaning how many people know him not how devoted people are to him.

You're right that Beckham fans are more devoted to him, but I bet more people around the world know who Jordan is (ie popularity) even if they aren't going to cry over his last game.

When I really think about it...is Jordan more famous in his time than Joe Louis in his? In America that is. technology gives more worldwide access to modern guys but hearing about Joe makes me think he may have been bigger here. As popular as Jordan was you wont have damn near all of america sit down to watch/listen(as the case may be at the time) to his games. I dont think anyone modern can approach the level of interest over the Joe Louis/Max Schmeling fight. Hearing about the level of interest....entire towns meeting in one place with dozens of radios so everyone could hear? Nationwide parties after Joe won? Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth, and guys like that were probably as big as Jordan for the people who had access to them.

[QUOTE=bigboi_baller]Thing is, everyone in Europe knows who Michael Jordan is. Not everyone in North America knows David Beckham especially before his move to LA.[/QUOTE]

You think so? Think about some countries where basketball takes a back seat to soccer/futball. Think of small towns in Sweden, France, Holland, Turkey, Poland... Countries with proud soccer heritages. Think that they would know Michael Jordan as opposed to small town USA knows who Beckham is?

As kblaze is stating, soccer is much larger in comparison on a world-wide level where a whole countries rally behind their team. They sure as hell know who England is and who to watch out for.