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

:oldlol: Is this a joke? Jordan by a mile.

Well while living in a lot of different countries, I'll put it this way.

In Australia, you ask someone, "name a famous basketballer", and all of them say Michael, every single one. With the occasional Shaq.

Ask them to name a footballer, and they will say Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Beckham, Rooney.

Try it with your friends from overseas who don't know much about basketball or football, and you will see what I mean.

Beckham right now. But in another 50 years? Probably Jordan.

[QUOTE=HANNIBAL SMITH]:oldlol: Is this a joke? Jordan by a mile.[/QUOTE]


In the states and only in the states.

Beckham and (Futball) Soccer are world wide man.
When I was in Africa saw nothing but Beckham jerseys......same with Europe......same with Asia........same with Australia and New Zealand.

Trust me......B-Ball is getting there but Soccer is the WORLDS sport.

So if this question was for the states of course its Jordan. But world wide............Beckham is a ROCKSTAR.

Jordan is a transcendent athlete though. He's not just the face of basketball. He goes beyond it. I guarantee that people who know jack**** about basketball will probably know Jordan. IF you think 23, there's no other person in that jersey except MJ.

Its like Muhammad Ali as the face of boxing or Tiger Woods for golf. Like the guy above me said... if you think football, its probably Pele, or Maradona or Ronaldo or Beckham. With basketball, its Jordan.

[QUOTE=HANNIBAL SMITH]:oldlol: Is this a joke? Jordan by a mile.[/QUOTE]

I think my point has been proven by this post....

beckham hands down,we are talking about most popular,not the best ever!!!

Honestly when Jordan was playing everyone knew him. I'd say more then half the world knew who Michael Jordan was. Even little kids knew him that didn't like basketball that much through Space Jam. He was more idolized, more saught after, and more recognizable then David Beckham during his day.

Remember, everyone wanted to be like Mike.

[QUOTE=Chicago76]For "real fans" of teams this is true, but for the Beckham hype machine it isn't. Real Madrid bought David Beckham because he could sell more merchandise for the club, not for him to be the 6th best player on RM. The LA Galaxy (w/ help) spent $200 million to secure his services to sell more jerseys and merchandise. The number 23 might be more synonymous with Jordan, but that doesn't make him more recognizable on the street, on billboards, or to the average guy in Asia, Africa etc. Beckham is most likely the most popular athlete to wear #23, even though #23 and Beckham don't automatically go hand in hand.

Real and ManU both took pre-season tours to Asia to hype the marketing machine that was David Beckham. Tens of thousands of people showed up at airports in places like Tokyo, Beijing, and Hong Kong just to see him. It made the Dream Team reception in Barcelona look like a church choir tour. Teenage girls are obsessed. It's like a weird cult or something. The closest thing I can think of that reminds me of Beckhamania is the height of Michael Jackson's fame in the mid-80s.

In any soccer-loving country, Beckham will automatically be more well known. That means all of Latin America except Venezuela, Cuba, a couple of other places. That includes all of Europe except maybe Lithuania. That would include China/Japan/Korea, where soccer is still bigger than basketball. That includes the middle east, and it includes Africa. The largest nation this would not cover is India, which thanks to it being a former colony and Bend it Like Beckham makes him more popular there. Throw in the fact that he is half of the most well-known celebrity couple in the world (ahead of Jolie-Pitt) and this is a no brainer.

It might change in a decade or two, but I don't see it changing for a while.[/QUOTE]

Very well put together. Pretty much sums up the message kblaze and I were trying to get across.:applause:

[QUOTE=plowking]Honestly when Jordan was playing everyone knew him. I'd say more then half the world knew who Michael Jordan was. Even little kids knew him that didn't like basketball that much through Space Jam. He was more idolized, more saught after, and more recognizable then David Beckham during his day.

Remember, everyone wanted to be like Mike.[/QUOTE]

Thats the point though, Football (Soccer) is a more globally acknowledged sport than Basketball.

European kids don't want to be like Mike, MOST (I don't generalise) want to be a famous footballer if they decide to go into sport. As awful as this sounds, some kids wouldn't have even watched Space Jam if it wasn't for the Looney Tunes characters. I'm sure its different for American kids, but not in many other countries.

'MORE than' more than half the world know who David Beckham is and have actually watched him play, whether it be for a club team or for England. The point is, Beckham is/was far more accessible to people than MJ was. NBA is/was shown in some European countries weekly at best, while soccer has its own dedicated channels, matches shown almost every day if they are on etc.

Maybe if the internet was more readily available and used like it is today during the MJ days, perhaps he would eclipse Beckham in that regard, but I just don't honestly believe he does at this moment in time.

It seems like some people have gone off course from the original question, which was, [I]'Most popular athlete IN THE WORLD ever [B]to wear no. 23[/B]: Jordan or Beckham?'[/I].

When I think of David Beckham, I don't think of the number 23, I never have and probably never will. The reason that Beckham wears that number is because of Jordan. The person I associate with the number 23 is Jordan. Most football fans will remember Beckham for wearing the number 7 for Man U.

Also, Beckham is not famous for that number nor is he associated with that number often, unlike Jordan who was always associated with that number. Essentially, Beckham is probably the most popular person to wear that number, but he is not associated with it nearly as much as Jordan. When you think of the number 23, you will think of Jordan first, not Beckham.

If we're talking about popularity as a whole (which was not the question by the way) then Beckham would most likely win. Though, as someone mentioned before, if you ask a random person to name a famous basketball player the most frequent answer will be Jordan, where as if you ask someone to name a famous football player, Beckham might not even be in the top 3 of frequently given answers. But, that doesn't mean that Jordan is more popular than Beckham, by any stretch of the imagination.

[QUOTE=Kebab Stall]It seems like some people have gone off course from the original question, which was, [I]'Most popular athlete IN THE WORLD ever [B]to wear no. 23[/B]: Jordan or Beckham?'[/I].

When I think of David Beckham, I don't think of the number 23, I never have and probably never will. The reason that Beckham wears that number is because of Jordan. The person I associate with the number 23 is Jordan. Most football fans will remember Beckham for wearing the number 7 for Man U.

Also, Beckham is not famous for that number nor is he associated with that number often, unlike Jordan who was always associated with that number. Essentially, Beckham is probably the most popular person to wear that number, but he is not associated with it nearly as much as Jordan. When you think of the number 23, you will think of Jordan first, not Beckham.

If we're talking about popularity as a whole (which was not the question by the way) then Beckham would most likely win. Though, as someone mentioned before, if you ask a random person to name a famous basketball player the most frequent answer will be Jordan, where as if you ask someone to name a famous football player, Beckham might not even be in the top 3 of frequently given answers. But, that doesn't mean that Jordan is more popular than Beckham, by any stretch of the imagination.[/QUOTE]

As discussed in earlier posts that yes Jordan is more synonymous with 23 but what you had bolded actually wasn't the point of my Q. Look back to the title and I had capitalized "In The World".
So really what I'm trying to pose is who's more popular between Becks and Jordan. I just tried to snazz the title up and refenrence an old article i've read.

It's an easy answer if any of you guys ever travel outside the usa, I had a hard time finding a basketball hoop in some of the asia country...

[QUOTE=hateraid]As discussed in earlier posts that yes Jordan is more synonymous with 23 but what you had bolded actually wasn't the point of my Q. Look back to the title and I had capitalized "In The World".
So really what I'm trying to pose is who's more popular between Becks and Jordan. I just tried to snazz the title up and refenrence an old article i've read.[/QUOTE]
Well then, the title is misleading.

If we are talking about popularity as a whole, then I'll stick to what I said in the final paragraph of my previous post.

^as kebab points out, beckham isn't universally associated with wearing #23, and it's really a minor thing when discussing him.

but generally speaking, he's the biggest hype machine in history of sports.
very few countries have a bigger basketball following than football following, and although jordan is surely the most famous basketball player ever, i doubt he's more famous on the world scale. there are so many countries that don't give a **** about basketball (africa, asia almost on the whole) in comparison to the football.

beckham also became a worldwide celebrity outside the football too much more than jordan. marriage with victoria, fashion stuff, etc...every woman in the world knows who david beckham is, which i wouldn't be so sure to say for jordan.

so i'd say in worldwide appeal and fame, women's votes (along with asia and africa) win it for becks. worldwide you're much, much more likely to meet women who never heard of jordan than who never heard of beckham.