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What a useless rant. Take away the biggest country that plays the sport and that's supposed to mean something. Take away USA, how big is basketball? Cricket is at least as global as basketball. Yes, there are eight countries that are competitive. How many countries are competitive in basketball?
[QUOTE=nightprowler10]What a useless rant. Take away the biggest country that plays the sport and that's supposed to mean something. Take away USA, how big is basketball? Cricket is at least as global as basketball. Yes, there are eight countries that are competitive. How many countries are competitive in basketball?[/QUOTE]
India would contribute tonnes of viewers
[QUOTE=JohnFreeman]India would contribute tonnes of viewers[/QUOTE]
Im not sure i understand how that affects cricket's global standing. The sport was considered global before the '83 world cup when India won and cricket REALLY took off there. Having India as a key player has changed cricket but there were the same 8 major nations playing then that are still Test class.
[QUOTE=AJ2k8]Ok so in cricket you bat until you get out and there are two batsmen on the field at the same time. For every time you run to the other side of the pitch it equals a run, for every ball hit over the boundary on the full is counted as 6 runs and for every ball you hit past the boundary (not on the full) is counted as 4 runs.
An innings is basically a team's batting session which lasts until either 10players get out, time runs out or the side declares. A test match (the most commonly played type of cricket) lasts a maximum of 5 days and each team has 2 innings so the innings can go on for a while.
He's average is just his amount of runs scored in his career divided by how many times he got out.
[B]The amazing thing about Bradman's average is that the next best average in test cricket history is by Graeme Pollock who averaged 60.97.[/B]
Dont know if that explains it well enough:confusedshrug:[/QUOTE]
All I need to hear. 99.94 drops to 60.97 :eek:
[QUOTE=BasedTom]Bradman, Jordan, Gretzky, Ali
Pele is not the consensus greatest football player like the guys above are usually regarded as the greatest in their own respective sport. He's more like the Bill Russel of football.[/QUOTE]
Ali isn't the greatest boxer, either. It would probably be someone like SRR.
My Mt. Rushmore featuring my 4 fav sports:
Jerry Rice
Michael Jordan
Babe Ruth
Fedor Emelianenko or Anderson Silva
Jordan, Federer, Ali, Pele, Bekele, D
MJ, Ali, Tiger, Stone Cold Steve Austin
:bowdown:
[QUOTE=qrich]All I need to hear. 99.94 drops to 60.97 :eek:[/QUOTE]
The thing with Pollock is that, through no fault of his own**, his career was cut short at the age of 26 after playing 7 years of cricket. In comparison Bradman's career spanned 20 years. Pollock went on to play a ton of domestic cricket where he averaged 55, so you could argue had he played more cricket at the top level his average would have most likely dropped below 60.97. Pollock is still a great of the game mind you, but his average has always been a bit suspect in my mind.
If you were to "disqualify" Pollock from this discussion I think the next best average is Garfield Sobers with an average of [B]57.78[/B].
**Pollock was South African. During the Apartheid era his career was cut short when the rest of the World boycotted South Africa.
MJ, Ali, Cruijff, Federer
Merckx could be in there as well.
MJ
Ruth
Ali
Pele
Don bradman /endthread
Also for people who don't know cricket he set his records playing on uncovered pitches in an era without Helmets shitty bats and poor padding. Plus he had to face legal bodyline. I don't think any sport had had a player as dominant
[QUOTE=outbreak]Don bradman /endthread
Also for people who don't know cricket he set his records playing on uncovered pitches in an era without Helmets shitty bats and poor padding. Plus he had to face legal bodyline. I don't think any sport had had a player as dominant[/QUOTE]
I don't think anyone could give less of a rat's ass about cricket.
[QUOTE=nightprowler10]What a useless rant. Take away the biggest country that plays the sport and that's supposed to mean something. Take away USA, how big is basketball? Cricket is at least as global as basketball. Yes, there are eight countries that are competitive. How many countries are competitive in basketball?[/QUOTE]
Criket is nowhere near as global as basketball.
How many teams in continental Europe play cricket? how many for basketball? How many pro leagues are there?
How many teams in North and South America play cricket? how many for basketball? How many pro leagues are there?
How many teams in East Asia play cricket? How many for basketball? How many pro leagues are there?
So basically cricket is a ghost town in North and South America, Europe and East Asia.
You are huge in Australia and the Indian sub-continent.
Yeah, both about the same global footprint...:facepalm
Scalabrine
Adam Morrison
Martin Gramatica
Kendrick Perkins
[QUOTE=JtotheIzzo]Criket is nowhere near as global as basketball.
How many teams in continental Europe play cricket? how many for basketball? How many pro leagues are there?
How many teams in North and South America play cricket? how many for basketball? How many pro leagues are there?
How many teams in East Asia play cricket? How many for basketball? How many pro leagues are there?
So basically cricket is a ghost town in North and South America, Europe and East Asia.
You are huge in Australia and the Indian sub-continent.
Yeah, both about the same global footprint...:facepalm[/QUOTE]
Yet cricket is far more popular worldwide.....
[QUOTE=QUIZZLE]I don't think anyone could give less of a rat's ass about cricket.[/QUOTE]
Odd that you would think that considering more people worldwide care about cricket than basketball and this thread is about world sports. Very few people here care which is why we don't talk about it here but world wide it's very popular regardless of what you think due to ignorance.
You have to realise that basketball isn't even the most popular sport in the usa and a large number of countries that play it have small populations even if they are larger world powers. Cricket is the NATIONAL sport through out Pretty much every country that participates. Other areas of europe also play in the second tier as does other areas of africa.
[QUOTE=outbreak]Yet cricket is far more popular worldwide.....[/QUOTE]
Only if you are a transplanted Brit living in a colony that didn't expunge most things British (Aus, NZ, SA) or from the Indian sub-continent. That is not the world.
East Asia - 1.6B people, *crickets* for cricket with basketball being number one in China.
Southeast Asia - 610M people, *crickets* for cricket with basketball being number one in the Philippines.
North America - 530M people, *crickets* for cricket outside of the tiny British colonies of the West Indies, with basketball being a top 3 sport.
South America - 390M people, *crickets* for cricket with basketball being a top three sport in most countries.
Continental Europe - 680M people, *crickets* for cricket with multiple thriving basketball leagues in every country, and basketball mad countries like Lithuania, Greece, Spain and Turkey.
Africa - 1B people, *crickets* for cricket outside of the white people in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Yep, real world following...Here's an idea, turn off the Aussie TV and the BBC, go to a website from any other part of the world that isn't geared towards people in Oz or the UK and see how much they discuss cricket.
*crickets*
exactly
[QUOTE=JtotheIzzo]Only if you are a transplanted Brit living in a colony that didn't expunge most things British (Aus, NZ, SA) or from the Indian sub-continent. That is not the world.
East Asia - 1.6B people, *crickets* for cricket with basketball being number one in China.
Southeast Asia - 610M people, *crickets* for cricket with basketball being number one in the Philippines.
North America - 530M people, *crickets* for cricket outside of the tiny British colonies of the West Indies, with basketball being a top 3 sport.
South America - 390M people, *crickets* for cricket with basketball being a top three sport in most countries.
Continental Europe - 680M people, *crickets* for cricket with multiple thriving basketball leagues in every country, and basketball mad countries like Lithuania, Greece, Spain and Turkey.
Africa - 1B people, *crickets* for cricket outside of the white people in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Yep, real world following...Here's an idea, turn off the Aussie TV and the BBC, go to a website from any other part of the world that isn't geared towards people in Oz or the UK and see how much they discuss cricket.
*crickets*
exactly[/QUOTE]
I don't give a shit exactly which countries. Do you not understand how more people watching something = more popular? Go find a site that rates the popularity of sport worldwide. You will not find a single site rating basketball higher than cricket. It's not even debatable unless you are ignorant and live in a bubble.
Cricket isn't as far spread and at no point have I claimed it is, but it's followed by a far larger % of the world's population. Wake up and realise that just because america dominates the media it does not mean that the entire world follows the same things that are popular in america.
ping pong and badminton were the most popular sports in china last I saw rated as well.
Personally I prefer watching a good basketball game over cricket but it's amazing now naive some people can be when it comes to other countries cultures.
I don't really see cricket growing too much though, it's incredibly hard to compete on the world stage as the gulf between a good side and a mediocre side is probably the largest of any sport in the world.
Pele
MJ
Gretzky
Ali
Pel
Michael Jordan, Zinedine Zidane, Mohammad Ali and Michael Schumacher
[QUOTE=outbreak]I don't give a shit exactly which countries. Do you not understand how more people watching something = more popular? Go find a site that rates the popularity of sport worldwide. You will not find a single site rating basketball higher than cricket. It's not even debatable unless you are ignorant and live in a bubble.
Cricket isn't as far spread and at no point have I claimed it is, but it's followed by a far larger % of the world's population. Wake up and realise that just because america dominates the media it does not mean that the entire world follows the same things that are popular in america.
ping pong and badminton were the most popular sports in china last I saw rated as well.
Personally I prefer watching a good basketball game over cricket but it's amazing now naive some people can be when it comes to other countries cultures.
I don't really see cricket growing too much though, it's incredibly hard to compete on the world stage as the gulf between a good side and a mediocre side is probably the largest of any sport in the world.[/QUOTE]
You don't see it growing because you don't see a possibility of another India being born.
Seriously, take away the sub-continent and the only contest of note is The Ashes.
The Indian sub continent has a huge population and are cricket mad, but you cant be a global game when the rest of the world doesn't even show the slightest interest. At least basketball has fans all over the globe.
Guys like Babe Ruth, Gretzky or this Cricket dude can't be on that list.
When we're talking about the 4 idols of World Sports, I expect these players to be known all around the world.
I don't care how many players live in India, go to Africa, South America, Europe (minus England) and ask people about this Cricket Legend. I bet not even 1% will know him. Now I'm not judging his accomplishments but can someone like this be on the Mt. Rusmore of World Sports when he is basically only known in a handful of countries? I don't think so. Same goes for Gretzky and Babe Ruth.
MJ and Ali are no brainers. The other 2 are a bit harder. 1 of the 2 spots should go to a Soccer player but its hard to decide between Pele and Maradona. My vote would go to Pele. The last one I have no idea though.
Why is it that Americans have so much trouble understanding the world is bigger than America? Cricket is played in far more countries than your giving it credit for. More European countries than just England play it, more African countries play it, all the Pacific region plays it, all the sub continent plays it, all the carribean plays it. Wake up and realise most of the world doesn't give a shit about basketball beyond knowing who Jordan is.
Babe Ruth was known outside of the US. He was known in Europe, and he is probably the biggest reason that baseball is so popular in Japan, and the rest of Asia, from his barnstorming tour in 1934.
[IMG]http://www.nihonsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/bhf-babe-ruth.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B2-HfFJgGkA/TsOTWTnDDvI/AAAAAAAAC7U/BYDDTi05MgM/s1600/92%2BBabe%2BRuth.jpg[/IMG]
Good article from SI on his visit there:
[url]http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1130471/[/url]
Babe Ruth absolutely deserves to be on the MT Rushmore. He was the first international superstar athlete.