Mt. Rushmore of world Sports.

Pele
Ali
Jordan

Bradman Can someone speak on Bradman's defense tho? I mean defense as a fielder. The metric I see is an offensive measure. Also was he an ambassador for the sport. Can't put him there if he lacks in those dimensions.

Feels kind of weird that Track and Field or the Olympic athletes don't win out - Phelps and Carl Lewis don't quite get it for me. We got air, Ali for fire so Phelps makes sense if you want to do water.

Gretsky is definitely up there.

On the side:

Pele meant much more to Futbol than Maradona even without the goals and winning being in his favor in a big way. More people came to the sport and wanted to be skilled because of Pele than anybody else anyway. He transcended the sport and rivaled Ali on the world stage.

Messi, Ali, Jordan, Schumacher.

99% of the posts in this thread are american centric.

With the exception of soccer most of the sports mentioned in this thread are basically popular north american sports. Basketball, boxing, golf, hockey, baseball etc

Badminton, Cricket, Rugby, Figure skating (its extremely popular in some countries), gymnastics, etc. Arent considered at all.

[QUOTE=sundizz]MJ, Ali, Pele, Gretzy

They each redefined sport.

MJ in the air
Ali with his flair
Pele (i actually dunno anything about him)
"The Great One"[/QUOTE]

Pele redefined football/soccer. First, a teen prodigy. Then a the first real super athlete (strong, fast, if you look the footages, specially in the early 60's, he looks like a player from the future playing in the past) and the first worldwide football superstar who transcended the sport. Dude literally put Brazil on the map. Before Pele, the Brazilian NT was only the third football power of South America. With him, it became the greatest in the world and Brazil synonymous with football.

[QUOTE=Pointguard]

On the side:

Pele meant much more to Futbol than Maradona even without the goals and winning being in his favor in a big way. More people came to the sport and wanted to be skilled because of Pele than anybody else anyway. He transcended the sport and rivaled Ali on the world stage.[/QUOTE]

Yep. Maradona himself was a huge Pele fan and like everyone after Pele, wore the 10 because of him. Because of Pele, the "10" became the symbol of the team's best player.

Apparently the 4 most popular sports are football, basketball, cricket and tennis.

Pele
Jordan
Tendulkar
Federer

[QUOTE=lakers_forever]Yep. Maradona himself was a huge Pele fan and like everyone after Pele, wore the 10 because of him. Because of Pele, the "10" became the symbol of the team's best player.[/QUOTE]

Hey, you have some great post in this thread! Thanks for the education.

[QUOTE=MavsSuperFan]99% of the posts in this thread are american centric.

With the exception of soccer most of the sports mentioned in this thread are basically popular north american sports. Basketball, boxing, golf, hockey, baseball etc

Badminton, Cricket, Rugby, Figure skating (its extremely popular in some countries), gymnastics, etc. Arent considered at all.[/QUOTE]
Hockey Golf and Boxing are world wide. Golf is an expensive sport so not that popular But resorts around the world have it. Both Ali and Jordan were considered among the most recognizable faces on the planet and this was before the internet.

Badminton? Really?

messi, jordan, lebron, federer, ali

MJ, Zidane, Tiger, Federer.

Kobe, Kareem, Magic, Shaq

Jordan, Ruth, Pele, Ali

[QUOTE=Pointguard]Bradman Can someone speak on Bradman's defense tho? I mean defense as a fielder. The metric I see is an offensive measure. Also was he an ambassador for the sport. Can't put him there if he lacks in those dimensions.
[/QUOTE]
Interesting thought, batting in cricket is just as much of an offensive measure as it is a defensive measure. A one-dimensional batsman is someone who only bats slow, or fast, or too defensively, etc. Versatility in batting style and temperament is a prerequisite to be even a "good" batsman at the top level, with a few exceptions (you can get away with being aggressive all the time if you have incredible hand-eye co-ordination and/or technique). So from a cricket POV he's got that well covered. He apparently had a great defensive technique that allowed him to bat for ages, while having an aggressive streak as well that allowed him to score a century in the first session of a Test match (a feat that is still unmatched I think). I mean that right there is video game stuff.

He was also a part time bowler (leg break) which would be baseball's equivalent to a relief pitcher. Though that is nowhere near as impressive as it sounds. Almost every experienced cricketer is a part time bowler of some sort.

I am not sure how much has been written about his fielding, but I'm curious now and shall start digging. I'll let you know if I find something. :cheers:

What do you mean by ambassador of the sport? Does this apply?

[QUOTE]After retirement Sir Donald Bradman remained a great ambassador for the sport. He was knighted for his services to cricket and remained open to an adoring public, even though he remained publicity shy throughout the period. In 2001, the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, said he was the greatest living Australian.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://www.biographyonline.net/sport/cricketers/donald-bradman.html[/url]

[QUOTE=nightprowler10]Interesting thought, batting in cricket is just as much of an offensive measure as it is a defensive measure. A one-dimensional batsman is someone who only bats slow, or fast, or too defensively, etc. Versatility in batting style and temperament is a prerequisite to be even a "good" batsman at the top level, with a few exceptions (you can get away with being aggressive all the time if you have incredible hand-eye co-ordination and/or technique). So from a cricket POV he's got that well covered. He apparently had a great defensive technique that allowed him to bat for ages, while having an aggressive streak as well that allowed him to score a century in the first session of a Test match (a feat that is still unmatched I think). I mean that right there is video game stuff.

He was also a part time bowler (leg break) which would be baseball's equivalent to a relief pitcher. Though that is nowhere near as impressive as it sounds. Almost every experienced cricketer is a part time bowler of some sort.

I am not sure how much has been written about his fielding, but I'm curious now and shall start digging. I'll let you know if I find something. :cheers:

What do you mean by ambassador of the sport? Does this apply?

[url]http://www.biographyonline.net/sport/cricketers/donald-bradman.html[/url][/QUOTE]
Thanks, good stuff!

Usain Bolt and Takeru Kobayashi deserve spots.