The title greatest athlete is synonymous with only one athlete in the world - Muhammad Ali who revolutionized the sport on the professional level and brought grace to a brutal sport.Outside of the ring, he proved that an athlete could take an unpopular political and religious stand and still gain the respect and admiration of millions around the world.There was no tougher or smarter athlete than Ali.
Lance Armstrong - The greatest athlete of all time (Speed, Power, Endurance Strategy,Agility, Poise under Pressure, Determination, Never Gives up, Work Ethic, Cancer Survivor, 7 Time Tour de France Champion).
I think many people love Ali because of those political stances. Not saying he wasn't a phenomenal athlete, just saying that our impressions of him are sometimes colored by what he did outside the ring.
CJ:
No doubt, the cancer thing is a big point in favor of Armstrong. Also, and this is just my personal view, I think professional cycling is the hardest and most grueling sport out there.
FZ:
Yeah, I hated to leave Jahangir (and Jansher, no doubt) off the list. It was a very hard decision, but it was made because I don't think squash is a truly global sport. But you're right, I think few people have dominated their sport as much and for as long as the two Khans.
Actually Michael Jordan would be 1 or 2 on each of those measures. He's universally regarded as the clutch-iest of clutch players.
As far as domination of a sport is concerned, from 1991 to 1998, if he started a season, it ended with his team winning the NBA championship (only years he didn't win were 94 because he was retired and 95 because he came back from retirement midway through the season). What's more, unlike the three names you mention, he dominated a team sport, which is obviously much harder to do as an individual.
On the style question, he was always one of the most fundamentally sound, yet flashiest players to ever play the game.
And he was the alpha-dog of alpha-dogs -- nobody fucked with him.
Ahsan: I didn't include Michael Jordan because I've never watched basketball. That's also why I haven't named guys like Steven Redgrave and Michael Phelps.
And since you have often been accused of sexism on this blog, shouldn't you have included a token female? Martina Navratilova, perhaps.
Muhammad Ali was an egoist non-ethical and arrogant man. He openly and disgracefully mocked his opponents for reference see his press conferences about Joe Frazier. Any man who calls his adversary a gorilla and turns to pure mockery should not even be considered for a poll such as this. He had no sportsman spirit what so ever. He might "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" but he sure talked like a jackass
By the way, I'm really surprised at the Pele vs. Maradona breakdown of the poll so far. If you ARE going to go for a footballer, shouldn't you go for the latter? Isn't Maradona almost-universally acknowledged as the better player? He's lose 7-1 among Five Rupees readers, which is sort of puzzling.
what abt WASIM AKRAM instead of warne and in style wat abt MARADONA...thank you so very much ahsan for not putting TENDULKAR in there :)i would vote for ALI though cause even to this day i guarantee you more people know his name then JORDAN since basketball is not watched or loved or followed as much as boxing...
While I'm on the Maradona side of the fence, and don't understand the 7-1 discrepancy either, I don't think it's anywhere close to universally acknowledged that Maradona was the better player.
And what about poor Di Stefano? Doesn't he at least deserve a seat at the table?
16 comments:
random question: what time zone does this blog follow? i know its neither pakistan standard time nor eastern standard.
The title greatest athlete is synonymous with only one athlete in the world - Muhammad Ali who revolutionized the sport on the professional level and brought grace to a brutal sport.Outside of the ring, he proved that an athlete could take an unpopular political and religious stand and still gain the respect and admiration of millions around the world.There was no tougher or smarter athlete than Ali.
Lance Armstrong - The greatest athlete of all time (Speed, Power, Endurance Strategy,Agility, Poise under Pressure, Determination, Never Gives up, Work Ethic, Cancer Survivor, 7 Time Tour de France Champion).
How about a shoutout to Jahangir Khan- 555 professional wins in a row...
- FZ
Anon655:
Pretty sure it's GMT.
Anon705:
I think many people love Ali because of those political stances. Not saying he wasn't a phenomenal athlete, just saying that our impressions of him are sometimes colored by what he did outside the ring.
CJ:
No doubt, the cancer thing is a big point in favor of Armstrong. Also, and this is just my personal view, I think professional cycling is the hardest and most grueling sport out there.
FZ:
Yeah, I hated to leave Jahangir (and Jansher, no doubt) off the list. It was a very hard decision, but it was made because I don't think squash is a truly global sport. But you're right, I think few people have dominated their sport as much and for as long as the two Khans.
I would give different answers depending on what criterion is weighted higher.
Ability to perform at a higher level when it is most needed.
1) Brian Lara
2) Tiger Woods
3) Shane Warne
Complete domination of sport for a significant period of time.
1) Lance Armstrong
2) Michael Schumacher
3) Tiger Woods
Style.
1) Roger Federer
2) Johan Cruyff
Force of personality
1) Muhammad Ali
2) Viv Richards
Bubs:
Actually Michael Jordan would be 1 or 2 on each of those measures. He's universally regarded as the clutch-iest of clutch players.
As far as domination of a sport is concerned, from 1991 to 1998, if he started a season, it ended with his team winning the NBA championship (only years he didn't win were 94 because he was retired and 95 because he came back from retirement midway through the season). What's more, unlike the three names you mention, he dominated a team sport, which is obviously much harder to do as an individual.
On the style question, he was always one of the most fundamentally sound, yet flashiest players to ever play the game.
And he was the alpha-dog of alpha-dogs -- nobody fucked with him.
Ahsan - admit it, you put this poll up just to make that one point about michael j :).
Next time maybe we can try find out if superman is better than batman. Or if my daddy is stronger or yours!
Ahsan: I didn't include Michael Jordan because I've never watched basketball. That's also why I haven't named guys like Steven Redgrave and Michael Phelps.
And since you have often been accused of sexism on this blog, shouldn't you have included a token female? Martina Navratilova, perhaps.
My token female would have been Marion Jones, but it turns out she took enough steroids to kill a horse. Or make it a giraffe, whatever.
Muhammad Ali was an egoist non-ethical and arrogant man. He openly and disgracefully mocked his opponents for reference see his press conferences about Joe Frazier. Any man who calls his adversary a gorilla and turns to pure mockery should not even be considered for a poll such as this. He had no sportsman spirit what so ever. He might "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" but he sure talked like a jackass
ALI WAS THE GREATEST OF ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL TIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
this should help federer lose a couple of votes :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBAjWOhykNI&feature=channel
Hah.
By the way, I'm really surprised at the Pele vs. Maradona breakdown of the poll so far. If you ARE going to go for a footballer, shouldn't you go for the latter? Isn't Maradona almost-universally acknowledged as the better player? He's lose 7-1 among Five Rupees readers, which is sort of puzzling.
what abt WASIM AKRAM instead of warne and in style wat abt MARADONA...thank you so very much ahsan for not putting TENDULKAR in there :)i would vote for ALI though cause even to this day i guarantee you more people know his name then JORDAN since basketball is not watched or loved or followed as much as boxing...
While I'm on the Maradona side of the fence, and don't understand the 7-1 discrepancy either, I don't think it's anywhere close to universally acknowledged that Maradona was the better player.
And what about poor Di Stefano? Doesn't he at least deserve a seat at the table?
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