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Greatest Athlete Ever

scootsy

scootsy

Well-Known Member
Was just talking about this with peeps during the NBA Finals game today. LeBron got a lot of votes, simply because someone with his speed and strength is ever that tall/coordinated.

However, my vote goes to Bo Jackson, with Deion Sanders a distant second, and then a grand canyon distance between him and the third person, whoever the hell that is.
 
It's Dave Winfield IMO.

"Winfield was drafted by four teams in three different sports. The San Diego Padres selected him as a pitcher with the fourth overall pick in the MLB draft and both the Atlanta Hawks (NBA) and the Utah Stars (ABA) drafted him.[4][5] And even though he never played college football, the Minnesota Vikings selected Winfield in the 17th round of the NFL draft. He is one of three players ever to be drafted by three professional sports (the others being Mickey McCarty, and Dave Logan), and the only athlete drafted by four leagues.[6]"

-his wiki page
 
The way I see it, there are three ways to judge "best athlete":

1. The best all-around in a single sport.

2. Being very good at many sports.

3. Pure athletic ability (running, jumping, etc.)

To me, (1) doesn't mean much. Even if you could agree on the best athlete for each sport, there's no good way to distinguish between them. Who's better, Wayne Gretzky or Aleksandr Karelin?

The other two are better criteria. That being the case, Jim Thorpe fits the bill pretty well. For women, Babe Didrikson Zaharias.
 
If we talk about elite athleticizm / length and defensive potential, we have to take a look at DJ Stephens and Adonis Thomas in the secound round of this draft.
 
AtheistPreacher said:
The way I see it, there are three ways to judge "best athlete":

1. The best all-around in a single sport.

2. Being very good at many sports.

3. Pure athletic ability (running, jumping, etc.)

To me, (1) doesn't mean much. Even if you could agree on the best athlete for each sport, there's no good way to distinguish between them. Who's better, Wayne Gretzky or Aleksandr Karelin?

The other two are better criteria. That being the case, Jim Thorpe fits the bill pretty well. For women, Babe Didrikson Zaharias.
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You don't know Bo.
 
Jim Brown - and it's not even close.

He set high school records in NYC in track and field, basketball, LaCrosse and football that stood for 40 and 50 years.

Jim Brown of the 1950's would be a 1000 yard rusher in the NFL today. If he had the benefits of today's conditioning and nutrition, he'd probably shut down the league.

Bo Jackson gets high marks but his body broke down well before he was 30
 
Hard choice. Wilt Chamberlain was tremendous athlete for example. But I would go with Carl Lewis. When he was at his peak he was just unreal. Same can be said about Sergey Bubka.
 
AKMVP said:
Hard choice. Wilt Chamberlain was tremendous athlete for example.
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I read somewhere that Chamberlain suffered horrible bouts of insomnia - so much so that he'd go several days without sleeping. And yet he averaged over 48mpg (he played every minute in regulation plus overtime) a few times early in his career.
 
candrew said:
I read somewhere that Chamberlain suffered horrible bouts of insomnia - so much so that he'd go several days without sleeping. And yet he averaged over 48mpg (he played every minute in regulation plus overtime) a few times early in his career.
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See, I heard it was the ladies he was with that kept him up all those nights.
 
candrew said:
Jim Brown of the 1950's would be a 1000 yard rusher in the NFL today.
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Not disagreeing with Jim Brown, if he isn't one, he is certainly top-2/top-3. But what do you mean about 1,000 yard rusher? That's not a significant number. Did you mean 2,000?
 
LeBron James is the most physically gifted athlete of all-time. He could easily be a MVP like football player at multiple positions. He could play baseball, almost any track event, probably hockey too.

Those other athletes are great, but not on the same athletic field as James.
 
scootsy said:
Not disagreeing with Jim Brown, if he isn't one, he is certainly top-2/top-3. But what do you mean about 1,000 yard rusher? That's not a significant number. Did you mean 2,000?
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I'm saying if you took Jim Brown the person from 1958 and teleported him to 2013 he wouldstill be a 1000 yard rusher. He was 6'2" with a playing weight around 240 which was unheard of back then - add one of top 5 fastest guys in the league on top of that.

If Jim Brown was born in 1988 instead of 1936, he'd probably be too good for the NFL.
 
candrew said:
I'm saying if you took Jim Brown the person from 1958 and teleported him to 2013 he wouldstill be a 1000 yard rusher. He was 6'2" with a playing weight around 240 which was unheard of back then - add one of top 5 fastest guys in the league on top of that.

If Jim Brown was born in 1988 instead of 1936, he'd probably be too good for the NFL.
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Understood, my point though is that if he was too good for the NFL nowadays, he would be rushing for 2,000-2,100 yards, not just 1,000.
 
scootsy said:
Understood, my point though is that if he was too good for the NFL nowadays, he would be rushing for 2,000-2,100 yards, not just 1,000.
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Ah, OK - I meant if he grew up in this generation instead of the 1940's he would have had much, much more available to him in terms of nutrition, conditioning and development. It's an intangible that you can never really measure for sure; but I think it's safe to assume he'd be an even better athelete today.
 
candrew said:
Jim Brown - and it's not even close.

He set high school records in NYC in track and field, basketball, LaCrosse and football that stood for 40 and 50 years.

Jim Brown of the 1950's would be a 1000 yard rusher in the NFL today. If he had the benefits of today's conditioning and nutrition, he'd probably shut down the league.

Bo Jackson gets high marks but his body broke down well before he was 30
Click to expand...

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/13/...-wilt-chamberlain-through-sport-and-life.html

Chamberlain loved gossip and enjoyed the tales that [Lynda] Huey brought back to his hilltop home. After a night with Jim Brown, the great football player, Huey beat him in a foot-race. Brown never invited Huey to another party. Chamberlain loved that story, which fed into his own competitiveness; he would cheat at board games.

...

A few weeks before he died, as Huey guided him through one of her aquatic exercise programs, Wilt ranted about Jim Brown's candidacy for ESPN's athlete of the century award.

''Remember that time you raced him?'' he said to Huey. ''Whenever people ask me if I think Jim Brown was the best athlete of all time, I just tell them, 'I know girls who beat Jim Brown.' ''
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