Best of all time

Gary Cyr · Post by **Gary Cyr** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 9:36 pm

Different question

Who do you think is the best all around athlete and why?

I need to think about mine still

Bobby Direnzo · Post by **Bobby Direnzo** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 9:43 pm

myself case closed. :lol:

Eric Kevorkian · Post by **Eric Kevorkian** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 7:33 am

The first person that comes to mind is Deion Sanders...

Playing baseball AND football. Two sports...both grueling seasons in their own rights, and both sports that require two different very different skill sets. He can also ball...

Good question...interesting to see some of the answers.

So far we have Bob, and Deion Sanders...edge Deion...slightly :lol:

Craig Smolin · Post by **Craig Smolin** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 8:47 am

the best all-around athlete ever??? Very tough, but here's a legit top four:

1. Jackie Robinson: lettered at UCLA in football, baseball, basketball and track
2. Jim Brown: only member of three different Halls of Fame: Pro and College Football, and Lacrosse
3. Dave Winfield: Only person to be drafted by three different professional sports at the same time out of the Univ. of Minnesota (football, basketball, and baseball) and a member of the baseball HoF
4. Bo Jackson: Heisman trophy winner, and All-pro in NFL, and All-Star in MLB.

Rob Tatro · Post by **Rob Tatro** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 8:53 am

I would go with Jim Brown ... hands down the best ever.

Many consider him to be one of the greatest NFL backs of all time. At Syracuse, he was an all-american lacrosse player and once again, many consider him to be on of the best ever in lacrosse. He was also a tremendous basketball player in high school and went on to letter in basketball while at Syracuse. He finished 5th in the 1956 national decathlon championship, could have beeen a professional boxer after he retired from football, and was offered a minor-league deal to play baseball for the Yankees.

Matt Stroika · Post by **Matt Stroika** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 9:08 am

RobT wrote:I would go with Jim Brown ... hands down the best ever.

Many consider him to be one of the greatest NFL backs of all time. At Syracuse, he was an all-american lacrosse player and once again, many consider him to be on of the best ever in lacrosse. He was also a tremendous basketball player in high school and went on to letter in basketball while at Syracuse. He finished 5th in the 1956 national decathlon championship, could have beeen a professional boxer after he retired from football, and was offered a minor-league deal to play baseball for the Yankees.

Second vote for Brown. Buttons was close.

Jeff Prendergast · Post by **Jeff Prendergast** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 9:32 am

Jim Thorpe has to be in the conversation of the greatest ever, (and most versatile) He has the amateur and professional resume to back it up.

...or are you asking 'who is the best all-around' right now? That's a tougher one.

Tom Southwick · Post by **Tom Southwick** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 9:44 am

If I could go back in time and pick some kid to train in almost any sport, I'd pick Jordan. He doesn't have the multi-sport resume of some of the other picks, but one just need imagine a young Jordan dedicating himself to any other sport- and dominating.

Todd Lapham · Post by **Todd Lapham** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 10:20 am

Jim Thorpe was the first name that popped into my head.

Daniel Mack · Post by **Daniel Mack** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 10:22 am

Todd Lapham wrote:Jim Thorpe was the first name that popped into my head.

me too.

Derek Brazauskas · Post by **Derek Brazauskas** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 4:14 pm

Kovo wrote:The first person that comes to mind is Deion Sanders...

Playing baseball AND football. Two sports...both grueling seasons in their own rights, and both sports that require two different very different skill sets. He can also ball...

Good question...interesting to see some of the answers.

So far we have Bob, and Deion Sanders...edge Deion...slightly

I have to agree Deion, the man ran a 4.2 40yd in timberlands!!

Derek Brazauskas · Post by **Derek Brazauskas** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 4:16 pm

Tom S wrote:If I could go back in time and pick some kid to train in almost any sport, I'd pick Jordan. He doesn't have the multi-sport resume of some of the other picks, but one just need imagine a young Jordan dedicating himself to any other sport- and dominating.

Can't judge on potential though...

Steve Solbo · Post by **Steve Solbo** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 6:28 pm

I agree with Rob. Jim Brown.

trot87 · Post by **trot87** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 6:55 pm

I have to go with Jim Thorpe personally. His sports resume is off the charts.

Winner of the 1912 Olympics decathlon and pentathlon.
College and professional football player at running back, defensive back, kicker and punter.
Professional baseball player for parts of 6 seasons.
Barnstormed as a basketball player for 2 seasons for a team called "Jim Thorpe and His World-Famous Indians".

Tough to argue about those credentials.

Also I think Deion and Bo get a little over-rated because speed was their #1 skill which just made them seem like better athletes than everyone else, although Bo did have some decent strength/power.

I think Jordan's failed attempt at baseball should hurt his positioning because he didn't show great athleticism there.

Jim Brown is possibly the greatest athlete at 2 sports ever, but again his speed at his size really made him a freak for the times. Also I heard that the cradling rule in lacrosse was instituted in an attempt to slow Jim Brown down.

Another person to consider is Babe Didrikson Zaharias. She excelled at track/field, golf and basketball. I've also heard that she did some tennis and swimming as well. While it was against a small pool of athletes, she was particularly dominant for her time.

Derek Brazauskas · Post by **Derek Brazauskas** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 7:42 pm

I would agree that thorpe was a great athlete.. However he was basically a lifer in the minors in baseball. Didn't play football until he was 41, played 52 games. Lets not forget that athlete's were not as good as they are in this era.

Cool Thorpe stat:

• Believe it or not, Thorpe once hit 3 home runs into 3 different states in the same game. During a semi-pro baseball game in a ballpark on the Texas-Oklahoma-Arkansas border, he hit his first homer over the leftfield wall with the ball landing in Oklahoma, his second homer over the rightfield wall into Arkansas and his third homer of the game was an inside-the-park home run in centerfield, which was in Texas!

Karl Molitoris · Post by **Karl Molitoris** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 8:31 pm

Interesting discussion (but I seem to remember we getting into this one a while ago).
The key term here is "athlete" (and lord knows people will define this a bit differently...)

Bob Mathias or Daley Thompson have to be mentioned in this conversation. They being both 2-time (consecutive) Olympic decathlete winners...meaning that over a 4+ to 12- year period, they were the best decathletes in the world...and any decathlete has both the stamina, speed, strength and coordination to "do pretty well" in whatever discipline you throw at them.

Karl

Tom Southwick · Post by **Tom Southwick** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 9:18 pm

Karelin, the Russian Greko roman wrestler went undefeated from 1986 to 2000. The last six YEARS of this streak he did not give up one single point. That's... well.... CRAZY!!!

Derek Brazauskas · Post by **Derek Brazauskas** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:09 pm

Karl wrote:Interesting discussion (but I seem to remember we getting into this one a while ago).
The key term here is "athlete" (and lord knows people will define this a bit differently...)

Bob Mathias or Daley Thompson have to be mentioned in this conversation. They being both 2-time (consecutive) Olympic decathlete winners...meaning that over a 4+ to 12- year period, they were the best decathletes in the world...and any decathlete has both the stamina, speed, strength and coordination to "do pretty well" in whatever discipline you throw at them.

Karl

Tough to argue with that Karl..

Jeff Zipkin · Post by **Jeff Zipkin** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:20 am

Jenny Finch.
World class in two sports, Softball and Being HOTT.

Seriously though, I'd say Bo. The man just oozed athleticism. Could run through a line, and around a DB. Could hit the cover off a hardball and track down flies in the field.

Just my .02.

Felix Harvey · Post by **Felix Harvey** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:28 am

Lance Armstrong kicked everybodys' ar$e with one ball.

Bo and Deion are crybabies so they're definitely DQ'd.

Derek Brazauskas · Post by **Derek Brazauskas** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:37 am

felixh wrote:Lance Armstrong kicked everybodys' ar$e with one ball.

Bo and Deion are crybabies so they're definitely DQ'd.

Have you ever sat on a road bike? Lance having one ball was an advantage... :lol:

Gary Cyr · Post by **Gary Cyr** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 1:13 pm

Daley Thompson is the name I was thinking of when I posted the thread. I wanted to say Bruce Jenner but he only won the decathalon once. When I think athlete I think of multiple talents. A successful two sport athlete like Bo Jackson or Dieon Sanders is fun to watch and rare. I really don't think that makes them the best athlete of all time. Also, I agree with the comment that they get extra noteriety because of their speed.

Jim Thorpe was the only other person that came to mind as legitimate contender.

Stephen Ditter · Post by **Stephen Ditter** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:55 pm

Winfield was drafted by 4 pro teams.

Padres (MLB)
Hawks (NBA)
Stars (ABA)
Vikings (NFL)

That's pretty impressive.

But I would have to go with Thorpe.

-sd

Steve Guiliotis · Post by **Steve Guiliotis** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:24 am

Definitely not Deion

See: Joel Lipman "One of Baseball's Unwritten Rules Read Aloud" (On the CD comp "Innings and Quarters", no youtube available)

Carlton Fisk:

".....I was playing for the White Sox late in my career, in 1990, when that punk Deion Sanders came up to the plate. You know, Mr. Commercial-endorsement, Legend-in-his-own-mind, two-sport baseball wannabee who probably was playing only to match Bo Jackson's two-sport product endorsement pinache. You probably know the story: the little jerk first has the temerity to not run out a pop-fly to the infield, for which I yell at him to run it out. I admit I have old-fashioned ideas about baseball, but I think the real point of the story is that anything worth doing is worth doing well.

Then Sanders made one of the stupidest remarks I've ever heard -- and I've heard plenty in contract negotiations with Jerry Reinsdorf and Lou Gorman, trust me. He said something about "the days of slavery being over", which had absolutely nothing to do with the game or the issue at hand. I don't need to defend myself on any race issue -- and I won't here. Whether he felt genuinely aggrieved on a racial basis, I don't know. That's something for Deion's conscience to figure out. But beyond the stinging attempt to make a race incident out of a baseball thing, the sense of self-entitlement inherent in that statement was emblematic of what fans have come to loathe about professional sports and baseball in particular. This sense that millionaires and billionaires, because they're so well-rewarded for playing a game, don't have to abide by the basic rules of effort and reward that ordinary Joe Six-packs have to.

So, I lost it and had a screaming match with him. Maybe it wasn't the most mature thing to do, and even now I know I sound more than a bit self-righteous to be appointing myself a defender of the game's integrity. But it meant something to me, and I think that something, whatever it was, is at the heart of why I loved playing baseball and why baseball's such a great game. Don't ask me to give it a name......"

Ken Hannan · Post by **Ken Hannan** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 12:43 pm

Seabiscuit - the race horse.

[there are some that claim that the horse is an athlete, but imo an athlete must first be human]

Mark Valis · Post by **Mark Valis** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 3:42 pm

Jim Thorpe!
Jesse Owens

John Mucciarone · Post by **John Mucciarone** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 11:07 pm

Carl Lewis (the Jim Thorpe of our era)