If Tiger Woods were interested in triathlon… he would develop a Jedi mind trick to psych-out the competition.
Lance has tasted tri and chose cycling.
Phelps won several gold medals, but it seemed like he did the same race over-and-over. What if Shaq were asked to dunk a basketball several different ways… do you think he could manage with his physical stature?
Jordan was clutch (and he had aerobic capacity).
Comments?
Simple Gretzky. 
If Tiger Woods were interested in triathlon… he would develop a Jedi mind trick to psych-out the competition.
Lance has tasted tri and chose cycling.
Phelps won several gold medals, but it seemed like he did the same race over-and-over. What if Shaq were asked to dunk a basketball several different ways… do you think he could manage with his physical stature?
Jordan was clutch (and he had aerobic capacity).
Comments?
Pish.
Paavo Nurmi.
John
jordan was not clutch, he was just good. as is usually the case
the best of all time is Don Bradman
in terms of how huge of a statistical outlier he is from other elite competition, he is the biggest outlier, by far, of any person in any sport.
that sport being cricket
No question…PELE…
Tiger Woods.
Total domination.
Golf courses redesigned to stymie him. Failed.
When you consider the number of people who play golf, they simply can not score better than him on any kind of consistent basis. This goes for young or old, male or female, etc.
Is perspiration allowed in Cricket?
:^)
Pele was AWESOME.
I didn’t have room to add all the greats from every sport… just the biggest that came to mind (I did not grow up with soccer).
Merckx.
Is perspiration allowed in Cricket?
:^)
I’m not sure, the rules probably do speak to it
Secretariat
.
cake is better than cheese
.
Laird Hamilton.
Is that not Sir Donald Bradman
I vote for Pele…day in day out, week in week out performer year over year in the world’s single most competitive sport.
It’s much easier to be a superstar in niche sports like swimming and cycling (phelps and armstrong) generally practiced by those in affluent societies…but when you add the other 4 Billion humans to the pool and then excel, that’s something else!
Kelly Slater.
Babe Ruth and Wayne Gretzky outpaced their peer groups by perhaps the biggest margin (limiting myself I realize to North American team sports). In 1982 Gretzky scored 92 goals, second place scorer had 64 goals. In 1920 Babe Ruth hit 54 home runs and the second place player had 19. That’s dominance. In Babe Ruth’s case it took nearly a full generation for others to catch up to him (Aaron, Gibson, Maris). Ted Williams may have caught him sooner but for missing several seasons in the military. In Gretzky’s case it only took a few years, as others neared his output in goals and points (Lemieux, Brett Hull). The Caps Alexander Ovechkin is on pace to have 225 goals in only four NHL seasons, which would make him a long shot to become the greatest goal scorer in NHL history around age 36.
Paul
Alexander Karelin.
Undefeated for 13 years. Went six years without giving up a point. Three gold medals. With the others you named it’s arguable (except maybe in Phelps’ case) whether they are even the best at their sport.
Swimmers, surfers, cyclists, hockey players, cricket players, and soccer players.
Interesting the group that height challenged, skinny triathletes come up with. Not surprising, but interesting:-)
I went to college with MJ and played bball, cards, golf, and numerous other things with him. I never met a more competitive human being. Scary.
cake is better than cheese
Ben…you’re losing your touch. I expect something like Michelle Monahan or Jon Dough.
thats true, perhaps the best measure would be the standard deviations away from the mean divded by the participation rate or something =)
It’s much easier to be a superstar in niche sports like swimming and cycling (phelps and armstrong) generally practiced by those in affluent societies…but when you add the other 4 Billion humans to the pool and then excel, that’s something else!
.