Best of all time: Woods, Jordan, Phelps, or Armstrong?

squid · February 25, 2009, 2:48am

x2
you beat me to it.

canuck8 · February 25, 2009, 2:49am

Simple Gretzky.

I will second that entirely.

Where the hell can I guy make a list of the above and not mention Gretzky ?

Simply elementary.

Terry

bmas · February 25, 2009, 2:50am

#4, Bobby Orr
.

squid · February 25, 2009, 2:52am

Or Haile Gebrselassie
.

Former_User · February 25, 2009, 2:57am

Simple Gretzky.

I will second that entirely.

Where the hell can I guy make a list of the above and not mention Gretzky ?

Simply elementary.

Terry

Yeah, anytime they actually change the rules of the game because one guy is far too dominant within the current rules, you can safely say the guy is beyond what anyone else is doing…
But I am bias though.

bjornm · February 25, 2009, 3:16am

Ali

Fedor Emelianenko
.

TeamBarenaked · February 25, 2009, 7:08am

records will always be broken

I’ll submit the broken record of Bob Beamon = how long did his record stand? 30-some years? And he didn’t eclipse the record he shattered it at the time (presumably, pre-PEDs)

osky · February 25, 2009, 7:22am

chris sharma

the guy climbs 5.15b for christs sake
.

zebragonzo · February 25, 2009, 1:09pm

The “best of all time” list populated entirely by Americans. Hmmm!

remnfa · February 25, 2009, 2:09pm

Simple Gretzky.
x30, or whatever it is now.

Here is my favorite sports statistic. Gretzky is the all time greatest scorer in hockey. But if you took away all of his goals, and gave him a point for every assist, HE WOULD STILL BE THE ALL TIME GREATEST SCORER. He leads in both goals and assists, making him a great team player as well as an individual.

leggett24 · February 25, 2009, 2:17pm

Jordan. It is not even close.

Not a basketball fan, but is there even agreement that Jordan was the best basketball player in history?

I’d like to say Gretzky but hockey has changed so much over the last 100 or even 15 years that it’s not that fair to compare players of different eras. The most consistent sport seems to be golf so I’ll say Tiger.

Former_User · February 25, 2009, 2:20pm

Golf isn’t consistent at all. The developments in drivers/balls has made the game far easier for the long ballers. Tiger can crush the ball and do so fairly accurately. If you go into virtually every par 5 sitting 2, it makes the course a lot easier.

Sully · February 25, 2009, 2:22pm

Madin Mohammed, just give him some time.
Youtube him and be AMAZED.

Former_User · February 25, 2009, 2:22pm

Steffi Graf.

_ts2coachnick · February 25, 2009, 2:28pm

This conversation is so sexist. The single greatest athlete of all time discussion cannot be had without mentioning the name of Mildred Ella (“Babe”) Didrikson Zaharias.

TriBriGuy · February 25, 2009, 2:47pm

“apples and oranges”

How so? I don’t read any qualifiers in the OP.

And I also happen to agree with another poster who notes that these OP suggestions are all American athletes.

I pointed out A FEW athletes from around the world who should be arguably included in the discussion. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I didn’t even get to soccer, rugby, martial arts, etc.

fred_h · February 25, 2009, 2:50pm

Very American centric.
How about Greztky, Pele, Geb for example?

Also Armsrtong is not the best cyclist of all time so I do not see how he can be listed in the best of all time.

Fred.

PlacidPirate · February 25, 2009, 3:04pm

finally someone mentions a snow sport athlete!!!
however Hermann cannot be mentioned with mentioning

Ingemar Stenmark: 86 world cup wins
Tomba

1.Bjørn Dæhlie on the nordic side…could arguably be a great triathlete.

TriBriGuy · February 25, 2009, 3:13pm

Steffi Graf.

Well played.

LorenzoP · February 25, 2009, 3:33pm

Woods is a black man with a white blonde gorgeous Swedish model who is having his babies
.