Greatest Athlete Ever

[TheFinalInstallment]

There are a lot of "What Ifs" in sports. If Barry Sanders would have never retired how many more yards would he have had? If Terrell Davis never got hurt? If Ali would have only fought Frazier once and not gotten severe head trauma? If Jim Brown was on a better team? I'd say the best athlete ever is Michael Jordan or Larry Bird.

[syck]

It's a tie for me between Dan and Dave, the guys from the old school Rebok(sp?) commericals...

[The Sultan of Swank]

Maurice fucking Rocket Richard.

Talk about badass. He was great, he was the first person to 400 and 500 goals. Along with the 50 in 50. He also did a lot of these feats while averaging close to 100 pim a season during I think it was 40 or 50 game seasons)

[livid]

It's like I said, anywhere else in America the streak is overrated.  Here in Maryland, I don't think people say it's overrated.  But he didn't hurt his team, the team had some crappy managers through the years.  At least Ripken doesn't have to get hit by 300 pound defensive linemen.

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Uhh, Favre's streak is even more impressive due to the fact that he's getting hit by 300 pound men.

But yeah, greatest athlete ever, eh? Well, personally, I'd have to go with Barry Sanders, 'cause he dominated the field when he played and it's a shame he just didn't wanna play anymore when he retired.

Ali's high on the list as well, if not at the top, tied with Sanders.

[Enter Blue Guy]

There are a lot of "What Ifs" in sports.  If Barry Sanders would have never retired how many more yards would he have had?  If Terrell Davis never got hurt?  If Ali would have only fought Frazier once and not gotten severe head trauma?  If Jim Brown was on a better team?

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The biggest "What if" in my opinion is what if George Foreman beat Ali and didn't go through his severe depression? I think he would have been considered the greatest of all time if he would have put Ali away and nobody else would have stopped him for a looooong time. Sure he is an American icon now, but had he continued strong on his intial run he could have been the best ever, hands down.

Another "What if" is what if Mario Lemieux never had serious back problems and struggled with Hodgkin's? I think he was the most physically gifted hockey player of all time. Even with all the health road blocks in his way he still remained the most dominant player of his era, winning scoring champions despite his problems. He possessed a rare, natural finesse that no other man had, and considered he was 6'4 and 210 lbs, that was something special. Super Mario would make an amazing comeback two months into the 2000/01 season, and though his nagging' injuries remaind he was still a scoring title contender. One can only wonder what Mario would have done had he continued to play throught out the 90's and into present day free of all health problems.

[David Hassellhoff]

I'll have to disagree with everyone and say Ryan Leaf ( because there will be someone dumb enough to think that I'm serious).

[ROC]

Male: Michael Jordan or Muhammed Ali

Female: ummmm..............Anna Kournikova

[VerbalPuke]

I think Bo Jackson could have been a great pick, but he is another "what if". I found it remarkable that he was able to excel at both Football and Baseball, until his hip injury. He could have possibly went down as one of the greatest dual sports stars of all time.

[Guest seattlebandfan9]

They may not be considered the best, but my favorite athletes of all time are Brett Favre and Barry Sanders. The reasons are obvious, and I'm probably bias because I'm a huge Packer fan.

[The Hardcore Canuck]

I'm going to have to pick the hockey legend Mr. Wayne Gretzky.

[Mick]

Say what you want about him, overrated or not, but Babe Ruth.

If Ruth wouldn't have made it big as one of the best hitters in baseball, he would've made it big as one of the best pitchers. I'm not fond of Ruth, but I have to respect that he hit like a mofo, and pitched flawlessly. Not nessicarily an "Athlete", but a great sportsmen.

Jim Thorpe, for succeeding in the Olympics, Baseball, and Football.

Joe Guyon. Guyon is an NFL Hall of Famer that played with Thorpe, and the only reason why Guyon isn't as recognized as Jim Thorpe, is because they were on the same team together. Guyon was just as much of a gifted athlete as Guyon.

Kurt Angle. He won an Olympic Gold Medal with a broken friggin' neck. (J/k)

Muhhammed Ali. Ali was in jail during his prime. Following his release, he won the title back from Foreman. Ali was good until his last fight, in which he became a punching bag for Larry Holmes.