Lance Armstrong

[alldaws1]

I'd say that he is.

For a start you can name all the NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL players you want but no-one besides North Americans really gives a shit about those sports. I consider my group of friends to be pretty sports knowledgable but none of them know a damn thing about American sports or any of the "names" that are involved. I know because I watch late night C5 and have tried to talk about NFL and MLB with them and none of them have a clue what I'm talking about.

Yeah, no one goes to those NBA, NHL and NFL games they hold in England, they just play in an empty stadium. There's never any massive demand for tickets because nobody outside of North America cares about them.

I'm voting (not that is has anything to do with the actual vote...) Tiger Woods. I don't even follow golf, but everyone knows Tiger Woods. He's got the additional help of the named video game tie-in (See Colin McRae, but not David Beckham Super Soccer or whatever it was called).

And even if you don't follow football you know who David Beckham is. Football is the most popular sport in the world and Beckham is the most well known footballer in the world, so I'd put him ahead of Tiger Woods, if only by a small margin.

On the Lance Armstrong issue, I think he is one of the biggest sports stars. He's one of the few who you probably have heard of even if you don't follow the sport he competes in. Then again if you're a complete sports freak you likely are familiar with the names of thousands upon thousands of sports stars so he could get lost in the crowd. I think if you're talking generally though, then yes he is.

[-A-]

Thats England, but most of the Spanish speaking world plays baseball, as does Japan, and they're going to know MLB players. Basketball is big in Europe, they'll know NBA players, and, of course, Yao is big in China. Plus, top NBA players are also Olympians, which adds to the people that know them.

Lance Armstrong can't compete with that. He's known for his overcoming cancer and Livestrong in the US, which, considering he's an American, hardly puts him in the running for the most known world-wide athlete.

My vote still goes to Beckham, because he's the most known footballer in the US, while names like Kaka, Ronaldo, Henry, just aren't known here.

This leads onto something a bit more contentious then - that a lot of footballers are going to be on this kind of list. Someone like Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry or Kaka is going to known by almost every sports fan in South America, Europe, Australasia and Africa - as well as plenty of people in Japan, China, Central American and others. Football swamps other sports in terms of worldwide popularity. The Olympics gets higher figures, but without consistent exposure or big stars.

The Spanish-speaking world is a bit misleading because football players are more well-known than baseball players in Spain and in Spanish-speaking South America. It's only in Central America that they'd be more popular, I think. Basketball is reasonably big in Europe, but there are hardly any countries where it's more well known than football and plenty where it's far lower profile.

The only bit I'm not sure about is China/India and their massive populations. Cricket is a fucking religion in India and I'm not sure what China's tendencies are.

[thuganomic]

meh. I don't know what this proves, but if you type in Lance Armstrong and Michael Jordan in Chinese in google search,

370,000 hits for Armstrong. 9 million for Jordan.

[DMN in the House]

In terms of all-time, I think the argument ends up being Michael Jordan, Muhammed Ali, Pele, Maradonna (sp?), or Jackie Robinson.

[Plubby]

Who is Jackie Robinson?

[DMN in the House]

Really, REALLY?[/Dukes]

First black player in major league baseball. He's kinda a big deal.

[Gabriel]

Really, REALLY?[/Dukes]

First black player in major league baseball. He's kinda a big deal.

His furniture is made of mahogony, and he has many leather-bound books.

[DMN in the House]

That is the second time I've seen that reference, and I have no fucking clue what its from.

[Liam]

That is the second time I've seen that reference, and I have no fucking clue what its from.

Dodgeball

And the question wasn't whether he is the biggest star, but just whether he was one of them, and I find it hard to argue against that. You have cycling fans who'll know who he is, and as with any sport, generally a feat that he performed also crosses over into the mainstream news and conscience. Sure, he probably didn't get a hell of a lot more people into cycling, but he is hugely well known.

Edited July 28, 2008 by rvdwannabe

[K]

I've read one of his books. I didn't like it >_>

[IAceI]

Stop comparing him to Jordan and Ali and stuff.

Is he one of the biggest sports stars in his own regard. Don't rank them, just group them.

Personally I think he's up there. Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Lance Armstrong, Michael Schumacher. The only men to win the Laureus World Sports Person of the Year. His list of accolades is as long as my entire body just about. He's not a drugs cheat, it's not been proven so lets not start saying "no because he may or may not have taken drugs", assuming he didn't and what he did was legit, which I believe it to be.

He dominated his sport, which people may scoff as "cycling" but as an unbiased sports fan, I'd wager the Tour de France is possibly the most grueling competition there is. I'm not doubting Mayweather is a bigger name than him.

I'll argue the MLB/NBA/NHL/NFL stuff (sans Babe Ruth, A-Rod (maybe), Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Tom Brady (maybe) and stuff like that) because there not as accessible, there catered more to the North Americans (with NHL, NBA and MLB played in different regions I'll agree) but I'd still wager Lance Armstrong is a bigger name than a Peyton Manning for example, simply because now that he's retired, he's accomplished more than Manning has.

Maybe I'm slightly biased. He's my sporting hero (if you assume I have 3 heroes, sporting, musically and performing/comedy) then he would be at the top of my sporting one. I'm not a big cycling fan outside of the Tour de France but for his dominance (and then his resilience to cancer) I may be slightly biased in his favour.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I'm a cycling FAN and I don't like Lance Armstrong.

Apparantly due to the cancer his body doesn't now feel pain the way it did which made cycling up mountains less painful for him.

Which is cheating

[Pesci]

Ace, I never denied that accomplishment-wise he's up there with the best of them. My entire point was just the fame aspect of being one of the "biggest sports stars in the world".

[Dingle]

I've heard of the chap, but he wouldn't be near a top tier in my mind, which would have guys like Gretzky, Jordan, Ali, Mayweather, Beckham, Ronaldo, Pele, Federer and the like. I kinda agree with the opinion that because of popularity, he's going to be handicapped from the get-go bcause of the massive following for football, basketball, baseball and the like, which, as far as I'm aware, completely eclipses any kind of popularity or following that cycling has.

[Zaz]

In terms of a top tier for worldwide fame, I'd put Tiger Woods, Muhammed Ali, David Beckham, Michael Jordan and Michael Schumacher (but it'd be interesting to see where some of these guys rank 20, 30, 40 years from now when they're long retired). And maybe Babe Ruth and Ronaldo. These guys have revolutionised their respective sports and become households names even for people who don't follow the sport.

Armstrong would probably come on the second tier where most people would've heard of them but they haven't had the same effect as others (yet, anyway). Roger Federer and Pele would probably go here too.

Third tier would be players who are really famous but only within their sport and/or country. Eg. some Aussie ones would be Sir Donald Bradman and Andrew Johns. Most people here probably wouldn't have heard of them, but ask any cricket or rugby league fan and they'd laugh at you. So I'd also put Wayne Gretzky, Ronaldinho etc. here.

Just IMO, of course.

[thuganomic]

Who the fuck is Schumacher? Didn't he make that terrible Batman movie?

[IAceI]

He's the most successful Formula 1 driver ever.

He dominated his sport like Woods dominates golf, Federer dominated tennis and Armstrong dominated cycling.

Hence why they've won Sportsmen of the Year awards.

He's massive. But evidently not so much in America. Hell, I hate Formula 1 and even I marvelled at his brilliance.

[alldaws1]

In terms of a top tier for worldwide fame, I'd put Tiger Woods, Muhammed Ali, David Beckham, Michael Jordan and Michael Schumacher (but it'd be interesting to see where some of these guys rank 20, 30, 40 years from now when they're long retired).

Muhammed Ali isn't long retired?

Armstrong would probably come on the second tier where most people would've heard of them but they haven't had the same effect as others (yet, anyway). Roger Federer and Pele would probably go here too.

Don't be ridiculous, Pele is definitely top tier, he's the most famous football player ever. If he's behind David Beckham it's not by much.

[Colly]

I'm seeing a lot of Mayweather mentions as top tier, and I just don't quite see it. Maybe in America and obviously the boxing fraternity, but otherwise he barely registered to me until Hatton (and Wrestlemania, sadly...). He doesn't even compare to a Tyson, for the right or wrong reasons.

[Pesci]

If you were to make a Top 20 list to see who the most people worldwide have heard of, it would probably be dominated by footballers. No need to include China or India though