Who is the Greatest/Most Dominant Athlete of All Time?

[Andarvi]

So a few buddies and I were sitting around debating the topic, was wondering what kind of answers we will get here. First, defining an athlete is tough to begin with, as I personally would say that Bo Jackson is one of the greatest pure athletic talents of all time across all sports, but no one is going to put him on the levels of any of the "greats" of baseball or football. Who is the greatest raw physical athletic talent we have seen yet?

As far as most dominant athlete, man that is tough. Going across sports to assess is hard to do. Jordan, Woods, Gretzky, Armstrong, Ali, many more.

I based my decision on "will anyone ever top them?" Jordan is close, but he hasn't even been gone 10 years and we have players now, namely Kobe, who people talk about being close (he definitely will not surpass). I feel the chances of someone passing him statistically are decent, eventually.

Would love to comment more on Gretzky but honestly I don't know too much about him besides the fact he was the youngest to do a lot of stuff, won some championships, and scored the most goals (by a large margin?)

Ali was a beast in the ring and, like Jordan, his persona is definitely impacted by his personality, as well as his role in the civil rights movement and what not. I would say that Tyson had potential to be the best boxer ever, period, if he wasn't bat shit crazy.

That takes it done to my last 2. Lance Armstrong should have an asterisk next to his name because he is so ridiculous. The guy's body is a machine that comes by once in a bagillion. He beat cancer and continued to win. Story aside, I do not see anyone touching his records that he has now, let alone anymore he may pile on.

Tiger may have not passed Jack yet, but hes on pace to shatter him, and if Tiger were to die tomorrow, I feel the golf world would regard him as the best ever. Rarely do people expect things out of athletes the way they do Tiger, nothing short of a victory. Every single time.

By the time Tiger and Lance are done, I feel it will be hard to put anyone in their league. I did not discuss baseball and football, for baseball I find it hard because everyone wants to talk about all the old timers like Ruth, Williams, Mantle, Dimaggio, etc..., but I have my reservations, as they played in a segregated league and didn't technically play against the best like players did after integration. Football is tough too, would have to go through each position, and I am lazy. Regardless, I don't think we would find the answer to my question in football.

What do you all think?

[Headspace]

Jake Delhomme. He's pretty clutch.

[Azkarin2]

God damnit I lol'd pretty hard. Well played Headspace.

I think that going across sports is difficult but what makes it even more difficult is team sports versus solo sports. Could MJ have done the same if he were on the GS Warriors without Pippen, Rodman, etc? Who knows. That stuff doesn't apply to Ali though.

My answer would be MJ. From what I remember as a kid MJ was a god. Even in a team sport where your opponents can directly affect your game (double team, deny D) there were so many games that if MJ wanted to win it he was going to. There were times he put up 50+ against the best defenses and while he had the flu (which makes any endurance sport feel like climbing Everest). I just don't feel like there has been anyone as dominate in any sport as him. And the fact that MJ is the golden standard that the top players in basketball (and other sports) are constantly compared to just proves the fact that he was the best athlete ever.

As for up and comers to maybe take over his throne one day? I think to be the best athlete you have to be in a team sport. Sorry Tiger but the biggest defense you've ever played against is the clicking of cameras from the crowd. And Lance is an amaziing athlete because all his sport requires is that you pedal fast for a long time (but he is a god at that). I'd have to say Kobe will fall short and if Lebron doesn't get a great supporting cast so he can bling out his fingers he won't have the hardware to make a case (although he'll have the stats for sure but you need to win the big one).

[tyven]

Tiger

[Devek]

I would only count people who did well in more than 1 sport.

Bo Jackson was the first athlete to be named all star in more than one sport. Shame he hurt his hip.

[tyven]

deion sanders

[tommygunnz]

Lol you guys do realize sports existed more than 15-20 years ago right?


Jim Thorpe hands down.

[ozz]

jim thorpe? edit: fuck i got beat

[Omnipotent]

Michael Jordan

[Flarega]

homer on

Jerry Rice

homer off

[miokomioko]

If I could pick an entire team, perhaps the Detroit Red Wings...?

[Devolver]

Dominate? Hands down this guy

Tiger

Greatest, well in my life, is Jordan. I watched him when I was younger, and I would just be in awe at him, jaw agape

[Tyche]

I'm the biggest Michael JOrdan fanboy you'll ever meet. I have the MJ jersey's hanging in bags in my closet never worn. Even the #45 jersey he wore for a very short while. I've seen him play (albeit I was very young). My dad is from Chicago and we used to take yearly trips there.

With that said...

It's easily Tiger Woods. He has a ridiculous winning percentage in the tournaments he's entered. Especially given that he's taking on 100+ of the best the world has to offer in every tournament. He, statistically, strikes so much fear into opponents that he plays alongside that they shoot worse by him simply standing beside them. They changed the sport because he's so good and so dominate. Courses attempt to "Tiger-proof" holes to make them more difficult. AS great as MJ was, they weren't raising the rim 6 inches when he stepped on the court. There is, and never has been, anyone quite like him in sports, I truely believe that.

[Alvinho]

Pelé

[Devek]

What can Tiger play besides golf?

[Biddinger]

let me know when someone comes close to being as dominant as phelps.

[Boyiee]

let me know when someone comes close to being as dominant as phelps.

If golf was an olympic sport I'm sure Tiger would have a few medals. If biking was armstrong would, and if there was more than 1medal per major sports, then I'm sure Jordan would have more than 2.

I think Lance wins by larger margins than phelps does. Therefore he'd be more dominant. It all depends on what phelps does in the next several years, MJ was dominant for a long long time... and you never know, he was so good he could probably come back today and win more.

[Meat]

Lol you guys do realize sports existed more than 15-20 years ago right?


Jim Thorpe hands down.

how can u vouch for something that you've never seen?

Mike Tyson

[Boyiee]

how can u vouch for something that you've never seen?

Mike Tyson

but, but.... the wiki says!

Don't forget a lot of people here probably didn't see most of Jordan, if any... Most probably didn't see much of Tyson. Ali? I'm sure the amount of people that have seen more than Lance and Tiger is probably in the lower 10% of this forums population. This entire thread is going by what people haven't seen, outside of replays.

[tyven]

FEDOR