Posted on 12/30/2015 11:23:26 PM PST by ConservativeStatement
Six years after it asked America who the best athletes of all-time were, the Harris Poll released its most recent results on Wednesday, and there's at least one constant: Michael Jordan.
Jordan was once again on top of the survey, followed by Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali, who each moved up one spot from their 2009 rankings. Tiger Woods, who in 2009 held the No. 2 spot, fell to No. 8. Rounding out the top five were Serena Williams, who wasn't ranked six years ago, and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, who jumped from No. 8 to No. 5.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Now why did auto-korrect make a contraction out of the word were?
Nope. It should be Secretariat. I still get thrills and chills watching his 1973 Belmont race on You Tube.
Good point on Thorpe. Jordan will always be #1 for me...but I was at court side and watched him play. I’m 73. Me and my memory of what #1 is will soon fade as the memory of Jim Thorpe faded with those of his era. To me, it was an honor to actually see greatness...not from media hype...but to see it right there in front of your eyes. Thank you Michael.
I agree about Thorpe. Also, most people don’t know that Wilt Chamberlain held the KU high jump record for years, ran the quarter mile in 48 seconds and put the shot 57 feet when the world record was 60.
You have that right. Not even close.
People don't realize that in almost every contest with Bill Russell, he outperformed Russell.
The difference was their surrounding casts.
I love Walt Frazier's observation about today's NBA, re: if they interpreted traveling back then the same way they do now, he'd have averaged 100 PPG.
BTTT.
It's hard to think of another human being who could play 2 seasons in MLB with an artificial hip.
The magnitude of Wayne Gretzky’s accomplishments eclipse those of everyone else on that list. BY FAR. He has the most career goals AND the most career assists AND the most career points of any player in NHL history. He had the most single-season goals from 1981 thru 1984, AND the most assists every season from 1981 thru 1990. He scored the most career shorthanded goals AND the most career shorthanded assists (he was at his most dangerous when the other team had more men on the ice!). The NHL even changed the rules in 1985 because Gretzky’s team was so certain to score a goal if both teams were shorthanded.
The Great One played in every All-Star game from 1980-1999 (20 appearances in as many years), set 6 All-Star game records, and retired holding 62 (!!!) NHL records, 60 of which still stand. With two Olympic gold medals and one silver thrown in just for good measure. Quite simply, Wayne Gretzky was the most dominant player in the history of modern professional team sport. Second place isn’t even close.
Interesting "crowdsourced" list of all-time atheletes here: http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-athletes-of-all-time Gretzky is tops here. Interestingly, Jesse Owens is as well.
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