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Greatest Sports Figure?

  • Michael Jordan

  • Muhammad Ali

  • Usain Bolt

  • Wayne Gretzky

  • Michael Phelps

  • Bo Jackson

  • Roger Federer

  • Babe Ruth

  • Jim Thorpe

  • Maradona

  • Pele

  • Tiger Woods

  • Lebron James

  • Leo Messi

  • Joe Montana

  • Tom Brady

  • Jim Brown

  • Floyd Mayweather Jr.

  • Other (specify)

  • Wilt Chamberlain


Results are only viewable after voting.
Jordan beating Ali?

Ali transcended sport. He was known worldwide from the rich to the poor, black to white and grew as a person on his journey from athlete to activist.
Yet Jordan was (and remains) bigger.

His career wasn't colored by politics, and yet he was.
 
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Wayne Gretzky

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Honorable mention: Michael Jordan
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Based not just on their dominance and brilliance in their field, but also their worldwide fame and impact, I'd say, pre WW2, it's Donald Bradman, ahead of Paavo Nurmi, Babe Ruth and Joe Louis.
Post War, Ali, Pele, Maradona, Tyson and MJ.
To choose one, it's got to be Ali. He transcended sport, and his fame is hard to comprehend now for younger people who weren't around in the 60s and 70s.
 
Assuming the interpretation of "greatest" is "most iconic", I'm going with Ali. Ruth and MJ are the defining figures in their respective sports, and the bar with which everyone is evaluated. But Ali as an icon transcends anything in the sports realm. His presence in pop culture, for example, is still present a half century after his prime. There are still commercials to this day that use promos he cut, a film made about his life son Best Picture, etc.
 
1. Michael Jordan
2. Babe Ruth
3. Muhammad Ali
4. Pele
5. Usain Bolt
 
Well, if its dominance in their respective sport, then its Wayne Gretzky and its not even close. Non believer? Check his stats against any other player in the history of hockey.
 
Voted Ali.

All time great, and cultural icon.
 
Honestly,

Mike Tyson deserves to be listed.

Id say Jordan , Ali and Tyson in no particular order.
 
I'm from Boston and a big Larry Bird fan. That said, he wasn't exactly a squeaky clean role model either. Talked a TON of shit on the court. Abandoned his first daughter. Used to get drunk a lot and get into bar fights and stuff. He was protected by the fawning local media to an extent that an athlete these days would not be. Also athletes these days would be ripped to shreds for starting as many fights as he did on the court, let alone off of it.

And I heard he ripped on the city of Boston a lot too. Which is remarkable given how Bostonians are.
 
David Beckham needs to be on the list. I pretty sure he bigger than Jordan globally. I wonder how popular Jordan was globally. Was Jordan big in Europe, Latin Murica, and Asia? Basically was basketball as big as soccer back then?
 
How big was he in China, India, and Latin America? Actually did Europe outside of England care much for boxing back then or even now?

Muhammad Ali was/is global. You can go to nearly any country on the planet, hold up his picture and people will know who he is.

He transcended sports.


 
David Beckham needs to be on the list. I pretty sure he bigger than Jordan globally. I wonder how popular Jordan was globally. Was Jordan big in Europe, Latin Murica, and Asia? Basically was basketball as big as soccer back then?
Pretty sure at Barcelona Olympics in 92 the dream team were the main attraction. Not soccer.
 
Pretty sure at Barcelona Olympics in 92 the dream team were the main attraction. Not soccer.
The difference is on one side you have the best basketball players and on the other side Olympic soccer can only field under 23yo players with two older players per team...so all the big soccer stars aren't competing on the Olympics.
 
I grew up on 90s NBA so its MJ for me.
 
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