Greatest Sportsmen of all Time/New Poll for top 5 to Agree on.

[pintsofguinness]

The ignorance in this thread is beyond belief. People dismissing Redgrave offhand for no reason. Accept it or not, there'a a ridiculous bias against British sportsmen on this thread. Redgrave is without doubt one of the greatest. Also, he won five golds you dopes, at every Olympis from LA to Sydney, not four. OK, Phelpls won eight last year and six in Athens, but let's see if he's still winning gold medals wherever the 2020 games are held.

Why are you determined to turn this in to a political thread?

[gallsman]

I think we need to look beyond just technical excellence. Henry Armstrong and Robinson arguably better at their craft and better champions than Ali but Ali captured the imagination of the globe.

Lester was a great jockey and Nijinsky a great athlete but it was Vincent O Brien that made it happen and redefined his sport.

Sugar Ra was the greatest welterweight and middleweight of all time. Very nearly won the light-heavyweight as well except Joey Maxim was able to knock him out due to heat exhaustion after Ray boxed the ears off him.

[stiffler]

I think we need to look beyond just technical excellence. Henry Armstrong and Robinson arguably better at their craft and better champions than Ali but Ali captured the imagination of the globe.

Lester was a great jockey and Nijinsky a great athlete but it was Vincent O Brien that made it happen and redefined his sport.

Very true..it depends on what you are judging as 'sportsman'. Ali admits himself that Robinson was the greatest boxer of all time, but Ali had the persona and exerburance to light up a sport.


Whoever mentioned Beckham needs wedged.

[gallsman]

The ignorance in this thread is beyond belief. People dismissing Redgrave offhand for no reason. Accept it or not, there'a a ridiculous bias against British sportsmen on this thread. Redgrave is without doubt one of the greatest. Also, he won five golds you dopes, at every Olympis from LA to Sydney, not four. OK, Phelpls won eight last year and six in Athens, but let's see if he's still winning gold medals wherever the 2020 games are held.

Why are you determined to turn this in to a political thread?

Because people's narrow-mindedness on this thread is limiting its scope. Feel free to disagree, but how some of the names mentioned here appear to be fine and then Redgrave's dismissed completely offhand is beyond me.

[gallsman]

I think we need to look beyond just technical excellence. Henry Armstrong and Robinson arguably better at their craft and better champions than Ali but Ali captured the imagination of the globe.

Lester was a great jockey and Nijinsky a great athlete but it was Vincent O Brien that made it happen and redefined his sport.

Very true..it depends on what you are judging as 'sportsman'. Ali admits himself that Robinson was the greatest boxer of all time, but Ali had the persona and exerburance to light up a sport.


Whoever mentioned Beckham needs wedged.

No-one mentioned Beckham. An external poll was quoted to show the ridiculousness of the whole thing. People were taking the piss out of the fact that Beckham was in it and then one poster who skimmed through the pages without actually reading the posts got indignant over Beckham's name.

[pintsofguinness]

The ignorance in this thread is beyond belief. People dismissing Redgrave offhand for no reason. Accept it or not, there'a a ridiculous bias against British sportsmen on this thread. Redgrave is without doubt one of the greatest. Also, he won five golds you dopes, at every Olympis from LA to Sydney, not four. OK, Phelpls won eight last year and six in Athens, but let's see if he's still winning gold medals wherever the 2020 games are held.

Why are you determined to turn this in to a political thread?

Because people's narrow-mindedness on this thread is limiting its scope. Feel free to disagree, but how some of the names mentioned here appear to be fine and then Redgrave's dismissed completely offhand is beyond me.

What narrow-mindedness are you on about? Beckham? You think he's among the greatest sports men/women ever ffs? He's not among the greatest soccer players ever.  Similar to George Best, talent wise up there with the best but pissed it away and, in my eyes, goes out of the running.  How would you have him over Pele?

Redgrave, his success in his sport was  excellent yes, but doesnt deserve a place with some of the names listed here.  Rowing a boat takes stamina and endurance, not talent or skill. 

If we were all south americans none of those names would be mentioned in a discussion like this but sure lets add a british name for the sake of it to show there's no hard feelings and we're not narrow minded.

and btw, I know it was an external poll that quoted Beckham and Redgrave, I was talking about another poster leaving Beckham in.

[gallsman]

The ignorance in this thread is beyond belief. People dismissing Redgrave offhand for no reason. Accept it or not, there'a a ridiculous bias against British sportsmen on this thread. Redgrave is without doubt one of the greatest. Also, he won five golds you dopes, at every Olympis from LA to Sydney, not four. OK, Phelpls won eight last year and six in Athens, but let's see if he's still winning gold medals wherever the 2020 games are held.

Why are you determined to turn this in to a political thread?

Because people's narrow-mindedness on this thread is limiting its scope. Feel free to disagree, but how some of the names mentioned here appear to be fine and then Redgrave's dismissed completely offhand is beyond me.

What narrow-mindedness are you on about? Beckham? You think he's among the greatest sports men/women ever ffs? He's not among the greatest soccer players ever.  Similar to George Best, talent wise up there with the best but pissed it away and, in my eyes, goes out of the running.  How would you have him over Pele?

Redgrave, his success in his sport was  excellent yes, but doesnt deserve a place with some of the names listed here.  Rowing a boat takes stamina and endurance, not talent or skill. 

If we were all south americans none of those names would be mentioned in a discussion like this but sure lets add a british name for the sake of it to show there's no hard feelings and we're not narrow minded.

and btw, I know it was an external poll that quoted Beckham and Redgrave, I was talking about another poster leaving Beckham in.

Feel free to read my last post re Beckham. Then very carefully re-read the bit where I mentioned people skimming through the thread and not reading the detail in posts. Not once did I mention Beckham as a candidate.

Tell me this Pints, have you ever done any rowing? For some reason I suspect not, but I'm not quite sure why. Oh wait, maybe it's the bit where you said rowing needs neither talent nor skill. It's one of the most technical sports around FFS. If you're in a boat with seven others and mistime a stroke it's not as if the other seven can compensate for you- everything gets messed up.

[delboy]

Redgrave, his success in his sport was  excellent yes, but doesnt deserve a place with some of the names listed here.  Rowing a boat takes stamina and endurance, not talent or skill. 

POG i bet after a stint in a single scull boat you'd change your opinion, probably after the first 50 or 60 times falling in i would have thought 

Redgrave is certainly recognised as one of the greatest ever olympians, i would say that merits at least some discussion about his possible inclusion, im suprised that some are simply dismissing his acheivements.

[bcarrier]

Michael Jordan
Usain Bolt
Roger Federer
Tiger Woods
Don Bradman
Michael Phelps

Statistically and visibly the greatest sportsmen of all time in their respective fields, and each playing a popular sport. Almsot everyone else mentioned on this thread requires subjectivity or a lack of genuine competition to be placed on this list.

Thats a good list Wobbler but is Woods better than Nicklaus ? A week ago he was going to be winning USPGA and equaling Nicklaus's record  by winning all majors up to an including next years open at St Andrews. Now you might begin to wonder if he will reach it at all. He probably will  but only because most of the rest top 20 are useless...saw this on another board ...

The reason Pod has won 3 majors is that they are all shyte.
Tiger won a major with a broken leg.
Pod's last major win was with an injured hand.
In other recent majors we have seen Greg Norman & Tom Watson leading for extended periods until they realised they needed a mid afternoon nap.
An amateur won the Irish Open & the current USPGA champion is a 37year old who only started playing golf when he was 19.
It all points to one thing.
They are all useless.

[pintsofguinness]

Delboy - I'd die in the boat after about 2 minutes! I'm not saying his success wasnt great, it was amazing but for me, he's not up there with some of the other people named. 

Gallsman, I cant be f**king arsed, you come on to this thread accusing people of being biased or anti british or some shite and accuse me or arguing. 


anyway, wobbler's list is close to the mark for me.

[gallsman]

Delboy - I'd die in the boat after about 2 minutes! I'm not saying his success wasnt great, it was amazing but for me, he's not up there with some of the other people named. 

Gallsman, I cant be f**king arsed, you come on to this thread accusing people of being biased or anti british or some shite and accuse me or arguing. 


anyway, wobbler's list is close to the mark for me.

Hang on now. You definitively stated that rowing requires neither talent nor skill. I'm asking you to justify this from personal experience. I'll ask again. Do you have any experience of rowing that can justify your statement that rowing requires neither talent nor skill?

[pintsofguinness]

Delboy - I'd die in the boat after about 2 minutes! I'm not saying his success wasnt great, it was amazing but for me, he's not up there with some of the other people named. 

Gallsman, I cant be f**king arsed, you come on to this thread accusing people of being biased or anti british or some shite and accuse me or arguing. 


anyway, wobbler's list is close to the mark for me.

Hang on now. You definitively stated that rowing requires neither talent nor skill. I'm asking you to justify this from personal experience. I'll ask again. Do you have any experience of rowing that can justify your statement that rowing requires neither talent nor skill?

yeah, I rowed for cambridge.

[thewobbler]

The reason Pod has won 3 majors is that they are all shyte.
Tiger won a major with a broken leg.
Pod's last major win was with an injured hand.
In other recent majors we have seen Greg Norman & Tom Watson leading for extended periods until they realised they needed a mid afternoon nap.
An amateur won the Irish Open & the current USPGA champion is a 37year old who only started playing golf when he was 19.
It all points to one thing.
They are all useless.

Given the ever-increasing technological, physical and mental strides taken by the human race, as well as the increasing global stature of the game, it would be a staggering anomaly if the current crop of golfers were anything other than the best ever. Golf is, after all, a sport that can be measured statistically. Every top-drawer course has had to be lengthened and tightened because of Woods and co.

[gallsman]

Delboy - I'd die in the boat after about 2 minutes! I'm not saying his success wasnt great, it was amazing but for me, he's not up there with some of the other people named. 

Gallsman, I cant be f**king arsed, you come on to this thread accusing people of being biased or anti british or some shite and accuse me or arguing. 


anyway, wobbler's list is close to the mark for me.

Hang on now. You definitively stated that rowing requires neither talent nor skill. I'm asking you to justify this from personal experience. I'll ask again. Do you have any experience of rowing that can justify your statement that rowing requires neither talent nor skill?

yeah, I rowed for cambridge.

I'll take that as a "no". That's fine, that's all I wanted to know. So what's the problem with rowing for you pints that you degrade it even though you've no experience of it. Is it that it's seen as a toff's sport?

[pintsofguinness]

Delboy - I'd die in the boat after about 2 minutes! I'm not saying his success wasnt great, it was amazing but for me, he's not up there with some of the other people named. 

Gallsman, I cant be f**king arsed, you come on to this thread accusing people of being biased or anti british or some shite and accuse me or arguing. 


anyway, wobbler's list is close to the mark for me.

Hang on now. You definitively stated that rowing requires neither talent nor skill. I'm asking you to justify this from personal experience. I'll ask again. Do you have any experience of rowing that can justify your statement that rowing requires neither talent nor skill?

yeah, I rowed for cambridge.

I'll take that as a "no". That's fine, that's all I wanted to know. So what's the problem with rowing for you pints that you degrade it even though you've no experience of it. Is it that it's seen as a toff's sport?

Aye and English, I'm bigoted like that, there could be no other reason for me having an opinion on it.