OT... Greatest athlete you've ever seen play. Any sport

[88ND]

The greatest athlete you've ever had the privledge of seeing IN person of any sport.

I've been around a lot of incredible athletes in football and seen many in other sports.

For me....

Mario Lemieux in his prime was the greatest athlete I've ever seen in person.

For a 3-4 year window he was better than Gretzky.

Just a man among boys.

 

[Catholicfan95]

My dad wants me to say for him "Randy Moss at Dupont High School, unreal"

For me I will say Pat White, WVU QB. Trying to be original here.

Also, its crazy if you look at the records Gretzky has in the NHL. They will never be broken.

 

[Get Nasty]

Zion Williamson......... not even close. I was on the floor for 3 of his games last year.

I'm saying Zion when i've witnessed up close in their prime, Jordan, Lebron, Kobe, Shaq, Griffey, ARod, Rocket, Deion, Bo, AP, Rickey H, and many more.

Zion is on another world athletically.

Maybe Wilt would have been more impressive, but I'm not that old.

 

[d1042]

The greatest athlete you've ever had the privledge of seeing IN person of any sport.

I've been around a lot of incredible athletes in football and seen many in other sports.

For me....

Mario Lemieux in his prime was the greatest athlete I've ever seen in person.

For a 3-4 year window he was better than Gretzky.

Just a man among boys.

Off results? Bill Russell
Jordan, J Brown, Raf Johnson, Mick, Ted Williams, Bo, Jackie, get it? there is never 1

 

[rgc7]

Joe DiMaggio the greatest All Around baseball player that I have ever seen, his 56 game hitting streak may never be broken, Joe just made every thing look easy. Ted Willians was the greatest
Pure hitter. Boxing Sugar Ray Robinson. Football Jim Brown.

 

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

The greatest athlete you've ever had the privledge of seeing IN person of any sport.

I've been around a lot of incredible athletes in football and seen many in other sports.

For me....

Mario Lemieux in his prime was the greatest athlete I've ever seen in person.

For a 3-4 year window he was better than Gretzky.

Just a man among boys.

I grew up in Chicago. My two picks are: Michael Jordan and Gale Sayers. I also loved Walter Payton, but his strongest attribute was not his athleticism, but his determination to beat you. Jordan was just incredible. I'm not sure there has ever been a more potent combination of athletic skill and will to win. As for Sayers, for 3+ seasons (before he blew out his knee) he was just magical. Greatest open field runner I ever watched. When he got the ball in his hands, you expected him to take it to the house. His career was far too short.

 

[d1042]

Joe DiMaggio the greatest All Around baseball player that I have ever seen, his 56 game hitting streak may never be broken, Joe just made every thing look easy. Ted Willians was the greatest
Pure hitter. Boxing Sugar Ray Robinson. Football Jim Brown.

yep, hard to pick among the greats! great is great! or it used to be!

now any cheap thing or mundane accomplishment can be labeled great.

 

[NotreDame du Lac]

Jon Jones.

 

[Rionegro]

Bo

 

[Golson5]

Off results? Bill Russell
Jordan, J Brown, Raf Johnson, Mick, Ted Williams, Bo, Jackie, get it? there is never 1

He said in person

 

[Golson5]

Lebron James

 

[BGI User 1596]

Bruce Jenner

 

[d1042]

Bruce Jenner

I think I saw him at the Kentucky Derby, now I realized why he cringed
when the race announcer said, “they’re off!”

 

[Leahylads]

Bo Jackson dominated in football and was an MLB allstar. Bo threw a baseball on the fly from the wall to home plate. There are very few humans who could do that.

 

[Riverside Irish]

Michael Phelps

 

[IrishInOntario]

Alex Honnold... Pack this thread up.





You slip, you die. You get nervous, you die. Your hand comes loose, you die. Your focus wanes, you die. You get a cramp, you die. You get tired, you die.

Alex is the most impressive athlete I've ever seen.

 

[88ND]

Off results? Bill Russell
Jordan, J Brown, Raf Johnson, Mick, Ted Williams, Bo, Jackie, get it? there is never 1

And you've seen all those play in person?

That itself is pretty damn incredible

 

[Fightingirish595]

Joe DiMaggio the greatest All Around baseball player that I have ever seen, his 56 game hitting streak may never be broken, Joe just made every thing look easy. Ted Willians was the greatest
Pure hitter. Boxing Sugar Ray Robinson. Football Jim Brown.

my grandpa told me joe D never struggled to catch a ball. He beat the ball to the spot every time. He was under everything

 

[Golson5]

Alex Honnold... Pack this thread up.

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You slip, you die. You get nervous, you die. Your hand comes loose, you die. Your focus wanes, you die. You get a cramp, you die. You get tired, you die.

Alex is the most impressive athlete I've ever seen.

Does that make you a great athlete? Not to me. Speed quickness agility vertical balance hand eye coordination.

Best athlete I've seen in person Lebron James

Best athlete of all time Bo Deion MJ Carl Lewis

 

[Hofman19]

Buvaisar Saitiev (Russia)....3x Olympic Gold medalist, 6x World Champion in Freestyle Wrestling.

I saw him at the 2003 World Championship tournament (hosted at Madison Square Garden).

That same year, I also saw the greatest female wrestler of all-time, Japan's Kaori Icho (4x Olympic Gold/10x World Champion).

 

[IrishInOntario]

Does that make you a great athlete? Not to me. Speed quickness agility vertical balance hand eye coordination.

Best athlete I've seen in person Lebron James

Best athlete of all time Bo Deion MJ Carl Lewis

Yes it does, IMO.

Put Alex Honnold in Lebron James' sport and the player he is defending scores 40+ points (with some help defense) and Alex gets utterly embarrassed, but finishes the game.

Put Lebron James on a 4000 ft wall with nothing but a bag of chalk and he probably can't climb up 20 feet without falling. Even if he could start half way up, he plummets to his death in less than a minute.

What Alex has accomplished is completely unprecedented.

 

[wytelitning]

Grandpa told me it’s only fair to compare greatest athlete against their peers in the same time period. He also told me it was Jim Thorpe...hands down. And this from someone who played with Jackie and against DiMaggio.

For me it’s Bo. I also watched a lot of high school football and basketball in So Cal growing up and nobody could touch Napoleon Kaufman and Ed Obannon at that level.

 

[Golson5]

Yes it does, IMO.

Put Alex Honnold in Lebron James' sport and the player he is defending scores 40+ points (with some help defense) and Alex gets utterly embarrassed, but finishes the game.

Put Lebron James on a 4000 ft wall with nothing but a bag of chalk and he probably can't climb up 20 feet without falling. Even if he could start half way up, he plummets to his death in less than a minute.

What Alex has accomplished is completely unprecedented.

Yes it is. Doesnt make him a good athlete. Same with people who tightrope 10,000 feet in the air. It's crazy. It's an accomplishment. It's awesome. Doesnt make either the least bit athletic

 

[rgc7]

my grandpa told me joe D never struggled to catch a ball. He beat the ball to the spot every time. He was under everything

Fightinggirish595,

Joe was a pleasure to watch . He was always in the right position based upon his knowledge of the pitcher and the batter,
So when the ball was hit to center field , Di Maggio would make the catch look easy. Watching Joe play
Center field was like watching a graceful ballet dancer. Joe did everything with perfection.
You grandpa had it exactly right.

 

[theskibro]

Fightinggirish595,

Joe was a pleasure to watch . He was always in the right position based upon his knowledge of the pitcher and the batter,
So when the ball was hit to center field , Di Maggio would make the catch look easy. Watching Joe play
Center field was like watching a graceful ballet dancer. Joe did everything with perfection.
You grandpa had it exactly right.

Rafa Nadal

 

[IrishInOntario]

Yes it is. Doesnt make him a good athlete. Same with people who tightrope 10,000 feet in the air. It's crazy. It's an accomplishment. It's awesome. Doesnt make either the least bit athletic

If you don't think climbing requires an exceptional amount of strength, stamina, endurance, flexibility, coordination, etc, etc... I don't know what to say.

Lebron James is a monster. He's a jacked 270ish pounds. Just a freak. Alex Honnold would embarrass him in a chin up or pull up competition. These guys dangle on a near horizontal out cropping and pull themselves up without issue.

 

[Irishjohn68]

Deion Sanders, saw him play when he was with the Cincinnati Reds.

 

[mistygreen]

Depends on what you mean by "athlete". Mikhail Baryshnikov Could do things with his body that were amazing, but no one was trying to tackle him.

 

[Walruzz]

I’ve seen Gretzky, Lemieux, Tiger Woods (in his prime), Lebron James, Serena and Venus Williams, Nadal, and a host of others live. (Gretzky in his prime was the better player, Lemieux was more physically gifted.)

AND ITS NOT EVEN CLOSE.

Simone Biles is easily the most dominant athlete ever, and she still has multiple gold medals waiting for her in Tokyo. She is performing skills that very few physically dominant men can perform. (3! Think about that - only 3 men have been able to match her floor routine!) And when it comes to athleticism, you have to remember that women’s gymnastics is 4 distinct sports requiring vastly different skill sets. She is the best in the world in 3/4 and in the top 3 in the last one.

 

[scubastevefl]

Greg Maddox, second stint with the Cubs, watcher him pitch a 9 inning complete game two hitter with ground out after ground out.

@the Marlins Hard rock stadium with like 3,500 in attendance.

 

[Golson5]

If you don't think climbing requires an exceptional amount of strength, stamina, endurance, flexibility, coordination, etc, etc... I don't know what to say.

Lebron James is a monster. He's a jacked 270ish pounds. Just a freak. Alex Honnold would embarrass him in a chin up or pull up competition. These guys dangle on a near horizontal out cropping and pull themselves up without issue.

Couldn't disagree anymore. And who cares who can do more pull ups lol.

Guys who do parkour over high buildings are crazy too. Alex Honnold probably can't jump from building to building and all the other crazy crap they do. So are they better athletes than him and lebron who would also die doing that. Hell no

That would be silly. Just like saying him being a great "athlete" is.

Doing dangerous crazy stuff doesn't make someone athletic

 

[NDIRISH53]

Barry Bonds maybe. Saw him play at Citizen’s Bank Park in 06 I believe.

 

[IrishInOntario]

Couldn't disagree anymore. And who cares who can do more pull ups lol.

Guys who do parkour over high buildings are crazy too. Alex Honnold probably can't jump from building to building and all the other crazy crap they do. So are they better athletes than him and lebron who would also die doing that. Hell no

That would be silly. Just like saying him being a great "athlete" is.

Doing dangerous crazy stuff doesn't make someone athletic

It's not simply the danger associated, it's the combination of athletic prowess and mental stamina that is truly amazing...

Speaking of incredible feats of athleticism, a Kenyan runner just broke the 2 hour mark for a full marathon...

Running fast, jumping high and dunking a ball are not the only feats of athleticism. It's extremely narrow minded to "poo poo" somebody like Alex Honnold simply because his sport isn't as main stream as guy like Lebron James'. There are elements of his sport that an athlete built like Lebron James, Michael Jordan or Bo Jackson would be terrible at.

 

[bizzybecknd]

Luther Wright

Yes it does, IMO.

Put Alex Honnold in Lebron James' sport and the player he is defending scores 40+ points (with some help defense) and Alex gets utterly embarrassed, but finishes the game.

Put Lebron James on a 4000 ft wall with nothing but a bag of chalk and he probably can't climb up 20 feet without falling. Even if he could start half way up, he plummets to his death in less than a minute.

What Alex has accomplished is completely unprecedented.

While I absolutely see your point, by that logic, the fisherman on Deadliest Catch are better athletes than the guys being mentioned. A dangerous/risky skill doesn't mean you're the best athlete but rather the one with the biggest stones. That being said, Luther Wright.

 

[Catholicfan95]

Joey Chesnut hands down

 

[irishcatman]

Went to high school in Fort Wayne in the 80's and the single greatest athlete l ever saw and competed against was Rod Woodson, and it wasn't even close..very nice guy too..He graduated 2 years ahead of me but to see him up front , in person was just amazing...I ran track against him and for 2 straight years he never lost either a high or low hurdle race...2 year undefeated and a 2x state champion in both...absolutely incredible career..to see him on a football field at that time you just knew he was destined for greatness....as l said VERY NICE guy too, down to earth and humble..

 

[BGI User 1596]

Andreas Krieger

 

[Golson5]

It's not simply the danger associated, it's the combination of athletic prowess and mental stamina that is truly amazing...

Speaking of incredible feats of athleticism, a Kenyan runner just broke the 2 hour mark for a full marathon...

Running fast, jumping high and dunking a ball are not the only feats of athleticism. It's extremely narrow minded to "poo poo" somebody like Alex Honnold simply because his sport isn't as main stream as guy like Lebron James'. There are elements of his sport that an athlete built like Lebron James, Michael Jordan or Bo Jackson would be terrible at.

Marathon runners are meh to me as athletes.

The best athletes in our country (which is the most athletic in the world) play basketball and football.

Those 2 sports require speed quickness agility balance hand eye balance strength jumping at the highest levels. Multiple multiple athletic traits. The best athletes play these sports. I respect the hell out of other sports to me they require the most athletic traits and they compete against other great athletes.

I have zero clue if that guy is even athletic. If you put him on a court or field would he look like a fish out of water. Maybe, maybe not. I have no clue. Deion can play baseball football basketball track at high high levels. That's a phenomenal athlete to me

 

[IrishInOntario]

Marathon runners are meh to me as athletes.

The best athletes in our country (which is the most athletic in the world) play basketball and football.

Those 2 sports require speed quickness agility balance hand eye balance strength jumping at the highest levels. Multiple multiple athletic traits. The best athletes play these sports. I respect the hell out of other sports to me they require the most athletic traits and they compete against other great athletes.

I have zero clue if that guy is even athletic. If you put him on a court or field would he look like a fish out of water. Maybe, maybe not. I have no clue. Deion can play baseball football basketball track at high high levels. That's a phenomenal athlete to me

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I do think Deion is an incredible athlete, but to insinuate that football and basketball players are arbitrarily the best athletes in the world is to ignore a variety of types of athletic gifts possessed by people that participate in other sports.

There are incredible athletes who just choose to go in a different direction than ending up with CTE... Unfortunately, I wasn't one of them. Football was my jam.

 

[echowaker]

Lebron for me. espn naming Michael Jordan as the athlete of the century over guys like Jim Thorpe, Bo, Wilt and Jim Brown was an absolute farce. How can a guy who failed miserably in an attempt to play a 2nd sport be a better athlete than guys who were exceptional in multiple sports ?