Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Top Athletes of All Time

I saw this on the internet. There are a number of lists like this, of course. I thought I would pick one and critique it. To critique does not necessarily mean criticism in a negative sense. Although in this case it will be. His is not that different from the other lists. They're all equally off-base / out in left field / out of bounds. Next time I can give my own (i.e., the correct answers)

So here is his list. (His name is withheld because some of his selections are just ridiculous.)

  1. Michael Jordan - Not bad. Not bad at all. He's placed just a little too high, but not bad.We will limit ourselves to retired players so we do not need to get into the Michael / Lebron debate which has already become quite tiresome with no end in sight. 
  2. Jim Thorpe - A fun choice, but really shouldn't be here. He did a lot of sports - track, football, baseball. But I've played those sports, too, but I'm not on this list. He was really good in football, but he played teams that weren't that high caliber. And his baseball stats were pretty so-so.
  3. Deion Sanders - I'm just going to pretend he's not here, so I don't have to explain what a weird choice this is.
  4. Bo Jackson - Again, the Jim Thorpe trap. He excelled in football and baseball, but so what? He doesn't get double points for that. He had his career cut short by injury. That is too bad, but lots of guys make this list if you are going with what might have been. 
  5. Pele - Never thought of him. Excellent choice. 
  6. Muhammad Ali - Sorry. Not even close. I'm not sure he is even top 6 in the sport of boxing. He retook his title several times. But that means he lost it several times. The same issue as Bo of what might have been. He lost prime years because he refused to fight in Vietnam. That's your doing, plus its tough for a professional fighter to claim he's a pacifist. Joe Louis might have been better. Joe Frazier was probably better. George Foreman is ahead because of his grill alone.
  7. Jim Brown - Retired in his 20's so he could make bad movies. Plus your stats look better if you only play during your prime. 
  8. Babe Ruth - Yes. Should be even higher.
  9. Bobby Orr - A find hockey player, but is way too high on this list.
  10. Tiger Woods - Disqualified by the fact that he is not retired and by the fact that even I would have a shot at beating him now.

No comments: