Greatest all-round analysis and rankings
Preamble: While not rated any more heavily, this to me seems like the most significant category in this draft. It’s also probably the most subjective. I’ve given this my best thought but frankly struggled with this more than the other categories I’ve done. It has been a joy though learning more about the athletes I knew for one sport but not for others.
Criteria:
1. Number of sports played and ease of transition (most weight). Note: there’s a tier of guy who were the best ever at their particular craft, but I could find no evidence that they excelled at other sports.
2. Excellence in each sport played (more weight).
3. General sentiment/legendary status (less weight) – this is perhaps the most flimsy/subjective of factors, but admittedly there was a guy or two on her I’ve never heard of. While I don’t know everything about sports, I’ve followed them my entire life and if I haven’t heard of the person that’s not a good sign.
4. Entertaining and inspirational play (less weight) – Generally to be used as a tiebreaker, I am going to give slight consideration to just how ####### awesome the athlete was to watch.
Very surprising omissions: None – a lot of the athletes were probably more wisely taken in other categories. Ali, Jordan, Pele, Phelps all would have ranked high on this list but wouldn’t have breached the top tier I don’t think so credit to the drafters.
Somewhat surprising omission – Allen Iverson. I mean, he’s like the rich-man’s Charlie Ward. I named a tier after him. Crazy good QB. Russell Wilson as well. Roman Sebrle probably deserved consideration as the greatest decathlete ever. Lionel Canacher is known as the “Canadian Jim Thorpe” and would have been top ten on this list as well. Dan O’Brien possibly deserved consideration and Herschel Walker would have been a top ten choice as well. Joe Mauer is a poor-man’s Dave Winfield but I drafted him as a catcher.
Note: my pick was Jim Thorpe. I think he’s the greatest athlete ever and was number one on my board going into this draft. When Bo went before me, I opted to go Ali with the thought Thorpe would fall and he did. I seriously contemplated punting my top tier or making a poll but was told to man up and just rank them, so I did. Nonetheless, other than just knowing Wikkid’s choice, I ranked these blind to the drafter and to the order taken.
Tier One (greatest athletes ever):
1. (16 points) Jim Thorpe – Played both professional football and baseball. Excelled the most at football where he won the collegiate national championship playing 4 different positions and went on to play pro football until he was 41. He also was a good lacrosse player in college and wrestled and played basketball. However, what sets him apart from Bo and Brown is that he easily won gold medals in the Olympics in the pentathlon and decathlon – two events designed to bring out the best all-around track and field athletes. Could Bo and Brown have done the same? Perhaps. But Thorpe did it and I genuinely don’t know what sport he couldn’t excel at. He’s the best all-around athlete to ever grace this planet.
2. (15 points) Jim Brown – He’s without much of a doubt the greatest lacrosse player ever and he’s in the argument for best football player ever (I tend to lean Rice or Brady but undoubtedly Brown is in the argument). In high school he earned 13 letters across five different sports. He edges out Bo because he was slightly better at football than Bo (though they both had short careers so who knows) and he was better at lacrosse than Bo was at baseball.
3. (14 points) Bo Jackson – the flame that burns twice as bright burns twice as short. The guy who was best at playing two of the major sports, injury shortened what could have been such legendary careers in both – and may have put him atop these rankings.
4. (13 points) Babe Didrikson Zeharias – She’s hands down the greatest female athlete to ever live and deserves to be in this tier. She was a great basketball player and golfer and medaled in track and field at the Olympics. For ####s and gigs she also played billards, baseball, roller-skating, field hockey, bowling, diving, sewing, and probably any other sport some overconfident male challenged her at. And she did it all in an era when women were discouraged from playing sports (she was rejected from getting her PGA tour card despite qualifying).
Tier Two (stud athletes who happen to choose baseball):
5. (12 points) Jackie Robinson – Obviously known for his excellence on the diamond and what he did for breaking the color-barrier, but he was also a great college football player and track and field star.
6. (11 points) Dave Winfield – Was drafted to play in four major league sports (MLB, NBA, ABA, and NFL) – a record. He chose baseball and excelled for years making the HOF.
Tier Three (Track and field stars that dominated other sports)
7. (10 points) Bob Hayes – Answered the question of “what if Usain Bolt could play football?” before it was even asked.
8. (9)Rafer Johnson – A great decathlete (won numerous golds and set world records in the 1950s) who also happened to start on a John Wooden-led NCAAB team. Turned down a football scholarship.
Tier Four (Allen Iverson All-stars):
9. (8 points) Charlie Ward – Heisman win who chose to play in the NBA and had a solid, lengthy career. Who was also drafted to play professional baseball. Love this pick as he wasn’t great/legendary at a particular sport but definitely could have played professionally in several of them.
10. (7 points) Danny Ainge – Great collegiate and NBA player but also played three seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays.
11. (6 points) Kyler Murray – While he’s a bit young for these rankings, I cannot ignore that he’s the only athlete to ever be drafted in the first round of two major sports.
12. (5 points) Joe Thomas – My initial thought was “how did this guy not go as an offensive lineman?” but after review this was a sneaky-good pick. He’s obviously one of the most durable, good offensive linemen to ever play football but he’s now the reigning Titan Games champion and has totally transformed himself.
Tier four (great at one really athletic event)
13. (4 points) Daley Thompson - One of the greatest decathletes ever, and certainly the greatest from the UK. However, I could find no evidence that he played other sports. He gets the top of this tier because of the wide range of athletic talents the decathlon requires.
14. (3 points) Mark Allen – The greatest endurance athlete ever and probably greatest triathlete, I struggle to see him being able to compete at other sports where more than just simply being in crazy good shape is required.
15. (2 points) Eddy Merckx – Probably the greatest ever cyclist, I can’t analyze him much differently than Allen or Thompson and he rates lower as he just did one thing (cycling) versus three things and ten things.
Tier Five (I can’t smell what you’re cooking)
16. (1 point) Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – Yeah, he played some college football and he’s super fit and wrestled, but he actually grew up in the same high school conference as yours truly and wouldn’t have even been considered a top athlete in high school. He’s listed as an “actor” on his Wikipedia page before anything even athletic. Brock Lesnar would have been the far better pick if one if following the line of thinking that I assume this drafter was.
