ESPN's SportsCentury - If They Updated It Now (1 Viewer)

[Uruk-Hai]

Which more recent athletes (if any) would make the Top 50? And who would get booted from the old list to make room?

Number Athlete Sport 1 Michael Jordan Basketball 2 Babe Ruth Baseball 3 Muhammad Ali Boxing 4 Jim Brown Football 5 Wayne Gretzky Ice hockey 6 Jesse Owens Track and field 7 Jim Thorpe Multiple sports 8 Willie Mays Baseball 9 Jack Nicklaus Golf 10 Babe Zaharias Multiple sports 11 Joe Louis Boxing 12 Carl Lewis Track and field 13 Wilt Chamberlain Basketball 14 Hank Aaron Baseball 15 Jackie Robinson Baseball 16 Ted Williams Baseball 17 Magic Johnson Basketball 18 Bill Russell Basketball 19 Martina Navratilova Tennis 20 Ty Cobb Baseball 21 Gordie Howe Ice hockey 22 Joe DiMaggio Baseball 23 Jackie Joyner-Kersee Track and field 24 Sugar Ray Robinson Boxing 25 Joe Montana Football 26 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Basketball 27 Jerry Rice Football 28 Red Grange Football 29 Arnold Palmer Golf 30 Larry Bird Basketball 31 Bobby Orr Ice hockey 32 Johnny Unitas Football 33 Mark Spitz Swimming 34 Lou Gehrig Baseball 35 Secretariat Horse racing 36 Oscar Robertson Basketball 37 Mickey Mantle Baseball 38 Ben Hogan Golf 39 Walter Payton Football 40 Lawrence Taylor Football 41 Wilma Rudolph Track and field 42 Sandy Koufax Baseball 43 Julius Erving Basketball 44 Bobby Jones Golf 45 Bill Tilden Tennis 46 Eric Heiden Speed skating, cycling 47 Edwin Moses Track and field 48 Pete Sampras Tennis 49 O. J. Simpson Football 50 Chris Evert Tennis

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

Demote Magic Johnson since we know he faked having AIDS.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Sorry for the formatting.

I'm thinking new entries would be:

Tiger, for sure

Usain Bolt

Michael Phelps

Federer

maybe Mariano Rivera?

Brady or Favre or Peyton?

LeBron?

 

[whoknew]

LeBron

Michael Phelps

Bolt

Tiger

Lidstrom

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Christine Michael

 

[Keith R]

Only counts retired athletes, right? If so, OJ gets bumped for Money Mayweather, no other changes made, other than some reshuffling.

 

[Mr. Yuk]

Off the top of my head, Tiger would have to be up there. LeBron probably. Roger Federer is considered by many to be better than Sampras, so he would probably sneak on.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Christine Michael

Only the greatest 4th string RB in the history of the NFL.

 

[Don Quixote]

Serena should be on too.

 

[whoknew]

Serena should be on too.

 

[ShamrockPride]

Knock The Babe down a bunch. Dude ran like a grandpa with a stick up his a##. Power was all he had.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Interesting to see Julius Erving on that list, since nowadays you almost never see him mentioned when people discuss the 10 best players in the NBA alone.

 

[Michael Brown]

Knock The Babe down a bunch. Dude ran like a grandpa with a stick up his a##. Power was all he had.

Not sure if this is shtick, but he has a .342 career average with over 100 career triples and over 100 steals. Also has the record for best World Series ERA as a pitcher. You must be thinking of the "fat Elvis" phase of his career.

That said, I'd move Gretzky up. Not even a hockey fan, but few if any have ever dominated the way he did. His stats are just stupid.

 

[Ghost Rider]

I'd put Gretzky at number 1, but since I would never expect ESPN to put a hockey player over MJ, put him at number 2 at least.

 

[Txns8]

Messi needs a spot in here.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Interesting to see Julius Erving on that list, since nowadays you almost never see him mentioned when people discuss the 10 best players in the NBA alone.

As much as I loved watching Dr J, he wasn't one of the 10 best NBA players of all time.

I think I'd put Bolt, Phelps, Serena, Federer, and Tiger in the top 50 and take out Erving, Chrissy, OJ, Tilden, & Heiden. I want to put Lebron in, too, but I don't know who else to bump - maybe Mantle or Moses or Jackie Robinson?

Ali would be my #1. Besides being arguably the best ever on his field of play, his cultural impact is off the charts.

 

[ShamrockPride]

I'd put Gretzky at number 1, but since I would never expect ESPN to put a hockey player over MJ, put him at number 2 at least.

He's also Canadian. No way ESPN could put a non-American as #1.

 

[matuski]

There is a fugging horse on that list.

I declare it devoid of validity.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

There is a fugging horse on that list.

I declare it devoid of validity.

I remember Tony Kornheiser going nuts over Secretariat being included.

 

[ShamrockPride]

There is a fugging horse on that list.

I declare it devoid of validity.

I remember Tony Kornheiser going nuts over Secretariat being included.

Does this really bother people?

 

[Ramsay Hunt Experience]

Serena should be on too.

Kind of surprising the Steffi didn't make it in the first place.

 

[Don Quixote]

Serena should be on too.

Kind of surprising the Steffi didn't make it in the first place.

I think it is just an American/North American list. I'd guess someone like Pele would be up there otherwise too.

 

[flapgreen]

There is a fugging horse on that list.

I declare it devoid of validity.

I remember Tony Kornheiser going nuts over Secretariat being included.

Does this really bother people?

Bothers me

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Secretariat ran like a locomotive, Babe Ruth ran like a little girl.

 

[comfortably numb]

Jeff Gordons car

 

[Underachievers]

Another vote for Gretzky at the top. Nobody has ever and will ever dominate a sport like he did.

Edit: Except Lance Armstrong.

 

[The General]

Knock The Babe down a bunch. Dude ran like a grandpa with a stick up his a##. Power was all he had.

All Jordan had was scoring.