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Greatest raw athlete ever?

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smackababy said:
40 years later, he is still in the top 25 in terms of scorers in the Decathlon. I don't think he shouldn't be in contention for top 100 greatest athletes, but he sure isn't in the top 3. I'd even say putting up with the Kardashians makes him even more of an athlete! Keeping up with that level of crazy?

And, don't forget, he is an American hero! He beat those dirty commies after they stole our medals!

He was also a fairly successful race car driver! Okay, I revise that, he might be up there in terms of top 10.
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Decathlon is probably a a better measure of athleticism than excelling in any one sport. I remember when Bruce Jenner was a big deal. I think in the 80's people would always say the best athlete was either Carl Lewis, Bruce Jenner, Jim Thorpe or Jessie Owens. But for this thread, I think "raw" just means strength and speed, which would favor football players. Charles Barkley was also a phenom considering his frame and the position he played. In Todays NFL would no doubt be a great TE.

Speaking of tight ends, I'd think of raw when I watch Rob Gronkowski.
 
Childs said:
Decathlon is probably a a better measure of athleticism than excelling in any one sport. I remember when Bruce Jenner was a big deal. I think in the 80's people would always say the best athlete was either Carl Lewis, Bruce Jenner, Jim Thorpe or Jessie Owens. But for this thread, I think "raw" just means strength and speed, which would favor football players. Charles Barkley was also a phenom considering his frame and the position he played. In Todays NFL would no doubt be a great TE.

Speaking of tight ends, I'd think of raw when I watch Rob Gronkowski.
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Pat Dye tried to get Barkley to play football while he was at Auburn. Iirc, he was thinking DE or TE.
 
Sho'Nuff said:
Not to take anything away from Thorpe as he was clearly a great athlete. But should his performance be discounted a little because of the era he played in?
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no. and especially not in this discussion, which is about pure, untrained athleticism.

If anything, he clearly stands above them all, because it was an era that didn't see so much fine-tuned training, and he dominated to a degree like no one else of his time, and since.

You aren't ever going to see another athlete compete at such a high level, and dominate, across so many sports. ever.
 
Childs said:
Decathlon is probably a a better measure of athleticism than excelling in any one sport. I remember when Bruce Jenner was a big deal. I think in the 80's people would always say the best athlete was either Carl Lewis, Bruce Jenner, Jim Thorpe or Jessie Owens. But for this thread, I think "raw" just means strength and speed, which would favor football players. Charles Barkley was also a phenom considering his frame and the position he played. In Todays NFL would no doubt be a great TE.

Speaking of tight ends, I'd think of raw when I watch Rob Gronkowski.
Click to expand...
Since you mentioned Jesse Owens:

http://www.si.com/more-sports/2010/05/24/owens-recordday
 
I hear Michael Sam likes it raw.


This is just a warning. We received a complaint. Please refrain from such crude, dismissive "jokes." It's still not easy being gay.

Perknose
Forum Director
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Maybe not as flashy as the rest of the guys being discussed, but Dave Winfield was drafted by 4 different pro leagues in 3 sports, including the NFL. And he never played college football.
 
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