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Which person do you think mastered his/her sport better than anyone else?

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Tiger Woods, without a doubt. Unlike many of the others named so far, Tiger still has some of his best years left in front of him, assuming nothing bad happens along the way. He is a freak, and I mean that in a good way.
 
Originally posted by: BrokenVisage
So many candidates in the US alone... MJ, Ali, Gretzky, Woods, Ruth, Brown.. but it's not any one of them. Not Sadaharu Oh or Pele either. It's somebody I never even heard about until 30 minutes ago, but from what I can see he's the greatest at his sport than anyone can hope to be in theirs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Bradman

I might not know crap about Cricket, but comparisons like this are mighty impressive to me. Never saw him play and don't know much about the sport, but numbers don't lie.
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I read the thread title and immediately thought of Donald Bradman.
 
Originally posted by: BrokenVisage
So many candidates in the US alone... MJ, Ali, Gretzky, Woods, Ruth, Brown.. but it's not any one of them.
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Where is Gretzky from? Silly me, I thought he was from Ontario.
 
Originally posted by: ManyBeers
I know the topic is sports but i'm going to fudge a little with my nominee for master of his game.
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Ha ha, that guy would fail at playing any computer now that the solution to checkers has been determined.
 
Originally posted by: judasmachine
Lance Armstrong
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Pretty good, forgot all about him.

Originally posted by: Mwilding
Where is Gretzky from? Silly me, I thought he was from Ontario.
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I never said "only in the US", I just named a couple candidates from the US that could be considered.

Originally posted by: chuckywang
I read the thread title and immediately thought of Donald Bradman.
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:thumbsup:
 
I read some wikipedia pages on Donald Bradman but I don't understand the game and its terminology enough (at all, actually) to put any of his accomplishments into context. But when someone is so good they force opponents to devise completely unheard-of strategies to defend against them (Bodyline), that says a lot.
 
Originally posted by: BrokenVisage
Originally posted by: Mwilding
Where is Gretzky from? Silly me, I thought he was from Ontario.
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I never said "only in the US", I just named a couple candidates from the US that could be considered.
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You'd be better off just admitting the mistake and keeping it moving. When you say something like "so many candidates in the US alone" and start listing people, it's a fair assumption that the people you're going to list are American.

It's okay. Everybody makes mistakes sometimes. Even Lifers.
 
Originally posted by: kranky
I read some wikipedia pages on Donald Bradman but I don't understand the game and its terminology enough (at all, actually) to put any of his accomplishments into context. But when someone is so good they force opponents to devise completely unheard-of strategies to defend against them (Bodyline), that says a lot.
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Then you should look up George Mikan, they changed the rules of the game, not just how to defend, because he was that dominate. Still think Wilt topped him.
 
Originally posted by: MiranoPoncho
Mariusz Pudzianowski. ah heck can eat any other athlete alive.
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I didn't know who he was, so I looked at his Wiki:

Profile

* Weight - 140 kg (309 lb)
* BMI - 43.2
* Chest - 145 cm (57 in)
* Neck - 54 cm (21 in)
* Waist - 94 cm (37 in)
* Thigh - 80 cm (31 in)
* Arms - 56 cm (22 in)
* Forearm - 45 cm (18 in)
* Shoe size - 45
* Shirt - None
* Shoe Preference - Nike
* Favorite Smell - Chalk
* Regular Diet - Protein Shakes
* Likes His Cheese - Double
* Appears in - Subway Commercials
* Ashamed of - His small quads
* Favourite Chants - 'Poland!' and 'You want these, eat Double Cheese!'
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:laugh:
 
Billy Jean King bringing womens tennis pay wise up to par in the professionl series threw Virgina slims. Forceing the mens series into =pay.
 
I don't know anything about cricket, but Gretzky's records in hockey are so head and shoulders above the competition that I don't know he couldn't get the crown.

 
Originally posted by: GDaddy
Originally posted by: kranky
I read some wikipedia pages on Donald Bradman but I don't understand the game and its terminology enough (at all, actually) to put any of his accomplishments into context. But when someone is so good they force opponents to devise completely unheard-of strategies to defend against them (Bodyline), that says a lot.
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Then you should look up George Mikan, they changed the rules of the game, not just how to defend, because he was that dominate. Still think Wilt topped him.
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I'm familiar with Mikan, who I agree is an all-time great, but the rule changes were primarily because of his size (widening the foul lane and instituting the goaltending rule) and the huge discrepancy between his size and that of the other players. Could be my personal bias that Mikan, Wilt, Shaq owed their success as much to their height compared to their peers, as they did to their skills. They were all great players, but in basketball a half-foot height advantage is going to make a huge difference, skills aside, and for whatever reason it doesn't impress me that much.
 
Originally posted by: Nemesis 1
Billy Jean King bringing womens tennis pay wise up to par in the professionl series threw Virgina slims. Forceing the mens series into =pay.
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Women's tennis still does not have equal pay across the board, nor should it....until the same number of people watch women's tennis as do watch the men.

Same with golf, basketball, etc. Sports are a business. I know some colleges have made a big deal of paying their women's hoops coaches the same as the men's. That makes no sense.
The X's and O's might be similar, but the JOB, the entire JOB, isn't even close to what the men's is.


Also, regarding Billy Jean King, she's famous for beating an old man, Bobby Riggs. And even then, the sets were like 6-3, 6-4, IIRC. He was 55 at the time, she was in her prime as a pro tennis player.

No woman pro could beat a male pro if they were both at the same stage of their careers.
Absolute guarantee that Billy Jean at age 55 would have been shut out by Riggs at the same age.


But back on topic: Regarding Tiger Woods, I really should have put Jack Nicklaus up there, at least until Tiger surpasses him.
IMO, although not to the same extent as Federer in tennis now, Tiger doesn't have as much competition like Jack did. Look back at the legendary names that Jack had to contend with each year.....then look at who challenges Tiger on a regular basis.
To face Tiger today, who are today's Johnny Millers, Arnold Palmers, Raymond Floyds, Tom Weiskopfs, Lee Trevinos, etc?
Tiger can't help that, and if he shows up and he's "on", nobody can touch him...but Jack's competition also could be "on"....can't say the same for Tiger's.

Regardless, Tiger's a bad mofo.
 
I'm so sick of seeing gretzky recognized as "the great one". Sure he had great passing ability but a lot of the points came against goalies who were half the size of today's and couldn't make a semi-difficult stop to save their life. They flopped around and hoped the puck hit them. Watch the g'damned highlights - you will laugh. Anyone with any amount of skill (above the avg NHLer) could pile up points.

92 goals? Try that against today's athletic & strong defensemen and goalies. Record-books my @$$.
 
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