BOF Posted October 30, 2013 Moderator Share Posted October 30, 2013 Sasa CurcicBig Brother is definitely not a sport :-P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 MJ Mooney? He's pretty good too yeah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikantcpell Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 Ingemar Stenmark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted October 30, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted October 30, 2013 MJ Mooney? He's pretty good too yeah You've obviously never seen me play football. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shillzz Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 Jim Clark possibly, not Senna anyway. In my lifetime, Bolt would be the standout candidate. He is just a league above everyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 im sure if they had this debate on Sky 6 months ago, Gareth Bale would have been No.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shillzz Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 (edited) On the topic of Phil Taylor, Ronnie O'Sullivan etc... Ask anyone from outside the UK for their opinions on such individuals and they wouldn't have a clue. They may/may not be sports, but either way, they're not sports that are played the world over, and I think that precludes their participants from being considered for greatest sportsman in the history of the world. It would be a bit like an Australian coming on here and declaring Kev & Sheila to be the worlds greatest sports-people due to their achievements in the field of Kangaroo hurding. (I hope this is racist enough for people to realise i'm not being serious). Edited October 30, 2013 by Shillzz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Ginko Posted October 30, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted October 30, 2013 Andros Townsend. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 not greatest fan of sport but if only hurling was more mainstream as Henry Shefflin would definitely get a mention. guy has McGrath like knees but always turned up on All-Ireland final day with or without injury and played his best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 In a similar way to Ali, Sir Viv Richards should get a mention, because of the way he transcends his sport. Not only one of the greatest batsmen to walk the earth, but a man of integrity, and an example to all. He turned down a million dollar cheque, and refused to play in South Africa, during Apartheid. Plus he's one cool mother flipper. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shillzz Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 For me Ali is a bit like Beckham, not in personality, but in so far as his fame owes as much to his off-field pursuits as it does to his sporting ability. Should Ali have been a quieter individual, then I suspect he would barely get a mention in such a debate. Now you could argue that, particularly for boxing, the showmanship forms an important part of an athlete's ability, but not for me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted October 30, 2013 Moderator Share Posted October 30, 2013 I agree Shillzz. If we're talking greatest sports celebrity ever, then maybe. But he doesn't hold a candle to some of the names in here in terms of pure sporting ability. Even within boxing it's arguable that he's the greatest ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 For me Ali is a bit like Beckham, not in personality, but in so far as his fame owes as much to his off-field pursuits as it does to his sporting ability. Should Ali have been a quieter individual, then I suspect he would barely get a mention in such a debate. Now you could argue that, particularly for boxing, the showmanship forms an important part of an athlete's ability, but not for me. I think you're doing Ali a bit of a disservice, as I think he was an amazingly talented Athlete who did it all in his sport, but I kind of see what you're saying. However isn't the showmanship side of it important? Isn't that what people pay to see? I don't want my sporting heroes to be robots. I want them to have personality, and show a human side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted October 30, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted October 30, 2013 (edited) I think you're doing Ali a bit of a disservice, as I think he was an amazingly talented Athlete who did it all in his sport, but I kind of see what you're saying. However isn't the showmanship side of it important? Isn't that what people pay to see? I don't want my sporting heroes to be robots. I want them to have personality, and show a human side. Trouble is, "having personality" tends to be a euphemism for "being an arrogant gobshite". I prefer my sporting heroes to let their sport do the talking, and their "human side" to be manifested by modesty. Edited October 30, 2013 by mjmooney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 In a similar way to Ali, Sir Viv Richards should get a mention, because of the way he transcends his sport. Not only one of the greatest batsmen to walk the earth, but a man of integrity, and an example to all. He turned down a million dollar cheque, and refused to play in South Africa, during Apartheid. Plus he's one cool mother flipper. My SSID has been a tribute to the great man for the last year and a half. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shillzz Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 For me Ali is a bit like Beckham, not in personality, but in so far as his fame owes as much to his off-field pursuits as it does to his sporting ability. Should Ali have been a quieter individual, then I suspect he would barely get a mention in such a debate. Now you could argue that, particularly for boxing, the showmanship forms an important part of an athlete's ability, but not for me. I think you're doing Ali a bit of a disservice, as I think he was an amazingly talented Athlete who did it all in his sport, but I kind of see what you're saying. However isn't the showmanship side of it important? Isn't that what people pay to see? I don't want my sporting heroes to be robots. I want them to have personality, and show a human side. Certainly a point of debate where boxing is concerned. I briefly touched on this with my original post, but for me, it doesn't enhance the ability of an individual. I can certainly see why you might think that, but as with others, I prefer to judge an individual on sporting ability alone. By the same token, I can accept that Schumacher was an amazing driver, despite being somewhat of a badger baiter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 But then on sporting ability alone Ali is the greatest heavyweight of all time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 I think you're doing Ali a bit of a disservice, as I think he was an amazingly talented Athlete who did it all in his sport, but I kind of see what you're saying. However isn't the showmanship side of it important? Isn't that what people pay to see? I don't want my sporting heroes to be robots. I want them to have personality, and show a human side. Trouble is, "having personality" tends to be a euphemism for "being an arrogant gobshite". I prefer my sporting heroes to let their sport do the talking, and their "human side" to be manifested by modesty. I wouldn't use the phrase "arrogant gobshite" to describe Ali. Clever, astute, witty, supremely confident, and self aware maybe. Sometimes, a sportsman has just got it, and you have to respect it. For instance, I didn't like the way Shane Warne went about his business, in his playing days, but I respected him and recognised him as a special talent. I also loved to watch him bowl. He was everything I hated about the Australian cricket team, but I could see that it was all part of his character, it didn't mean I didn't rate him as all time great. Sport would be so much the worse, if we didn't have people like Ali, Warne, Gazza, Bolt, C Ronaldo etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shillzz Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 I think you're doing Ali a bit of a disservice, as I think he was an amazingly talented Athlete who did it all in his sport, but I kind of see what you're saying. However isn't the showmanship side of it important? Isn't that what people pay to see? I don't want my sporting heroes to be robots. I want them to have personality, and show a human side. Trouble is, "having personality" tends to be a euphemism for "being an arrogant gobshite". I prefer my sporting heroes to let their sport do the talking, and their "human side" to be manifested by modesty. I wouldn't use the phrase "arrogant gobshite" to describe Ali. Clever, astute, witty, supremely confident, and self aware maybe. Sometimes, a sportsman has just got it, and you have to respect it. For instance, I didn't like the way Shane Warne went about his business, in his playing days, but I respected him and recognised him as a special talent. I also loved to watch him bowl. He was everything I hated about the Australian cricket team, but I could see that it was all part of his character, it didn't mean I didn't rate him as all time great. Sport would be so much the worse, if we didn't have people like Ali, Warne, Gazza, Bolt, C Ronaldo etc. I think this very debate highlights the problem with appraising someone according to their personality. One person's gobshite is another persons supremely confident sportsman. No doubt sport would be worse off without the 'personalities', but it's too subjective to include as a criteria for rating someone's ability as a sportsman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted October 30, 2013 Moderator Share Posted October 30, 2013 But then on sporting ability alone Ali is the greatest heavyweight of all time. It's a great unanswerable that I'd love to have seen Tyson at his absolute peak versus Ali at his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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