The 50 Greatest Living Athletes

[JasonEvans]

GQ has come out with a list (https://www.gq.com/story/fifty-greatest-living-athlete?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email) and... well... it is pretty darn good. I haven't read through the whole thing yet, but it seems quite solid. Obviously, one can argue over what "athlete" means (and they mention that they left out guys like Larry Bird and Dan Marino precisely because they had trouble agreeing on what an "athlete" was) but this is a very good list.

1. Lebron James
2. Michael Jordan
3. Serena Williams
4. Bo Jackson
5. Carl Lewis
6. Willie Mays
7. Jerry Rice
8. Roger Federer
9. Diana Taurasi
10. Wayne Gretzky
11. Pele
12. Jim Brown
13. Tiger Woods
14. Usain Bolt
15. Michael Phelps
16. Julius Erving
17. Mia Hamm
18. Magic Johnson
19. Deion Sanders
20. Ken Griffey Jr.
21. Lionel Messi
22. Jackie Joyner-Kersee
23. Tom Brady
24. Barry Sanders
25. Martina Navratilova

-Jason "if you want the rest, look at the link" Evans

[yancem]

GQ has come out with a list (https://www.gq.com/story/fifty-greatest-living-athlete?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email) and... well... it is pretty darn good. I haven't read through the whole thing yet, but it seems quite solid. Obviously, one can argue over what "athlete" means (and they mention that they left out guys like Larry Bird and Dan Marino precisely because they had trouble agreeing on what an "athlete" was) but this is a very good list.

1. Lebron James
2. Michael Jordan
3. Serena Williams
4. Bo Jackson
5. Carl Lewis
6. Willie Mays
7. Jerry Rice
8. Roger Federer
9. Diana Taurasi
10. Wayne Gretzky
11. Pele
12. Jim Brown
13. Tiger Woods
14. Usain Bolt
15. Michael Phelps
16. Julius Erving
17. Mia Hamm
18. Magic Johnson
19. Deion Sanders
20. Ken Griffey Jr.
21. Lionel Messi
22. Jackie Joyner-Kersee
23. Tom Brady
24. Barry Sanders
25. Martina Navratilova

-Jason "if you want the rest, look at the link" Evans

If you are going to leave off Dan Marino because you're having difficulty defining "athletic" then how do you include Tom Brady? I mean, he's one of the top 2-3 qb's of all time but he's not Michael Vic or Cam Newton.

Also, Jim Brown has to be higher.

[bullettoothtony]

Quick impressions:

Jordan is #1 by a comfortable margin. And it isn't hard for me to say that even as a Duke fan.

And Tiger Woods is too low.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Quick impressions:

Jordan is #1 by a comfortable margin. And it isn't hard for me to say that even as a Duke fan.

And Tiger Woods is too low.

Lebron is a more pure athlete than Jordan, sorry. You can argue that Jordan was a better competitor or a better basketball player, but jeez, look at them side by side.

[Papa John]

Kelly Slater and Tony Hawk are the only athletes on here that you would characterize as non-traditional or lower profile sport athletes, yet I’m sure there are others who deserve to be on such a list.

One who surely does is Alex Honnold, a free-climber whose feats are absolutely legendary. For example, he is the only climber who has scaled both Half Dome and El Capitan without a rope, and he did both in a matter of hours. These are climbs that take seasoned climbers(using safety harnesses and anchors) days to complete, mind you. Writer Mark Jenkins described Honnold’s feat when he first free climbed El Cap in terms of a performance by Michael Jordan... to paraphrase, it was something to the effect of, “imagine a situation in which Michael Jordan needs to hit every single shot—layups, dunks, short jumpers, free throws, three pointers—every shot he takes, he must make, because as soon as he misses, he dies. That encapsulates the level of skill, strength and concentration required to do what Honnold has done.”

[Wander]

If you are going to leave off Dan Marino because you're having difficulty defining "athletic" then how do you include Tom Brady? I mean, he's one of the top 2-3 qb's of all time but he's not Michael Vic or Cam Newton.


Yeah, it's fine to use the definition of "athlete" where it's purely physical ability, it's fine to use the definition where it's overall sports ability, and it's fine to use an intermediate definition in between, but this list is totally inconsistent in the criteria. If you're going to exclude Larry Bird for the reasons that they're stating, then you should include Russell Westbrook (probably ranked highly) for the same reasons.

[duke4ever19]

Kelly Slater and Tony Hawk are the only athletes on here that you would characterize as non-traditional or lower profile sport athletes, yet I’m sure there are others who deserve to be on such a list.

One who surely does is Alex Honnold, a free-climber whose feats are absolutely legendary. For example, he is the only climber who has scaled both Half Dome and El Capitan without a rope, and he did both in a matter of hours. These are climbs that take seasoned climbers(using safety harnesses and anchors) days to complete, mind you. Writer Mark Jenkins described Honnold’s feat when he first free climbed El Cap in terms of a performance by Michael Jordan... to paraphrase, it was something to the effect of, “imagine a situation in which Michael Jordan needs to hit every single shot—layups, dunks, short jumpers, free throws, three pointers—every shot he takes, he must make, because as soon as he misses, he dies. That encapsulates the level of skill, strength and concentration required to do what Honnold has done.”

Bingo. Alex would be a top-5 athlete for me, but . . . I'm not about to make a list like this.

These lists end up dying the death of a thousand qualifications.

[uh_no]

GQ has come out with a list (https://www.gq.com/story/fifty-greatest-living-athlete?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email) and... well... it is pretty darn good. I haven't read through the whole thing yet, but it seems quite solid. Obviously, one can argue over what "athlete" means (and they mention that they left out guys like Larry Bird and Dan Marino precisely because they had trouble agreeing on what an "athlete" was) but this is a very good list.

1. Lebron James
2. Michael Jordan
3. Serena Williams
4. Bo Jackson
5. Carl Lewis
6. Willie Mays
7. Jerry Rice
8. Roger Federer
9. Diana Taurasi
10. Wayne Gretzky
11. Pele
12. Jim Brown
13. Tiger Woods
14. Usain Bolt
15. Michael Phelps
16. Julius Erving
17. Mia Hamm
18. Magic Johnson
19. Deion Sanders
20. Ken Griffey Jr.
21. Lionel Messi
22. Jackie Joyner-Kersee
23. Tom Brady
24. Barry Sanders
25. Martina Navratilova

-Jason "if you want the rest, look at the link" Evans

as a track fan, i find the exclusion of ashton eaton inexcusable.

[burnspbesq]

Lyle Thompson. Laird Hamilton. I can probably find more inexcusable omissions if you give me a minute.

Jarmila Kondrachvilova. Vyacheslav Fetisov. Bobby Orr.

[duke4ever19]

Muhammad Ali. Lyle Thompson. Laird Hamilton. I can probably find more inexcusable omissions if you give me a minute.

Jarmila Kondrachvilova. Vyacheslav Fetisov. Willie Shoemaker. Bobby Orr.

Ummm I guess you haven't heard the sad news?? These guys are no longer in the category called 'Living.'

[burnspbesq]

Ummm I guess you haven't heard the sad news??

See edit above.

[AGDukesky]

Never mind I see you caught your mistake...

[Henderson]

So I'm left off another list?

[jv001]

Did Jack Nicklaus pass away or did the guy that made up the list, know nothing about golf. The Golden Bear is the greatest golfer that ever played the game. There may be more that he missed on, but I have not looked that closely since I saw that he missed on Jack. GoDuke!

[jv001]

Quick impressions:

Jordan is #1 by a comfortable margin. And it isn't hard for me to say that even as a Duke fan.And Tiger Woods is too low.

I would have said that about a week ago, but now that team/cheating school is non-existent to me. GoDuke!

[OldPhiKap]

So I'm left off another list?

You are already on another top 50 GQ list. Don't be greedy, my friend,

[DukieInBrasil]

If you are going to leave off Dan Marino because you're having difficulty defining "athletic" then how do you include Tom Brady? I mean, he's one of the top 2-3 qb's of all time but he's not Michael Vic or Cam Newton.

Also, Jim Brown has to be higher.

i'd say championships won, and championship % would have to have some bearing. Marino was great but never one the big one. Brady on the other hand...

[tteettimes]

Dick groat
(If he still lives )

[YmoBeThere]

Grant Hill before foot issues

Pittsburgh Pirates version of Barry Bonds

[UrinalCake]

Looks to me like they're defining "athletic" as "having skill that pertains to their particular sport, with special emphasis on raw speed/strength." Plus they tried to get a wide sampling across different sports.

[OldPhiKap]

Bruce Jenner.
Miguel Indurain.
Ronaldo.
Greg Maddox.
Mike Tyson.
Nolan Ryan.
Jack Nicholas.
Richard Petty.
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Sachin Tendulkar.

[COYS]

The list is interesting but is also woefully short on soccer players, which is particularly interesting since there are such an absurd number of outstanding athletes who definitely fit the definition of "athletic" it seems that the writers were applying. Mia Hamm was great, but what about Marta from Brazil whose individual and team accomplishments are off the charts? Pele, Christiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi are obvious (they should be way higher on the list, especially Ronaldo if we're talking about best pure athletes who are also super skilled and accomplished) but that's just scratching the surface. I feel like picking at least one living player from every major footballing country's all-time top ten is almost necessary. At the very least, a few guys from a list that includes Zidane, Beckenbauer, Buffon, Iniesta, etc is a requirement. Even a player like Roberto Carlos might fit this list just out of sheer athleticism, especially if they are including guys like Bo Jackson.

But then again, I love soccer.

[duke4ever19]

The list is interesting but is also woefully short on soccer players, which is particularly interesting since there are such an absurd number of outstanding athletes who definitely fit the definition of "athletic" it seems that the writers were applying. Mia Hamm was great, but what about Marta from Brazil whose individual and team accomplishments are off the charts? Pele, Christiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi are obvious (they should be way higher on the list, especially Ronaldo if we're talking about best pure athletes who are also super skilled and accomplished) but that's just scratching the surface. I feel like picking at least one living player from every major footballing country's all-time top ten is almost necessary. At the very least, a few guys from a list that includes Zidane, Beckenbauer, Buffon, Iniesta, etc is a requirement. Even a player like Roberto Carlos might fit this list just out of sheer athleticism, especially if they are including guys like Bo Jackson.

But then again, I love soccer.

Can you coach and develop talent? If so, U.S. Soccer has a position available if you want it. Someone, somewhere . . . please!

[uh_no]

Bruce Jenner.
Miguel Indurain.
Ronaldo.
Greg Maddox.
Mike Tyson.
Nolan Ryan.
Jack Nicholas.
Richard Petty.
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Sachin Tendulkar.

Jenner is great, but i'm not sure how any living decathlete can be put above eaton. Not only does he hold the world and olympic record in the decathlon and world record in the heptathlon, but defended an olympic title, and would have been a world class long jumper and 400m hurdler. He holds the decathlon records for the long jump and 400m, and his PR in the 110m hurdles is faster than any ever run as part of a decathlon. His second best decathlon is better than any other than his WR effort. And he won 3 straight heptathlon titles.

As I said, jenner was a good decathlete....but eaton is otherworldly. I would be surprised if his record is beaten in my lifetime.

[burnspbesq]

Bruce Jenner.
Miguel Indurain.
Ronaldo.
Greg Maddox.
Mike Tyson.
Nolan Ryan.
Jack Nicholas.
Richard Petty.
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Sachin Tendulkar.

I'll see your Tendulkar and raise you a Shane Warne. I've only been watching cricket since the 1990s, but I've never seen anyone in any sport make a ball dance like Warne.

[BigZ]

Stopped reading after I saw #1

[BigZ]

Quick impressions:

Jordan is #1 by a comfortable margin. And it isn't hard for me to say that even as a Duke fan.

And Tiger Woods is too low.

Gretzky is by far the best . His numbers in hockey are far superior to anyone else in the sport. He has more assists than anyone else has points. Jordan is arguably the most clutch athlete but Wayne is way more dominant in his sport.


I agree Tiger should be higher, and how can Jack not make the list?

[BigZ]

I think they put Lebron first just to create controversy

[BigZ]

RIP Hank Aaron

[YmoBeThere]

RIP Hank Aaron

Still alive...

[luburch]

as a track fan, i find the exclusion of ashton eaton inexcusable.

I was about to say this. Glad someone beat me to it. Eaton should without a doubt be on the list.

I also believe that Phelps and Messi are both ranked too low. Thierry Henry would be on my list, too.

[Bostondevil]

I know GQ stands for Gentleman's Quarterly and I know they put Serena Williams third, but, no. Throwing us bones by listing Serena, Diana Taurasi, and Martina Navratilova? I'd prefer honesty or be like Andy Murray - Top 50 Living Athletes, Male Athletes.

[Atlanta Duke]

I think they put Lebron first just to create controversy

Most likely to put an active athlete at the top to sell magazines/get page clicks, although recency bias also comes into play. When ESPN ran its Sports Century series on the 100 greatest athletes of the 20th century in the late 90s Michael Jordan was listed ahead of Ali and Babe Ruth

https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/athletes.html

Props to GQ for not including American Pharoah (Secretariat came in at #35 and Man O' War at #84 on the ESPN list)

[weezie]

No Laird Hamilton? Didn't he kinda set the bar? Not that I'm overly invested in these kind of lists but wondered.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

I thought this was somewhat interesting but more so I thought it was a lame piece of click bait by GQ. I thought they were better than this. And I think this is an incredibly US centric list, as others have mentioned - how about some wrestlers, rugby players, or other very challenging sports that we don't really care about?

Also, the person listed in the article as being in charge of this is a Duke alum so the exclusion of Patrick Davidson is not excusable.

[flyingdutchdevil]

The fact that 9 of the top 10 are North American athletes has stopped me short of reading this article.

Either make it US-based or global, but don't make it US-centric with a sprinkling of soccer and tennis stars. Sigh...

[Henderson]

Ronaldo.

The general tilt on the GQ list regrading soccer (2 of 25) and hockey players (1 of 25) seems pretty geocentric. But hey, they're going for magazine sales, and GQ knows where its magazines are sold.



Richard Petty.


There's a definitional issue here. Athlete?

[COYS]

Can you coach and develop talent? If so, U.S. Soccer has a position available if you want it. Someone, somewhere . . . please!

I refuse to acknowledge the reason why you made this post. I can't handle that level of depression. I'd rather shove it deep, deep down where it will never ever come out.

[uh_no]

There's a definitional issue here. Athlete?

It seems that's the biggest issue of such lists. It's ultimately a lot like the top 25 team rankings....what exactly are we evaluating? this week's performance? overall performance? potential? etc.

So it seems they just said pick whatever makes sense for you and we'll compile a list....and it seems the consensus is "popular guys playing major american sports with lots of championships"

[NSDukeFan]

The general tilt on the GQ list regrading soccer (2 of 25) and hockey players (1 of 25) seems pretty geocentric. But hey, they're going for magazine sales, and GQ knows where its magazines are sold.


Obviously, not in a soccer country.



Too soon?


Says the guy whose country is ranked in the 90s around El Salvador.

[Troublemaker]

If you are going to leave off Dan Marino because you're having difficulty defining "athletic" then how do you include Tom Brady?

Yeah, there are definitely some problems with the internal logic of this list. Also, if GQ is going with the definition of "physical dynamism that reinvents a sport," why shouldn't this list be littered with track-and-field world record holders? When Usain Bolt runs a 9.58 in the 100 meters, is he not physically dynamic and reinventing our belief in how fast a human being can run? Also, from a practical standpoint, it's a complete joke how much more athletic the track-and-field stars are compared to athletes who play a sport, even guys like Lebron and Jordan.

Here's a clip of Mike Conley Sr dunking from clear behind the free throw line. Lol, that's nuts. (In case you're wondering, Dr. J was in front of the line and Jordan was on the line when they completed their iconic "free throw line" dunks).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZz6qJvbrgY

[mapei]

Thank you OPK for mentioning the great Spanish cyclist Miguel Indurain. He definitely makes my list, alongside the greatest cyclist ever, Belgian Eddy Merckx. Among currently competing cyclists, I can make a case for Peter Sagan, but I concede that a list of only 50 is rightfully limited. The same concession applies to Jeannie Longo and Rebecca Twigg, who both had long and exciting careers in the sport.

[UrinalCake]

.Here's a clip of Mike Conley Sr dunking from clear behind the free throw line.

Random question - has an Olympic long jumper ever tried to compete in some sort of dunk competition? How big a deal would it be for them to dunk from the free throw line? I know MP3 competed in the high jump in high school, but I'm always curious about how skills would cross over between sports. If someone like Deion Sanders competed against Olympic sprinters, would he be in the same ballpark or would they totally blow him out of the water?

[Troublemaker]

If someone like Deion Sanders competed against Olympic sprinters, would he be in the same ballpark or would they totally blow him out of the water?

They would blow him out of the water. You might remember a few months ago a Bengals rookie boasted that he could beat Usain Bolt in the 40-yard-dash after running a 4.22 at the scouting combine. (Note: Deion ran a 4.27 back in his day). Well, in response, a college sprinter at Tennessee who's an excellent runner -- 9.95 in the 100 meters, but nothing special like Bolt -- tested himself and ran a 4.12 40-yard-dash (https://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2017/5/2/15517416/olympic-sprinter-christian-coleman-john-ross-40-time-bengals-nfl-draft-usain-bolt-video). The Olympic level athletes are the freakiest of freaks, especially if they hold a world record.

[sagegrouse]

Random question - has an Olympic long jumper ever tried to compete in some sort of dunk competition? How big a deal would it be for them to dunk from the free throw line? I know MP3 competed in the high jump in high school, but I'm always curious about how skills would cross over between sports. If someone like Deion Sanders competed against Olympic sprinters, would he be in the same ballpark or would they totally blow him out of the water?

My snarky comment is that Carl Lewis (and other runners and jumpers) may be handicapped by not being able to palm a basketball.

Otherwise, hoops players train many hours a day year-around on basketball skills with a couple of hours on strength and more general athleticism. World-class track athletes train every day, mostly in developing the skills of their sport -- speed, jumping, running form. A "dunk contest" represents less than one percent of what a basketball player needs to do -- much less important than "court vision," for example, which takes a long time to develop.

This is a really dumb post. I'll try to do better next time.

[JasonEvans]

My snarky comment is that Carl Lewis (and other runners and jumpers) may be handicapped by not being able to palm a basketball.

I believe Carl Lewis was known for having fairly big hands. I bet he could palm a basketball fairly easily if he bothered to try.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/1e/b0/64/1eb06488e11faede5efc0ddc008da936.jpg

-Jason "Carl was 6-2, not crazy tall but big enough that if his hands were even normal for his height he could probably palm a basketball" Evans

[uh_no]

Random question - has an Olympic long jumper ever tried to compete in some sort of dunk competition? How big a deal would it be for them to dunk from the free throw line? I know MP3 competed in the high jump in high school, but I'm always curious about how skills would cross over between sports. If someone like Deion Sanders competed against Olympic sprinters, would he be in the same ballpark or would they totally blow him out of the water?

bob beamon jumped 29'2+"

The distance from the NBA three point line to the baseline is ~28'

Bob beamon could jump from the NBA three point line at the top of the key.....to beyond the baseline. that's nuts. just stand on even a college court....right at the top of the 3 point line....and look where the baseline is.

They would have to slightly adjust their takeoff angle, but dunking from beyond the FT line for a world-class long jumper should be largely trivial. Just imagine.....if he took off from the FT line, at the time he got to the rim, he'd only be halfway through his jump....so at his maximum height already.

I take back that he'd even have to adjust his takeoff angle. watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEt_Xgg8dzc pause the video during his jump. He probably would have straight up slammed into the backboard.

Deion Sanders would get obliterated in a world-class 100m. https://web.stanford.edu/~clint/100m_nfl.htm he wouldn't have even made it out of the heats in rio with his PB: https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxi-olympic-games-5771/results/men/100-metres/heats/summary

Olympic track and field athletes are absolutely incredible.

[flyingdutchdevil]

bob beamon jumped 29'2+"

The distance from the NBA three point line to the baseline is ~28'

Bob beamon could jump from the NBA three point line at the top of the key....to beyond the baseline. that's nuts. just stand on even a college court...right at the top of the 3 point line...and look where the baseline is.

They would have to slightly adjust their takeoff angle, but dunking from beyond the FT line for a world-class long jumper should be largely trivial. Just imagine....if he took off from the FT line, at the time he got to the rim, he'd only be halfway through his jump...so at his maximum height already.

I take back that he'd even have to adjust his takeoff angle. watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEt_Xgg8dzc pause the video during his jump. He probably would have straight up slammed into the backboard.

Deion Sanders would get obliterated in a world-class 100m. https://web.stanford.edu/~clint/100m_nfl.htm he wouldn't have even made it out of the heats in rio with his PB: https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxi-olympic-games-5771/results/men/100-metres/heats/summary

Olympic track and field athletes are absolutely incredible.

Yeah...this is one of my biggest pet peeves in comparing athletes across sports. Just because Lebron is amazing at basketball does not mean he'd be amazing at soccer (sooooooooo many people suggest this. It's very annoying). Fast players in most non-track and field sports would get, as you mentioned, obliterated in world-class sprinting. Move NBAers would get obliterated in the high jump. It's not just skill but technique and years upon years of practice and understanding the game.

Usain Bolt is the fastest man alive with okay soccer skills and he has no chance to make it to a top league team (he's "practicing" with Dortmund right now. And the head of the club basically stated Usain has no chance to play there).

[uh_no]

(he's "practicing" with Dortmund right now. And the head of the club basically stated Usain has no chance to play there).

the tim tebow of soccer!

[sagegrouse]

OK, I'll cut you some slack on Carl Lewis, But then there's Bob Hayes of US Olympics (100 meter gold) and the Cowboys in the NFL: He was often described as "ten-flat speed and twelve-flat hands."

[PackMan97]

Honnold should be at the top of the list... Though in all fairness, maybe they didn't spent him too live long enough for it to be published. As they say in his sport, there are no old free climbers only young free climbers and retired free climbers.

I would probably favor athletes who have shown excellence at more than one sport. His life Tim Duncan who was World class swimmer before Hurricane Hugo wrecked his pool and he took up basketball. Our guys like Jordan who despite not being an MLB player was still good enough to play in the minutes and definitely someone like Bo Jackson who was great at both sports.

Id also put that cross fit freak in this list... What's his name? You've got to be in some serious shape to participate in that sport.

[PackMan97]

Yeah...this is one of my biggest pet peeves in comparing athletes across sports. Just because Lebron is amazing at basketball does not mean he'd be amazing at soccer (sooooooooo many people suggest this. It's very annoying). Fast players in most non-track and field sports would get, as you mentioned, obliterated in world-class sprinting. Move NBAers would get obliterated in the high jump. It's not just skill but technique and years upon years of practice and understanding the game.

Usain Bolt is the fastest man alive with okay soccer skills and he has no chance to make it to a top league team (he's "practicing" with Dortmund right now. And the head of the club basically stated Usain has no chance to play there).

I think it's fun to think of LeBron grew up playing soccer and wanting to be the next Pele or Renaldo... How good could he have been? I don't think anyone wants to watch LeBron play soccer right now.

[uh_no]

I don't think anyone wants to watch LeBron play soccer right now.

dunno...do you think he'd know which goal to kick the ball in against trinidad and tobago? If so, I'd love to be watching lebron play soccer right now.

[rasputin]

dunno...do you think he'd know which goal to kick the ball in against trinidad and tobago? If so, I'd love to be watching lebron play soccer right now.

You mean we had to pay TWO countries? Doesn't seem fair.:rolleyes:

[Devilwin]

No Brett Favre, no Larry Bird = bogus...

[rasputin]

No Brett Favre, no Larry Bird = bogus...

Favre is not in the top 500.

[moonpie23]

Chris Sharma should be in there ........climbing the impossible... (http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/ng-adventure/adv-beyond-the-edge-sharma)

[MartyClark]

3 time NCAA champion, world champion, Olympic gold medalist Dan Gable

[DevilFalcon]

Lebron = athlete
Phelps
Bolt

But tiger and brady? Having trouble with the definition of athlete is right...
I would wager that I am more athletic than Tom Brady seeing as how I can run and jump and things of that sort...

[NSDukeFan]

Lebron = athlete
Phelps
Bolt

But tiger and brady? Having trouble with the definition of athlete is right...
I would wager that I am more athletic than Tom Brady seeing as how I can run and jump and things of that sort...

No offence, but I'm going to guess that Tom Brady is a better athlete than you. He seems to run and jump enough to keep chains moving and keep playing most weeks over the last 15ish years.

[camion]

No offence, but I'm going to guess that Tom Brady is a better athlete than you. He seems to run and jump enough to keep chains moving and keep playing most weeks over the last 15ish years.

Again, the definition of "athlete" is ambiguous and fluid. Just to stir the pot here's a video of Tom Brady (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxx_u67eUSA) running a blazing 5.28 in the 40 at the 2000 NFL combine.

And what about Jimmy Johnson? Multiple championships and his top speed can blow the doors off of any of the athletes on the list. :eek:

[Papa John]

Chris Sharma should be in there ....climbing the impossible... (http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/ng-adventure/adv-beyond-the-edge-sharma)

You'll get no argument from me...

[slower]

Willie Mays at #6? Seriously?

[sagegrouse]

Willie Mays at #6? Seriously?

Too high or too low? Best living baseball player. He invented "five tools."

Kindly,
Sage
'Of course, when I saw him last, after he was activated for the 1973 World Series for the Mets (he had been a coach), he was maybe the worst major league baseball player I had ever seen'

[El_Diablo]

Too high or too low? Best living baseball player. He invented "five tools."

Kindly,
Sage
'Of course, when I saw him last, after he was activated for the 1973 World Series for the Mets (he had been a coach), he was maybe the worst major league baseball player I had ever seen'

Mays definitely deserves to be that high. Career average over .300, 660 home runs, 24 All-Star games (counting the few years when two games were played). And The Catch.