The Greatest Greatest
- Thread starter KMRUNOUT
- Start date
Just to add one in there, I'll say Jon Jones in MMA. He's lost one fight and it was by disqualification due to illegal elbows while he was beating a guy up, so to anyone with a brain he is undefeated in 23 fights (and this isn't boxing with big gloves - the margin for error is much lower, and it's very hard to cherry pick your fights like a lot of boxers do *cough*Mayweather*cough*). He ran into a real challenge in Alexander Gustafsson, but besides that he's never even really been in any sort of trouble. In a sport where people are wearing 4oz gloves that basically do nothing besides provide minimal hand protection and you can get knocked out at any time if you make a mistake, to be that far and away better than everyone else and never even be hurt in a fight is more impressive to me than Mayweather, Ali, Roy Jones Jr., etc.
And LOL at whoever said Tony Hawk.
And LOL at whoever said Tony Hawk.
Esther Vergeer, a dutch female wheelchair tennis player was unbeaten 470 matches in a row, in that streak she also won 250 straight sets.
She actually had a winning streak of 99 matches before losing just once and then went on the 470 match streak.
Her streak ended when she retired at age 31. I suppose she could have gone on to win 86 more matches but we will never know.
She gets my vote (slightly biased I'll admit).
Regards, Dave
She actually had a winning streak of 99 matches before losing just once and then went on the 470 match streak.
Her streak ended when she retired at age 31. I suppose she could have gone on to win 86 more matches but we will never know.
She gets my vote (slightly biased I'll admit).
Regards, Dave
another really good one.
Simo Haya - Finnish Sniper AKA: "The White Death"
He had 705 confirmed sniper kills, but estimates put the total over 800. He was picking off Russian soldiers during WW2, one by one, averaging more than 5 per day. The Russian army was so angry at this guy they sent battalions to try and kill him. They failed, time and time again to kill him.
Simo used iron sites because it kept him in a lower position when shooting. Not to mention a scope sometimes can cause reflection which will give away your location. He only wore white while laying in the snow, and he put snow in his mouth to keep his breath from giving him away. He packed LOTS of snow in front of him as well to reduce the muzzle flash.
He lived to be 96 dying in 2002, and he's quite the hero in Finland from what I"ve read about him.
When asked in 1998 how he became such a good shot, he had but a one word answer; PRACTICE. I think this guy might have been a closet pool player
He had 705 confirmed sniper kills, but estimates put the total over 800. He was picking off Russian soldiers during WW2, one by one, averaging more than 5 per day. The Russian army was so angry at this guy they sent battalions to try and kill him. They failed, time and time again to kill him.
Simo used iron sites because it kept him in a lower position when shooting. Not to mention a scope sometimes can cause reflection which will give away your location. He only wore white while laying in the snow, and he put snow in his mouth to keep his breath from giving him away. He packed LOTS of snow in front of him as well to reduce the muzzle flash.
He lived to be 96 dying in 2002, and he's quite the hero in Finland from what I"ve read about him.
When asked in 1998 how he became such a good shot, he had but a one word answer; PRACTICE. I think this guy might have been a closet pool player
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Bob Munden, Tom Knapp, Fred Bear , Ted St. Martin, I just wanted to give these guys some recognition.
Some of the things they did were not great, they were unbelieveable.
Shallow talent pool. Sorry.
And a very short reign.
That's like saying Tyson was the best had he quit early.
Well to start, that's assuming Jones is done, which I'm not - he'll be back in July and I imagine he'll go on another run. I'll give you that his division shallow now, but when he started light heavyweight was still a stacked division and it's only dried out in the last couple of years. And it could be argued that that is because of Jones cleaning out the division. (Unless you're talking about just MMA being a small talent pool compared to other sports, in which case I do hear what you're saying.)
I do realize that it's a bit miopic to say he's the best at this point since he could have a good 10 years more left in his career, but there's already a case for him being the best ever even if he did walk away right now.
As much of a fan of Federer as I am I would say he's not the lock people are making him out to be. His record vs Nadal is 12-23. He does have 4 more majors though.
"Federer has a winning record on grass (2–1), while Nadal leads on clay (13–2). Nadal also has the edge over Federer on hard courts (9–8), with Nadal having won 8 of 11 matches on outdoor hard courts and Federer claiming 5 of 6 matches on indoor hard courts. Nadal also leads the head-to-head of their 12 Grand Slam matches (9–3), with five of these wins on the clay courts of Roland Garros, and two of the losses on grass at Wimbledon."
"Federer has a winning record on grass (2–1), while Nadal leads on clay (13–2). Nadal also has the edge over Federer on hard courts (9–8), with Nadal having won 8 of 11 matches on outdoor hard courts and Federer claiming 5 of 6 matches on indoor hard courts. Nadal also leads the head-to-head of their 12 Grand Slam matches (9–3), with five of these wins on the clay courts of Roland Garros, and two of the losses on grass at Wimbledon."
If the greatest of the great is based solely on your dominance of a certain sport, then it's simply a numbers game. If it's based on how many people knew of you, how many people tuned in to watch you on a global scale, how big your persona was worlwide, then it has to be either Jordan or Ali I would think. Maybe Tiger. All three were international super stars, known around the world, by people who didn't play or even know anything about their respective sports. Certainly a great deal of them weren't even fans, but they knew who they were. A completely different level.
Wow awesome! That's exactly how I feel! I didn't know that about his attitude early on. I was laying in bed watching the Open and what really stood out to me was the expression on his face. Nadal has the typical male angry fierce face. But Federer just had something totally different going on. He seemed to have equal parts extreme focus, and extreme *serenity*. He looked so *there*, but yet so peaceful, like an observer. Even when he is racing to get a return or something...his face never twists, grimaces, or anything. He's just calm. That, for some reason, really got into me. I want to be like that when I do things, like play pool for example. I swear we store a lot of tension in our facial expressions. He has clearly moved beyond that.
What an inspiration!!
KMRUNOUT
I didh't read all of the responses... but nobody gave Fatty the GOAT in
B's ing... I have to give it to him.
Phelps, Bolt, Moses .... all get my votes too. I remember watching Edwin
Moses run a sub 5 minute mile just to 'warm up' .... lol .... made it look like
He was barely trying.
I can't not give the 14.1 title to Willie, and the all around to Worst. Have to give
The grass title to R.Fed., and the clay to Rafa. Steffi still has the womens' and
I wish she would have been in the same era as the Williams and Martina..as I
Think they all would have been neck and neck. Tiger was just beyond everyone
For his streak, but Jack was more durable.
Fun thread!! Tap tap tap to the OP
Td
B's ing... I have to give it to him.
Phelps, Bolt, Moses .... all get my votes too. I remember watching Edwin
Moses run a sub 5 minute mile just to 'warm up' .... lol .... made it look like
He was barely trying.
I can't not give the 14.1 title to Willie, and the all around to Worst. Have to give
The grass title to R.Fed., and the clay to Rafa. Steffi still has the womens' and
I wish she would have been in the same era as the Williams and Martina..as I
Think they all would have been neck and neck. Tiger was just beyond everyone
For his streak, but Jack was more durable.
Fun thread!! Tap tap tap to the OP
Td
Otto Graham
Northwestern. 1937 Otto Graham Jr. set new individual scoring record for the Suburban League BB, then became captain.
1938 became all state in Football.
1941 All American Sophomore Team Football.
1943 All American in BB and Football, also in 43 set new big Ten passing record-Football, set Northwestern Individual scoring record BB.
Winner of Herald American Award - Most outstanding collegiate BB player. Member of college all star football team.
Set record for longest individual run 97 yards for touch down.
1944 All service Football team,
1946 member of college all star football team.
1947 Member of Rochester Royals-Worlds Professional Basketball Champions.
1946-1955 QB Cleveland Browns.
1947 All Pro QB, and MVP All American Professional Football League.
1948 MVP All American Pro. Foot ball League.
1948-49-51-53 All Pro QB.
1953 Pro Footballs Outstanding Performer by Both United Press and Sports Magazine.
1954 All Pro QB.
Set following records in 5 Championship Games.
Threw 134 and completed 72 averaging over 13 yards per pass. 952 yards passing in 5 championship games.
8 TD passes and scored 18 points himself.
He and my dad were best friends for life and college roommates.
They played $1 per hole golf every time they matched up.
Northwestern. 1937 Otto Graham Jr. set new individual scoring record for the Suburban League BB, then became captain.
1938 became all state in Football.
1941 All American Sophomore Team Football.
1943 All American in BB and Football, also in 43 set new big Ten passing record-Football, set Northwestern Individual scoring record BB.
Winner of Herald American Award - Most outstanding collegiate BB player. Member of college all star football team.
Set record for longest individual run 97 yards for touch down.
1944 All service Football team,
1946 member of college all star football team.
1947 Member of Rochester Royals-Worlds Professional Basketball Champions.
1946-1955 QB Cleveland Browns.
1947 All Pro QB, and MVP All American Professional Football League.
1948 MVP All American Pro. Foot ball League.
1948-49-51-53 All Pro QB.
1953 Pro Footballs Outstanding Performer by Both United Press and Sports Magazine.
1954 All Pro QB.
Set following records in 5 Championship Games.
Threw 134 and completed 72 averaging over 13 yards per pass. 952 yards passing in 5 championship games.
8 TD passes and scored 18 points himself.
He and my dad were best friends for life and college roommates.
They played $1 per hole golf every time they matched up.
Walter Lindrum with a 3,500+ break in English billiards
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Sent from my iPhone using AzBilliards Forums