NFL/NBA players as the world's best athletes?

[white is right]

Nate Robinson was a great Afflete and he got his head bounced off the canvas by a YouTube Star. LOL.

I remember years ago when Ali was banned from boxing he was to fight Wilt Chamberlain in a real fight. Famous photos of Chamberlain with his huge reach advantage and all Ali said was "Timber".

The fight never happened because the American public wasn't that gullible back then and neither athlete could get the purse they desired.

Ever since the early 90's whomever Nike sponsored and was Black he automatically earned the World's Greatest Athlete title, first it was Bo Knows, then Jordan Rules, Kobe the Mamba and now King James.

The Bo commercials did have a comedic affect to them though.....

 

[shamrock]

I don't believe the NBA or NFL necessarily have the world's best athletes. Just because they have the tallest and largest doesn't mean they have the best. Certainly some of those athletes are excellent, but we in the U.S. have no reason to believe Americans have the market cornered on athletic ability. Before my time many claimed that Jim Thorpe was the greatest athlete ever, and some people still say that QB Sammy Baugh was the best all-around football player of all time.

Personally, based on what I've read, what sports I played (baseball, tennis, and football), and the films I've seen, I think nothing is more difficult than hitting a baseball consistently for both average and power, without steroid enhancement, that is. Consequently, I'd call Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, and Ted Williams athletically about as good as it gets. Williams also throws in fighter pilot skill, by the way, along with fishing skill perhaps the equal of anyone who's ever fished in America. But I've seen soccer players turn in astonishing performances too. I saw little Diego Maradona do things with his feet and a soccer ball that defied credibility, especially in the World Cup.

Ultimately, if pressed, I might have to fall back on the King of Sweden's statement a century ago that the winner of the Olympic Decathlon may be the greatest athlete in the world, as the Decathlete is no specialist but has to master ten different track and field events to emerge as the winner. Perhaps Bob Mathias, who won the Olympic Decathlon in both 1948 and 1952, is our greatest athlete ever. He not only did it twice, he did it without the artificial stimulation of supplements and PEDS. I don't watch the Olympics any more - too much commercialism, glitz, and cheating - but I was mesmerized by the strength, conditioning, and all-around performance of an American teacher in 1968 by the name of Bill Toomey. I know that the night Toomey, running in the dark in Mexico City in his final event, won Decathlon gold I felt sure that he was the greatest athlete I'd ever seen. And, like Bob Mathias, Toomey did it the old-fashioned way - he earned it.

 

[shamrock]

Jesus lads ...if yee haven’t met tall. White people ,,,,,,,,your living a quite life ....average height for a male in Holland is 6feet 1 inch ....tallest race on the planet .,.europe Has plenty of tall white people ..Germany ....Sweden ....Central Europe ie czech rep .poland ...Ukraine Belorussian......Lithuania...Serbia ..Slovenia .....Croatia .... ..etc ....as its an American website ..I do understand most of you haven’t travelled much ......but Jesus lads the states is not a microcosm of the world it’s just part of it ....and it overrates itself ....top end athletes are white and European .....sports Also include . Such great sports like ..volleyball ...rugby ...ice hockey ...tennis ....handball....wrestling ....get a passport ..go for a flight see the world .....expand your mind .....you will not need the website to see how good white athletes are else where ...indoctrination myth and lack of confidence and fear has taken away from the white man in North America .....but we are beginning to take a real foot hold again .....through many young talented white athletes.... .....let us bring things together ..not try and out do , each other ....come together ...support ...give a future .....make a future .....

All good points, greyghost. I especially agree with "Indoctrination myth and lack of confidence and fear has taken away from the white man in North America." Five decades of oppressive diversity politics, radical femininization (more women in America graduate from college now than men do), suppression of books for boys in our schools ("we can't have this book in our school library because it's about war - too violent and appeals only to boys; we want our library stocked with books that encourage girls to take the lead over boys"; and the glorification of the black athlete and black history, as well as a culture rife with heavy-handed political correctness have all buried masculine culture and masculine interests in America. Thus, the fear and lack of confidence you mention.

I can recall a time when America had many talented white athletes in that most masculine of sports - boxing. In the 1940s and '50s we had several excellent white fighters: Marciano was heavyweight champ; Gene Fullmer was middleweight champ; Carmen Basilio was welter and middleweight champ; and so many other superb white fighters. We haven't had a genuinely great white fighter in 40 years. But you're right about the many excellent European athletes. Look at all the great white fighters coming out of Britain these days and out of central Europe and from the Ukraine, while American whites continue to produce no such talented boxers, and will almost certainly continue not to.

Many of us aren't familiar enough with sports like rugby and even European football, yet obviously many of the greatest athletes in sports history have played those sports. I hope that one day soccer will be as big in America as it is everywhere else in the world.

 

[SneakyQuick]

I’d say you have to have a vote for hockey players.

There are definitely different types of skills but for hand eye coordination and agility I would say a top nhl goalie is unmatched.

they are tracking a small disc coming at them often at speeds of over 95 mph and which can be deflected and change direction massively


Decathletes are impressive for overall athletic ability for sure.

I think they just pick the nfl and nba because the demographics fit their narrative.

ever Watch motogp? The highest classification of motorcycle racing takes a blend of talents and athletic ability that almost none of the nba or nfl athletes possess.