Muhammad Ali vs. Wayne Gretzky vs. Tom Brady vs. Michael Jordan?

Out of these 4, who's the greatest athlete?

  • Total voters
    96
Rawex said:
Right now he needs 3 seasons with 61 goals each season. 35 years old, he will do it i reckon. Despite having a physical style of play, he is not showing signs of slowing down. Who knows these breaks due to covid might give him the longevity he needs to do it?
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I hope he does break it. They say records are meant to be broken.
 
Rawex said:
Even if he dont break it, he is the best pure goal scorer (imo). That said Gretzky, Lemieux and Crosby/Malkin are better overall players.
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What do you think of Mike Bossy? I think he'd be up there as one of best pure scorers.
 
MXZT said:
What do you think of Mike Bossy? I think he'd be up there as one of best pure scorers.
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Up there ofc. Hard to say since i didnt see him play. He also did play in Islanders dynasty in precap era. What were his team mates like?
Were his team same as Ovie playing in those cup winning Penguins/Blackhawks teams (with added HOF dman and a winger?)
 
Rawex said:
Up there ofc. Hard to say since i didnt see him play. He also did play in Islanders dynasty in precap era. What were his team mates like?
Were his team same as Ovie playing in those cup winning Penguins/Blackhawks teams (with added HOF dman and a winger?)
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Honestly, I never see him play live. I'm too young. But I was just looking at his stats and it's just incredible how many 50 goal plus years he had in a short period of time. I think he has the highest goals per game average. I could be wrong, but I think he does. So that says a lot about his skill.
 
MXZT said:
True, he may not have broken his record even he played the same amount of games as Gretzky. But he would be certainly be in second place.

Mike Bossy could have made a good run for all-time most goals if he didn't retire young. Who knows maybe Ovechkin can break Gretzky goals record but I doubt it.
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The fact that Ovechkin has a somewhat realistic chance of getting the goals record after spending much of his career in a much lower scoring era shows what an absolute savage he is. Ovie is 35 and has over 180 goals to go. He needs to maintain his form from the past few years for 4 seasons to pull it off. I'm rooting for him.

It will take a real perfect storm for anyone to approach Gretzky's point records. He was healthy for most of his 20 year career. He was a great shooter and possibly the best passer ever. He had the #3 scorer of all time to pass to and receive passes from.
 
Gretzky is getting some love in this poll. He's no doubt the GOAT of Hockey but I can't put him above Brady or Jordan.
 
Krixes said:
Gretzky is getting some love in this poll. He's no doubt the GOAT of Hockey but I can't put him above Brady or Jordan.
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I don't think you understand how head and shoulders he is above his peers if you can't put him above Brady. He has 8 of the top 10 total point seasons in NHL history.
 
Canned Tuna said:
I don't think you understand how head and shoulders he is above his peers if you can't put him above Brady. He has 8 of the top 10 total point seasons in NHL history.
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I'm a huge Brady fan. I have Brady as the GOAT of all sports. I respect everything Gretzky has done for the game of hockey though, watched him growing up as a kid.
 
Krixes said:
I'm a huge Brady fan. I have Brady as the GOAT of all sports. I respect everything Gretzky has done for the game of hockey though, watched him growing up as a kid.
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I like Brady. I root for him, although I'm not a massive football fan in general.

I think putting someone who doesn't have that big of a gap between him and his peers in a sport that's only played in one country as the GOAT of all sports is kind of crazy.

Putting him over people like Phelps, Gretzky, Jordan, Karelin, and Bolt who are far beyond anyone else in terms of career achievement in their sport is mind-blowing to me. Then there are also the guys who had amazing achievements in multiple sports like Jim Thorpe.
 
Canned Tuna said:
I like Brady. I root for him, although I'm not a massive football fan in general.

I think putting someone who doesn't have that big of a gap between him and his peers in a sport that's only played in one country as the GOAT of all sports is kind of crazy.

Putting him over people like Phelps, Gretzky, Jordan, Karelin, and Bolt who are far beyond anyone else in terms of career achievement in their sport is mind-blowing to me. Then there are also the guys who had amazing achievements in multiple sports like Jim Thorpe.
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I just love Football. It's single elimination, making it even harder to win than many other sports.
 
Krixes said:
I just love Football. It's single elimination, making it even harder to win than many other sports.
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I listed a lot of Olympic gold medalists. They won single elimination tournaments...

But I guess if football is the GOAT sport, the football GOAT is the GOAT athlete.
<mma4>
 
Voted Ali, because he's the best Athlete in this poll. If it were LeBron instead of Jordan, I'd have a different answer.
 
mS_? said:
Ali doesn't belong with the other 3. He's not even the best boxer of all time, let alone the greatest athlete ever.
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The reason you could argue he doesn't belong is because he didn't play a team sport... And that in itself could make him the greatest athlete ever. All three of those other guys, as great as they are, still rely on an entire team to reach the highest level.

People like to write off boxers thinking it's easy... Like you just go into the to ring and throw punches... Maybe block a few. But there's a variable that's involved that the other three can't say they've had to deal with. When they have an off day their teammates are expected to help bail them out. You have an off day as a boxer, you're in for a world of hurt.

@LazaRRus
 
ExitLUPin said:
Yeah I'm sure basketball players don't gush about MJ.....
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Ok fine. His playoff win % is better than MJs. Brady didn't get no stupid 7 game series to work with. He has to win right now every time. 1 bad game and people talk about it for 25 years. He wins 75%.
 
Canned Tuna said:
I agree that he is the best offensive player ever, but I think it's a stretch to claim he'd have broken Gretzky's records. There is a gaping chasm between staying healthy and maintaining the level that Gretzky did for 20 years.
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The thing people also forget is that Gretzky was almost a cripple too. His back was terrible from early 1990's. Yes Mario definitely battled a worse illness but Gretzky was constantly playing in pain too.

They're both amazing. The thing I think of though... Mario was big, strong, and fast. Gretzky did everything though using his eyes, smarts and skill. He wasn't big. He wasn't strong, and he wasn't fast. He did know where everyone on the ice was, was able to find open ice, and had extremely accurate shots and passes.
 
n...not crazy said:
Ok fine. His playoff win % is better than MJs. Brady didn't get no stupid 7 game series to work with. He has to win right now every time. 1 bad game and people talk about it for 25 years. He wins 75%.
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Brady and Jordan both have 3 first-round playoff exits. Granted, for Brady one of those was divisional instead of wild card.
 
TeTe said:
The reason you could argue he doesn't belong is because he didn't play a team sport... And that in itself could make him the greatest athlete ever. All three of those other guys, as great as they are, still rely on an entire team to reach the highest level.

People like to write off boxers thinking it's easy... Like you just go into the to ring and throw punches... Maybe block a few. But there's a variable that's involved that the other three can't say they've had to deal with. When they have an off day their teammates are expected to help bail them out. You have an off day as a boxer, you're in for a world of hurt.

@LazaRRus
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As you mentioned boxers get written off by a lot of people who don't understand what a difficult sport it is. It easily requires as much if not more dedication than anything else.
 
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