OT - 50 Greatest Black Athlete Poll
The Undeafted did a poll of 10,000 people to compile the 50 greatest black athletes of all time. I wont copy/paste the whole section explaining the rankings, just this part:
" Each athlete was ranked on four factors: overall ranking, dominance, inspiration and impact on society."
http://theundefeated.com/features/50-greatest-black-athletes/
If you put the mouse over any of the numbers 1-50 on the bar going across the top of the screen a dropdown will show you the full list.
Needless to say, I have thoughts.
I'll go with John Jones.
Issue that request on a major carrier. It will be taken as a threat.
But seriously, chump don't want da help, chump don't get da help.
This list doesn’t reflect my personal voting, and I am pretty surprised by some of the results. But, I read through the methodology and - as you'd expect - there are wide discrepancies in voting based on gender, education, race, and other factors.
I think they got most of them right. I agree with the top 5 for sure.
It'll be interesting who they put in their "50 Greatest White Athlete" Poll. I would think Gretzky and Tom Brady would be included just based on championship success alone.
August 8th, 2017 at 10:15 PM ^
You've got to be kidding, Nobody ever heard of her before the last Olympics. She was a wonderful, refreshing surprise to us all and a true credit to U.S. athletics, but #8 all-time? No way.
Serious question. Are you just as upset with Gabby Douglas being at #9? Simone Biles was significantly more successful than Douglas in the Olympics. Douglas gets a ton of credit for being the first woman of color to win All-Around Gold but Biles won All-Around, Vault, and Floor gold and Bronze balance beam last year. Gymnasts have a short shelf life (typically only 1 maybe 2 games) so I'm fine using that reasoning but her performance was pretty incredible.
I could be wrong, but I'd be willing to bet that many of the voters couldn't differentiate between the two in terms of accomplishments. The fact that either is ranked above Magic, Kareem, Sweetness, and several others is laughable, shelf-life or otherwise.
Same with Kareem, Emmitt, Larry F., Venus
1. Ali
1a. Pele
2. Joe Louis
2a. Serena
2b. Mays
2c. Jackie R.
2d. Gayle S.
2e. Jess O.
2f. Jack Johnson
3. Charles W.
No one else close, start the rest down around 25 or 30.
Among the greatest athletes of all time in TWO sports -- football and lacrosse. Everyone on your list is a one sport athlete.
(Mike drop....)
No Jack Johnson, Sugar Ray Robinson way too low, no Floyd Mayweather.
Jack Johnson was the first African-American heavyweight champ. He literally changed the way the world viewed the most popular sport on the planet (at the time), and had a massive overall effect on race relations. He also got arrested for driving a white woman over state lines, which is...absurd.
Sugar Ray Robinson is the greatest fighter of all time, in most real fight fan's opinions. To have him below Sugar Ray Leonard (who I love, FYI) is absurd.
And while I, personally, despise Floyd Mayweather as a person AND the way he fights, unless something terrible happens against MacGregor, he is about to become the first fighter to retire undefeated at his level since Rocky Marciano. He also won an Olympic gold medal, titles in 4 weight divisions, and $100 trillion for his fight with Pacquiao...
August 8th, 2017 at 10:27 PM ^
Finito Lopez and Joe Calzaghe both retired undefeated and are hall of fame level fighters. Marciano record really only means something to heavyweights and Marciano record of opponents and accomplishments is not as strong as Floyds.
August 8th, 2017 at 10:18 PM ^
Selected Michigan for its leader and best in respect of launch and wear. That's Top Ten automatically.
Bo Jackson should be top 10
Hurdler Edwin Moses won two golds in the Olympics, an Olympic bronze twelve years after winning his first gold, and two World Championships. He'd likely have another Olmpic medal - probably a gold one - if not for the US boycott of the 1980 Summer games. He was the Track & Field News athlete of the year that year despite missing the Olympics. I'll admit to a hometown bias with him.
Josh Gibson may have been the best baseball player ever. We'll never know, but some who saw him said he rivaled Ruth.
Mike Tyson has to be on the list if we're just looking at athletic peformance. A number of the people on the list never had a dominant run like he did.
These lists are always dumb, and setting aside the (in my opinion) poor premises both in the concept of the list and the criteria they use:
The top 7 make sense to me in some order. The rest of it? Great athletes there, but honestly bizarre.
And Pele at #22 is stupid.
Either this is a worldwide list and he is top 5, or it is an Amero-centric list and he barely makes it. Prior to the careers of Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo, whose places in history have not yet been fully resolved, he was considered with Diego Maradona to be one of the two greatest players in history in what is by far the world's most popular and important sport. He was and is an ambassador for the game and an icon in his native Brazil.
Putting him at #22 is just lipservice to the idea that "yeah this guy is nice too." No, sorry, he is a Michael Jordan in his sport, and his sport is a huuuuuuge deal. And it's not like he's the only black guy to have a major impact in non-American sports. Where are they?
That's just one problem with one place on the list. But, as people have illustrated, there are a host of others. And Jim Brown, by any criteria used by this list, is getting the shaft.
He was not only possibly the greatest football player ever, but he was first-team All-American his senior year in lacrosse and second-team All-American his junior year.
Practically own the marathon, arguably the most grueling competition, as they have for decades. Where are those Kenyan names? Amero-centric is correct.
He was black?
He actually still is.
August 8th, 2017 at 11:28 PM ^
a bunch of broads already.
It's no wonder this list is a complete farce given the methodology. Per the article:
"Each athlete was ranked on four factors: overall ranking, dominance, inspiration and impact on society."
Ranking athletes from different sports is going to be subjective enough even if you limit it to what happens on the playing field, but then you add in "inspiration" and "impact to society"? Exactly how does one measure inspiration and impact? And these will be extremely biased for people we just watched/are currently watching. And what the f*%# does "Overall Ranking" mean??? Did they really ask people to give each athlete individual rankings in the 3 criteria and then an overall ranking? Shouldn't the sum (or average) of the 3 be the overall ranking??? Jeebus.
Yes occasionally a clutch shot, shoe and hamburger sales. But what else???
I'd take Oscar Robertson 10 days out of ten over 23
Yeah ain't tha the truth.
the HOFer died in a plane crash on a mission trip to Nicaraugua. And MLB gives an annual award in his honor to a good player who is engaged in community service.
HTF is he 40th?!
August 9th, 2017 at 11:22 AM ^
You do realize people of african descent are distributed throughout the world-particularly central and south america & the carribean right? Many Dominicans, PR etc. have black bloodlines. Have you looked at many of the latinos in mlb? Can you say David Ortiz(to name one) is not black? They have hispanic last names because those countries were colonized by spain just as black americans tend to have english last names.
He was the greatest athlete of the last half of the 20th century -- be it black, white, yellow or green. He passes two basic tests for being considered truly great. First of all, he was a multi sport superstar excelling at both football and lacrosse. Secondly, he was so dominant his sport that they changed a rule to temper his success. There are not many athletes that this can be said for (although Wilt Chamberlain is one.) In his case, in lacrosse, reputedly they implemented a rule requiring cradling while moving up the field in order to force him to carry the ball away from his body. (Contrast this w/ Michael Jordan for whom the NBA actually tightened rules on hand checking so as not to impede his scoring.) Moreover, he was such an incredible physical specemin that it could be argued that at > 230 lbs he would still be a dominent player today.
Jim Brown saved earth against the Martians, I saw it here
And yet it's not enough to merit #1 apparently. Jim Brown is a man, and that's the highest compliment we can be paid, Jim having saved Earth (and probably more than once).
If I had to rank everyone who gives a shit, I guess my list would be...