ESPN.com's 20 Greatest Athletes of Past 20 Years: Two With U-M Ties

Submitted by BursleyHall82 on April 2nd, 2015 at 9:59 AM

In honor of its 20th anniversary ESPN.com ranked the 20 greatest athletes of the last 20 years:

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/page/Anniversary-Top20Athletes/20th-ann…

One Wolverine (Tom Brady) and one former Michigan student (Michael Phelps) made the list.

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Engin77

April 2nd, 2015 at 7:16 PM ^

about 30 years from now.

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SFBlue

April 2nd, 2015 at 11:34 AM ^

Woodson? Heisman. Rose Bowl. National Title. NFL hall of fame shoo-in. Super Bowl. Defensive MVP.

Tough to justify knocking out any of those 20 names. But still. Woodson.

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ijohnb

April 2nd, 2015 at 11:48 AM ^

know, that is a stretch. I don't know if anybody outside of the Michigan community would flinch at all not seeing Woodson on that list. He was great, and he is iconic at Michigan, but I don't think he would be a national list even if you expanded it to 30.

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steve sharik

April 2nd, 2015 at 11:41 AM ^

Dude cheated.

And Charles Woodson should absolutely be on the list.

First and only defensive player to ever win the Heisman.
National champion.
8-time Pro Bowl-er.
Super Bowl Champion.
Only player in NFL history with at least 60 picks and 20 sacks.
Non-QB and kicker with a 15+ year career in pro football (when the avg. such NFL career years can be counted on one hand).

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jmblue

April 2nd, 2015 at 12:10 PM ^

Armstrong on the list makes absolutely no sense. Yes, it was the EPO era and everyone cheated - but that's I wouldn't put any cyclist from that era on the list.

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CoMisch

April 2nd, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^

No shit, this fucking lame. Woodson is one of a kind.

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MichiganMAN47

April 2nd, 2015 at 1:56 PM ^

Woodson is arguably the most talented DB ever. His professional accomplishments exceed Manning's and Favre's for their respective positions. I think 538 did an analysis and came to the conclusion that Woodson's career has been better than Manning's. The fact that he is still playing as a defensive back in the NFL at his age is absolutely incredible.

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