OT: Name Your All-Time Mt. Rushmore of American Sports Stars

Submitted by UM85 on August 26th, 2022 at 5:56 PM

As we approach end of OT season, I'd like to get the Board's take on the All-Time American Sports Mt. Rushmore. You can use any metrics you like to come up with your four.  But there can only be four.  My criteria would be: 1) Athlete who dominated his/her sport at historical levels and 2) Combined said athletic dominance with an influence that extended well beyond his/her sport.  

With that, my Mt. Rushmore is:  Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

 

MGoBoard

JHumich

August 26th, 2022 at 6:00 PM ^

I would sub Joe Louis for Ali.

I'm good with the other three. I could have been talked into Willie Mays where Ruth is, but I'm good with Ruth.

Joined: 02/18/2017

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Goggles Paisano

August 26th, 2022 at 6:03 PM ^

Tiger Woods (greatest winner ever)

Usain Bolt (shouldn't the fastest human ever to walk the earth be on here?)

Hank Aaron (remove his 714 HR's and he still has 3,000 hits)

Barry Sanders (never anyone like him since football started)

 

 

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carolina blue

August 26th, 2022 at 9:55 PM ^

That doesn’t have to be the only metric. Tiger completely transcended the game. There are many arguments to be made that Tiger is greater than Jack. One is 82 vs 73 wins overall. 
tiger was more dominant.  He won 9 tourneys in a year once and 8 tourneys twice. Jack never won more than 7. 

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Blue Vet

August 26th, 2022 at 6:12 PM ^

Muhammad Ali: talent in the ring and courage beyond it

Jim Thorpe: maybe the greatest American athlete ever

Serena Williams: our current avatar of athleticism, personal strength, and influence

Hank Greenberg: a star and, though maybe not Mt. Rushmore stardom, I've always liked him

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Sam1863

August 27th, 2022 at 5:23 AM ^

I wouldn't put him on Rushmore, but +1 for Hank Greenberg, who was a great player and maybe an even better man. He gets a lot of deserved credit for his decision not to play on Yom Kippur during the 1934 pennant race, but there are two other stories I've always liked:

1. He reenlisted in the U..S. Army in Feb. 1942, even thought he'd already served and had been honorably discharged. He served 47 months, the longest of any MLB player, missing 3 1/2 seasons in the prime of his career.

2. One day in 1939 against the White Sox, Greenberg had been the target of some vicious anti-Semetic bench jockeying, and had been intentionally spiked at first. After the game, he went into the Chicago clubhouse and invited the big mouth who'd called him the worst of the slurs to "get to his feet and say it to my face.” No one moved. One of Greenberg’s teammates said later, “The guy with the big mouth was the luckiest guy in the world, because Greenberg would have killed him.”

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evenyoubrutus

August 26th, 2022 at 6:28 PM ^

The hardest sports are usually the ones with relatively little accolades. I'll agree with any of the great fighters. Climbing is an incredibly underrated sport. It's simply non competitive by nature. If you are at all familiar with the achievements of Alex Honnold, as well as Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgensen, those gentlemen deserve to be on that rock wall (pun intended). If you doubt me, watch The Dawn Wall and Free Solo. 

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Zoltanrules

August 26th, 2022 at 6:56 PM ^

Michael Phelps or Katie Ledecky

Carl Lewis

Serena Williams

Tiger Woods

hard to argue against Ruth, Ali, and MJ  but my four competed in a nonsegregated world, and had a score/time and/or competed on a non team sport. Hank Aaron played in relative obscurity for the Braves. Had he or Willie Mays played for the Yankees, they would be right there with Ruth.

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Vasav

August 26th, 2022 at 7:03 PM ^

i'm going to be semi goofy and semi serious

Porphyrius the Charioteer - between him and Diocles as greatest charioteer ever

William Marshall - so good at tournaments he became the King's tutor and became an Earl

Aleksandr Medved - wrestling is said to be the oldest sport, and I imagine in the Olympics age the athletes are better and more tested than in ancient times, or even when Honest Abe won the title of Menard County's championship. Medved is the most decorated freestyle wrestler

Pele - because soccer is the world's most popular game. I really wanted to make this Brady, but there are more soccer players, so the best soccer player is better than the GOAT. I don't really know enough about soccer. But I know who Pele is. Also I think he scored a goal that helped the Allies beat the Nazis in a stunning second half comeback, or something like that.

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drjaws

August 26th, 2022 at 7:08 PM ^

NHL: Wayne Gretzky. No explanation.

MLB: Miguel Cabrera. A triple crown these days is insane. Best pure hitter I have ever seen.

NBA: MJ (fuck the Bulls tho)

NFL: Barry Sanders

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