Greatest Athlete ever?

[dwEEziL]

I think trying to peg down "The Greatest Athlete" ever is stupid, especially with the vast different skills required in the thousands of different sports. For B-ball, some say Larry Bird, others say Michael Jordan, still others say Wilt Chamberlain (and thousands more say thousands other). For football, some could say Walter Payton, some Johnny Unitas, then you got Elway, Rice, Sanders, Grange, etc. How about baseball? Ruth, Aaron, Ryan, Koufax, etc. Let's not forget outside the U.S. (and forgive my ignorance, I know very few). Pele, Renaldo, (um, people...help me out), etc.

 

Each had a great impact on their chosen sport in the era they played and far beyond. But each person's skillset (both physical prowess as well as mental acuity, etc) are/were drastically different from each other. Trying to peg one down as the "greatest" is like comparing apples and oranges and grapes and watermelons and bananas and kiwis and passion fruit and tomatoes, ad nauseum. It would do a great injustice to all the "greats" that weren't deemed "The Greatest".

[Demoner]

true, i think the point of this thread was just to get people's opinions on who they felt was the best athlete who had impacted them the most, or at least that is how i interpreted it.