Opinion Greatest sportsman, or team, of all time?

[RuFiO]

Henrik Lundqvist.
Coz he has great hair.

 

[waldino]

For me it either has to me Michael Phelps or Michael Jordan


Side note: your kid will have a better chance of being a superstar if you call him Michael

 

[Maggie5]

Betty Cuthbert or Anna Meares. End.

 

[sirlothie]

Wilt the Stilt played in a weak era, his only major rival Bill Russell regularly held him. He was good but not the best athlete ever.

The best athlete is Carl Lewis.

And as for best sportsperson has Floyd Mayweather been mentioned? 48-0 is pretty phenomenal.

 

[sirlothie]

Sir Donald Bradman - test average 99.94 (80 innings)

Cmon now, try and name one other athlete who has dominated the sport in such a statistical manner then Bradman?

The next closest average is 36 points behind and that's a Bangladeshi guy who's only played 23 test innings.

No comparison.

Again weak era I believe.

 

[swiftdog]

Interesting little article on Don Bradman, certainly has some sort of claim to GOAT

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/364221-the-most-unbreakable-sporting-mark

 

[Knightmare]

Wilt the Stilt played in a weak era, his only major rival Bill Russell regularly held him. He was good but not the best athlete ever.

The best athlete is Carl Lewis.

And as for best sportsperson has Floyd Mayweather been mentioned? 48-0 is pretty phenomenal.

Wilt played against a number of the greatest all time basketball players and by far and away the greatest era for big men - being the 60s and 70s. Bill Russell and Kareem who were the next two best big men in the history of the game. Elgin Baylor was that generation's equivalent of LeBron. Oscar Robertson and Jerry West were great guards. They're top 10 all time basketball players just as Wilt is.

Rick Barry, Bob Pettit, Elvin Hayes, Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Nate Thurmond, Wes Unseld, Pistol Pete, Billy Cunningham, Walt Frazier, Earl Monroe, Dave Bing, Hal Greer, Tiny Archibald, Willis Reed, Dolph Schayes, Bill Sharman, Sam Jones, Dave Cowens, Jerry Lucas, Lenny Wilkins, Dave DeBusschere are all best 50 all time players also, all of whom Wilt played against.

Also critically in Wilt's era. There were less teams. Between around 7-17 teams during the times he played, rising towards the back end of his career. The result of this was Wilt more often would be playing against better players and against better teams. So the quality of teams was greater than any later era (although very different stylistically without the 3 ball, guys didn't have those same handles - particularly on the opposite hand, defensive systems were not as highly refined, but on the other hand offensive systems, ball movement, rim protection and low post games were so much better).

In basketball the greatest team of all time is the 60s Celtics and they were so incredibly deep and outstanding in all positions for such a long time with those 11 championships, their accomplishments are beyond equal, and they'd beat any current team, playing small as well as any current team and also able to handle the bigs of today with ease and run them off the court.
And like the 60s Celtics. Wilt is the greatest basketball player and certainly greatest athlete and physical specimen the game has seen as a taller, stronger, more athletic, fitter, more dominant and more skilled version of Shaq. He is a physical specimen without equal these past 100 years in any sport. And the only player to score 100 points in an NBA game, average more than 48 minutes per game in a season, average 50 points, 25 rebounds, and a projected although blocks weren't recorded then 10 blocks per game. And one season at center even leading the NBA in assists just to prove he can, because basketball for Wilt was child's play and not even remotely challenging.

As per my previous post I challenge anyone to find a more complete freak of a physical specimen:

440 yards = 402.336m (49sec)

880 yards = 804.672m (1min.58.3sec)

100m = 10.9sec

53 feet = 16.1544m (shot put)

High jump = 6 feet, 6.75 inches (2.00025m)

Standing vertical = 48 inches (1.21.82m)

Broad Jump = Long Jump – 22 feet = 6.7056m

500 pound bench press (226.796kg). – Some say almost 500lbs. Others say 550. Wilt says “right around 600lbs.”

7’1 without shoes. 275lbs start of career, 315lbs end of career. Standing reach of 9’7, wingspan of 7’9.

170lbs triceps extension (77.1107kg)

Dislocated a guys shoulder from a clean – all ball block. (Confirmed)

Dunks so hard that he broke a guys toe. (Confirmed)

Dunks so hard it goes back through the basket. (Confirmed)

Threw a two handed chest past to a target with an opposition player holding onto it. (Confirmed).

 

[BlackWhiteBlood]

Again weak era I believe.

You can only beat those you play against, also if you look a bit deeper if anything in Bradman's era the rules of the game favored the bowler more then the batsman.
- uncovered pitches mean the pitches are greener causing more movement of the pitch,making the ball harder to hit
- bats that where not as thick and smaller sweet spots, ball carries smaller distance of the bat. Edges carry to fielders and not over the boundary for 6 as you often see these days
- you could stack the field on one side of the wicket, meaning it was easier to bowl a line to prevent a batman from scoring. Today rules are in place stating how many fielders are allowed on each side of the wicket
- all cricketers are a lot fitter these days so that works both ways.

As far as batting is concerned Bradman is GOAT, probably GOAT for cricket in general (as discussed b/t me and another in previous posts) and a strong argument can be placed for GOAT in all sports, but this could be done for many athletes.