Fam. Everyone else is vying for second.
Fam. Everyone else is vying for second.
Brian Oldfield
athletic career of Brian Oldfield. He had, without question, the longest active throwing career of any world class shot putter. His last competitive season was 1988 when, at age 43, he attempted to qualify for the US Olympic team.
While he was the most successful and accomplished shot putter of the 1970s and early 1980s, his athleticism made him competitive at many other endeavors. They include the Highland Games, where he set and still holds multiple world and American records. He was a competitor in "The Superstars" and "The World's Strongest Man". He also dabbled in boxing and wrestling. These endeavors will also be documented on this site.
After all was said and done, Brian was first and foremost a shot putter. He was the first man to throw over 72' (outdoors), 73', 74' and 75'.
MORE.....BRian Oldfield
Brian had personal bests of 204' in the discus, 180' in the hammer and 210' in the javelin.
Other Track & Field Accomplishments
Brian scored 5750 in the Ohio State Relays decathlon in 1971.
Brian high jumped 6' 6"; ran the 100M in 10.5; ran the 40 yard dash in 4.3 seconds.
Other Athletic Accomplishments
Brian was a highly successful Highland Games athlete. He still holds several records today.
Brian sparred with Muhammad Ali and trained as a professional wrestler under the legendary Verne Gagne.
Brian participated in several "Superstars" and "World's Strongest Man" competitions.
Brian dunked a 16 pound shot put.
Here's his picture during his competitive zenith: http://tinyurl.com/aed75cm
here is a video of Brian dunking 16lb shot!
JonLongson wrote:
Why do these threads bring out the Bo Jackson fanboys? He was marginal at two pro sports.... whoop de doo.
Your joking right? The guy was a beast.
I think this thread is very interesting.
There are several ways to answer it. Like who could play the most # of pro sports?
Or if you were going to the local park and playing a wide variety of games, pick up soccer, basketball, cricket, baseball, even tennis.
In terms of multiple pro sports:
Lebron: Assuming he's not afraid of contact, you'd think Lebron would be a beast in the NFL as a TE. Of course, watching him flop last night against Chicago...
Messi - too short to play much of anything but soccer.
Eaton - are we sure he's coordinated at all? Of course, you don't need to be too coordinated for the NFL. Chip Kelly said he wanted him to play at Oregon but he might be too small for the NFL.
How good would Lebron be at track?
How good would eaton be at track or basketball?
To me, Eaton hasn't proven he has the coordination to play another sport.
Gatlin? You guys are joking right. He wasn't even signed. Look at Okoye. Beast.
Lebron flopped? He wasn't even looking when the guy pushed him.
Kyle Rote, Jr. soccer
While in the NASL, Rote won the made-for-television Superstars competition three times in a four-year period in the 1970s.
against these guys!
1973: Bob Seagren ·1974: Kyle Rote, Jr. ·1975: O. J. Simpson ·1976: Kyle Rote, Jr. ·1977: Kyle Rote, Jr. ·1978: Wayne Grimditch ·1979: Greg Pruitt ·1980: Charles White ·1981: Renaldo Nehemiah ·1982: Renaldo Nehemiah ·1983: Renaldo Nehemiah ·1984: Tom Petranoff ·1985: Mark Gastineau ·1986: Renaldo Nehemiah ·1987: Herschel Walker ·1988: Herschel Walker ·1989: Willie Gault ·1990: Willie Gault ·1991: Kelly Gruber ·1992: Mike Powell ·1993: Dave Johnson ·1994: Dave Johnson ·1995: competition not held ·1996: competition not held ·1997: competition not held ·1998: Jason Sehorn ·1999: Jason Sehorn ·2000: Jason Sehorn ·2001: Hermann Maier ·2002: Bode Miller ·2003: Jeremy Bloom
rojo wrote:
...
Eaton - are we sure he's coordinated at all? Of course, you don't need to be too coordinated for the NFL. Chip Kelly said he wanted him to play at Oregon but he might be too small for the NFL...
Ummm, yes you do. See post above concerning Superstars competition winners. Note Renaldo Nehemiah. Mind-boggling speed. Could do many of these one-dimensional activities to win Superstars. NFL flop.
To all those Ashton Eaton backers - please take note.
Suzy Favor Hamilton and whoever is doing Suzy Favor Hamilton.
dsgdh wrote:
Suzy Favor Hamilton and whoever is doing Suzy Favor Hamilton.
That's more than 2.
JonLongson wrote:
Why do these threads bring out the Bo Jackson fanboys? He was marginal at two pro sports.... whoop de doo. If that's the standard, then Deon Sanders is tops and Brian Jordan is 2nd.... as they were better than Jackson at the same sports.
The REAL top list includes Michael Jordan, Jim Brown, Wayne Gretzky.... everyone else is after that
Are you kidding me? Bo was an all-star in both sports (averaged 5.4 yards a carry in his NFL career and still holds the SEC record for yards per carry at 6.6) and lots of people who played with and against him say he would've made the Hall of Fame in one of the two sports had he not been hurt. He was also a state champion in three track events in high school. If you consider the guys who competed against him "fanboys", because they all think he's the greatest athlete they ever played against, count me in that group.
rojo wrote:
JonLongson wrote:Why do these threads bring out the Bo Jackson fanboys? He was marginal at two pro sports.... whoop de doo.
Your joking right? The guy was a beast.
I think this thread is very interesting.
There are several ways to answer it. Like who could play the most # of pro sports?
Or if you were going to the local park and playing a wide variety of games, pick up soccer, basketball, cricket, baseball, even tennis.
In terms of multiple pro sports:
Lebron: Assuming he's not afraid of contact, you'd think Lebron would be a beast in the NFL as a TE. Of course, watching him flop last night against Chicago...
Messi - too short to play much of anything but soccer.
Eaton - are we sure he's coordinated at all? Of course, you don't need to be too coordinated for the NFL. Chip Kelly said he wanted him to play at Oregon but he might be too small for the NFL.
How good would Lebron be at track?
How good would eaton be at track or basketball?
To me, Eaton hasn't proven he has the coordination to play another sport.
Gatlin? You guys are joking right. He wasn't even signed. Look at Okoye. Beast.
I understand what the poster was saying. Bo wasn't that great a baseball player. Although I believe Jackson was way better at football than baseball. In baseball he was a highlight reel, but he wasn't consistant. He wasn't even the MVP for the Royals the years he played. But in that same vein, he was crazy athletic. But then that idea rolls around to how many guys are out there who are marginal in their sports but are also crazy athletic. And to the poster who mentioned Bo being and All-star in two sports, please, a popular dead guy could be an all-star starter these days.
utbg wrote:
rojo wrote:Your joking right? The guy was a beast.
I think this thread is very interesting.
There are several ways to answer it. Like who could play the most # of pro sports?
Or if you were going to the local park and playing a wide variety of games, pick up soccer, basketball, cricket, baseball, even tennis.
In terms of multiple pro sports:
Lebron: Assuming he's not afraid of contact, you'd think Lebron would be a beast in the NFL as a TE. Of course, watching him flop last night against Chicago...
Messi - too short to play much of anything but soccer.
Eaton - are we sure he's coordinated at all? Of course, you don't need to be too coordinated for the NFL. Chip Kelly said he wanted him to play at Oregon but he might be too small for the NFL.
How good would Lebron be at track?
How good would eaton be at track or basketball?
To me, Eaton hasn't proven he has the coordination to play another sport.
Gatlin? You guys are joking right. He wasn't even signed. Look at Okoye. Beast.
I understand what the poster was saying. Bo wasn't that great a baseball player. Although I believe Jackson was way better at football than baseball. In baseball he was a highlight reel, but he wasn't consistant. He wasn't even the MVP for the Royals the years he played. But in that same vein, he was crazy athletic. But then that idea rolls around to how many guys are out there who are marginal in their sports but are also crazy athletic. And to the poster who mentioned Bo being and All-star in two sports, please, a popular dead guy could be an all-star starter these days.
this is a pretty silly analysis. since when did being mvp of your team mean anything. you are aware that the royals had guys like george brett and bret saberhagen when bo was playing for them?
he batted .401 with a .864 slugging % his junior in college. those are pretty gaudy numbers. he also was an all star in 1989 with 32 HRs and 105 RBIs. for you toddlers who only know steroid numbers, 32 HRs was an enormous amount before roids and tiny ballparks ruined the game.
people also have failed to mentioned that he set high school records in the high jump and triple jump. he is the best all around athlete over the past 50 years and probably of all-time.
Jordan excellent in golf? - no ... good - no (occasional decent rounds) wanders into the mid to high 80s. Pro baseball @ "AA" ball, batted .202, and reportedly and average fielder at best. Stats, and other skilled sports personnel, speak to more objective assessment.
Michael Jordan was a great ... basketball player ... and celebrity. Arguably the greatest of all time - to this date. His celebrity status misleads the uniformed to inaccurate conclusions about his accomplishments in other areas ... outside of basketball. Leave the other stuff out. You shoot yourself in the foot.
kippy2 wrote:
this is a pretty silly analysis. since when did being mvp of your team mean anything. you are aware that the royals had guys like george brett and bret saberhagen when bo was playing for them?
he batted .401 with a .864 slugging % his junior in college. those are pretty gaudy numbers. he also was an all star in 1989 with 32 HRs and 105 RBIs. for you toddlers who only know steroid numbers, 32 HRs was an enormous amount before roids and tiny ballparks ruined the game.
people also have failed to mentioned that he set high school records in the high jump and triple jump. he is the best all around athlete over the past 50 years and probably of all-time.
Sorry, but your claim is highly unlikely to be true.
A decent estimate of the number of people who have ever lived (since 50,000 BC) is over 100 billion. If 50% are males that leaves us with roughly 50 billion.
http://www.prb.org/Articles/2002/HowManyPeopleHaveEverLivedonEarth.asxA decent estimate of the number of males who you have any indication whatsoever as to their inherent athletic ability is at best 5 billion and arguably a whole lot less.
P(Greatest Athlete of all time is even someone who you would have any information about whatsoever)
Probability Man wrote:
Sorry, but your claim is highly unlikely to be true.
A decent estimate of the number of people who have ever lived (since 50,000 BC) is over 100 billion. If 50% are males that leaves us with roughly 50 billion.
http://www.prb.org/Articles/2002/HowManyPeopleHaveEverLivedonEarth.asxA decent estimate of the number of males who you have any indication whatsoever as to their inherent athletic ability is at best 5 billion and arguably a whole lot less.
As a result, P(Greatest Athlete of all time is even someone who you would have any information about whatsoever) is very, very low.
- sorry for the repost, original post got truncated for reasons which are not clear to me -
Stats of a nice ballplayer, not great.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/1744/bo-jackson
32 Hrs wasn't "enormous" for homers for a long time and why do you think Bo wasn't on the juice?
RuKiddingMe!! wrote:
MORE.....BRian Oldfield
Brian had personal bests of 204' in the discus, 180' in the hammer and 210' in the javelin.
Other Track & Field Accomplishments
Brian scored 5750 in the Ohio State Relays decathlon in 1971.
Brian high jumped 6' 6"; ran the 100M in 10.5; ran the 40 yard dash in 4.3 seconds.
Other Athletic Accomplishments
Brian was a highly successful Highland Games athlete. He still holds several records today.
Brian sparred with Muhammad Ali and trained as a professional wrestler under the legendary Verne Gagne.
Brian participated in several "Superstars" and "World's Strongest Man" competitions.
Brian dunked a 16 pound shot put.
Brian threw a 3'+ WR in the shot put. He high jumped 7' in that Decathlon at Ohio State. You mentioned his speed above. He also used to beat the top women sprinters over 50 meters in exhibitions on the pro track circuit. In one of those Superstars competitions, they banned him from weight lifting to make it competitive. He watched until Lou Ferrigno won at a particular weight for the clean and jerk, then stepped up and pressed it 10 times.
He did these things at well over 230 pounds. He definitely would be in consideration as the greatest athlete ever.
I'd take Herschel Walker over Bo Jackson. Jordan would not even be top 10 for all around athletes.
Deion Sanders would be really freaking high too.