sports talk --
whos the greatest athlete ever?
bo jackson!!
why?
He just is..
Oh, cause he ran for 2700 yds in his nfl career?
No
because he was a lifetime .250 hitter..
No
because he scored a mediocre 6000 pts in a high school decathlon, something 30 kids do every year?
no
then why is bo the best athlete EVER?
he played 2 sports!! didnt you see those nike ads?? he was awesome !!!!!!
i surrender, you win, cant argue with that logic
no athlete is God, only God is...though some people worship them like they are
Please repeat grammar and punctuation....
here is how you write wrote:
Track is a sport where fact and fiction - legend and myth - get intertwined. Bo Jackson was a great football player and a very good baseball player - .250 career hitter. But Nike ads made his fans think he was a sports god. He had weaknesses like any other athlete. The decathlon - which Bo did in high school - exposes your weaknesses in a flash. Bo won his state title in the decathlon - with a very mediocre score. He wasn't nationally ranked among high schoolers. People also say he was a 'world class sprinter". Let's say "collegiately competitive" - that's more accurate. He ran 10.44 and 10.39 (wind-aided) - he didn't qualify for the Olympic Trials - he did qualify for NCAA's, but couldn't make the finals. Some guys who were super fast football players couldn't make it in track - D Sanders, Rocket Ismael, etc....these guys ran college track and got smoked...great acceleration but can't hold their speed. Bo was a great athlete - lots of injuries in college and pro days - but let's stick to reality and not myth. Everyone with a PC can quickly look up these facts and see what I'm talking about - but please don't take for truth wikipedia - says Bo scored 8,340 in decathlon - off by about 2000 pts !!! Crap! Like a lot of football players Bo was scared s-less of the pole vault. Sources - Track and Field News, USATF Statistics and National Federation of High School Track. If you believe idiots who don't even know the basics over these 3 sources, then you are the moron, jack. Spend fifteen minutes and you can see the truth, or what they call 'facts'...if you are a blind Bo Worshipper then here you go....Bo won 3 straight Olympic Gold Medals, scored 10,000 points and broke 5 world records in the process...he had to 'skip the last event' to go win the Tour de France....then he won Wimbledon and beat Michael Phelps in the butterfly....you're right...Bo had no weaknesses - keep the Paul Bunyan myth breathing... By the way to all readers - please omit the oldest - and easiest - and childish - retort in sports debates ever....."well, if so and so had really trained he coulda...shoulda....woulda....blah blah blah" - decathlon is a bare event....lots and lots and lots of training....lots of it alone...no coaches or teammates to drag you out of bed at 6a to run....no cheering crowds except at Olympics, Worlds or a few other meets....it tests your ability to stand alone and conquer 10 events...no excuses....the stopwatch and measuring tape never lie...no teammate to help you out if you screw up....thats why a lot of football dudes dont run track...if you have a big ego its hard to get smoked in front of thousands...what are you gonna do? can't blame a ref...i guess you can grab your hammy and fake an injury...ive seen that more than once. wow - i was nationally ranked in high school and college - i dont think thats 'failed'...28 decathlons over 11 yrs...name your achievements in your next reply in the decathlon, ok?
you're too stupid to realize i'm not blowing up your precious bo...just saying facts are facts...if you wanna live in a pretend world and make up stuff you have every right..that might be a comfy place for you, armchair qb...btw, 210 lbs is some kinda big deal in your expert mind? there have been elite decathletes that weigh 175 and some that weighed 225+...so i'm supposed to be impressed...go look up russ hodge and see what he did at 230lbs...ashton eaton weighs 185...best decathlete ever....he ran faster than bo's best ever 100 in the pouring rain in eugene in 2012 oly trials...
like i said earlier...bo was a great (and injury prone) athlete from high school on...lots of power and speed...but had weaknesses too...every athlete born has weaknesses...the decathlon exposes those weaknesses and you can't run and hide...if you ever had the balls or talent to complete one, you'd know what i was talking about idjit...jealous of bo?....no....jealous of a decathlon champ or wr holder...that'd be closer....lots of great football athletes out there...baseball players?...dude if you think baseball players are the measure of a great all-around athlete, you're a bigger idiot than i first thought....speed-strength-stamina-hops? you think BASEBALL is the measure of that?....guess you think great athlete michael jordan sucked cause he batted 200 in minor leagues right? did you ever watch the superstars in the day? all-sround test..guess who won 99% of the time? football and track...how many baseball players won it in 30 yrs? ZERO...there's a reason, moron...like i said, you cant have a discussion w a loser who's never tried something..you're one of the guys i mentioned before..."i coulda done that -- if i'd wanted to...worthless....baseball is for the dudes who werent fast enough or tough enough for football....you probably think josh hamilton is a great athlete...he wouldnt last one game in the nfl - at his prime...he cant even stay healthy playing a non-contact sport like bball!! btw thats another point about the decathlon - can't excel when youre a lifelong cocaine addict..pick up a pole and try to pole vault..i'll come visit you in the hospital.....bet babe ruth woulda dominated the decathlon, too, with his chicken legs and pot belly...but he made lots of $ so.....loperharder....the decathlon...superstars...all those tests were designed for the very reason we are having this discussion....it's a test of subjective athletic tests designed to test running and jumping and throwing - speed and strength and stamina...it's not a perfect test but it's the best one devised yet...name a better event thats designed to test versatility....who was a better 'athlete'? tiger woods or jimmy connors? both dominated their sport in their era...but athlete? how would you choose...one runs and dives and hits a moving object at over 130 mph and has to play 4 hrs+ ...the other hits a stationary ball...and plays in slacks...which one has to be more 'athletic'...how would you judge that....if you want to find out who is the best all-around athlete is...is the decathlon a great way to find out? sports experts around the world say yes...do you think the number one bowler in the world is a great 'athlete'...how do you decide? what skills makes a great athlete? if you say hitting a curve ball makes you a great athlete - cecil fielder - but you can barely jog one lap around a track...is that a great 'athlete'...john daley won two grand slam events...could he hurdle 42 inch hurdles if his life was at stake? of course not...is a 340lb nosetackle a great 'athlete'? how do you personally determine that? dude, i don't worship any athlete....i just think the decathlon is the best test out there for versatility...keep asking people where there's a better test...?
i dont know your athletic background but im content w mine...no regrets...i took on a huge challenge...trained hard...didnt dope...played within the rules...did my best...did well at the hs and college ranks..not at the international ranks...but i look back w pride on what i did...i think some folks on here didnt chase after anything great...didnt lay it on the line..but like to blow up people who did...and thats ok...i have perspective now i didnt when i was younger..bo was an outstanding back who had injury issues with auburn and w raiders...he was a very good hitter for power but not average... and in the decathlon he was good for the state of alabama but not nationally...in the decathlon your points tell the story...if i score 7500 points and you score 7000 theres no discussion....the results tell the story....bo was fast and strong but lacked stamina and technique and balance in certain events....his points in high school wouldnt rank him in the top 20 in the country in any year you can name...its not an opinion - just a fact - if you like legend and exaggeration and so on then thats cool...serious athletes live in the real world and arent delusional...if your coach is a liar or exaggerated then it is what it is...if someone told you bo hit 800 home runs would you correct them or just let them believe a myth?hope you can forgive my lazy sunday punctuation...oops..shoulda put an "i" before 'hope' and capitalized sunday...and shouldnt use shoulda...dang, did it again...didn't bring up masters til the 'doctoral candidate' brought up study time.....so...since you're into staying on point...and we're talking decathlon...what's your expertise in our topic...what was your p.r. total? how'd you do? or were you too busy teaching masters students? i was gonna come up with a funny phrase like rofl..but i'll leave that to the guy who was a doctoral candidate...i'm so dang impressed i almost spilled my coffee....
rofl
Please repeat grammar and punctuation.....
..got 4 women pregnant.
Bo knows women wrote:
..got 4 women pregnant.
Impressively low considering how hard he smashed the honies
MikeEM wrote:
sports talk --
whos the greatest athlete ever?
bo jackson!!
why?
He just is..
Oh, cause he ran for 2700 yds in his nfl career?
No
because he was a lifetime .250 hitter..
No
because he scored a mediocre 6000 pts in a high school decathlon, something 30 kids do every year?
no
then why is bo the best athlete EVER?
he played 2 sports!! didnt you see those nike ads?? he was awesome !!!!!!
i surrender, you win, cant argue with that logic
5.4 yards per carry. Admittedly not enough carries to qualify for the record books - I believe Jim Brown still has the record at 5.2 or so - but still outstanding. And, if you know baseball, you know you don't judge a player by batting average only. If you watched Bo play and saw the incredible combination of speed and power - running up and along the wall to make a catch, long, loooong, home runs - the worst you can say is to ask "what might have been" if he had concentrated on baseball.
MikeEM wrote:
By the way to all readers - please omit the oldest - and easiest - and childish - retort in sports debates ever....."well, if so and so had really trained he coulda...shoulda....woulda....blah blah blah"
"But ripping my 4:28 was kind of a cheap shot..it's a pretty decent dec 1500...and 9 of the 10 events are speed-based so obviously i'm not doing mileage and focusing on cv like your runners, who aren't throwing a 16-lb shot or running 42" hurdles."
ROFL
As for Nike commercials making him a legend, I'm pretty sure it was the fact he played two pro sports (baseball for the Royals, football for the Raiders) and...stuff like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHsAjzPVKJE
They guy was a freak among freaks among freaks.
This famous run against the Seahawks -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_hMgQ_rrtk
- is my personal favorite Bo highlight. Makes the Seahawks defense look like a bunch of high schoolers.
And the "Bo knows" commercials were very well done. Can't seem to find "When's that Tour de France thing?" on YouTube, but I thought that one was especially amusing.
dkny64 wrote:
This famous run against the Seahawks -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_hMgQ_rrtk- is my personal favorite Bo highlight. Makes the Seahawks defense look like a bunch of high schoolers.
Amazing speed.
On the other hand, the famous Boz play was much more impressive in my mind than it was when I actually saw it recently. Pretty routine run and tackle. Not Bo destroying Boz like I remembered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSjllemuOh0Dude Mike did this all the time on the Royals!
The much much better decathletes obviously would have pole vaulted over it like true athletes.
Outdoor Track Past State Champions - Boys
Decathlon State Champions
1982-Vincent Jackson, McAdory, 8,304
1981-Vincent Jackson, McAdory, 8,340
I don't know if HS spring baseball and track overlap in the hot southern states, but it should be noted that Bo tied the national HS home run record with 20 dingers in his senior season. Something tells me he wasn't doing rigorous training for the decathlon.
I played football and soccer simultaneously in the fall of my junior and senior years in HS, and there were a lot of time conflicts between sports. The AD's rule was that in case of a conflict you had to attend your primary sports' practices and games before heading off to the other sport. This meant that I often had to do a 2 hour full pads football practice (DB/WR) and then run across the field to arrive at the soccer game at halftime.
I'd be interested to know if Bo faced those same conditions wrt baseball and track.
Agree with you Mike! 100%! Bo was amazing! Him and Prime are amazing. I find myself holding MJordan to a standard that is untouchable myself. (He’s best in my eyes at basketball) but I can’t deny James being better all around. Again- Jordan is best at what he did- James can play 1-5 at the highest level. Jordan couldn’t play 5. Anyways- it devalues athlete and progression of up and coming athletes to say Bo was that good or anyone for that matter. To throw around numbers like 9.6 or 9.7 (100m dash) or to make it up bothers me. I wish people would back their facts up with either- a site that shows hard documented numbers rather then opinions. Or 2. Say, “I have read or have been told Bo ran 9.6.” To have records and stories that aren’t correctly documented- that bothers me. I can tell you my best 40 was 4.5. If I would’ve ran it 2 months later before I hung up the cleats- it would’ve been 4.012 that would’ve put me ahead of Bo. Ask my mom- she’ll tell you. Lol. Kidding. It makes people like me and you to gag when we hear bull without hard facts and it makes me think Bo is a phony. He’s not! He’s one of the best athletes ever (one of the best for sure).
To end my rant- if I hear how he was so amazing at football or baseball again- I’m going to puke. Yes he played half seasons (not full seasons before injuries because he was a two sport athlete and seasons collided- yes - that is amazing!) but Payton, Sanders, Campbell, LT, AP, Brown, Smith- those guys are the best running backs of all time. Even if they couldn’t hit a ball. Babe Ruth, Barry bonds, blah blah blah- those guys are the best baseball players. Look at their careers.
Jim Thorp was a guy... If you wanna go there- he’s the best athlete ever to play multiple pro sports, win metals. Not Bo. Thorp won medals. Jim Brown was a hall of fame football and lacrosse Player... I hear Thorp (like I hear about Bo) was an amazing basketball player too. I can go on and on. If Bo was next to me, I wouldn’t be writing this. He would beat my ass. But he’s not and I get to call this white elephant out in sports myths.
Cheers! Bo is awesome but didn’t run bolt times. Enough making things up and enjoy what’s available for debate rather then grandpas old stories about life before cars, electricity, and women.
Roger Kingdom would have been a better decathlete.
MikeEM wrote:
actually people call the gold medalist in the decathlon The World's Greatest Athlete because 264 nations sent their 3 best and he won the best all-around test of an athlete - with the whole world watching and no excuses -- everyone name for me another event that is DESIGNED to see who is the most versatile?
264 countries? Oh boy, Mikey! How are you doing nowadays?
This is a copy and paste from the Alabama High School Athletic Association website Track and field results.
1982-Vincent Jackson, McAdory, 8,304
1981-Vincent Jackson, McAdory, 8,340
CindyMarie wrote:
This is a copy and paste from the Alabama High School Athletic Association website Track and field results.
1982-Vincent Jackson, McAdory, 8,304
1981-Vincent Jackson, McAdory, 8,340
Interesting. So statfool was right after all, back on the 4th post of this thread.
This has to be one of the most Shakespearean threads on LRC, "told by an idiot, full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing."
That list of super fast footballers who did make it in track is a long one.
Bob Hayes
Tyreek Hill
Johnny Jones
O.J.Simpson
Cy Leland
Glen Davis
Trindon Hollidays
Jeff Demps
Jacoby Ford
James Jett
James Trapp
Cliff Branch.....
Want more?
The bottom like with Bo Jackson was his ability to do so many things and his size/speed combo. Nobody is saying he was another Jenner, Mathias, Johnson, O'Brien, Thompson etc in the decathlon, it's......how many Heisman winning stud RB's can also play pro baseball and compete in a decathlon.
And, if all he wanted to be was a sprinter he would have ran faster, the same with Sanders and Ismail.
As far as just a RB goes he was a better RB than Emmitt Smith the all time leading rusher. He would have put up the numbers once Allen left Oakland and would now be in that who was the second best RB ever debate behind Jim Brown (actually a FB)