Anderson Silva vs Michael Phelps
 

Greatest Athlete Of All Time - sportsnation Topics - ESPN

ESPN is having a month long debate on who the greatest athlete of all time is. Personally, I think it's cool any MMA fighter was nominated. But tough draw for Silva, going against the 1,275,912 time Gold medalist Michael Phelps. So who do you believe is the better athlete?

For further debate, who do you believe is the best athlete among the ones listed? Personally it would come down to Bo Jackson or Mike Jordan. Though Carl Lewis should definitely be in the conversation.

Bo knows who should win

Bo Jackson is horrendously overrated. He never had a 1000 yard season in the NFL, only scored 16 TD's in his career, and was a .250 hitter in baseball.

I know he had athleticism, played 2 sports, and had his career cut short by injury, but what he actually accomplished was nothing compared to other athletes.

Overrated? Disagree. He only started 23 games in his NFL career, but averaged about 5.5 yards per carry including runs of 91, 92, and 88 yards. His 162 game average in baseball would have been about 30 HRs and 100 RBIs. In the pre steroid era, those are pretty good numbers, and he was an absolutely sick outfielder. I think if his hip hadn't exploded against the Bengals, he would have gone down as the best, no question.

Who do you feel is the best of the remaining 15 athletes?

Gotta be Bo, Phelps, or Jordan.

I got Michael Jeffrey Jordan as my top. Dominate athlete. Would have decent ball player had he stuck with it. Hell he could still play in the NBA if he wanted to.

I go to "the Greatest" as my next top. Ali is my favorite boxer of all time to see tape on. The man was an athlete and performer.

Phelps is the most decorated and best pure athlete at a sport.

Bo is one of my all time favorites. Great athlete. Won a heisman trophy and hit a home run after having a hip replaced in mlb play. Plus he shut Brian Bosworth's mouth up. Wowsers.

Edit: When I said decent ball player I was referring to baseball.

Michael Jordan without question.

IDK man bo was a freak. For his size, the quickness in the cuts from side to side he could make, the way he could keep running and running and not slow down, and the way he could run people the fuck over...that's an extremely rare combination. Most people that big would be slowing down when their running 80 or 90 yards for a TD, too. Not Bo, he would still be pulling away from defensive backs that were several yards behind him. That's crazy for a pretty big running back.

Look at Jereome Bettis. He could run people over, but wasn't very agile. Look at Adrian Peterson, he's the opposite. Bo could do both. And he played professional baseball, like Jordan.

Um, no. Jordan tried to come back, and failed. Dont you remember him on the Wizards? Jordan IMO has "padded record" When he and the bulls were dominating the competition in the NBA was seriously lacking and IMO is no where near what it was when Bird & Magic were playing and dominating and definitely no where near the level of talent that is in the NBA today.

I think Ali wins this though.

I actually meant he would have been a decent base ball player had he stuck with it.

When I said he could still play I mean give 10 - 12 minutes and score 10-16 points per game.

I disagree with the padded record. The Bulls with Horace, Scotty, and Micheal were dominant. If Michael Jordon didn't exist Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, and probably Patrick Ewing would have Championships (and maybe Clyde Drexler).