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Conference hbahba::cam_sports

Title:Sports 93-96 Archive. No new notes allowed
Notice:Chainsaw's last standSPORTS_97
Moderator:HBAHBA::HAAS
Created:Mon Jan 11 1993
Last Modified:Tue Apr 15 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:302
Total number of notes:117855

256.0. "Bert Sugars top 100 Athletes of all time" by AKOCOA::BREEN () Thu Dec 14 1995 16:36

    Bert Sugar has written another of his top 100 books this time combining
    all athletes.  Ryan (bob of glove) says Bert has 21 baseball players
    and 5 Bostonians in his list (Orr 12,Russell 35, Williams...).
    
    Bert is a popular writer  and well respected.  I'm going to be curious
    about his list but his boxing list was very weighted toward <1950 and
    even a Joe Louis was barely top 10.
    
    I'm guessing Ty Cobb is at the top and Ruth close; Thorpe; Maybe he
    puts Jordan up there.  Finally if Russell is 35 is Chamberlain 50?
    
    Among those not making it is Bill Walton.
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256.1CNTROL::CHILDSWashing MachineFri Dec 15 1995 14:515
    
    Russell 35? Cmon now how creditable can this guy be? Russell should be
    top 5 in any list........
    
    mike
256.2SALEM::REEVEFri Dec 15 1995 15:224
    I'd have to rate Samson as the best athlete of all time. Anyone that
    can whip 10,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, keep Delilah
    happy, while carrying on a continuous dialogue with God has got to be
    the best.
256.3GO ATLAS! WATTA STRONG GUYHBAHBA::HAASslightly relatedFri Dec 15 1995 15:286
Yabbut, that ol' Atlas fellow is holding up all those things along with
the rest o' the world.

And for a minute I thought you was talking about Ralph Sampson ;-).

TTom
256.4IMBETR::DUPREZWill work for sleep..Fri Dec 15 1995 15:315
>    Russell 35? Cmon now how creditable can this guy be? Russell should be
>    top 5 in any list........

I believe Bert Sugar is a New Yorker.  In that case, if Russell is #35, you
can be sure that Willis Reed and/or Dave DeBusschere (sp?) are at 30 or below.
256.5IMBETR::DUPREZWill work for sleep..Fri Dec 15 1995 15:3511
>And for a minute I thought you was talking about Ralph Sampson ;-).

I think the author should remove this reply.  Ralph Sampson doesn't belong
anywhere in the general neighborhood of a "Greatest Athlete" discussion.
The most appropriate note for him would be "Dog Racing".

Seriously, I wonder if Secretariat was included, a la Sports Illustrated.
I still shake my head over the 31 1/2 length win (in the Belmont?)

Another conundrum for someone making a list like this.  Do you include a guy
like Bob Beamon, who set a record that lasted for 20+ years?
256.6another listHBAHBA::HAASslightly relatedFri Dec 15 1995 15:5511
Axyulely, Ralph was quite the college hoops star. His skinny wheels
caught up with him in the pros, though.

I always like Hod Rod Hunley's assessment of Ralph: "He's the most
overrated player in the NBA since me!".

And I've always been suspect about naming animals to the all time
athletes list. Maybe there should be a separate list for these
minorities, like best Equine-American athletes or something in that ilk.

TTom
256.7IMBETR::DUPREZWill work for sleep..Fri Dec 15 1995 16:564
>I always like Hod Rod Hunley's assessment of Ralph: "He's the most
>overrated player in the NBA since me!".

You just like Hot Rod 'cause he's from West By Gawd Virginee...
256.8ROCK::GRONOWSKII've always been a closet Steeler fan - even though they suck!Fri Dec 15 1995 16:584
256.9early starsHBAHBA::HAASslightly relatedFri Dec 15 1995 16:599
>You just like Hot Rod 'cause he's from West By Gawd Virginee...

And what's your point? *=]

Hot Rod was about the firsted ever sports star I remember. He went to
Charleston High so he was local talent. Early on it was him, Sam Huff and
Jerry West. Not suprisingly, they all went to WVU.

TTom
256.10Definitely agree with Mikey on RussellAKOCOA::BREENFri Dec 15 1995 17:0216
    The breakdown was Baseball	21
    		Track&Field	18
    		football	15
    		basketball	12
    		boxing		 7
    		golf		 6	
    		hockey		 5								
    		horse racing	 2
    		soccer		 2
    
    Skiing,auto racing,figure skating!,swimming and gymnastics 1 apiece.
    
    Cousy and Bird were on his list making three Celtics.  Again, he may
    have a New York slant but not New York bias; his bias would be to take
    athletes from all decades, especially I'm sure baseball and football.
    I'd bet that post 1980 athletes are only 10-15%.