Real GOATs of different sports. IMHO. Feel free to name/add your own.

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Last edited Sun Aug 20, 2023, 12:14 PM - Edit history (6)

Boxing: Muhammad Ali

Basketball: Michael Jordan

Football: Tom Brady

Baseball: Willie Mays/Babe Ruth/Hank Aaron/Ted Williams/Shohei Ohtani

Hockey: Wayne Gretsky

Men's Tennis: Novak Djokovic

Women's Tennis: Serena Williams

Women's Golf: Nancy Lopez, Annika Sorenstam

Men's Golf: Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods.

Men's Track and Field: Usain Bolt, Edwin Moses.

Women's Track and Field: Florence GRIFFITH-JOYNER

Gymnastics: Simone Biles

Women's Soccer: Marta Vieira da Silva

Men's Soccer: Pele, Lionel Messi

Men's Swimming: Michael Phelps

Women's Swimming: Katie Ledecky

Cricket: Don Bradman.

Olympic Wrestling: Aleksandr Karelin.

That's it. Can't think of anymore.

[Nikossitti]

1. Basketball

LeBron James— the kid from Akron

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4. He's definitely in the discussion. It's very close.

[walkingman]

2. Best Wide Receiver: Jerry Rice

Best NCAA Football Coach: Nick Saban

Best NFL Broadcast Team: John Madden, Howard Cosell, Dandy Don Meredith

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3. Right on all your selections. Especial like the broadcast team. Hadn't heard of Dandy Don...

and Humble Howard in a while. John Madden of course is an all-time GOAT.

[FuzzyRabbit]

5. Women's basketball

Diana Taurasi

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6. Oh, good one. Sorry for leaving out Women's Basketball.

[Karadeniz]

7. Horse racing: Secretariat. His records still stand after fifty years. He's still the only nonhuman

listed on top ten and top 35 athletes. During those fifty years, record breaking humans have toppled, replaced by new records. Michael Phelps just lost his, I heard. His heart was a huge factor, but not the only factor. His neck size was legendary, allowing a huge intake of oxygen. His body looked too small to contain all his muscles. He had a special all out gallop. His intelligence was so dependable that his jockey let him call the strategies. People who had seen both Man o' War and Citation said Secretariat was the best.

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8. Good one. Secretariat was a once-in-a-century horse. Beautiful to look at too.

Last edited Mon Aug 7, 2023, 04:39 PM - Edit history (1)

[Bayard]

9. Mohammed Ali, of course, boxing

Women's Heptathlon: Jackie Joyner-Kersey. Six Olympic medals, "Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century by Sports Illustrated." Also, a darn nice person. We had seats at the Olympic Track & Field trials in Indianapolis, and were cheering for her. She turned around and gave us the biggest grin, and a wave.

Women's Marathon: Joan Benoit-Samuelson, first Women's Olympic Marathon gold medalist. She's also set 2 Boston Marathon records, and is still running marathons today. I have her autograph from Boston.
Grete Waitz is a close second, winning Silver in the same Olympic Marathon. She won the NYC marathon 9 times. She passed away from cancer several years ago. The one year I ran the Peachtree 10K in Atlanta, I saw her behind for about 2 seconds.

Dressage: Isabell Werth. Twelve Olympic medals in 6 Olympics, 7 gold ones. Nine time World Champion at the World Equestrian Games.

And of course, Secretariat, Super Horse of All Time. He always had an extra gear.

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10. Great additions. How could I forget to put in ALI, the original GOAT and the one athelete...

I created this OP in tribute to. I will edit and add his name first.

[Bobstandard]

11. Surfing: Kelly Slater

Kelly Slater is an American professional surfer, best known for being crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. Slater is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time, and holds 56 Championship Tour victories. Slater is also the oldest surfer still active on the World Surf League, winning his 8th Billabong Pipeline Masters title at age 49.

All those other sports? Sure, you’re competing against other people, but you’re not also competing against the court, or the field, or whatever. Those have the decency to stay still. In surfing, the wave can kick your ass.

Check this out. Just one example:

https://m.

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14. Thanks for the knowledge of Kelly Slater.

[BHDem53]

12. B. Russell, W. Payton, H. Aaron, G. Howe, J. Louis,

J. Owens, W. Rudolph, P. Sampras, S. Williams, T. Woods, B. Zaharias.

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13. Good additions. Will add Tiger Woods as best male golfer.

[ProfessorGAC]

15. Mostly Agree

One minor quibble is women's golf. It's Annika and nobody else is close. Even Nancy doesn't compare as the competition was MUCH thinner in her day. In the pantheon of women's golf, it's Annika, then everybody else.

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16. You're right of course. I just have a soft spot for Nancy Lopez.

Last edited Thu Aug 17, 2023, 04:05 PM - Edit history (1)

Curious, what do you think of my baseball goats? Had to add Ohtani as he's doing things that are phenomenal.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. I'd Like Ohtani To Do It Longer

But, he's amazing so far.
I'd be more prone to go with integrated league players, so despite what Ruth did, could he have done it with Satchel Paige or Joe Williams pitching. Maybe he crushes those guys too, but we can't know.
Aaron's consistency was amazing. 755 homers & never hit over 47. But, he wasn't the fielder Mays was. Then, we've got Ted Williams who didn't even care about fielding but was the best pure hitter ever.
One other thing: I'd like to add a candidate for GOAT of men's track & field. Edwin Moses. He dominated a speed event for 10 years. Undefeated in heats & finals for a decade! Amazing.

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18. Good stuff. Williams, absolutely. There are a few others.

Musial. Pujols had 10 great years to start his career, and finished up great.

Will add Williams, and Moses to track and field goats

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. Cricket: Don Bradman

The fundamental measure of a batsman is the average - runs scored divided by number of times out. In international matches ("Tests&quot :
Bradman: 99.94
next 10: between 58 and 63
next 11: between 54 and 58
and so on
https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/highest-career-batting-average-282910
There's no bowler who stands out so much.

The controversial "bodyline" tactics were invented by England because Bradman was so good. They nearly caused a diplomatic incident. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodyline

A bodyline delivery was one in which the cricket ball was bowled at pace, aimed at the body of the batsman in the expectation that when he defended himself with his bat, a resulting deflection could be caught by one of several fielders deliberately placed nearby on the leg side.

At the time, no helmets or other upper body protective gear was worn, and critics of the tactic considered it intimidating, and physically threatening in a game that was traditionally supposed to uphold conventions of sportsmanship. The England team's use of the tactic was perceived by some, both in Australia and England, as overly aggressive or even unfair, and caused a controversy that rose to such a level that it threatened diplomatic relations between the two countries before the situation was calmed.

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21. Thanks so much. I'm learning much with this OP about sports of which my knowledge is limited.

Thanks for the links and the info. Bradman will be added to the list.

So a top batsman is akin to a home run king in baseball?

[Cuthbert Allgood]

20. Olympic Wrestling: Aleksandr Karelin

887 and 2 international record. An absolute machine.

The Karelin lift was crazy in heavyweight.

&

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22. Wow! Karelin just manhandled that guy. Thanks for this.

I will add him to the list.