Doggy 130 Report post Posted August 17, 2008 If they are able to get over 100 gold medals I might agree with ya... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
timothy1997 0 Report post Posted August 17, 2008 phelps = greatest olympian ever Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
auxlepli 17 Report post Posted August 17, 2008 This has to be one of the best Summer Olympics I can remember. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GMRwings1983 8,803 Report post Posted August 17, 2008 00.01. MICHAEL. PHUCKING. PHELPS. Serious mancrush going on here, complete with avatar change. All aboard the destiny train, your conductor is the greatest athlete in world history, Michael Phelps. The lesson: Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever talk trash before any event you will be swimming against Michael Phelps. Talk about overreacting. You're like those people on imdb who think that "The Dark Knight" is the greatest movie ever made just because it came out in the last month. Phelps is great, but the greatest athlete in world history? Don't forget that he's still a swimmer and nothing else. Look at a guy like Jim Thorpe who excelled at many sports. Now that's what I consider an even better athlete. One who could be great at many sports. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
timothy1997 0 Report post Posted August 17, 2008 (edited) Talk about overreacting. You're like those people on imdb who think that "The Dark Knight" is the greatest movie ever made just because it came out in the last month. Phelps is great, but the greatest athlete in world history? Don't forget that he's still a swimmer and nothing else. Look at a guy like Jim Thorpe who excelled at many sports. Now that's what I consider an even better athlete. One who could be great at many sports. I must agree with this post. Phelps is the great but I will keep him as the greatest swimmer and olympian...not the greatest athlete. Hell this is probably the most dominant performance ever by an athlete. He is as high as you can go IMO, dominating in one sport. Probably just took Tiger Woods off the top of top US athlete. Should be a lock for SI man of the year and all other sports awards. Thorpe certainly deserves to be consider the greatest athlete ever. Since I never saw Thorpe, I will throw another athlete who I saw in my lifetime that I can consider the greatest. His career was cut short by injury but when he was on top of his game, he dominated football and baseball. The athlete: Bo Jackson Edited August 17, 2008 by timothy1997 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
betterREDthandead 58 Report post Posted August 17, 2008 Talk about overreacting. You're like those people on imdb who think that "The Dark Knight" is the greatest movie ever made just because it came out in the last month. Phelps is great, but the greatest athlete in world history? Don't forget that he's still a swimmer and nothing else. Look at a guy like Jim Thorpe who excelled at many sports. Now that's what I consider an even better athlete. One who could be great at many sports. Don't think for a minute Jim Thorpe is the only person ever who can excel at many sports. Fact is, there are hundreds of high schoolers who excel at several sports. They'll be both the star running back and the star point guard too. Maybe even the star center fielder. Or the star sprinter on the track team. The reason nobody these days does what Thorpe did is because you can be far better and make a lot more money specializing, not because there's nobody who can be good at multiple sports. I imagine Phelps would be quite good at whatever sport he tried. Athletes are athletes. Thorpe ran a 4:35 mile - I bet you Phelps would come in pretty close to that time. On the other hand, what about Thorpe in the water? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GMRwings1983 8,803 Report post Posted August 17, 2008 Don't think for a minute Jim Thorpe is the only person ever who can excel at many sports. Fact is, there are hundreds of high schoolers who excel at several sports. They'll be both the star running back and the star point guard too. Maybe even the star center fielder. Or the star sprinter on the track team. The reason nobody these days does what Thorpe did is because you can be far better and make a lot more money specializing, not because there's nobody who can be good at multiple sports. I imagine Phelps would be quite good at whatever sport he tried. Athletes are athletes. Thorpe ran a 4:35 mile - I bet you Phelps would come in pretty close to that time. On the other hand, what about Thorpe in the water? I know there are other guys besides Thorpe, and in fact the previous poster brought up Boe Jackson. I was just making an example of a guy that could do it all. For that matter what about guys like Gretzky, Jordan or Sugar Ray Robinson. Do you really think Phelps is better at his sport than they were at theirs? I don't. He's great, but I still think you overreacted calling him the best athlete ever. Best Olympian, maybe, but best athlete ever, no way. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
betterREDthandead 58 Report post Posted August 17, 2008 I know there are other guys besides Thorpe, and in fact the previous poster brought up Boe Jackson. I was just making an example of a guy that could do it all. For that matter what about guys like Gretzky, Jordan or Sugar Ray Robinson. Do you really think Phelps is better at his sport than they were at theirs? I don't. I do. The guy hasn't taken second in anything since 2006. And his ability to swim every stroke is analagous to Jordan playing both point guard and center. Again: have them trade sports. Phelps would do well in anything he tried. How well would these guys swim? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doggy 130 Report post Posted August 17, 2008 I do. The guy hasn't taken second in anything since 2006. And his ability to swim every stroke is analagous to Jordan playing both point guard and center. Again: have them trade sports. Phelps would do well in anything he tried. How well would these guys swim? What's that based on? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
betterREDthandead 58 Report post Posted August 17, 2008 What's that based on? The idea that athletes are athletes. You think he wouldn't be a pretty good runner or basketball player? Olympic champion, no. Superior to mere mortals? Absolutely. For example, I bet he'd run better than a 5-minute mile. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doggy 130 Report post Posted August 18, 2008 (edited) The idea that athletes are athletes. You think he wouldn't be a pretty good runner or basketball player? Olympic champion, no. Superior to mere mortals? Absolutely. For example, I bet he'd run better than a 5-minute mile. Unless you've seen him shoot 90% from the free-throw line you can't say you think he'd be a good basketballer. Being a good swimmer doesn't mean he has good hand-eye co-ordination. It means he's fit and a great athlete who can swim. I'll bet MJ would destroy him in a 1-on-1 game just as much as Phelps would destroy MJ in the pool. I'm not necessarily disagreeing that he's the best athlete ever, he may well be, but you're goin a little over the top, man. Lol. I can't say I haven't done the same thing with Yzerman though. Edited August 18, 2008 by Doggy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GMRwings1983 8,803 Report post Posted August 18, 2008 (edited) I do. The guy hasn't taken second in anything since 2006. And his ability to swim every stroke is analagous to Jordan playing both point guard and center. Again: have them trade sports. Phelps would do well in anything he tried. How well would these guys swim? Well, I can name you several boxers who have never been beaten before, period. Doesn't that dominance show that they're better than some guy who hasn't lost in 2 years? Also, 8 gold medals can be broken in the future. No one will break Gretzky's records or a guy like Chamberlain with his records. A year from now no one will think of Phelps anymore, since we only care about him once every 4 years. Hell, last time he won 6 gold medals, which is pretty damn impressive, and yet how much press did he get in the last 4 years? None, unless you count that driving arrest that he got. Point is, he's great, but anyone calling him the best athlete ever is grossly overreacting based on his current popularity for the last week. Edited August 18, 2008 by GMRwings1983 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
betterREDthandead 58 Report post Posted August 18, 2008 Well, I can name you several boxers who have never been beaten before, period. Doesn't that dominance show that they're better than some guy who hasn't lost in 2 years? If you can name several boxers that have never been beaten, it can't be that amazing of a feat for a boxer, can it? Because trust me: Phelps' run of not getting beat is much more impressive for a swimmer. After all, a boxer doesn't compete against 7 other guys at once. A year from now no one will think of Phelps anymore, since we only care about him once every 4 years. Hell, last time he won 6 gold medals, which is pretty damn impressive, and yet how much press did he get in the last 4 years? Amount of attention received isn't a measurement for the greatness of an athlete. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BlakChamber 8 Report post Posted August 18, 2008 Unless you've seen him shoot 90% from the free-throw line you can't say you think he'd be a good basketballer. Being a good swimmer doesn't mean he has good hand-eye co-ordination. It means he's fit and a great athlete who can swim. I'll bet MJ would destroy him in a 1-on-1 game just as much as Phelps would destroy MJ in the pool. I'm not necessarily disagreeing that he's the best athlete ever, he may well be, but you're goin a little over the top, man. Lol. I can't say I haven't done the same thing with Yzerman though. He's not saying Phelps can go straight from the pool to the NBA or anything like that. The point is that Phelps is a freaky good natural athlete, and just having that going for him, he's probably going to be better than the average person at whatever sports he tried. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doggy 130 Report post Posted August 18, 2008 He's not saying Phelps can go straight from the pool to the NBA or anything like that. The point is that Phelps is a freaky good natural athlete, and just having that going for him, he's probably going to be better than the average person at whatever sports he tried. Every Olympic swimmer probably could. Seriously. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
betterREDthandead 58 Report post Posted August 18, 2008 Every Olympic swimmer probably could. Seriously. And, obviously, Michael Phelps is the best Olympic swimmer. So. What you say is true. Swimming is the most rigorous of all Olympic sports, and it requires the best conditioning. So dominating the pool is more impressive than dominating any other Olympic sport. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doggy 130 Report post Posted August 18, 2008 And, obviously, Michael Phelps is the best Olympic swimmer. So. What you say is true. Swimming is the most rigorous of all Olympic sports, and it requires the best conditioning. So dominating the pool is more impressive than dominating any other Olympic sport. Agreed. The best besides Ian Thorpe. It's pretty difficult to say who the best athlete of all time is though. It's a little like naming the greatest album of all time. There's always going to have to be subjective opinions involved. Hey, kidding about Thorpie by the way. He was okay though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aussie_Wing 354 Report post Posted August 18, 2008 What did I tell you about the Boomers? Sensational! This is what we're capable of. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aussie_Wing 354 Report post Posted August 18, 2008 Greatest athlete? Rafael Nadal says hello... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doggy 130 Report post Posted August 18, 2008 What did I tell you about the Boomers? Sensational! This is what we're capable of. Lol. I knew you'd be a happy camper. It was good stuff. I still can't see us getting a medal with them though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
timothy1997 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2008 Greatest athlete? Rafael Nadal says hello... up to this year, he wasnt even the best in his sport. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aussie_Wing 354 Report post Posted August 18, 2008 up to this year, he wasnt even the best in his sport. Yes, doesn't mean he wasn't the best athlete though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
timothy1997 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2008 Yes, doesn't mean he wasn't the best athlete though. i am just saying I cannot give the greatest athlete ever props to someone who just became the #1 player in the world. Phelps has been the top swimmer easily in the past 4 years. I dont think Phelps is the greatest athlete, but is he the top athlete right now....probably. He is miles above Nadal and miles above Tiger Woods IMO. Maybe only Kobe Bryant can come close. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doggy 130 Report post Posted August 18, 2008 Tiger Woods? Greatest athlete? Lol. No. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
auxlepli 17 Report post Posted August 19, 2008 Phelps is easily the best athlete ever! I was reading the USAToday today and some writer mentioned Michael Jordan because he was a two-sport athlete. That's not a strong argument, because Jordan sucked at baseball. SUCKED! Seriously he shouldn't even have been in AA ball. If people want to use two-sport athletes use Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders, but please leave Jordan out of it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
