OT: Who would you put on your sports Mt. Rushmore. This is harder than it sounds...

the 'stache · #1 11-06-2015, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilKing00

ruth, gretzky, Jordan, Payton Manning

The first 3 were easy, the best ever in their sports, no one will ever be better.

As for football, that was hard. not easy to pick the best from so many diff positions. Manning / Montana / Elway / marino / rice / taylor / munoz / there are so many diff players in so many diff eras, but I think when its all said and done mannings numbers will be the ones that look the most mount rushmoric.

If you're looking purely at statistics for football, nobody has ever dominated the game like Don Hutson. He played 11 years, led the league in catches eight times, in yards receiving seven times, in touchdown catches nine times. He led the league in all three categories at once five times. The record of 99 receiving touchdowns he scored stood for 44 years until Steve Largent broke it in 1989. Hutson scored 99 times in 116 games. It took Largent 198 games to score 100. Don Hutson was the Babe Ruth of the NFL. Besides catching 488 passes for 7,991 yards and 99 TD, Hutson ran for 284 yards and 3 TD, kicked 172 extra points, 7 field goals, and intercepted 30 passes for 389 yards and a TD. He was first team All Pro each of his last eight seasons!

Cold Hard Football Facts nicely summarizes why Hutson, not Rice, is the best receiver to ever play the game.

packs · #2 11-06-2015, 10:50 AM

I would argue Jim Brown was much more dominant than just about anyone at any single sport with the exception of perhaps Babe Ruth.

Sean · #3 11-06-2015, 10:55 AM

I'm limiting my picks to team sports, and American sports, so no Pele:

Babe Ruth, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan (easy choices), and Jerry Rice.

jbhofmann · #4 11-06-2015, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by packs

I would argue Jim Brown was much more dominant than just about anyone at any single sport with the exception of perhaps Babe Ruth.

Tiger from 2000-2008?

However, Dick Schaap once called Brown the greatest Lacrosse player ever too.

OldEnglishD · #5 11-06-2015, 11:25 AM

Haven't finalized my list yet, but my initial reaction was to have Scotty Bowman on it. I'm thinking Ali wold be a shoo in for my list as well.

PolarBear · #6 11-06-2015, 11:27 AM

Theagenes of Thasos

cardsfan73 · #7 11-06-2015, 11:38 AM

Stan Musial, Wayne Gretzky, Jim Brown & Bill Russell.

jrlebert · #8 11-06-2015, 11:52 AM

Very surprised that nobody has brought up this name, and he's not even done yet:

Michael Phelps.

There are swimmers right now who are training 6-8 hours a day in just one event. Whether it is the IM, or butterfly, or freestyle, or a particular distance of any of those, they are training in just ONE event, hours a day, years at a time.

In the 2008 Olympics, Phelps won GOLD medals in EIGHT events, either setting the World Record (7 events) or Olympic Record (1 event) in all eight. That's akin to Usain Bolt winning the gold in the 100, 200, 400, 100 relay, 400 relay, 110 hurdles and 400 hurdles, and one other event just for good measure.

There is simply no comparison in the history of sport. He is the all-time leader in medals won, 22, with the closest competitor 4 behind, and the closest American 10 (!) behind. He also has the most gold medals of all time, 18, with the closest competitor at 10.

What Phelps has done is simply unreal, and he is going to add to his total, hopefully, next year in his swan song Olympics.

Phelps has to be on there.

My Rushmore:

Michael Phelps, Barry Sanders, Michael Jordan, and Nolan Ryan.

#9 11-06-2015, 04:46 PM

Jackie Robinson, Ray Dandridge, Ty Cobb , Pete Rose ALL AMERICAN CITIZENS

Dewey · #10 04-11-2022, 01:18 AM

Michael Jordan - because he was the greatest competitor I've ever seen and he transcended sport with Nike in a way that created a new type of athlete-entrepreneur.

Serena Williams - because she is the greatest tennis player of all time and the other half of humanity needs representation. 23 majors, 14 doubles majors, 3 or 4 gold medals.

Wayne Gretzky - because anyone legitimately called "The Great One" makes the cut. Getting to sit in the corporate seats handed down from my mom's Eastern European boss was about the best thing in my teenage years. Go Kings Go!

Alex Honnold - because he accomplished the greatest athletic achievement in human history. Period.

timzcardz · #11 04-14-2022, 08:37 AM

Lou Gehrig

Vince Lombardi

Jesse Owens

Richard Petty

Eric72 · #12 11-06-2015, 11:40 AM

Rusty Kuntz, Pete LaCock, Dick Cox and Bock Hooker...

Oh wait, wrong thread...

Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Jim Thorpe, Wayne Gretzky.

Jim Thorpe may have been the greatest athlete from 1900-Present, and the other three are usually mentioned in discussions regarding the greatest player of all-time within their respective sports.

the 'stache · #13 11-07-2015, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric72

Rusty Kuntz, Pete LaCock, Dick Cox and Bock Hooker...

Oh wait, wrong thread...

Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Jim Thorpe, Wayne Gretzky.

Jim Thorpe may have been the greatest athlete from 1900-Present, and the other three are usually mentioned in discussions regarding the greatest player of all-time within their respective sports.

Eric, I'm ashamed of you. I thought that you, of all our forum members, would take this kind of thing seriously.

Oh, and you forgot Dick Trickle (hey, we are including all sports here!)

Thorpe and the aforementioned Babe Didrikson are both interesting choices. It's just so hard to pick only four. I wanted to include persons that aspired to excellence, while simultaneously elevating sports to a higher level. Jesse Owens was another I thought of.

Keep it up, guys. Some good choices I hadn't thought of.

BTW, I want to go on record as saying that I won't object to Miss Rousey's inclusion in this discussion. I would be afraid to. I'm banged up enough as it is. I've seen what she will do to the human arm, and I like the use of both of mine.

steve B · #14 11-07-2015, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PolarBear

Theagenes of Thasos

Had to Google that one. Yeah, ok. He would be a possibility for the fourth spot. Hard to argue with a guy being looked on as almost a god

Steve B

Peter_Spaeth · #15 11-07-2015, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve B

Had to Google that one. Yeah, ok. He would be a possibility for the fourth spot. Hard to argue with a guy being looked on as almost a god

Steve B

His 1300 crowns blows away Phelps.

Peter_Spaeth · #16 11-06-2015, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by packs

I would argue Jim Brown was much more dominant than just about anyone at any single sport with the exception of perhaps Babe Ruth.

8 titles in 9 years, and I believe he still is the all time leader in yards per carry.

Peter_Spaeth · #17 11-06-2015, 11:32 AM

if you need to put a woman up there, Serena seems the obvious choice.

CardboardCollector · #18 11-06-2015, 11:34 AM

The Fathers of Football, Baseball and Basketball

Walter Camp, Andrew Cartwright, James Naismith

BengoughingForAwhile · #19 11-06-2015, 10:57 AM

Bonds... A Roid... Lance Armstrong... Rosie Ruiz....on the backside of Rushmore...

Bruinsfan94 · #20 11-06-2015, 11:01 AM

Ruth, Jordan, Brady,Gretzky .

Chuck9788 · #21 06-22-2024, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BengoughingForAwhile

Rosie Ruiz....on the backside of Rushmore...

Reporter : Have you been doing a lot of heavy intervals?

Ruiz : Someone else asked me about that, and I'm not sure what intervals are? What are they?

Reporter : Intervals are track work outs designed to make your speed improve dramatically, and if you've went from a 2:55 to a 2:31 one would expect that you've done a lot of speed work. Is someone coaching or advising you?

Ruiz : Um, no I advise myself.

Reporter : Congratulations. Rosie Ruiz the "mystery woman" we missed her at all our check points.

JustinD · #22 06-22-2024, 11:16 PM

Ruth
Gretzky
Jordan
Ali

EvilKing00 · #23 11-07-2015, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the 'stache

If you're looking purely at statistics for football, nobody has ever dominated the game like Don Hutson. He played 11 years, led the league in catches eight times, in yards receiving seven times, in touchdown catches nine times. He led the league in all three categories at once five times. The record of 99 receiving touchdowns he scored stood for 44 years until Steve Largent broke it in 1989. Hutson scored 99 times in 116 games. It took Largent 198 games to score 100. Don Hutson was the Babe Ruth of the NFL. Besides catching 488 passes for 7,991 yards and 99 TD, Hutson ran for 284 yards and 3 TD, kicked 172 extra points, 7 field goals, and intercepted 30 passes for 389 yards and a TD. He was first team All Pro each of his last eight seasons!

Cold Hard Football Facts nicely summarizes why Hutson, not Rice, is the best receiver to ever play the game.

looking at manning I saw and still see a guy who not only is a grate player but makes his whole team that much better. If im not mistaken the season he was out with injury his team that finished 10-6 previous season, went 2-10 without him then when he came back went 11-5.

A quick comparison to bradyin 2008 they went 11-5 with brady out for the season and mat cassell in at QB. That team was solid and with a great coach. Manning was the whole team more often than not

bbcard1 · #24 11-07-2015, 07:40 AM

If you don't start with Ruth/Jordan, you're just being argumentative. I think I would fill out with Thorpe and then probably Jackie Robinson. I have some reservations about Jackie as he is clearly not among the greatest athletes, but is one of the most influential people in American history...and often gets less than his due because he was an athlete.

Others I strongly considered:

Billie Jean King
Wayne Gretzky
Jim Brown
Richard Petty
Vince Lombari / Bear Bryant
Mark Spitz

Rookiemonster · #25 11-07-2015, 08:42 AM

Polar bear I did not ignore the pitching I just countered it with the fact he could not field or run bases . Making less of player in right field . The stats of what people made does not show what people really did . And that was go to work for there family because baseball was not considered a job . Or there was a family business that had to go in to . Most people did not allow there son to grow up and play baseball ( Lou Gehrig ) ( joe DiMaggio) were all told not to play imagine is the listened . And imagine how many did or didn't have a chos. After war world one there was a way lower population in America . There was not this a big pool of people to choose from . It came down to men that took it upon them self to play just a example let says you have to fill you teams out of a pool of guys that were just the guys that decided that had nothing better to do . Or in the 50s with a booming population of white , black , Spanish to choose from . And I'm sure little league teams were a lot better at bringing up kid to play ball . Mays would have most beat the HR if it wasn't for the Korean War . Then if you put him in Yankee stadium who know what he could have done . Yankee stadium was made for Ruth to hit home runs out of . And polar bear it's not arugeing it's a debate . And most players had to get a job in the off season lol wasn't the 1919 black sox incident caused the low pay ?

the 'stache · #26 11-07-2015, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilKing00

looking at manning I saw and still see a guy who not only is a grate player but makes his whole team that much better. If im not mistaken the season he was out with injury his team that finished 10-6 previous season, went 2-10 without him then when he came back went 11-5.

A quick comparison to bradyin 2008 they went 11-5 with brady out for the season and mat cassell in at QB. That team was solid and with a great coach. Manning was the whole team more often than not

I'm not saying that Manning wasn't a great quarterback. Far from it. I would be hard pressed to come up with a top 5 list of all-time quarterbacks, and not have him in it. But one thing needs to be kept in mind about Manning. He played at least half of his games indoors, every year. From 1998-2001, he played at least 8 games at the RCA Dome. From 2002-2010, he played at least 9 of his 16 games every year indoors (with an away game at Houston every season). That was a huge advantage as far as passing statistics are concerned. No wind. No precipitation whatsoever. No cold hands to drop passes. He played a majority of his games in a climate controlled dome. Now, these numbers aren't exactly indicative of his home/road splits while in Indianapolis (because he's now played a few seasons at Denver), but his career QB rating at home is 100.6, and it's 93.4 on the road. Still excellent in both places, and his 96.9 QB rating is the third highest of all-time. But he clearly benefited from playing in perfect conditions. Compare his numbers to those of Aaron Rodgers. Yes, the rules have changed even more in favor of offense in recent years-that's why it's hard, in my humble opinion, to compare great passers from different eras. But if you look at what Rodgers has done in Green Bay, it's mind boggling. He has a 106.3 career QB rating, and he will usually play 3 games each year indoors (Detroit, Minnesota, and at least one non-divisional opponent like Atlanta, or St. Louis). But his career QB rating--away from Lambeau, which is supposed to be this huge advantage, is 100.2. He has thrown 108 TD passes and only 35 INTs. If you took away all of his home game statistics, and took only his numbers from the road, he'd still be the highest rated QB in NFL history.

Why am I gushing about Rodgers? I'm trying to reinforce how hard it is to extrapolate a few numbers, and pick "the best" in any sport, especially football where there are only 16 games a season. Do I think Rodgers is the best passer in NFL history? It's hard to say, though he belongs in the conversation, as is a first ballot Hall of Famer if he retired today. But do I look at the career passer rating list, and say that Dan Marino is the 19th best quarterback to ever play the game? Is Joe Montana 10th best? Bart Starr is tied for 56th, and Johnny Unitas 77th best.

While Manning has put up some huge numbers, I think the guys I just named, had they played in today's NFL, would have put up the same eye popping numbers, if not better.

jcmtiger · #27 11-07-2015, 09:27 AM

Ty Cobb, Ali, Gordie Howe and Jim Brown

HOF Auto Rookies · #28 11-07-2015, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the 'stache

He has a 106.3 career QB rating, and he will usually play 3 games each year indoors (Detroit, Minnesota, and at least one non-divisional opponent like Atlanta, or St. Louis).

Hey, we played outdoors here last year and this year, didn't you see how awesome Blair Walsh is kicking outdoors?

It's not that Manning had HOF receivers and Favre didn't. Manning made them HOF receivers. Just like Brady made Welker one.

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the 'stache · #29 11-07-2015, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HOF Auto Rookies

It's not that Manning had HOF receivers and Favre didn't. Manning made them HOF receivers. Just like Brady made Welker one.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oh, please. You're grasping at straws. We could say that about every great wide receiver that's ever played the game.

Joe Montana and Steve Young made Jerry Rice a Hall of Famer.

By the way, Reggie Wayne, at age 34, had 106 catches for 1,355 yards in 2012 after Manning was already gone.

HOF Auto Rookies · #30 11-07-2015, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the 'stache

Oh, please. You're grasping at straws. We could say that about every great wide receiver that's ever played the game.

Joe Montana and Steve Young made Jerry Rice a Hall of Famer.

By the way, Reggie Wayne, at age 34, had 106 catches for 1,355 yards in 2012 after Manning was already gone.

Don't kid yourself. You could say that, but you would be wrong. Some receivers are made from the system they are in. That's why Welker was a flop everywhere until he went to the Pats.

Harrison was nothing special and did nothing before Manning. And please, one season. What did Wayne do in 2011? 2013? 2014? And where is he now?

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Peter_Spaeth · #31 11-07-2015, 11:27 AM

Welker played all of three seasons pre Pats and the third one had 67 receptions for a 10 yard average. And all but one game was for Miami (flop "everywhere" lol). You are just spouting nonsense for the hell of it, it seems.

You want an interesting stat on Welker, look at the decline in production going from Brady to the great Manning.

the 'stache · #32 11-07-2015, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilKing00

Manning was the whole team more often than not

Wait, I missed this before. Manning was the whole team more often than not??

Between 1999 and 2005, Manning had one of the dominant running backs in the NFL in the back in Edgerrin James. James ran for 1,553 yards in 1999, 1,709 yards in 2000 (leading the NFL both seasons), 1,259 yards in 2003, 1,548 yards in 2004, and 1,506 yards in 2005. He ran for 9,226 yards and 64 touchdowns in seven seasons, and would have easily cracked 10k yards if he had not missed 12 games in 2001 and 2002. He's probably a Hall of Famer, with 12,246 yards rushing, 80 TDs, 3,364 yards receiving and 11 TD.

Then there were his receivers. He had Marvin Harrison, a future Hall of Famer, for nearly his entire time in Indy. Between 1998 and 2008, Harrison caught 965 passes for 12,878 yards and 114 TD catches. Harrison made the Pro Bowl eight times, and was first team NFL All-Pro three times. And, starting in 2001, he also had Reggie Wayne. From 2004-2010, Wayne was a superstar for Manning, too. From 2001-2010, Wayne caught 787 passes for 10,748 yards and 69 TD. The duo combined for 2,172 receptions, 28,925 yards and 208 TD catches. Between them, they made 14 Pro Bowls, and were 4 times NFL All-Pro. Three Hall of Famers Manning had on offense with him for the vast majority of his career.

How many Hall of Famers were on offense for Brett Favre? Any? Sterling Sharpe would have been, but he was forced to retire in 1994, Favre's third season. He had some really good players-Robert Brooks had a huge season, and a second 1,000 yard season after blowing out his knee. Antonio Freeman made a Pro Bowl, and had a few 1,000 yard seasons. He had Donald Driver for the second half of his career. None of those guys are going to Canton. What about running backs? The best he had was Ahman Green, who became a star in Favre's ninth season. Before that, he had Edgar Bennett and a couple of good seasons from Dorsey Levens (one Pro Bowl appearance). None of these guys are all timers. Yet Favre won three MVP Awards, won a Super Bowl for the Packers, and broke most every passing record. Did Manning do more to make his team better than Favre? Food for thought.

uniship · #33 04-19-2022, 07:38 AM

Ruth
jordan
gretzky
tiger
ali

Exhibitman · #34 04-19-2022, 08:27 AM

Honorable Mention: Tanner Boyle

Tanner Boyle: Those Yankees are real turds.

Tanner Boyle: Hey Yankees... you can take your apology and your trophy and shove 'em straight up your ass!

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