The Greatest U.S. Athletes of All Time
 

Per SBF's suggestion, let's debate the greatest U.S. athletes of all time. I narrowed it down to U.S. to make the list a bit easier. Therefore people like Pele, Gretzky and Martina are ineligible. We could make it worldwide if people prefer.

So what defines greatness? I suppose it's based on accomplishments. With that in mind, I'll throw out these names (in no particular order):

Michael Jordan
Muhammad Ali
Pete Sampras
Lance Armstrong
Carl Lewis

Mia Hamm
Jesse Owens
Tiger Woods

my list would be Lance Armstrong, Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens, Bo Jackson, Roy Jones Jr., and Bruce Jenner.

the greatest american women athletes would be serena williams, marion jones, jackie joyner kersey, mary lou retton, and billy jean king.

what about bonnie blair?

I forgot about her, plus that swimmer who'se won a lot of medals the past few olympics. I can't remember her name though. something evans I think.

Sammy Baugh [Hall of Famer in 3 Positions QB, DB,Punter]
Ali [ If you saw him...he's on the list]
Jordan [He was the next level]
Jesse Owens [Spanked Hitler & a Horse]
Lance Armstrong [He's got "ballz"]

IMHO

peace
mike

[QUOTE=skinsfanthru&thru]the greatest american women athletes would be serena williams, marion jones, jackie joyner kersey, mary lou retton, and billy jean king.[/QUOTE]

You gotta stick Hamm on that list too. Mia Hamm is the best women's soccer player in the world, and the best women's soccer player ever, by most accounts. She's like Gretzky or MJ: she's just better than everyone else around her. And she's been doing it for a long time, but she'll still captain the US team in Athens and at the next women's world cup.

Serena may be slipping! I can't believe she got crushed like that at Wimbeldon.

Tiger? Arnie? Jack? Is golf a sport? j/k!

for every person who considers racing a sport, 2 consider golf and poker as sports... kinda odd.

i'd throw gretzky on the list, cause i don't care... he was that good.

[QUOTE=JWsleep]Tiger? Arnie? Jack? Is golf a sport? j/k![/QUOTE]

u might as well add a nascar driver on there,lol.

and thats a good point about mia hamm. is landan donovan an american born player?

[QUOTE=That Guy]i'd throw gretzky on the list, cause i don't care... he was that good.[/QUOTE]

For my money there was no one better than Gretzky. Not even Jordan did as much to change basketball as Gretzky did for hockey.

Here's a remarkable stat. Gretzky is all the time points leader in the NHL (goals and assists), but if you took away all his goals and went with just his assists he'd still be the points leader!

[QUOTE]Here's a remarkable stat. Gretzky is all the time points leader in the NHL (goals and assists), but if you took away all his goals and went with just his assists he'd still be the points leader![/QUOTE]
never knew that... that's insane.

gretzkey was a one of a kind player.

I'm still not convinced the Williams sisters are female =p

I never understand why people portray them as attractive. Maybe it's me, but a female with biceps 3x the size of mine and weighing in at a hearty 215lbs isn't my idea of sexy, but to each his own!

Jack Nicklaus was/is the greatest golfer...and yes golf is a sport.

Major Championships
Victories: 18
Second Place: 19
Third Place: 9
Top-Three Finishes: 46
Top-Five Finishes: 50
Top-10 Finishes: 68
Played in a record 154 consecutive major championships for which he was eligible from 1957 U.S. Open to the 1998 U.S. Open
(found this on his nicklaus.com)