Who's the best athlete in sports history?

[Jay Volcano]

Michael Jordan. No question.

[Alx.]

Al Bundy, of course

[el_critz]

Jim Thorpe.

this one...

[Addition]

LeBron James is a freak of nature.

[Drunken Cat]

[Danny Gunz]

This 40 yard bullshit is a curiously American phenomenon. It's also a typical American tactic. If you can't compete at something invent your own version and declare yourself champion. What use would a 40 yard dash speed be to someone playing football or rugby? There is literally no sport in the world apart from rugby-for-cross-dressers in which being able to run quickly in a straight line for forty yards is any sort of advantage.

40 yard dash is just to measure the speed of the players compared to others in football, but it is also a good hint at how fast they are. Most fast football players had a track and field career in high school and college but decided against it because football or basketball is more lucrative. The track numbers are pretty easy to find Jackson for example ran the 100 meter in 10.39 in high school.

[BornToLive]

Hard to call this 1 but it's a toss up between....Barry Bonds, Marion Jones (Girl Power!) or Lance Armstrong.

[Drunken Cat]

Hard to call this 1 but it's a toss up between....Barry Bonds, Marion Jones (Girl Power!) or Lance Armstrong.

Don't mistake yourself, the Eastern block athletes are every bit as good of dopers as the Americans.

[squealpiggy]

40 yard dash is just to measure the speed of the players compared to others in football, but it is also a good hint at how fast they are. Most fast football players had a track and field career in high school and college but decided against it because football or basketball is more lucrative. The track numbers are pretty easy to find Jackson for example ran the 100 meter in 10.39 in high school.

I know what it's for. But yanks like to recite such statistics as though they are in any way meaningful as anything other than tracking potential in recruits. It's a bit like someone saying that Cristiano Ronaldo is the world's best athletes because he can do a hundred keepy-uppies in a row or because if he tries his bestest he can kick the ball through the air for 90 yards.

[THE REED]