1.) To this day I happen to think that Muhammed Ali is "THE GREATEST" boxer and finest Athlete of ALL TIME. there are 100’s of other good fighters, but NOBODY else comes close in boxing.
("I don’t have to be what you want me to be; I’m free to be what I want"), the poetry (his ability to compose rhymes on the run could very well qualify him as the first rapper)
Ali brought beauty and grace to the most uncompromising of sports….Floating, stinging, punching, prophesying, he transformed his sport and became the most adored athlete in the ENTIRE WORLD, living or dead.
"Master of "The Sweet Science"
mention his name and EVERYBODY knows who Ali is"
2.) Jackie Joyner-Kersee
In every revolution — and surely the explosion of women’s sport is nothing less — there is a leader. Whether vocal or silent, whether by purpose or happenstance, there is a figure whose shadow falls across an era and whose footprints mark the path for others to follow. In ways that could be measured, Jackie Joyner-Kersee was one of the greatest Olympic athletes in history, and in ways that could not, she was a rare combination of courage and grace, of power and vulnerability. A generation of women looked into her face and saw something they had never before seen in sport, and they were drawn to it.
"You could see that she loved everything she did and that she invested every ounce of strength she had in it," says Mia Hamm, who was 12 when Joyner-Kersee narrowly missed winning a gold medal in the heptathlon at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. "You saw her and
you got the idea of what a woman athlete should be. At the time it seemed almost like she wasn’t responsible for just her sport, but for all of women’s sport."
Hamm’s words ring true. Joyner-Kersee is Sports Illustrated For Women’s Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century not just because she was one of the best performers in track and field history, but also because the energy of her athleticism and personality wrapped itself around all of women’s sport at precisely the time when it began to grow.
she won a silver medal in the heptathlon in the 1984 Olympics and gold medals in the 1988 and 1992 Games. She also won a gold medal in the long jump in 1988 and a bronze at the 1992 Olympics. Joyner-Kersee is the heptathlon world record-holder and American record-holder in the long jump. Her sister-in-law is the late track star Florence Griffith Joyner. A sufferer of exercise-induced asthma, Joyner-Kersee officially retired from track and field in 2001 at age 38. After her retirement, she started the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Youth Center Foundation to encourage kids in her underprivileged hometown to play sports.
3.) Jim Brown will always be a MARVEL of mine….Jim Brown is to running backs what Superman is to cartoon heroes. Standing 6-foot-2 and packing 230 hard pounds on his square-shouldered frame, he was an explosive fullback, combining outstanding speed with awesome power.
Brown played only nine seasons for the Cleveland Browns — and led the NFL in rushing eight times. He averaged 104 yards a game, a record 5.2 yards a pop. He ran for at least 100 yards in 58 of his 118 regular-season games.
And MOST IMPRESSIVE…. (he never missed 1 game in his Entire Career) LOL!!!!!
Amazingly, football might not have been Brown’s best sport. Some say he was a more talented lacrosse player, and he is the only person to be inducted into the halls of fame for pro football, college football and lacrosse.
4.) Barry Bonds* Go Ahead, put an asterisk after his name if you want to.
To Me is The BEST BASESBALL SLUGGER OF ALL TIME" with or without steriods…..Bonds currently holds the all-time Major League Baseball home run record with 762, and is also the all-time career leader in both Walks (2,558) and intentional walks (688). He holds numerous other records, including the single-season Major League record for home runs (73), set in 2001, and a record Seven Most Valuable Player Awards.
5.) Tom Brady* His career is relatively young and the Man Stands so far Above any other NFL Quarterback its "ridiculous" LOL……:))
To Me Brady is one of the best quarterbacks of OUR era. He has won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX), two Super Bowl MVP awards (XXXVI and XXXVIII), and has been invited to four Pro Bowls, and has the most touchdowns in a season. Brady was named to the AP All-Pro Team, and as Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year, in 2005. He also helped set the record for the longest consecutive win streak in NFL history with 21 straight wins over two seasons. PLUS Im nominating him as The MVP of this years Super Bowl with The Patriots going 16-0 in the regular season :))
He has already been named "Sportsman of the Year" This year, by The Sporting News for the second time in his career. He was also named Male Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press, the first time he has received that honor, and the first time an NFL player has been honored since Joe Montana won in 1990.
6.) Tiger Woods…."The king of swings on the green"
The son of an African American Army officer father and a Thai mother, he learned to play as a child. His father, Earl, served as his teacher and mentor. Around the age of eight, Woods showed off his skills. He grew Up to be The Best Golfer EVER!!!!!!
At the tender age of 21 Tiger became first African American to win the U.S. Masters at Augusta in 1997—with a record score of 270. He won six championships in 2005 and was voted the PGA Tour Player of Year for the seventh time in nine years.
He also won the World Golf Championship and US PGA Championship in August 2007. The next month, Woods’ winning ways continued, garnering the top spot at the BMW Championship and The Tour Championship. He was named Player of the Year by the other participants in the PGA Tour and won his eighth Arnold Palmer Award for being the lead money earner on the tour.
7.) Roger Federer has to be The Baddest Man on a Tennins Court!!!!
The undisputed king of tennis was in the news for bagging the 40th title of his career. For Swiss Champion Roger Federer there’s no stopping. The show has just begun and he’s here to stay…..In 1999, Federer was the youngest player (18 years, 4 months) in the ATP Ranking’s year end Top 100.
He became the first player to win Grand Slam events (Wimbledon & US Open) the year after having won three Grand Slam events in the same year.
Federer is the first player to win four Tennis Masters Series titles in one season; he also is only the third player to have won all four North American ATP Masters Series events in a career. Federer became the first man to reach four consecutive Grand Slam finals since Andre Agassi reached four finals between 1999 (French Open) and 2000 (Australian Open), winning three titles. He bettered the result by reaching and winning the final of Wimbledon in 2006 to make it five consecutive Grand Slam finals (won four out of five).
Federer won four consecutive titles at one event for the first time on June 18th, 2006 at the Gerry Weber Open and tied Bjorn Borg’s record of 41 straight grass-court wins with a 6-0, 6-7, 6-2 victory over Tomas Berdych. He repeated this feat by winning his fourth consecutive Wimbledon championship on July 9th, 2006, beating Rafael Nadal in the final.
8.) Micheal Jordan….c’mon say it..LOL…MJ..I wanna be like Mike!!!!
Did U ever drink "GATORADE"???? or lace Up a pair of Nike’s????
Well in my Estimation Jordan is almost single handedly responsible for Us All doing these things………What Kid growing Up anywhere in the WORLD has never heard of him????
By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time — although a summary of his basketball career and influence on the game inevitably fails to do justice to the man. A phenomenal athlete with a unique combination of fundamental soundness, grace, speed, power, artistry, improvisational ability and an unquenchable competitive desire, Jordan single-handedly redefined the NBA superstar!!!!!
Jordan’s individual accolades and accomplishments include five NBA MVP (Most Valuable Player) awards, ten All-NBA First Team designations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances and three All-Star MVPs, ten scoring titles, three steals titles, six NBA Finals MVP awards, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. He holds the NBA record for highest career regular season scoring average with 30.1 points per game, as well as averaging a record 33.4 points per game in the playoffs. In 1999, he was named the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN, and was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press’s list of athletes of the century.
Jordan is also noted for his product endorsements. He fueled the success of Nike’s Air Jordan sneakers, which were introduced in 1985 and remain popular today. Jordan also starred in the 1996 feature film Space Jam. He is currently a part-owner and Managing Member of Basketball Operations of the Charlotte Bobcats in his home state of North Carolina.
9.) Wilma Rudolph
The first American woman ever to win three gold medals in the Olympics, Wilma Rudolph overcame major obstacles to make her mark in the record books and in life.
She was named United Press Athlete of the Year (1960), the AP Woman Athlete of the Year (1960, 1961) and received the Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete (1961). She has been inducted into the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame and named one of five sports stars selected as America’s Greatest Women Athletes by the Women’s Sports Foundation, she is in the Black Sports Hall of Fame and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. Rudolph gave women’s track a strong boost in America.
10.) Billie Jean King
One of the best female tennis players in history, she brought women’s tennis – and women’s sports in general – into prime time. In the 1970s, during the infancy of the Equal Rights Amendment, she helped establish a player’s union and professional women’s tour and fought for equal pay.
In 1967 she was selected as "Outstanding Female Athlete of the World". In 1972 she was named Sports Illustrated "Sportsperson of the Year", the first woman to be so honored; and in 1973, she was dubbed "Female Athlete of the Year".
She was the first female athlete to win over $100,000 prize money in a single season. Billie Jean King spoke out for women and their right to earn comparable money in tennis and other sports. Her constant lobbying and commitments have broken many barriers.
Billie Jean King established the first successful women’s professional tennis tour. She founded tennis clinics for undeprivileged children. For her contributions to tennis as President of Tennis-America, Billie Jean King was awarded the National Service Bowl.
11.) Martina Navratilova
Perhaps the greatest women’s tennis player of all time who set a new standard for women’s achievement in sports. In addition to revolutionizing physical training in her sport, she courageously became one of the first star athletes to publicly disclose her homosexuality.
Nobody, ever, has had such a glittering trove of numbers. As a pro since 1973, she played the most singles tournaments (380) and matches (1,650), and won the most titles (167) and matches (1,438) with a won-lost mark of 1,438-212. She won more prize money, $20,344,061, than all but Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras.
Her doubles feats, attesting to a grandeur of completeness, were as sparkling: played the second most tournaments (286) and the most matches (1,111), and won the most titles (162) and matches (989) with a won-lost mark of 989-122. Throw in infrequent but very positive mixed doubles: played 27 tournaments, won 8 with a won-lost of 94-19. Overall for this three-way stretcher: played the most tournaments (693) and matches (2,874); won the most titles (337) and matches (2,521) with a 2,521-353 won-lost. Thus she battled .872 in singles, .890 in doubles, and .832 in mixed–.877 for everything. It means she won 48.6 percent of all the tournaments she entered. Whew Weeeeee, she a Bad Girl!!!!! :))
12.) Kobe Bryant……"The Golden Boy"
Bryant rose to national prominence in 1996 when he became the first guard in league history to be drafted out of high school, and led a wave of high school basketball players skipping college for the NBA. Bryant and then-teammate Shaquille O’Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. Since O’Neal’s departure following the 2004 season, Bryant has become the cornerstone of the Lakers’ franchise, and was the NBA leading scorer during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.
Bryant’s individual scoring accomplishments posted resulted in the finest statistical season of his career. The season included many spectacular individual performances including a game on December 20 in which Bryant scored 62 points despite playing only three quarters against the Dallas Mavericks. Entering the fourth quarter Bryant had, by himself, outscored the entire Mavericks team 62-61, the only time a player has done this through three quarters since the advent of the 24-second shot clock. When the Lakers faced the Miami Heat on January 16, 2006, Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal made headlines by engaging in handshakes and hugs before the game, signifying the end of the feud that had festered between the two players since O’Neal’s acrimonious departure from Los Angeles. A month later, at the 2006 NBA All-Star Game, the two laughed and joked together on several occasions. On January 22, Bryant scored 81 points in a 122-104 victory against the Toronto Raptors, who finished with a 27-55 season record and were among the worst defensive teams in the league. In addition to breaking the previous franchise record of 71 set by Elgin Baylor, his point total in that game was the second highest in NBA history, surpassed only by Wilt Chamberlain’s legendary 100-point game in 1962.
Also in January, Bryant became the first player since 1964 to score 45 points or more in four consecutive games, joining Chamberlain and Baylor as the only players ever to do so. For the month of January, Bryant averaged 43.4 per game, the eighth highest single month scoring average in NBA history, and highest for any player other than Chamberlain. By the end of the season, Bryant had also set Lakers single-season franchise records for the most 40-point games (27) and most points scored (2,832), among others. Bryant won the league’s scoring title for the first time, posting a scoring average of (35.4). Bryant finished in fourth-place in the voting for the 2006 NBA Most Valuable Player Award, but also received 22 first place votes — second only to winner Steve Nash, and by far the highest number of first-place votes Bryant had ever received in his career.
Late in the season, it was reported that Bryant would change his jersey number from 8 to 24 at the start of the 2006-07 NBA season. 24 was Bryant’s first high school number, before he switched to 33. After the Lakers’ season ended, Bryant said on TNT that he wanted 24 as a rookie, but it was unavailable, as was 33, retired with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bryant wore 143 at the Adidas ABCD camp, and chose 8 by adding those numbers. He had also worn number 8 as a child in Italy, as a salute to Mike D’Antoni, who was one of his early idols and wore number 8 as a professional basketball player in Italy.
13) Randy Moss The Best Damn Wide Reciever of All Time!!!!
I could say a million things about this man, but his play speaks for Itself :))
He finished 2007 with 98 catches and 1,493 yards receiving….He is TRULY #1 at his position in the NFL.
He was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in 1998, and played the first stage of his career in Minnesota before a trade in 2005 brought him to the Oakland Raiders. On April 29, 2007, Moss was traded to the New England Patriots for a fourth-round draft pick.
[WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY SMOKING???? LOL]
Rookie record 17 TD catches.
He is third only to Anquan Boldin and Bill Groman for most rookie receiving yards with 1,313.
Moss has caught 120 TD passes through 10 seasons, 5th most in NFL history. He trails Jerry Rice, Cris Carter, Terrell Owens, and Marvin Harrison, all of whom have played more seasons than Moss.
Has caught 13 or more TDs in a season 5 times. He trails only Terrell Owens and Jerry Rice in such seasons.
Is the only player other than Jerry Rice to catch 17 or more TDs in a multiple seasons (Moss accomplished the feat in 1998, 2003 and 2007).
Moss has had 4 seasons in which he averaged at least one receiving TD a game: 1998 (17 TDs in 16 games), 2003 (17 TDs in 16 games), 2004 (13 TDs in 13 games), and 2007 (23 TDs in 16 games). He is the only wide receiver in NFL history to do so.
He had back-to-back 100 catch seasons, in 2002 and 2003. He joined Sterling Sharpe, Jerry Rice, Herman Moore, Cris Carter, Marvin Harrison, and Rod Smith as the only receivers to accomplish this feat.
At the end of the 2006 season, Moss averaged approximately 11.2 receiving TDs per season, an NFL record.
He had 1,000+ yards in each of his first 6 seasons, setting an NFL record.
In 2003, Moss became the second player in NFL history to average 100 yards and one TD per game in a 16 NFL game season, scoring 17 touchdowns and 1,632 yards.
In 2007, Moss became the only player in NFL history to record four 100+ yard games in his first four games with a new team.
Moss has eclipsed the 1,000 yard receiving mark 8 times in his career. He is tied for 3rd all-time in that statistic.
Also in 2007, Moss set a record with 16 touchdowns in his first 10 games with a new team.
In 2007 he set the a NFL record for most touchdown receptions in a regular season, with 23.
Posted by _ØяAcLә_ on 2008-01-01 01:32:53
Tagged: , Thirteen Things….Sports Edition , 365 Days , EtchXL , 07
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