Two Things To Look Forward To
June 20, 2008More ABs for CC?
June 22, 2008The guys over at the Wall Street Journal took a break from the skyrocketing oil prices and a stock market under 12,000 to give us the goods on a study they have recently completed. The task at hand: find the world’s greatest athlete. Shouldn’t be too hard, right?
In what comes as very little surprise, the Cavaliers LeBron James was named among the top 10. In fact, he came in second behind Roman Sebrle, a Czech decathlete – something that I will not argue with one bit. In fact, I wouldn’t be upset if the top 10 was comprised entirely of decathletes.
Using five judges, the group analyzed a field of 79 men – obviously looking for the greatest male athlete – and had a strict criteria from which to measure. We’re not talking points per game, or knockout-to-win ratio. These guys got scientific, using the following as their basis:
– Vision and reflex
– Stamina and recovery
– Power, strength and size
– Speed
– Success and competitiveness
– Coordination and flexibility
Others on the list include footballer Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (Ronaldinho), the Yankees Alex Rodriguez and boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. Intriguingly, the sports were ranked themselves before the players were taken into consideration. The article mentions that soccer (the worlds most popular sport) was listed as the “top” sport in terms of competitiveness. Take it for what it’s worth, but given all of the love for Kobe and KG this season, LeBron is considered one of the top athletes in the world.
Now if we could just translate that to wins…
(Note: Joe Borowski did not make the list. Perhaps due to the pesky “success” portion of the criteria)
5 Comments
[…] at all three positions. A relatviely recent Wall Street Journal study listed James as the second greatest all-around athlete in the world. There is no denying that Mangini would not mind having that type of specimen on […]
I am sorry,but James is nowhere close to being one of the top 100 athletes in the world,let alone second best..The list of the different aspects to being the best athlete I think was fairly accurate,except the Jump and Reach for explosive power was not included, which would definitely favor James.However,SPEED,which is usually tested with a 40 yd dash,would put him as one of the last of the top 100 athletes in the world,and ENDURANCE which is usually tested with a 12 minute run,would be a complete embarrassment,against track stars,soccer players,tennis players,rugby players etc etc.In the STRENGTH category,his score would be high,but again in FLEXIBILITY he would be one of the worst.He is a GREAT basketball player,but let us not all play in to the hype of him being the greatest athlete.How would he do in the Decathlon,which many consider is won by the greatest ATHLETE.Again it would be an embarrassment.Unfortunately he is not involved in a real international sport,but a sport where height is a HUGE factor,and one in which the top performers are too tall to compete in either SPEED or ENDURANCE against the true top athletes of the world.
Not one of the top 100? You have to be joking. Lebron has a 4.6 40 to his name, that would be impressive even for a guy who 5’9 180, but lebron is 6’8 250+lbs which makes it more impressive. And how would he be completely embarrassed in a 12min run? Basketball players are no slouch when it comes to endurance and you seem to underestimate them quite a bit. Lol @ tennis players, they would embarrass lebron in a 12min run? Tennis players are great athletes, but thats absurd. And rugby players run about the same amount of miles that basketball players do in games and lebron plays an 82 game season and then you have playoffs and finals, and probably summer games aswell. So Im willing to bet his endurance is pretty solid. Flexibility again for a man his size is impressive aswell, if he werent flexable then he wouldnt be able to play just about every position on the court and guard players way smaller then him, and he guards them pretty well. How would he do in a decathlon? You could ask the same for those other athletes you put ahead of him, they probably wouldnt fair any better then him, but who knows he would probably do better then you expect. and embrass you. And whats with people like you denying basketball as being an international sport? You may not follow it very much so its not a true international sport? I dont follow soccer (football) much either, but doesnt take away from it being international. Height doesnt play a huge factor in basketball, now you are just displaying you ignorance. Tell that to allen iverson, steve nash, derrick rose, tony parker etc, they are not all that tall and hold their own, nash winning mvp of the league a couple times. You are wrong on so many levels it really hard to believe. Those guys I just mentioned would fair pretty decent in endurance and speed testing, they practice and train that way all the time. Proving you are ignorant, and underestimating them as “true athletes” which they most certainly are.
And btw, Micheal phelps and usain bolt are both 6’4-6’6, so they are pretty tall themselves, only 2-3in shorter then lebron and are considered top international athletes and dominate the rest of the world. So your idea that height would hold someone back from competing against other international athletes in just speed and endurance testing, is just down right wrong!
You are right 4.6 is an excellent time for 40yd dash FOR HIS SIZE, and if he ran 100 metres he would even be more impressive. However,there are probably many 5ft 6inch gymnasts, and great Sumo Wrestlers, who could do well FOR THEIR SIZE. We are discussing the GREATEST ATHLETES- we do not need EXCUSES.
Basketball is exciting, and a great game of SKILL. Unfortunately you cannot compare ENDURANCE in Basketball, with 4 Quarters, time outs for commercials, substitutions, with many other sports. I agree with you that the other players you mentioned, would be even BETTER than pretty decent at endurance and speed testing. However LeBron would be embarrassing to watch, probably running lesss than a mile and a quarter in 12 minutes at best.
It is sad for Basketball players that they cannot compete against many of the Greatest Athletes,from countries where Basketball is a minor sport,and the great Athletes from the African countries that mainly play Soccer, or from Jamaica, who have of course the Greatest sprinters in the world.
Most of the people from other countries that I have spoken to speak in awe about LeBron playing basketball, but do not even put him in the top 500 Athletes. Remember, United Sates is only 4% of the world. There are AMAZING athletes all around the World