It’s amazing how the 5 greatest athletes of all time all happen to be American. Maybe no other country does sport.
WetComb89
Looking at that list I wouldn’t take it too seriously.
Edm_vanhalen1981
I think this is an example of regional bias.
If you ask Canadian media who the greatest athletes of all time are, Gretzky makes the list. If you ask Brazilian media; Pele makes the list.
I love lists but I never take any of them seriously.
Lazy_Advertising7094
I mean this list is ridiculous on all level haha I mean Babe Ruth? Tom Brady? GTFOH
StrikingEnjoyer1234
Muhammed Ali and Michael Jordan are debatably not even the Goats in their own sport, same with Babe Ruth. I don’t know anything about tennis so im gonna assume Serena Williams is fair and I think Tom Brady is pretty fair
But Gretzky dominated hockey to the point where there is no close second, which can be said about few others.
Edit: Also creating a definitive top 5 athletes is stupid because every sport has one individual that goes above and beyond all others and has an argument to be on this list
MooshSkadoosh
Interested that they missed Michael Phelps, a fellow American. Among these 5, he’s at least top 3.
cam_huskers
Babe Ruth’s fat ass was not the best athlete of all time.
zoziw
In Canada the list would be:
1. Gretzky 2. Lemieux 3. Crosby* 4. Georges St. Pierre 5. Connor McDavid*
*Still Active
countchocula91
Babe Ruth lol
no_on_prop_305
There’s debate on athletes being on top in their own leagues. Making a list like this is just stupid
gentleman_bronco
You know the list is shit when babe ruth is listed above Serena Williams. Fucking hell that’s a dumb list altogether.
theMadMetis
Babe Ruth…fuck off
MonolithicMoose
Was this before ESPN got the nhl back?
ESPN isn’t sports news it’s sports promotion, they used to avoid hockey beacuse they got no money from it.
Ecruteak-vagrant
Tom Brady isn’t the best NFL athlete ever. The gap between Jerry Rice to his receiver peers is larger than Brady to other QB’s. Massive QB bias.
JerseyMD1982
A lot of people simply didn’t grow up with the game and don’t understand it, especially in non-traditional markets in the days where indoor rinks weren’t as common.
DirtDevil1337
America that’s why
Adam_Friedland_TAFS
Why’d they do 5 to 1 upside down?
ObZeni
Babe ruth on the list is a joke
Reallyme77
Likely because he’s not an American.
Redditguy20030
Hockey is always overlooked can never go by these lists. It’s all opinion anyway. Any list is. It truly matters what you think. Of course I do think Gretzky should be way higher. Like someone mentioned, no one even comes close to Gretzky in all them statics. I know there’s what if’s such as Lemieux and Bossy but statistically it still didn’t seem they wouldn’t catch up to Gretzky. Guy was scoring 150-200 points almost every year with Edmonton 😂
ClubFriendly941
They should break it down into individual sports. I agree with you, nhl gets past over all the time. Especially when it comes to broadcasting!!
Gaj85
ESPN has always hated hockey and the NHL. I stopped watching ESPN back in 2010, and now that they’re owned by Disney, they are even worse.
Hack874
Ali isn’t even the greatest in his own sport. He’s always overrated af in these lists
GrunDMC74
The whole list is BS. Trying to tell me Babe Ruth was a better athlete than any Decathlete of the past two decades?
PersonalHam
Serena Williams isn’t even the best tennis player lol
JRAS-3010
No Michael Phelps? No Usain Bolt? No Messi? No Gretzky? Tom Brady was one of the most dominant athletes of all time and the greatest quarterback of all time for sure, but he has no business being regarded as one of the greatest athletes in terms of athletic ability anyway. Stupid list.
khristmas_karl
Gretzky’s not in the conversation for the same reason Don Bradman’s not. Take American interest out of that list and Don Bradman, the cricketer who’ll never have his records broken because he was so freakishly good (his career batting average was 99.94% … for reference an elite batting average is 60%), takes top spot and it’s not even close.
baruch_baby
Tiger and Gretzky should be on here
ML00k3r
I’s America. They literally think they’re the top of the world and nothing outside even matters.
Scared_Bug6462
Anybody on that top 5 list is fine for numero uno. But Serena Williams doesn’t belong!
Witty-Army
Messi/ Ronaldo but Messi with a World Cup win.
Babe Ruth— that’s a joke.
Athlete based off of athleticism? Dieon sanders and it’s not even close.
Serena Williams? Over all other tennis professionals? Another joke
If this was a list of players with the biggest impact on their sport, that would make more sense.
BackgroundWorldly803
Could not agree more with this. Gretzky’s point record would be like Pete Rose being the all time home run and hits leader, and you took away all his home runs he’d still have more hits than anyone.
itsmb12
MJ, Gretzky, Tiger, Babe, Federer
Main_Attempt_2310
Also not alot of that list is what I would consider athletic, best at what they do but there are better athletes. In my opinion to be the best athlete you would need to be able to perform well in multiple sports. Like if I were to say who is a better athlete peak Gretzky or peak GSP I’d pick GSP all day because I feel like his athletic ability transfers better across the board. Deon sanders and Bo Jackson should be on every list because they literally played two professional sports.
FBR_MC
I mean, if you take a list of the greatest **ATHLETES** of all-time that has Babe Ruth top 3 seriously, it’s your problem.
Adventurous_Area_735
Usain Bolt is somehow not in the discussion? That seems to be a problem.
Difficult_Job_966
I agree. No athlete will ever match Gretzky for the number of records he holds
Same_Dot9698
MJ was good at basketball. Sucked at baseball. Get him off this list. Replace him with Jim Brown. In lacrosse and football hall of fame. Wilt Chamberlain was a far superior athlete to MJ.
xmen2501
Terry Fox isn’t on there so this is clearly a stupid list.
Waldhorn
Isn’t he white?
Puzzleheaded77769
To me it’s funny Serena Williams is on there didn’t she lose to a man that was like ranked 500
Hiddenbehindawall
Because it’s for America and they cater to their players,
They don’t have Messi, they don’t have Gretzky, they have American players and American faces
Nico301098
Perhaps it’s just because I’m European, but who the fuck is Babe Ruth?
manifold360
Hockey!? lol
Sol-Goode
Which is insane. Babe Ruth was a fat dude who was great at baseball. Didn’t he also play 1st base? I get that he was also a pitcher, but he isn’t a top 5 athlete.
45 Comments
It’s amazing how the 5 greatest athletes of all time all happen to be American.
Maybe no other country does sport.
Looking at that list I wouldn’t take it too seriously.
I think this is an example of regional bias.
If you ask Canadian media who the greatest athletes of all time are, Gretzky makes the list. If you ask Brazilian media; Pele makes the list.
I love lists but I never take any of them seriously.
I mean this list is ridiculous on all level haha
I mean Babe Ruth? Tom Brady? GTFOH
Muhammed Ali and Michael Jordan are debatably not even the Goats in their own sport, same with Babe Ruth. I don’t know anything about tennis so im gonna assume Serena Williams is fair and I think Tom Brady is pretty fair
But Gretzky dominated hockey to the point where there is no close second, which can be said about few others.
Edit: Also creating a definitive top 5 athletes is stupid because every sport has one individual that goes above and beyond all others and has an argument to be on this list
Interested that they missed Michael Phelps, a fellow American. Among these 5, he’s at least top 3.
Babe Ruth’s fat ass was not the best athlete of all time.
In Canada the list would be:
1. Gretzky
2. Lemieux
3. Crosby*
4. Georges St. Pierre
5. Connor McDavid*
*Still Active
Babe Ruth lol
There’s debate on athletes being on top in their own leagues. Making a list like this is just stupid
You know the list is shit when babe ruth is listed above Serena Williams. Fucking hell that’s a dumb list altogether.
Babe Ruth…fuck off
Was this before ESPN got the nhl back?
ESPN isn’t sports news it’s sports promotion, they used to avoid hockey beacuse they got no money from it.
Tom Brady isn’t the best NFL athlete ever. The gap between Jerry Rice to his receiver peers is larger than Brady to other QB’s. Massive QB bias.
A lot of people simply didn’t grow up with the game and don’t understand it, especially in non-traditional markets in the days where indoor rinks weren’t as common.
America that’s why
Why’d they do 5 to 1 upside down?
Babe ruth on the list is a joke
Likely because he’s not an American.
Hockey is always overlooked can never go by these lists. It’s all opinion anyway. Any list is. It truly matters what you think. Of course I do think Gretzky should be way higher. Like someone mentioned, no one even comes close to Gretzky in all them statics. I know there’s what if’s such as Lemieux and Bossy but statistically it still didn’t seem they wouldn’t catch up to Gretzky. Guy was scoring 150-200 points almost every year with Edmonton 😂
They should break it down into individual sports. I agree with you, nhl gets past over all the time. Especially when it comes to broadcasting!!
ESPN has always hated hockey and the NHL. I stopped watching ESPN back in 2010, and now that they’re owned by Disney, they are even worse.
Ali isn’t even the greatest in his own sport. He’s always overrated af in these lists
The whole list is BS. Trying to tell me Babe Ruth was a better athlete than any Decathlete of the past two decades?
Serena Williams isn’t even the best tennis player lol
No Michael Phelps? No Usain Bolt? No Messi? No Gretzky? Tom Brady was one of the most dominant athletes of all time and the greatest quarterback of all time for sure, but he has no business being regarded as one of the greatest athletes in terms of athletic ability anyway. Stupid list.
Gretzky’s not in the conversation for the same reason Don Bradman’s not. Take American interest out of that list and Don Bradman, the cricketer who’ll never have his records broken because he was so freakishly good (his career batting average was 99.94% … for reference an elite batting average is 60%), takes top spot and it’s not even close.
Tiger and Gretzky should be on here
I’s America. They literally think they’re the top of the world and nothing outside even matters.
Anybody on that top 5 list is fine for numero uno. But Serena Williams doesn’t belong!
Messi/ Ronaldo but Messi with a World Cup win.
Babe Ruth— that’s a joke.
Athlete based off of athleticism? Dieon sanders and it’s not even close.
Serena Williams? Over all other tennis professionals? Another joke
If this was a list of players with the biggest impact on their sport, that would make more sense.
Could not agree more with this. Gretzky’s point record would be like Pete Rose being the all time home run and hits leader, and you took away all his home runs he’d still have more hits than anyone.
MJ, Gretzky, Tiger, Babe, Federer
Also not alot of that list is what I would consider athletic, best at what they do but there are better athletes. In my opinion to be the best athlete you would need to be able to perform well in multiple sports. Like if I were to say who is a better athlete peak Gretzky or peak GSP I’d pick GSP all day because I feel like his athletic ability transfers better across the board.
Deon sanders and Bo Jackson should be on every list because they literally played two professional sports.
I mean, if you take a list of the greatest **ATHLETES** of all-time that has Babe Ruth top 3 seriously, it’s your problem.
Usain Bolt is somehow not in the discussion? That seems to be a problem.
I agree. No athlete will ever match Gretzky for the number of records he holds
MJ was good at basketball. Sucked at baseball. Get him off this list. Replace him with Jim Brown. In lacrosse and football hall of fame. Wilt Chamberlain was a far superior athlete to MJ.
Terry Fox isn’t on there so this is clearly a stupid list.
Isn’t he white?
To me it’s funny Serena Williams is on there didn’t she lose to a man that was like ranked 500
Because it’s for America and they cater to their players,
They don’t have Messi, they don’t have Gretzky, they have American players and American faces
Perhaps it’s just because I’m European, but who the fuck is Babe Ruth?
Hockey!? lol
Which is insane. Babe Ruth was a fat dude who was great at baseball. Didn’t he also play 1st base? I get that he was also a pitcher, but he isn’t a top 5 athlete.