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re: Who was the biggest American sport icon of the 20th century?
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:06 pm to WestCoastAg
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:06 pm to WestCoastAg
Michael Jordan. And it's not even close.
0
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:08 pm to Lester Earl
I don't think any of us can grasp Ruth's status. It's from an era of radios and the Depression, and he was doing things not thought possible. He was more superior to his peers than anyone has ever been in sports. He was truly mythical, like people literally thought he was a superhuman legend like Paul Bunyan
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:10 pm to genro
i think we gauge him pretty well. Being #2 or 3 isnt an insult. No one touches Jordan though.
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:13 pm to genro
Which is why he was the biggest.
There wasn't TV.
It was sporadic radio and mostly news stories.
And boy did those news guys create legends to sell newspapers.
It's a period that will never happen again. You didn't see Ruth, you heard about him...being (like you said) Paul Bunyan or Zeus or Hercules.
It was innocent myth-making that couldn't be fact-checked and nobody cared what was written in the newspapers - as Hearst famously said, I'll give you the war...you could print anything.
Sportswriters had the golden age of writing...they could be poets.
Ruth, Gherig, the Four Horseman of Notre Dame, Joe Louis, Jesse Owens.
There wasn't TV.
It was sporadic radio and mostly news stories.
And boy did those news guys create legends to sell newspapers.
It's a period that will never happen again. You didn't see Ruth, you heard about him...being (like you said) Paul Bunyan or Zeus or Hercules.
It was innocent myth-making that couldn't be fact-checked and nobody cared what was written in the newspapers - as Hearst famously said, I'll give you the war...you could print anything.
Sportswriters had the golden age of writing...they could be poets.
Ruth, Gherig, the Four Horseman of Notre Dame, Joe Louis, Jesse Owens.
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:14 pm to Lester Earl
Jordan has a lot working for him, he came around the time ESPN was becoming a HUGE thing, had his own brand with Nike, and the NBA was promoting overseas. Add in the Dream Team and what he has done since I don't think anyone touches him.
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:14 pm to Lester Earl
quote:
Babe Ruth just so happened to be the best of them.
By a wider margin than anyone else in the history of sport.....
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:15 pm to Lester Earl
It's just a different thing from a different time we can't comprehend. All the baseball players from Ruth's time up all the way up to the 50s with DiMaggio, Mantle, Ted Williams etc were put in such a reverence we can't fathom because it was a different culture, baseball was the true national pasttime, every kid in America played, it was the one and only team sport with a national following. I would've loved to experience it and I won't pretend to grasp it
This post was edited on 6/7/16 at 7:18 pm
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:16 pm to dukke v
Ruth isnt consensus best baseball player ever. Ask 5 people and you get 5 different answers. You're throwing up all over this thread.
This post was edited on 6/7/16 at 7:17 pm
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:17 pm to WestCoastAg
Rene Richards. Just look at all the bathroom nonsense that's going on now. That thing was a pioneer and paved the way for morfodites to historically change the way normal people use the john
This post was edited on 6/7/16 at 7:18 pm
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:17 pm to Lester Earl
It's Ali or Jordan. People in the middle of nowhere Asia/Africa have no clue who Babe Ruth is.
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:17 pm to Lester Earl
quote:
No one touches Jordan though.
I disagree... MJ is the best EVER to touch a basketball... But he didn't CHANGE the sport... He changed how it may have been played because there has been nobody as good as him since... But you can say the same thing about Ruth........ What Babe Ruth did in the 1921 season will NEVER be matched.. PERIOD... Nobody will EVER come close....
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:19 pm to Lester Earl
This is about icons. The biggest consensus in any sport isn't Jordan, it's Gretzky but he's not number one because it's hockey
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:19 pm to Lester Earl
quote:
Ruth isnt consensus best baseball player ever. Ask 5 people and you get 5 different answers.
Thenwhoever says its NOT Ruth is a real stupid person.... Its Ruth and its not close... Hell I think MJ was the best ever in BBALL, But I can give Magic and Russell a decent shot...
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:22 pm to genro
quote:
it's Gretzky but he's not number one because it's hockey
Agreed... Him and Tiger [ aside from Ruth] are the most DOMINANT athletes in sports in the 20th Century........
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:27 pm to WestCoastAg
Arnold Palmer. He made golf corporate.
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:27 pm to dukke v
Gretzky might be the one true undisputed GOAT in a particular sport.
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:28 pm to genro
quote:
The biggest consensus in any sport isn't Jordan,
no, but he is one of the few athletes that is the consensus best in his sport. There is no argument.
now add to what he has done with his brand, and it isnt close.
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:28 pm to EvrybodysAllAmerican
Ali by far. He's also 1000000x more iconic out of the US
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:33 pm to genro
quote:
This is about icons
quote:
Hoops icon Michael Jordan qualified for Forbes’ annual billionaires list for the first time this year with a net worth of $1 billion
quote:
Jordan earned $100 million from Nike and other partners last year by Forbes’ count
quote:
Jordan U.S. shoe sales rose 17% last year to $2.6 billion, according to data compiled by SportScanInfo.
quote:
Jordan has eight times the sales of the signature shoes for the top active NBA star, LeBron James.
quote:
The Jordan Brand commanded 58% market share of the $4.2 billion U.S. basketball shoe market last year, up from 54% in 2013. The Swoosh’s share jumps to 95.5% if you include Nike Basketball. The competition: Adidas (2.6% share), Under Armour UA +2.61% (1%) and Reebok (0.8%).
Jordan hasnt played in a basketball game in nearly 15 years. Let that sink in. Now read those quotes again. He is the definition of an icon.
Posted on 6/7/16 at 7:35 pm to CocoLoco
quote:
Gretzky might be the one true undisputed GOAT in a particular sport.
That's hard to argue.. What he did won't be touched IMO.... But its hockey... Sad to say...
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