According to Gretzky, The Greatest Athlete Ever is ...

[Canada 02]

Tiger Woods

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/s...portsGolf/home

"He's the greatest athlete I've ever seen," Gretzky said about Woods. "The greatest athlete I thought I had seen play was Michael Jordan and I never thought anyone would exceed what he did.

another point for debate:

Asked if golfers are great athletes, Gretzky responded, "You ever tried to golf? You better be a good athlete, or you can't golf.

"These guys work out every day now, they're physically fit, they travel around the world. The pressure of playing in front of 50,000 people, making a four-foot putt, to me they're athletes."

Tiger is clearly an great athlete

[troutman]

Clearly?

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=54948

[browna]

[Grunt]

Yeah, you DEFINITELY have to be a good athlete to be good at golf.

[MRCboicgy]

Imagine how good John Daly would be if he looked after himself. He won majors while sucking down heaters and probably being slightly soused.

[disco_inferno]

john daly is such a bad-ass...look at those bono-quality glasses. wow.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Grunt

Yeah, you DEFINITELY have to be a good athlete to be good at golf.

He's now a fat, middle-aged man who chain smokes Marlboros, downs Miller Lites by the six-pack, and travels the country in an RV looking for a tournament to play. His game has largely disappeared, and this week so did his coach, who accused Daly of being more interested in getting drunk than getting better.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/...erg-031508.php

[Paul Westerburg]

Craig Stadler rockin' the power saw...

[A_3]

The thing most people forget about John Daly is that despite his obvious short-comings, in his youth he was an unbelievably committed player. His practice habits were up their with the most disciplined of athletes. Unfortunately that addiction got replaced by other things over the years, which explains his inability to play consistent golf. In his day though, he was the real deal, a big guy with real touch around the greens (which a lot of people don't realize). He had the natural ability that the vast majority of golfers can only dream of. However, like any athlete, if you don't hone your skills, they will fade. John only ever won five tournament on the PGA (including the two majors) which is more a testament to his natural ability and early practice habits than his current physical shape.

That said, I don't think John Daly is a fair example. You can find schlubs who excelled in every sport, at every level. Take Charles Barkley for example, arguably the dominant Power Forward of his day, and also notorious for tipping a few back, and tipping the scale a few more.

It is correct to say that you don't need to be an athlete to be a Golfer, but to be an elite golfer, I don't believe you really have a choice these days. A good example of this is Vijay Singh. His winning really took off after he bought into the "Tiger Plan" of approaching golf. The guy is a machine, apparently he works out twice a day in the off-season and pounds golf balls in between. So again, a guy with obvious natural ability (he had won before), who realized the only way to win was to maximize his talents. Heck, even the Hefty Lefty himself, Phil Mickelson, has gotten into better shape over the last two seasons. Sure you can pick out a flash in the pan here and there who isn't "athletic", but the guys who are consistently up there are without a doubt committed athletes.

I guess the real question at hand is how do you define sport? Dictionary.com tells me it's "an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature". So if that is the case, then we have no choice but to define golf as a sport. I think it's the cardiovascular element that calls it's credence into question, but even their the argument can be made that it's not easy to walk 7000 yards and still make sharp, accurate decisions under pressure.

[chub]

Originally Posted by fotze

There are 10's of thousands of golfers who absolutely throw their entire being at golf these days, so competition IS higher than ever. There is a debate if golf is a sport and whatnot, but if irregardless, Tiger Woods is one of the top 5 athletes to dominate their sport already and its arguable and believable that he is #1 already and he still has 15 years to go.

It is exicting for all sports. If hockey was somehow suddenly affordable for the entire planet, I have no doubt Gretzky would easily be eclipsed in the next 30 years.

English language pet peeve. "Regardless" is the word you were looking for.

Other words that annoy is "unthaw". That is the act of freezing something not thawing it.

Lets Unthaw the Flames? Lets not!

Sorry I have been drinking, but I hate words like irregardless and unthaw. I am glad these are my big pet peeves on this site.

Try some American football sites, they leave lots to be desired.

Now I need Fotze to come back at I and make a really good joke. I respect Fotze, I just hate that word though.

"Irregardless"

P.S. I will pull that pole out of my butt shortly.

[Claeren]

^ "irregardless" never bothered me until i saw how many on the internet got upset when they saw it, and now i have seen so many people correct its use that it bothers me too! ack!


As for golf, i never thought it was much of a sport until i got sucked into playing it (as an adult). OMG, it is soo a sport. And a hard one at that. Your body has to work from head to toe in a perfect way for every shot, on command.


Claeren.

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by chub

English language pet peeve. "Regardless" is the word you were looking for.

English language pet peeve. People who believe irregardless is not a word. Although nonstandard and a long way from general use, it is an acceptable.

[Steve Bozek]

Because I think that of all athletes, hockey players have to use the highest number of athletic skills, I'd say Gretzky is the best athlete of the last 30 years.

Gorde Howe would have to right up there as the best athlete of the 20th century, because he was able to play at a top level for so much longer than any other athlete in a major sport.

[A_3]

Originally Posted by Steve Bozek

Because I think that of all athletes, hockey players have to use the highest number of athletic skills, I'd say Gretzky is the best athlete of the last 30 years.

I guess it depends how you define athletic skills (hand eye, physical strength, cardiovascular stamina, etc...), but time and time again I've been pointed back to Basketball as the most athletic of the major sports. This article hits the main points:

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/GreatestAt...64176-sun.html

"First off, basketball requires tremendous athleticism and fitness. There's different position players. Obviously, the guards are the athletes and the centres and forwards are more size dependent. The demands on an NBA guard are, I think, second to none in sport. Their ability to change direction, endurance, jumping, power -- all those elements go into being an NBA guard. (Basketball players) are a bit of a survival of the fittest. NBA players, in general in order to get to the NBA, have had to get through many years of competitive basketball without injury. If you have significant injury -- particularly knee or ankle injuries -- you're unlikely to be able to play basketball at the highest levels.
Dr. Bob Litchfield, medical director of the Fowler Kennedy Sports Medicine Clinic at the University of Western Ontario.

I think it's fair to say that to be an elite athlete in the NHL is to be near the peak of athletic perfection, but the athletic ability of the average NBA is higher than your average NHLer. But this debate is kind of like comparing apples to oranges, because each different sport requires a unique athletic skill set, which is probably no better or no worse than the skill set of the other sport, just different.

[RougeUnderoos]

I don't buy that an NBA guard is a better athlete than an NHL any-position. Everyone (well, not everyone, but you know what I mean) can walk and run. Hockey players have to learn how to skate just to be allowed to play.

My main problem is that they seem to be such candyasses in the NBA. "Bobby Jumpshot has been place on the IR with a bruised calf" or "Steve Slamdunk will miss the remainder of the season because he got poked in the eye".

Exaggerations obviously, but they really do seem wimpy.

[habernac]

ESPN had a study, hockey came second only to boxing in difficulty I believe. And people who say golfers aren't athletes, Gretzky used to finish last in most of the fitness testing stuff, so I guess he wasn't an athlete either.

here's the study:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by habernac

ESPN had a study, hockey came second only to boxing in difficulty I believe. And people who say golfers aren't athletes, Gretzky used to finish last in most of the fitness testing stuff, so I guess he wasn't an athlete either.

here's the study:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills

I thought Gretzky finished very high? I read somewhere that despite not being able to bench press his own weight, when you combined all his scores in the various categories. He was the most athletic on his team. I don't have a link, but I read it in a book somewhere.

I know comparing athletes in different sports is hard to do. Athletes that I find amazing are NFL running backs. Look at tape of Marshall Faulk, Barry Sanders in their prime or Ladanian Tomlinson today. These guys can change speed or direction in a split second. Not only that but they take a pounding during the course of the game. When I think of elite athletes, those guys are at the top of my list.

[habernac]

I tried to find documentation of that as well, burn, maybe I'm way off. Possibly he just finshed way off on the strength type stuff. One of the most important factors for hockey in the ESPN study was analytic aptitude, and he certainly excelled at that.

[FurnaceFace]

underrated or not thought of often: Race car drivers. Lots of pressure put on their bodies and they need a lot of stamina. I recall one of those superstar competitions where they collect a bunch of sports stars and have them compete against each other and one of the Indy drivers - Schecter I think - kicked the crap outta the rest of them.

Butterbean aside, I think I'd have to vote boxers for the total package: speed, agility, hand eye, power, stamina.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by FurnaceFace

Butterbean aside, I think I'd have to vote boxers for the total package: speed, agility, hand eye, power, stamina.

....the ability to take vicious blows to the head, face and body and continue functioning.....