Biggest sports star ever?

[wannabe]

Pele entered my mind first when I started thinking globally over the years.

[n8dogg2669]

Jordan and Ali

[brgolf]

David Beckham

Is there one man in the world that would not be able to identify him?

[iacas]

David Beckham

Uh, virtually everyone in the U.S., yes.

You're from the UK, so I doubt you're being sarcastic on this one.

[Grndslmhttr3]

David Beckham is overrated

[sean_miller]

If being 1/2 a famous couple, or the athlete husband to a famous or hot wife (formerly hot and curiously famous in the case of "Becks"), allow me to submit the five biggest sports stars.

1.) Tom Brady
1A.) Joe Dimaggio
2.) Anthony Parker
3.) Jason Sehorn
4.) Tiger Woods
5.) Jesse James (sort of a professional athlete and his wife is still sort of hot)

[Grndslmhttr3]

If being 1/2 a famous couple, or the athlete husband to a famous or hot wife (formerly hot and curiously famous in the case of "Becks"), allow me to submit the five biggest sports stars.

I'd put Ted Williams ahead of DiMaggio any day

[sean_miller]

I'd put Ted Williams ahead of DiMaggio any day

I've never seen any photos of Mrs. Ted Williams, so I'll have to take your word for it.

[Grndslmhttr3]

I've never seen any photos of Mrs. Ted Williams, so I'll have to take your word for it.

Mrs. Ted Williams? I'm not sure how you can logically justify that.

[alomar123]

LeBron today, Babe Ruth of eariler years

[whip_it_out]

To be fair, how many people do you know of who are named, "Tiger"?

One kid at my school has the name, but I see what you're getting at.

I would have to say Ali. Don't hear anything about Pele, here.

[billysandy]

Thats what Im saying though. He is unbelievably known for being a golfer. People know him around the world. I was in Spain this last summer and saw a nike ad with Tiger. Insane

What's so amazing about seeing a nike ad in Spain with Tiger in it???

Nike is a transnational company, it isn't just America.

[Acropo]

LeBron today, Babe Ruth of eariler years

Who?

What's so amazing about seeing a nike ad in Spain with Tiger in it???

That's more like it!

Biggest=most widely known, transcends their own sport, imho.

[Krosh]

Some americans are very biased in this discussion. Nothing strange with that as most probably are towards theire own coutrymen. However... People who say Babe Ruth is the biggest star... needs to rethink. Baseball is almost only an american sport.

Ali, Jordan, Tiger are americans everyone knows. Personally I'd probably vote between Pele, Maradona & Jordan as they played in the biggest sports. "Best" rather then "biggest" athlete ever is a different story though...

[Acropo]

If being 1/2 a famous couple, or the athlete husband to a famous or hot wife (formerly hot and curiously famous in the case of "Becks"), allow me to submit the five biggest sports stars.

I thought Jesse James was an outlaw - and a very dead one, at that.

With the exception of Tiger and DiMaggio, haven't even heard of the others. And I only heard of DiMaggio because of Mrs Robinson.

[kleraudio]

Honestly Tiger does transcend the sport, as well as the country.....

But.... who doesnt know michael jordan? He's recognized world wide too, no doubt...

But.... Soccer is BY FAR the most popular sport worldwide, it dwarfs pretty much every other sport out there, globally speaking....... Even us Americans know who Ronaldo and Pele were...

And you've probably seen the play "The Hand of God" numerous times too, at the least youve *heard* of it...

With that said, its gotta be a football (soccer) player, with MJ and Tiger coming in close, but not on top...

Pele, Ronaldo take top honors with MJ and Tiger 3rd and 4th, in that order......

My 2 cents...

[Acropo]

Don't see it with Jordan, though his name comes up a lot. Do more people know of him than, eg, Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Brian Lara, Don Bradman, etc?

They're cricketers, guys. I know the US doesn't play cricket but add the populations of India, Pakistan, England, S Africa, Australia, etc and you'll get the idea. Jordan may be huge in the US but I just don't know about around the world.

I go for Ali and Tiger, even ahead of Maradona, Pele and Ronaldo. The former's fame is not dependent on his sport - which is dying on its feet; Tiger is in the process of being famous even where golf isn't played.

[sean_miller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sean_miller If being 1/2 a famous couple, or the athlete husband to a famous or hot wife (formerly hot and curiously famous in the case of "Becks"), allow me to submit the five biggest sports stars. 1.) Tom Brady 1A.) Joe Dimaggio 2.) Anthony Parker 3.) Jason Sehorn 4.) Tiger Woods 5.) Jesse James (sort of a professional athlete and his wife is still sort of hot)

I thought Jesse James was an outlaw - and a very dead one, at that.

Take posts out of context much? Go back and read my post in the order it first appeared - better yet, read

all the words for the first time. You've been around long enough to have heard of Joe Dimaggio because Simon and Garfunkel reference him in a song, and you claim that's the only reason you've ever heard of him. Why do I find that hard to believe? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_DiMaggio