The Greatest Athlete of All-time

[SteveP]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

We clicked off a mile in 24 seconds (150 mph) on a road that had just opened down here in NJ years ago in my 911. The car would have easily gone faster but I was getting a bit scared of hitting something that could have either been in the road or running across. In those days i was one of the State Police physicians and had a police escort that was not able to keep up with me. And yes it was scary.

Jersey cops should be more discreet with their need for speed!

The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office suspended two state troopers without pay and transferred a third following what has been called “Death Race 2012.”

On March 30th, witnesses saw a group of about 30 luxury cars speeding down the Garden State Parkway with a police escort and filed a complaint.

Attorney Charles Sciarra says his client, Sergeant First Class Nadir Nassry, was part of the group in his cruiser. But Sciarra insists the incident is being blown out of proportion.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

So if I understand the workings of the poll correctly, today is the last day to vote in round one? and then in the next few days you post the run-off slate?

Some polls end today, but they're all set to end 14 days after they were started. They end throughout this week. I'll post the tie breakrrs next week.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

All of the polls are closed for the first round!

There was only one tie, so there will be a head-to-head poll between Hank Aaron and Joe Louis, to determine who makes it into the round of 32. I will post it sometime soon. In the meantime, here are the matchups for the next round:

1 Michael Jordan vs. 32 Jerry Rice
2 Gordie Howe vs. 31 Secretariat
3 Jim Thorpe vs. 30 Roger Federer
4 Muhammad Ali vs. 29 Lawrence Taylor
5 Wayne Gretzky vs. 28 Jackie Robinson
6 Ted Williams vs. 27 Sugar Ray Robinson
7 Bobby Orr vs. 26 Sandy Koufax
8 Carl Lewis vs. 25 Jackie Joyner-Kersee
9 Jim Brown vs. 24 Mark Spitz
10 Babe Ruth vs. 23 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
11 Jesse Owens vs. 22 Joe Louis/Hank Aaron
12 Pele vs. 21 Cy Young
13 Michael Phelps vs. 20 Walter Payton
14 Lance Armstron vs. 19 Barry Sanders
15 Wilt Chamberlain vs. 18 Willie Mays
16 Bo Jackson vs. 17 Mario Lemieux

 

[FreshFish]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

All of the polls are closed for the first round!

There was only one tie, so there will be a head-to-head poll between Hank Aaron and Joe Louis, to determine who makes it into the round of 32. I will post it sometime soon. In the meantime, here are the matchups for the next round:

1 Michael Jordan vs 32 Jerry Rice

8 Carl Lewis vs. 25 Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Oh, those are unfortunate match-ups....too bad both from each set can't move on.

Too late to ask you to reconsider putting up 8 rounds of 4 people each and have the top two move on? Then start the brackets with final 16?

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

The tie breaker closed a few days ago, and the winner is Hank Aaron. I am going to post 4 matchups today, to last 1 week total, and stagger the poles so they overlap, but don't all start on the same day and end on the same day. I will try to do 4 per day, for 4 days straight, but due to some work travel and weekends, it may be more drawn out than that.

edit: The first 4 matchups in the round of 32 are posted. Including one that I didn't expect to see this early, a heavyweight battle between Babe Ruth and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

The next four polls for round 2 have been posted.

 

[JF_Gophers]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

If singing were a factor, Carl Lewis would have no chance!

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

Ok, everyone, the next 4 polls are posted, and the first 4 of this round are closing in the next 30 minutes. If you haven't voted yet, get to it!

 

[FreshFish]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

Ok, everyone, the next 4 polls are posted, and the first 4 of this round are closing in the next 30 minutes. If you haven't voted yet, get to it!

thanks!

are you going to re-seed for the next round?

or are brackets already fixed through to the finals?


(I'd prefer the former and understand the latter).

 

[walrus]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

Anybody who votes for a baseball player as the greatest athlete never read Ball Four

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

thanks!

are you going to re-seed for the next round?

or are brackets already fixed through to the finals?


(I'd prefer the former and understand the latter).

Fixed brackets, no re-seeding.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

The results of the first batch of polls are in!

20 Walter Payton upsets 13 Michael Phelps in a very close competition, 9-8
10 Babe Ruth takes down 23 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 15-3
3 Jim Thorpe destroys 30 Roger Federer 18-1
7 Bobby Orr beats 26 Sandy Koufax 14-4

All of the polls for the second batch will be closed sometime today, so if you haven't voted yet, get to it.

 

[JF_Gophers]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

Walter Payton beating Phelps is not an upset. Its the way it should be!

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

Walter Payton beating Phelps is not an upset. Its the way it should be!

It is an upset based on the amount of votes each got in round 1.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

In the second batch of polls, we have winners to announce.

2 Gordie Howe took down 31 Secretariat in a match that was pretty close for quite a while, 11-6
16 Bo Jackson downed 17 Mario Lemieux by a score of 11-4
8 Carl Lewis knocked off 25 Jackie Joyner-Kersee 12-4
6 Ted Williams beat 27 Sugar Ray Robinson 11-4

Half of the 2nd round mathups have been completed and these are the athletes moving on to the round of 16:
2. Gordie Howe
3. Jim Thorpe
6. Ted Williams
7. Bobby Orr
8. Carl Lewis
10. Babe Ruth
16. Bo Jackson
20. Walter Payton

8 more to go, 4 are already posted, and the other 4 will be posted somtime this week.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

....and the last 4 polls are posted for this round. The 4 polls from the previous batch will be closing shortly, so if you haven't voted and want to, better do it soon.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

90 years later and Babe Ruth still has his grip on American sports: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/...r-record-44-million-at-auction/#ixzz1vUVmYawP

It may not say much towards him being the "Greatest" Athlete, but I think if it was reworded "Most Influential" Athlete, we might have found our winner, with IMO only 2 guys to challenge him: Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

Some results from late last week:

12 Pele defeats 21 Cy Young 13-8
14 Lance Armstrong defeats 19 Barry Sanders 11-9
1 Michael Jordan defeats 32 Jerry Rice 17-2
11 Jesse Owens defeats 22 Hank Aaron 16-3

We're starting to see some matchups for the next round form:

1 Michael Jordan vs. 16 Bo Jackson
2 Gordie Howe vs. 15 Wilt Chamberlain/18 Willie Mays
3 Jim Thorpe vs. 14 Lance Armstrong
4 Muhammad Ali/29 Lawrence Taylor vs. 20 Walter Payton
5 Wayne Gretzky/28 Jackie Robinson vs. 12 Pele
6 Ted Williams vs. 11 Jesse Owens
7 Bobby Orr vs. 10 Babe Ruth
8 Carl Lewis vs. 9 Jim Brown/24 Mark Spitz

I see some pretty good matchups, and some pretty good potential matchups in this round. Bobby Orr-Babe Ruth, Ted Williams-Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis-Jim Brown. Is it the tournament going like everyone expected it to so far?

 

[FreshFish]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

I see some pretty good matchups, and some pretty good potential matchups in this round. Bobby Orr-Babe Ruth, Ted Williams-Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis-Jim Brown. Is it the tournament going like everyone expected it to so far?

When does the Sweet Sixteen get under way?

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

When does the Sweet Sixteen get under way?

Whenever I get around to it. Maybe sometime this week, but it depends on what goes down at work.