Who is most athletic athlete?

[Porcupine penis]

Honestly, I've never seen anyone as athletic as Lebron James, his size, speed and jumping ability is just unbelievable. I truly believe he could be dominant in many other sports. He is just that crazy athletically.

[Emmz]

Bo Jackson.

[Porcupine penis]

That is another good one, I'm too young to have seen him play (Im only 20) but I've seen video of him and watched one of those ESPN 30 for 30s and he was crazy good as well.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

You already said it, LeBron James.

[mvp 78]

The problem with saying Lebron is that he plays in a sport where if someone looks at hom the wrong way, it's called a foul. What would happen to him if he lined up as a TE and took a big shot? We'll never know.

 

Jim Thorpe might be the greatest ever, but in my lifetime it's probably Bo. Maybe Deion Sanders (fast, played 2 sports, would be scary on a fastbreak).

[Dojji]

I'd put Zdeno Chara in the mix. Hockey in terms of raw athleticism is a much more intense sport because it's both very physical (anaerobic) and very aerobic too. Z is one of the best power defensemen in a game tilted towards the offense and he can play at a high level in all three zones (for a defenseman at least).

 

All time I think you have to give a lot of consideration to #4, Bobby Orr too. He's riiiiiight up there, and as a defenseman who wasn't afraid to "go" if the situation called for it, he's easily the more complete of him and Gretzky, even if Gretzky might have been more offensively talented.

 

What hockey players do, I honestly think, is a cut above what a lot of athletes do in terms of conditioning and real athletics. There just isn't that much standing around or jogging from place to place on the ice relative to the other 3 major sports. A real end to end game with a lot of rushes and transitions will take the best conditioned athlete in the world from fresh to exhausted in about 3 minutes. There's a reason that even the best conditioned hockey players are only let out onto the ice for a minute or two before being replaced with fresher bodies.

[Bellhorn04]

I think you have to give the edge to the guys who proved they could play 2 sports successfully at the major league level.

 

LeBron is a great athlete, of course, but could he succeed in the NFL or MLB? We'll never know. Michael Jordan found out he wasn't good enough for MLB.

[redsoxrules]

Sidney Crosby

[Dojji]

Speaking in terms of athletic completness, I'd take an athletic defenseman over an athletic forward. Defensemen get no love compared to forwards, but what they do in terms of requiring skill is actually far harder. Crosby's a special talent but since we're talking pure athletics, I'd call him and Chara actually a trade-off. Z is surprisingly nimble, as well as probably being one of the best power athletes in North America. Crosby is much faster and flashier, but he doesn't even pretend to have that kind of power game.

 

I take what Z can do over anyone in the NBA in terms of raw pysicality considering what the rules differences mean,and any running back in the National Seven Seconds Of Play Between Whistles League is not in consideration. He's a very proficient defender skillswise too, he'd be a very solid defender even without his hard-won advantage of sheer strength. Chara is probably the premiere power player across sports in all of North America.

[rjortiz]

LeBron James.

[Dojji]

LBJ is probably the other guy. I'll give him that much. The ways the NBA is different from other leagues makes him more prominent. The hockey players I'm talking up tend to grab much less limelight because a hockey player can't be on the ice for 100% of the game (goaltenders obviously excepted).

 

In my mind though it definitely comes down to Chara vs. James. It seems wierd to talk up Z as if he's in that universe, but honestly, I tried kinda hard to find a good reason not to and didn't find one. And considering how much more the sport of hockey asks of an athlete compared to basketball (Glen Big Baby Davis and other heavyset NBAers would never make it in the NHL) I think that has to at least blunt James's advantage a bit.

[User Name]

All time: Jim Thorpe

 

Current: LBJ. All of this talk about hockey players is making my head spin. None of this hockey players exhibit such raw athleticism as Lebron.

[a700hitter]

Jackie Robinson was a multiple sport star. Wilt Chamberlain was a track and field standout in addition to basketball.

 

In the world of track and field it is an extraordinarily rare athlete that can compete at the highest level in the shortest sprints, all the jumping events, and the throwing events. This dynamic collection of talents is so rare in fact that Wilt might be the only man ever to possess this unique skill set.

 

http://ezinearticles.com/?Wilt-Chamberlain---Track-and-Field-at-the-University-of-Kansas-%28KU%29-In-Addition-to-Basketball&id=4113288

[redsoxrules]

Colin Kaepernick , I forgot about him .

Dude can play baseball , basketball and football and very good at all of them .

[User Name]

Thorpe played Basketball, Baseball and Football at the Major League level and won olympic gold medals in decathlon and pentathlon ( these were later removed for semi-pro involvement, but he still won 'em). He also competed and excelled in basically every athletic activity imaginable at the amateur level.

[Emmz]

I don't think enough people know about Bo.

 

Anyways, a top-shelf talent in two sports, something no one else has been. He could have been the best RB in the history of the NFL.

 

He was the same type of runner AP is, and then he could play baseball at an all-star level.

[Palodios]

Honestly, I've never seen anyone as athletic as Lebron James, his size, speed and jumping ability is just unbelievable. I truly believe he could be dominant in many other sports. He is just that crazy athletically.

 

Olympic decathletes have more all-around skills I would bet.

[Divinity]

I don't think enough people know about Bo.

 

Anyways, a top-shelf talent in two sports, something no one else has been. He could have been the best RB in the history of the NFL.

 

He was the same type of runner AP is, and then he could play baseball at an all-star level.

 

I would put Bo second but Jim Thorpe is the greatest.

 

In a poll of sports fans conducted by ABC Sports, Thorpe was voted the Greatest Athlete of the Twentieth Century out of 15 other athletes including Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth, Jesse Owens, Wayne Gretzky, Jack Nicklaus, and Michael Jordan, etc.

[Emmz]

Thorpe was not excellent at any major sport aside from football. Bo Jackson was excellent at whatever he wanted.

[mvp 78]

Thorpe also played pro baseball and cleaned up at the Olympics. Saying he was only excellent at football is simply wrong.

[Emmz]

He played basketball too, he was not excellent at either baseball or basketball, and I clearly said "major sports". Great athlete, and probably the most skilled all-around athlete, but Bo's right there, and probably did what he did a lot better.

 

He truly was a freak of nature. Potential 5-tool player in baseball (wasn't too good at contact/getting on base). In football he was fast, quick, and he could run your ass over all day.

 

Imo, more impressive to be top-shelf at two major sports. Who knows, maybe he could have been great at olympics too.

[Bellhorn04]

It was such a colossal bummer when Bo Jackson had the career-ending injury. I remember the play.

[Emmz]

Looked like a routine tackle. It was a totally clean play, it's just really awkward to watch it because it seems so flukey. What could have been though? Two sport HOFer was not out of the question.

[Whiteandnerdy42]

Sorry, but I have to go with Thorpe; the pentathlon and decathlon were his sports, and he set the world record in both by A LOT... even if that's not a major sport he's still amazingly athletic.

[User Name]

Thorpe was not excellent at any major sport aside from football. Bo Jackson was excellent at whatever he wanted.

 

I'm sorry, but this Is just wrong.Look at Thorpes career in both amateur and pro sports to see how inaccurate that statement is.

[iortiz]

Whata about those guys who makes the ironman? 42 Km running, 180 km riding bike, and 3.8 km swimming. Those guys are super athletes.

[User Name]

Yeah but most of them wouldn't be able to pay a sport at the major league level. Most of the guys mentioned here could do that and compete in an ironman if they conditioned themselves for it.

[Northern Star]

JaMarcus Russell.

[iortiz]

Maybe they can finish the ironman (and still have to see) but I doubt they can put the times/records that those who have won the competition. That is another think.

 

In major sports of course you need a great athletic condition but IMO, you are nothing if you don't have those natural skills which are more important in order to succeed among the best in major sports. The same goes for those who practice the ironman. Very few can finish the competition. And very very very few can achieve those record times.

[Emmz]

I'm sorry, but this Is just wrong.Look at Thorpes career in both amateur and pro sports to see how inaccurate that statement is.

 

Post stats of his major sports career. K?

 

That statement was about major sports, and it's extremely accurate. He was not that good at pro baseball or basketball.

 

Who gives a flying f*** about amateur sports.