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second. I have never seen a drive like that.
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World Number 1 of the world number 1s
Forums → Sports Talk | 141 posts
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Number 1 of the number ones?
I know the list isn't complete by any means, but please add
in names as you see fit. My Vote has to be Rossi! To have won across every championship and then to change to an "inferior" bike and still come up trumps!
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The only possible winner is Sir Donald George Bradman by a mile, with Wayne Gretzky second and perhaps a few nominations such as Walter Lindrum vying for third.
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Just Plain Stupid.
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You are right, but it does say in the world today
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My bad. Give me Tiger then. He's done even more than the others to redefine the expectations and benchmarks of the game's elite, which is what all the greatest past No. 1s in any sport manage to do.
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Valentino Rossi? Ha! Nobody cares about bikes. Every race the grandstands are empty. Rossi loves bikes so much he wanted to change sports and step straight into a Ferrari. Michael Schumacher told one of the Italian papers he hadn't spent 11 years building up the Scuderia to pass it on to a man who looks like a chimp. He may have said monkey, I'm not sure.
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The idea is to name who you think the number one is, adding
stupid snide comments about other peoples picks wasn't really
the idea. But thanks anyway!
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The greatest living athlete/sportsman in the world today is:
Takeru Kobayashi This bloke is a once -in-a-lifetime superstar athlete. He has dominated the sport of competitive eating for the last 10 years.
He is considered by experts to be the greatest competitive eater in the history of the sport and the longest and current reigning world champion in competitive hotdog eating His record of eating 53 hot dogs in 12 minutes at the Nathan's Coney Island hot dog eating contest in 2006 may never be broken . At a speed-eating contest in Hong Kong in August 2005, Kobayashi consumed 83 vegetarian dumplings in 8 minutes. The next day, he ate 100 steamed pork buns in 12 minutes. etc, etc.He is simply unstoppable. This guy is like Tiger Woods and Jack Niclaus all rolled into one.
Motor bikes - pffffftttttt
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A toss up between Woods and Federer. I'll take Woods because he dominates a more technically difficult sport and much deeper fields / competition.
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Federer - easily. Never mind what they do for the sport, just how good they are at it. Federer will likely be well past the major record by his 28th birthday. Tiger may well transcend golf, but he doesn't dominate it like Federer dominates tennis.
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And Woods plays a game where he walks at only a brisk pace at best, has plenty of time to think through each decision, can have a couple of practice swings, has the services of a bag carrier that can give him advice and can also refer to reference material. Not only that, he has a ball that is sitting still when he hits it and doesn't have an opponent that is forcing him to play a completely different shot within a second or two of playing the previous one.
Of the 4 listed I would rank Woods/Federer/Rossi all together with Shumacher behind in the distance. Re: Rossi. He has won multiple world titles in 125cc, 250cc & 500cc as well as backing it up when it went to an open class. He has not always had the best machinery but is clearly so far above the rest of the pack that he can win regardless. No matter what your sporting preference the world may never again see such a dominance in any of those three sports again. Let alone at the same time.
Beware of cheap imitations - Especially from the US |
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You're right. I apologise. My post however... that's just what I do. Like right now, taking on the Aussies and saying <donning flamesuit> that Bradman was just a cross bat slogger; and that the pace bowling in his day was absolute crap; and that he stepped back from Larwood during Bodyline instead of taking the hits like Ponsford and McCabe did. Okay, maybe they just couldn't get out of the way as well...
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Tough one between Rossi and Schumacher but I will go with Schu. For Tiger to match Schu he would have to win 28 majors! Schumacher is the first person every to dominate F1 like he has. He has challenged for the championship every year since he has been in the sport and even won in less than competitive cars, something nobody else managed to do. Rossi on the other hand has only had less than the best bike once or twice in his career.
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How far back in F1 history are you going to go with that claim. Shumacher also had the best car by a long way for at least 4 of his world titles (evidenced by where his teammates finished and also the constructor titles)
And that is just crap. Yes - the Honda that he inherited was a cracker but if it was the bike why could Criville not dominate on it? Also, what about Rossi's 125cc bike and his 250cc bike? When the 500cc class went to open class MotoGP - the bikes all had to be built from scratch and everybody started even with the new technology. Rossi just kept winning. Don't forget the pig of a thing that he rode when he first went to Yamaha in 2004. He managed to get that thing over the line and win the world title. Biaggi couldn't win on that bike the year before (2003). Futhermore, in 2004 neither Gibernau nor Biaggi could win on the improved Honda in the team that Rossi had just left either. Rossi has challenged for the title every year in every class that he has raced. He has won 50% of the races that he has contested and finished podium in 50% of the remaining races that he didn't win. And finally - The 2003 Australian GP. There is simply no other rider in the world that can give away a 10 second penalty, be advised of that fact (mid-race whilst still amongst the leading pack) and simply ride away from the rest of the field to win by 15 seconds to ensure victory. That is better than a second a lap from that point in the race. That is not just the bike, that is machine management, tyre management, sheer ability and complete confidence.
Beware of cheap imitations - Especially from the US |
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woods has won his last 5 encounters...i know federer cant say that atm. and yet in a 5 hour tennis game you may play 10 different shots...while golf it can be 70+ unique shots. i vote tiger...for many more cliched reasons.
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In F1 I am willing to go back as far as you like. Yes, Michael
had the best car in at least 3 probably 4 of his championships
but he won his first two with what was really a mid-pack car.
Remember when Ferrari signed Barrichello? In 1996 and 1997 he
shouldn't have been in the top 5 and yet he went right to the
end challenging for the championship, it was the same story in
1998 and 1999. It was what Schumacher did when he didn't have
the best car that impresses me the most. Pat Symonds put it the
best when he compared MS to Ayrton Senna. He said that Senna was
very demanding but if you gave him the car he would win races. If
the car wasn't good enough then Senna would really struggle,
often overdriving the car. MS on the other hand would drive the
wheels off any car, good or bad he had the best "race"
mind ever in the sport. He could push a car to its absolute limit
and not a millimetre beyond to get the best out of if. When he
wasn't in the fastest car he could also control the pace of a
race which is something that only 2 or three other drivers have
ever managed to do more than once. Remember his last lap drive
through penalty a couple of years ago? That was just genius. Or
his way of pulling out really hot in laps and out laps to gain
position from a pit stop. He practically invented that. In the
past most drivers came out of the pits and drove very
conservatively until their tyres were hot and they were
comfortable with the feel of their now heavier car. He said that
in a good car, Senna was faster, but in anything other than a
good car Schumacher was faster. To top it off, I remember one
particular year at the Bercy kart stars event, the best drivers
from around the world on an indoor kart circuit. Schumacher was
so dominant that he had time to do his own version of
"drifting" with the occasional 360° spin
down the middle of the main straight and still with with daylight
(flouro light actually
As for Rossi, The only really uncompetitive bike he had was the
Yamaha. In the 125's and 250's he wasn't lacking a
competitive bike. Many of my friends who are still active in the
sport or have recently finished are only just beginning to
consider Rossi as one of the best and a rival to Ago for sheer
greatness. In a way it is harder for Rossi to be considered the
greatest because he has such a great historical figure in Ago. To
be honest, I never really rated Criville that highly. He had a
purple patch but he did have one of the best bikes for a few
years and couldn't capitalise. Gibernau was similar but I
personally wouldn't rate him in the all-time top 100 maybe
even 150.
In bikes, there are many multiple championship winners (3 or greater) where in F1 there are a lot of 2 time winners because they had the best car at the time. Making up for a slow vehicle is MUCH harder on 4 wheels than it is on two.
Anyway, that is just my opinion based on many years of watching
the top level and competing at the bottom level.
Great Discussion.
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You must be kidding.
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Federer has won 8 of the last 12 majors contested. He's won the US Open 3 times in a row and Wimbledon 4. He plays 100+ unique shots in a game and plays on 4 different surfaces. Not to mention, that he currently wins by margins not seen before. He lost 1 set at Wimbledon the entire tournament, and 2 at the US Open. When he turns it on, nobody can compete (just like Tiger) and he makes the other players look completely inadequate.
Someone should have told Agassi that, who won 3 of 8 majors after his 28th birhday. Sampras who won 6 of 14. I'm guessing Roger will win plenty after his 28th birthday, and will likely already have the record before he is 28 anyway.
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Robert Fahey (Australian) has been the Royal Tennis world
champion continuously for the last 12 years. He has also been world doubles champion for the last 5 years. He now holds the record for the most world title defences in the history of a sport that had its first world title in 1740. Yes, it is an insignificant sport compared to others, but you can only beat those you compete against.
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Royal Tennis being the one where you bounce it off the walls?
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Well, you can, especially off one side. The other sides have 'penthouses', which are sloping roofs. The court is bigger than lawn tennis & the net is higher, especially at each side. There is also 'Dedans' which are small openings at one end of the court, beneath the 'penthouse' that can allow the opposing player, if able to 'force' the ball into the hole, to win the point immediately. Apart from that, the balls are heavy & don't bounce that much & the racquets are small & have an off centre shape.
It's like chess for tennis. I've been fortunate enough to
play it a few times, but like many British games, learning all
the possibilities takes many years.
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yes, I believe I played this a couple of times when I was studying in England. My old man played a fair bit of it when we lived in England in the early 90's also.
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Motor Racing is not a sport, bunch of red necks hooting around a track in beefed up shitboxes does not consitiute sport. David Foster is the greatest world number 1, With a career tally of 182 world titles, 175 national titles, and over 1400 championships, David became the first person in history to win 1000 championships in any given sport. To date he has earned over 3000 first places in competitive woodchopping, and has won the crosscut saw world title for 21 consecutive years.
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Commentator at World Matchplay (Ewen...) noted that in tennis the best player of an era (eg. McEnroe) won 98% of the time. And the best player of an era in golf (eg. Nicklaus) lost 88% of the time. It is without doubt, far more difficult to dominate golf than tennis.
As far as driving goes - who knows? Are they any different to
jockeys?
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I watched the MotoGP at Philip Island on Sunday. I really enjoyed it. The grandstands were far from empty and I found myself going for Rossi even though I tried not to. A few thoughts: Nakano was an idiot for not coming in immediately after it started to rain. Has he never watched F1? He has the same name as a rubbish Japanese driver who used to drive for Minardi/Ligier. They lose far too much time in the pit lane getting off the dry tyre bike and onto the wet one. They should have a guy on each side lift the rider off and set him down on the new machine. Two seconds saved. Philip Island looks like decent terrain for golf. Are there many golf courses near the circuit? Did Rossi get a penalty for passing under yellow flag? It looked like Hayden was going to lodge a protest. Why does Rossi have 'the doctor' written on his arse? What is he a doctor in? Medicine or Psychology? How good is my current signature?
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