ESPN top 100 athletes since year 2000

[Richardbro]

ESPN's top 100 professional athletes of the 21st century: Unveiling 1-25

Who tops our list of the top athletes since 2000? We're unveiling the top 25, including our voters' pick for the No. 1 spot.

www.espn.com

So Crosby is 22nd and Mcdavid is way too low at 98. Definite bias against the NHL and way too much love for NFL and tennis. The only other NHL player is Ovechkin at #54 which is too low as well. Yes, this is listed in order as #1 is the best.

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[knuck]

I disagree. When you take every sport into account, there's a shitload of athletes out there. The names above Crosby all make sense (well, almost all of them)

 

[MardyBum]

What an inane list. I don't think Crosby should be higher but Phelps and Williams LOL

 

[Coffey]

No way Trout should be 30 and McDavid at 98.
Especially if both haven't won a champioship.

 

[ViD]

This is a hilarious ranking for anyone outside of the United States.

Like, literally nobody gives a f*** about Tom Brady outside of the U.S. regardless of how many times he won the U.S. national sport trophy.

The list of best athletes should be about the Olympic golds and sports played worldwide

 

[MardyBum]

Usain Bolt behind Simone Biles. icant America.

 

[PensPlz]

Tom Brady should be number 1 and that's coming from a Pittsburgher.

Crosby is fine where he's at, I guess, but should be higher. McRegularSeason should probably be top 50 at least.

And Jon Jones being 66? I'll just say one thing: Lock all 100 of those athletes in a room, where only 1 of them leave alive, and Jon Jones is leaving that room.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

When I see Kevin Garnett and Dwyane Wade above Kevin Durant, I suddenly don't care about the rest.

Tom Brady should be number 1 and that's coming from a Pittsburgher.

Crosby is fine where he's at. McDavid should probably be top 50.

And Jon Jones being 66? I'll just say one thing: Lock all 100 of those athletes in a room, where only 1 of them leave alive, and Jon Jones is leaving that room.

I don't think Brady behind Phelps, Serena and Messi is that bad, but there's no way he's behind LeBron.

As for Jones, I kind of get it. Despite being the best of all time, he hasn't had a huge cultural impact, he's had some questionable wins, long periods of inactivity and his antics outside the sport are absurd.

 

[HisIceness]

Chris Paul should be nowhere near a list like this. One of the most overrated "superstars" in any sport ever. I have never understood why NBA fans and media fawn over him. At least they didn't put Carmelo Anthony on the list, surprised they didn't to be honest.

The list actually has more Hockey guys than I thought. Figured a list like this would list one of Ovechkin/Crosby but not the other and that'd be it.

 

[vancityluongo]

diana taurasi being right before crosby is perfect lol

way too many nba players in general (no one gives a f*** about kevin garnett), but for a espn generated list, this is about what i'd expect.

the methodology for this ranking is insane tho

Experts in individual sports were asked to vote to rank the top athletes in their sport since Jan. 1, 2000 (no accomplishments before this date were to be considered). Those votes pared down pools in each sport to lists of 10 to 25 athletes each, which constituted the overall candidate pool for the top athletes of the 21st century so far. Each voter was presented two randomly selected names and asked to pick which one has had the better career in the 21st century. Across repeated, randomized head-to-head matchups, more than 70,000 votes were cast at this stage, and using an Elo rating system, the list was pared down from 262 to 100. That list was then evaluated by a panel of experts for any inconsistencies or oversights, resulting in the top 100 ranking seen here.

 

[Habsfann]

This list needs some Ronnie O’Sullivan.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Chris Paul should be nowhere near a list like this. One of the most overrated "superstars" in any sport ever. I have never understood why NBA fans and media fawn over him. At least they didn't put Carmelo Anthony on the list, surprised they didn't to be honest.

The list actually has more Hockey guys than I thought. Figured a list like this would list one of Ovechkin/Crosby but not the other and that'd be it.

I mean Paul is one of the better defensive guards the league has seen and has been a terrific playmaker and court general throughout his career. The knock on him is obviously his inability to win, but outside of the Suns how many of his teams could really have been expected to win in what was always a pretty tough conference?

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Uh-oh, sports media downplayed hockey players?

 

[S E P H]

So Crosby is 22nd and Mcdavid is way too low at 98. Definite bias against the NHL and way too much love for NFL and tennis. The only other NHL player is Ovechkin at #54 which is too low as well. Yes, this is listed in order as #1 is the best.

Bro, they have seven WNBA players in front of McDavid and Ronaldinho. It is a joke, an April Fool's joke in July fam.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Bro, the have seven WNBA players in front of McDavid. It is a joke, an April Fool's joke in July fam.

It's ESPN. I'd be surprised if anyone there could point to Edmonton (or even Alberta) on a map. He'd be a lot higher if he played in the US.

 

[Matsun]

I've watched football/soccer all my life (have vivid memories of games since 2000), hockey since around 2002, tennis since 2006 ish, olympics since 2008 and basketball since 2018. To me Messi should be in his own galaxy miles ahead of the rest. He is impossibly good.

 

[MardyBum]

It's ESPN. I'd be surprised if anyone there could point to Edmonton (or even Alberta) on a map. He'd be a lot higher if he played in the US.

I'd be surprised if half the people who were a part of this could point out Argentina or Brazil on a map .

 

[Three On Zero]

List isn’t that terrible, it’s not good but not terrible

 

[Voight]

KD is way ahead of both KG and D Wade on any all time ranking, what a joke.

(This is coming from someone who's a huge fan of all three, the latter were great players but not better than KD)

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Serena Williams above Messi is too funny

 

[Vasilevskiy]

I've watched football/soccer all my life (have vivid memories of games since 2000), hockey since around 2002, tennis since 2006 ish, olympics since 2008 and basketball since 2018. To me Messi should be in his own galaxy miles ahead of the rest. He is impossibly good.

Serena over him is absolutely bonkers.

Phelps I disagree as well, but at least it's a legendary career too

 

[dgibb10]

They couldn't give McDavid 1 spot to put him at 97?

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

The list is also picking an extreme amount of hairs as well. Like Simon Biles and Phelps are competing on the world stage much more than Messi (some can even argue more dominant than Messi).

But people will look at the list and scream “American Bias” because soccer is much more popular than swimming and gymnastics.

But that still doesn't take away from how much those individuals ridiculously dominated in their specific sport.

 

[Kairi Zaide]

Its an American company that employs “experts” in sports that are played within the USA.

I don't understand how people can't wrap their heads around it being predominately American born individuals.

Like no one is there arguing for the best Indian cricket player or Korean handball player.

When I saw this graph it made me laugh.

 

[tabness]

no "esports" nerds made the list?