ESPN top 100 athletes since year 2000

[T REX]

Phelps won a record 8 Gold medals and broke 7...SEVEN world records in Beijing.

Put that up against anybody. 23 Golds all-time. That dominance has never been seen before, ever.

I get this is a hockey board and McDavid should be higher IMHO but the list isn't that crazy.

Disney had nothing to do with the list. SMDH

EDIT: I'll even stipulate to American bias. I'm sure a group of Japanese writers would have a different list as well. Probably have some Sumo wrestlers on it and a bunch of Japanese baseball players.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

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

Phelps? Guy is the most decorated Olympian of All-Time.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

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.

Lock him in a room with his wife and he's leaving in handcuffs. Also PEDs are a disqualifier IMO. Everyone is on them but you have to be particularly stupid to be caught multiple times

 

[StreetHawk]

Phelps won a record 8 Gold medals and broke 7...SEVEN world records in Beijing.

Put that up against anybody. 23 Golds all-time. That dominance has never been seen before, ever.

I get this is a hockey board and McDavid should be higher IMHO but the list isn't that crazy.

Disney had nothing to do with the list. SMDH

EDIT: I'll even stipulate to American bias. I'm a group of Japanese writers would have a different list as well. Probably have some Sumo wrestlers on it and a bunch of Japanese baseball players.

I think the people ahead of Sid are all valid. This list clearly likes "champions" which is why McDavid is barely making the cut.

Some people after Sid, I do question their placement, like Kevin Garnett, Pujols.

Bias with Basketball. If McDavid won the Cup this season, I think he'd be in the 80's at least.

Plus with all of the Champion stuff, you'd could clearly put some Blackhawks, Kings, and Lightning players. They excluded Christine Sinclair I believe.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

Phelps won a record 8 Gold medals and broke 7...SEVEN world records in Beijing.

Put that up against anybody. 23 Golds all-time. That dominance has never been seen before, ever.

I get this is a hockey board and McDavid should be higher IMHO but the list isn't that crazy.

Disney had nothing to do with the list. SMDH

EDIT: I'll even stipulate to American bias. I'm a group of Japanese writers would have a different list as well. Probably have some Sumo wrestlers on it and a bunch of Japanese baseball players.

In fairness swimming is also a sport that really doesn't need all the different events it has.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I don’t see the issue with Phelps. I would just ask, what could he have done to rank higher in his sport? Nothing. He maximized the level of dominance and success that is reasonably possible in swimming. And swimming is a sport that’s widely played throughout the world, one of the sports that gets down to fundamental athleticism.

To me, Brady is much more a case of American bias. There was only a brief window of time where he was arguably the best QB in the NFL, let alone the best player. He spent a lot of years as a top-10 QB who happened to play on the best team.

 

[MardyBum]

Phelps? Guy is the most decorated Olympian of All-Time.

Helps when you have 342 events to win every olympics. Hey look a Gymnast too! I bet they only have 1 or 2 chances at a gold per olympics.

 

[Human]

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

No he shouldn’t.

If the list is world-wide, football is a niche sport outside the USA. It’s being called America Football in the vast majority of the world, and people care about it maybe casually.

 

[HFpapi]

Messi is the greatest player to ever play in the worlds (by far) most played and most popular sport. 3rd is a joke.

McDavid at 98th is also a joke. Dude is 27 and has a genuine argument for being better than Crosby already.

 

[rogking65]

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.

your Jones comment is entered in the HFB silliest quotes of all time list

 

[islandersbob]

Too much basketball, football and baseball for my liking, too many guys who aren't inner circle hall of famers. But those are ESPN's cash cows. Gotta hype what they sell. In that vein, I'm surprised there was no Joey Chestnutt.

Hockey needs MINIMUM one more player on the list and the three that were represented to be ranked higher. Where the heck is Nicklas Lidstrom?

Most shocking omission for me, besides Lidstrom, was Magnus Carlsen. I thought they'd rank him somewhere around 98 as a token inclusion, but they gave that spot to Connor freaking McDavid.

 

[StreetHawk]

Too much basketball, football and baseball for my liking, too many guys who aren't inner circle hall of famers. But those are ESPN's cash cows. Gotta hype what they sell. In that vein, I'm surprised there was no Joey Chestnutt.

Hockey needs MINIMUM one more player on the list and the three that were represented to be ranked higher. Where the heck is Nicklas Lidstrom?

Most shocking omission for me, besides Lidstrom, was Magnus Carlsen. I thought they'd rank him somewhere around 98 as a token inclusion, but they gave that spot to Connor freaking McDavid.

They are basing this on 2000 onwards. If they could have included the 90's, then Nik should be up there in between Sid and Ovy rankings.

I do agree too many players from other sports that are not at the level or accomplishments as NHLers, be it Hedman, P. Kane, Keith, Doughty, Vasi, etc.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

your Jones comment is entered in the HFB silliest quotes of all time list

Yeah by that logic you could have Ngannou, Aspinall, or Emilianenko higher.

His accomplishment are impressive but he lost to Reyes, has one fight in almost 5 years, and popped multiple times. Give me GSP over him any day.

 

[Roomtemperature]

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.

Brady cheated and so did his coach so I question all of his accomplishments.

 

[NVious]

My list
1.JT Miller
2.Kravtsov
3.Brock Faber
4.Javale McGee

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

No he shouldn’t.

If the list is world-wide, football is a niche sport outside the USA. It’s being called America Football in the vast majority of the world, and people care about it maybe casually.

No he shouldn’t.

If the list is world-wide, football is a niche sport outside the USA. It’s being called America Football in the vast majority of the world, and people care about it maybe casually.

Its not worldwide though. Just because some people from other countries made it doesn't mean its truly a worldwide ranking.

It will be easier for some of you to understand that we really don't care too much about soccer in the US.

Which makes the list much easier to digest when these people are ranking these things.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Phelps won a record 8 Gold medals and broke 7...SEVEN world records in Beijing.

Put that up against anybody. 23 Golds all-time. That dominance has never been seen before, ever.

I get this is a hockey board and McDavid should be higher IMHO but the list isn't that crazy.

Disney had nothing to do with the list. SMDH

EDIT: I'll even stipulate to American bias. I'm a group of Japanese writers would have a different list as well. Probably have some Sumo wrestlers on it and a bunch of Japanese baseball players.

Phelps was the best swimmer only in butterfly, a stroke invented to give wealthy countries more Olympic medals. It's like they gave medals for the 100m dash crab walk.

Only the US thought Phelps was the star of that Olympics, everywhere else in the world it was Bolt.

 

[islandersbob]

They are basing this on 2000 onwards. If they could have included the 90's, then Nik should be up there in between Sid and Ovy rankings.

I do agree too many players from other sports that are not at the level or accomplishments as NHLers, be it Hedman, P. Kane, Keith, Doughty, Vasi, etc.

7 Norris Trophy wins since 2000 isn't enough? Add in a Gold medal in 2006 AND being the best player on the best team since 2000 (and some would argue a top 10 all time team).

Somehow Shaq and his post 2000 career gets him #17, while Lidstrom can't even get ranked.

 

[ItWasJustified]

North Americans should be banned from making any kind of lists.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Usain Bolt behind Simone Biles. icant America.

Is Usain Bolt a SROMG WAMON?

Checkmate

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

ESPN is all in on WNBA these days, turn on the station and you would think it’s the most important sports league in the world

 

[Svencouver]

I think this is actually a pretty good list when you take into account dominance over peers, cultural significance, and affecting the sport at large. I would put Messi at #1, though - and I'm a swimmer. There's just no one you can put over the undisputed GOAT at the worlds most popular and most played sport and the most famous athlete in history.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

North Americans should be banned from making any kind of lists.

Why?

 

[JackSlater]

Dumb list, as to be expected of course.

 

[ItWasJustified]

Why?

Massively inflated egos.

 

[Beau Knows]

At least if they were only going to include 3 hockey players, they picked the right ones.

Pretty silly how many athletes on this list are from American leagues.