ESPN top 100 athletes since year 2000

[Crow]

Chris Paul is likely the most underrated superstar in NBA history. In fact, he's so underrated, I'm not sure he ever qualified as a "superstar"


As of the summer of 2023...

16th all-time in PER

6th all-time in OWS

9th all-time in WS

6th all-time in WS/48

6th all-time in BPM

6th all-time in VORP

3x playoff leader in PER & WS/48

2x playoff leader in OBPM & BPM

I honestly can’t tell if these are real statistics or shit you made up but I feel like I might be top ten on this board PWD right now.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Is Usain Bolt a SROMG WAMON?

Checkmate


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

The cheeto dust on this post is palpable

 

[Acallabeth]

Crosby is too high lol, there are athletes on the list who are best of all time in tougher sports to excel and/or with larger participation base who are either omitted overall (Bjorndalen, Fourcade, Fedor Emelianenko, Magnus Carlsen) or much lower (Jon Jones). He shouldn't also be dozens of places ahead of Ovechkin and McDavid.

As for the rating overall... People can try whatever spin they want on the question, but deep inside they all know what the entire world knows (including ESPN writers). The greatest athlete in the world is the best player ever in the world's biggest sport.

 

[BertMcDrai]

This is a list made from America for America.
Outside of USA, half the people are completely unknown.
The amount of basketball players is ridiculous.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

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

What athletes do you feel were slighted?

 

[tiburon12]

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

Usain Bolt behind Simone Biles. icant America.

This is an HF record - two idiotic posts in the first 6 of a thread!

 

[ItWasJustified]

What athletes do you feel were slighted?

Didn't even look at the list.

 

[Leafs87]

Messi/Ronaldo-Brady should make up the top 3. Awful list by ESPN as expected. Not even bothered by the lack of NHLers.

Khabib not on that list is also hilarious

 

[Crow]

I would like to understand or at least hear the argument for why chess is considered a sport, is in the Olympics or has anything to do with athleticism. At least two people brought up some guy who sits in a chair pressing buttons on a timer.

 

[Shark Finn]

ESPN knows hockey vol. X... or sports

 

[tarheelhockey]

Messi/Ronaldo-Brady should make up the top 3.

The suggestion that Brady should be next to Messi and Ronaldo is the result of 20 years of ESPN making lists as bad as this one.

 

[KCC]

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

The list of names is fine. It’s the order that’s trash.

 

[ricky0034]

one thing about this list that I find interesting is there's only 1 Cricket player on the list and they're all the way down at 97th

I don't know anything about the sport to suggest any names but that just feels profoundly wrong with how popular it is

 

[FrozenJagrt]

No one who doesn’t live in Alberta could point out Alberta on a map. It’s like asking someone to point out Lichtenstein.

More people live in most major American cities than the entire population of Alberta combined.

Canada has ten provinces and three territories. If you can't take a stab at it and at least come close, you're about as bright as the folks that made this list.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Zidane shouldn’t be in the top 100 anyway, his best years were in the 90s and he’s overrated to begin with .

Same reason Mia Hamm shouldn’t be n the list at all. The summary of her accomplishments includes 2 World Cup wins but each of those was in the 90s. And the summaries for others say something like “300 home runs since 2000”...weird how since 2000 is enforced with some but not others. Schumacher should be ahead of Hamilton if you include the 90s like they do with Hamm.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Listened to the radio on my drive in and they were absolutely skewering this ridiculously biased excuse for a list by ESPN.

7 of the top 10 just happen to be American, eh? Shocker.

At least they managed to keep Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark off the list. Honestly surprised they could pull it off.

Same reason Mia Hamm shouldn’t be n the list at all. The summary of her accomplishments includes 2 World Cup wins but each of those was in the 90s. And the summaries for others say something like “300 home runs since 2000”...weird how since 2000 is enforced with some but not others. Schumacher should be ahead of Hamilton if you include the 90s like they do with Hamm.

Meanwhile, Christine Sinclair's exclusion just defies logic.

The all time leader in international goals, men or women, whose pro career was entirely post-2000, somehow didn't make this list.

 

[JohanFranzenstein]

ESPN f***in sucks

Water is wet

More at 11

 

[Acallabeth]

I would like to understand or at least hear the argument for why chess is considered a sport, is in the Olympics or has anything to do with athleticism. At least two people brought up some guy who sits in a chair pressing buttons on a timer.

Two main reasons:
1) chess includes a direct skills competition, which is a sport by definition.
2) arguably the most important skill for any sport that includes an opponent's resistance (from hockey to wrestling) is game IQ. And chess is the pinnacle of competition in that skill.

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

that’s a really good point. american football is literally a sport that no one outside of the us and canada plays or watches

for how incredibly magnified its importance is in the us, it’s a fart in the wind almost everywhere else

This is just false. American football is gaining steam and fans in multiple countries around the world.

Yes, its no where near soccer in terms of fans but you don't need to try to push baseless statements to make it known.

Its also a league with dominates soccer in terms of franchise value and produces more money than any soccer league in the world.

With that much money and how eager they seem to be pushing NFL games in various spots around the globe, the game will grow.

And if you took the time to look at how much viewership/fandom has gone up percentage wise in the countries they have had these international games, you would see that.

 

[Konnan511]

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

Phelps has the most gold medals of all-time, he didn't do anything to deserve your strays.

I may have had Brady at 3, but that's nit-picking. OV and Crosby should have been closer to each other. McDavid has only been active for a quarter of the 2000s, so it makes sense he is so low.

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

Crosby isn't above McDavid and even if you want to make that argument, the disparity is hilarious. I guess McDavid doesn't have enough Olympic medals though.

Do you guys actually read what the list is about? It is from 2000 until today.

How in gods name would a dude that only has about 8 seasons with no international or NHL championships get above a dude with 3 Stanley cups, 4 appearances, 1 Olympic gold along with various other accolades. Who has been doing it for damn near 20 years now and was almost as dominant as McDavid in his prime…..

McDavid is too low but should not in any scenario be above Crosby on this list.

 

[ShootIt]

It's a dumb list to begin with.

24 years of careers.
Multiple sports with athletes that are impossible to truly judge vs one another.

IMO it was made to generate clicks.

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

Where's Dustin Rose? He should be higher then #1.

 

[Help]

Usain Bolt at 9.... list disregarded

 

[NyQuil]

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.

It helps when there’s 20 events for swimming.

I really think there should be separate ice hockey, 4 on 4 ice hockey, 3 on 3 ice hockey and shootout events.