ali greatest..how? no ****ing way, maybe the greatest showman...that is it...he did **** all.. that german **** racing cars, did more for his sport.. so tv lovers from the 60's and boxing fan..please **** off.. boxing is boring, and the big lads cream the coin, just like the prem..what a crock of ****e.
1/ The delay vs Cooper is a complete myth. 2/ He wasn't going to be involved in the fighting regardless. I'ld say it's far braver to stand up for your principles at huge cost to your reputation and career than blindly follow the crowd. It's not as if looking back you think Vietnam was a just and noble war! 3/ f**ing musoo - Jesus wept grow up. There are plenty of things you can actually criticise Ali for, such as his Racist behaviour towards Frazier or trying to overly damage an opponent like Terrel.
Who would you say then Comm? This is definitely about opinion, nobody can claim to be the best sportsman ever, but Ali's gonna get the nod, just like Pele always gets the nod for football, despite the fact that he wasn't and there's been loads better than him. I could say Anderson Silva, the guy is the greatest fighter I've ever seen. Not really gonna wash with the boxing crowd though is it? I could say Sebastien Loeb who's probably the greatest driver I've seen in my life, but the F1 crowd will all tell you that he'd never be good enough to race in an F1 car. I think on a world stage, for considering who was the greatest, you have to look at big sports and Olympians, because otherwise nobody really considers them as 'world greats'. That's why I've gone with an Olympian, an F1 driver and a Boxer, but they're by no way my favourite sports men. Scholes, Cantona, Best - easy.
See my Granda always told me Len Shackleton was better than George Best but he played in a time before all the TV coverage and there is so little recorded of what he was capable of doing! But my Dad said George Best was the best footballer he's seen live. As for sportsmen - A decathlete has to be capable of being competitive in 10 different disciplines so they have to be considered. They'll never be the best at any of the 10 disciplines outright but as a whole you have to be great at all of them to be a good decathlete! (I agree about Ali BTW - never saw him fight live but he was awesome - and Anderson Silva is immense!)
It depends what sports your into that sways your decision really doesn't it? I'm sure there's a few cricket fans knocking about who'd be considering a cricketer, or a Yank would probably say an NFL or a Basketball or Baseball player, and very few of us lot would even recognise their name. I love Best, he was fantastic for United. My favourite is Scholes though, you'll know from watching Cattermole live that you can't just look at a player from what you see on the tele, Scholes live was just like watching perpetual motion, he knew what was happening and was 2 or 3 steps ahead of everybody on the pitch. Me and my mate used to get distracted watching him at matches and miss stuff all the time. Sven played him left wing so Lamplard and bottlejob Steve could play CM
He was our greatest ever leader in my opinion, even better than Robson and Cantona as a leader. What he didn't have in talent he made up for in passion, him and Scholes were just perfect together. I'd have trouble looking at CM partnerships in the history of the game and finding one that would match those two, Makelele and Zidane maybe, but I'd still fancy Scholes and Keane to boss that midfield battle.
Spot on that mind. I often went to united in my younger days as my mates parents had season tickets and anytime there was a spare I went with them. Scholes was phenomenal - still have no idea why he played out left when he was comfortably the best CM we had at the time. Right about the Scholes and Cattermole thing as well (not comparing them as such but comparing the way that "outsiders" viewed them)
They're the type of players who work a lot off the ball, that's why I compared to somebody you could relate to seeing often. I know I'm biased against Liverpool but some **** like Joe Allen will literally follow the ball and serve as a mere number on the pitch, just constantly providing an outlet for a pass, which is ok but you see all that he is on TV.
I remember that time in the CL semi final when he was geeing then all up. He knew he was ****ed for the final but it was him that got them there. ****ing class.
Yeah he was gutted about missing the final, we were missing Keane and Scholes for that final. He also ditched Barcelona for us in another CL Semi Final with a wonder goal, love the picture of it because Messi and Xavi are both looking on behind him just as he strikes the ball. Being such a big fan of Cantona and Scholes, this story was great for me to read... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...United-captain-but-his-charisma-inspired.html
Ali was the greatest sportsman of any era and yes just as much for what he did outside the ring as he did in it. He made mistakes but who doesn't and when you look where he came from, the era he was in, what he fought for and the way he did it there will never be another like him. I watch him in old footage and it still gets the hair standing on edge in ways that no modern sport ever has with possibly the exception of my first derby match.
It's unlikely to ever be a unanimous vote, but he has to be up there. If Basketball was accepted like boxing is worldwide, we'd all be chirping on about Michael Jordan. Ali is a huge character in a very popular worldwide sport, there's something very controversial to add as well, I don't usually bite my tongue so I'll go ahead and say it, professionals are afraid to be critical towards him or expose his flaws because he has a disability. Just like people are less inclined to give Maradona the nod for greatest ever because he's a **** and a drug abuser, we choose to ignore the fact that he was a better player than Pele. Having said that, I still think, on a world stage his contribution is greater than most so he deserves to be right up there.
Boxing, a minority sport, so how could some chicken, turned musso be the greatest? look at all the greas from other sports. ali, is a ****ing joke.. not even the best ever boxer ffs...so he could run his gob off, makes him great?
It's like comparing a strawberry milkshake to a steak diane and asking which is better. It also goes with the era of broadcast television and what the media chose to hype. In a word or two, boxing and the flamboyant character of Ali made for great television on top of great live broadcast radio in previous decades. In terms of a world stage, at a time when the orientation of the telly took pride of place, dominating our sitting rooms then the sporting heroes of the 60's and 70's possibly dominate our opinions. As for the milkshake, we should probably nominate 1 person for each key sport: Footba' ...Zidane Boxing ...Hagler Tennis ...McEnroe Golf ...who the f** cares?
