The Greatest Sportsman of all time

[Hairy]

Muhammed Ali

Much as I like Sachin, I've got to concede that Bradman was better than him.

I can't agree with this. Bradman only had to play England, really. The only teams playing were a Young SA, WI and ENG at the start, then after the war, they stopped off and played India, who'd just formed. He murdered the weak teams, much like Lara would have done against the Dutch. As good as he was, and I think he was top drawer, he didn't really face many top attacks. I think we had one or two series against him, where we had top quality bowlers. However, Lara, Tendulkar, and I'd put Kallis up there with them, have had to face, probably, some of the greatest attacks ever: Wasim, Waqar, Donald, Warne, Mcgrath, Ambrose, Walsh, Hadlee, Qadir, Muralitharan, Pollock and many, many other great bowlers.

He's certainly up there with Brian Lara

Of all of the players I have seen live, Lara, Kallis and Tendulkar were from the top table, and few could join them. Lara's backlift was impossible to mimic.

I watched England play India in India a few years ago. And it is testimony to Tendulkars brilliance, that once, when they got him out, they claimed they'd got him out due to a plan they had worked out for him and celebrated like mad. He'd scored 87. He was just so good at moving around in the crease, so when ENG bowled LAS into the rough in his legs, he simply took his guard on off and worked him around the corners. For only 87, it was probably the best technical innings I have ever seen, yet ENG celebrated like they got him for a king pair.

You have to remember, too, that Kallis was a genuine pace bowler too. I'm surprised no one mentioned him when they talk of the greatest ever.

[SimonMac]

It's impossible to say as you can't compare one v another, boxing is a very physically demanding career ( just ask Ali if he is able to remember) where as a cricket less so, do you go for career titles if so it's gonna be Phil Taylor or as I hate to admit in Ryan Giggs

[DodgyAgent]

It is all an entirely subjective argument. Most of the great team players have also have had the support of top level team mates around them. How would Maradonna have done had he been a scot or Ryan Giggs if had been Italian or even dare I say English where he could have displayed his skills on the world stage. This is why players like George Best stand out because they rose above the standards of their team mates (at International level). Where would Best be had he been English (probably still alive with 100 caps under his belt)?

Here is another one to watch:

New Zealand's Sonny Bill Williams is a sporting miracle of nature - Telegraph

[Doggy Styles]

It is all an entirely subjective argument. Most of the great team players have also have had the support of top level team mates around them. How would Maradonna have done had he been a scot or Ryan Giggs if had been Italian or even dare I say English where he could have displayed his skills on the world stage. This is why players like George Best stand out because they rose above the standards of their team mates (at International level). Where would Best be had he been English (probably still alive with 100 caps under his belt)?

Absolutely, it is opinion and there is no objective answer.

All you can try and do do is measure opinions, that's the only way of answering an otherwise unanswerable question.

Younger people who often stand up for recent heroes because they understandably have little experience or knowledge of earlier sportsmen.

However, if there are still more people around the world today opining that Muhammed Ali was greatest, despite him finishing his career more than 30 years ago, I'd go with that.

[Doggy Styles]

Tendulkar is great because of his technique, temperament and longevity, and the aggregate of runs that that brought. However, there are a few ways of comparing great batsmen and the BBC just did an article on it here:

Unfortunately, far from being the greatest sportsman of all time, Tendulkar might not have got in a cricket world XI of his contemporaries over the past 20-odd years, and was not even the most effective batsman among his Indian team-mates.