…Jonah.
In sumo wresting, the pink-belted wonder Ura is always fun to watch, both in and out of the ring.
All of the most-fun-to-watch athletes will be professional wrestlers, and comic acrobats, followed by rodeo clowns. Athletes in competitive sports don’t stand a chance next to those who play strictly to amuse.
Are you saying that sumo is not a competitive sport and they’re playing strictly to amuse? While there is comic sumo, you will be able to tell the difference when they’re playing for laughs and when they’re deadly serious.
If I hit reply to your post I didn’t mean to, it was just a general comment, not about sumo. Interesting sumo video though.
I only have one to add, as I’m not much of a sports fan:
Yannick Noah
That guy made shots I wouldn’t believe a human could physically make.
Beckham threading the needle.
No worries. Without any other indicators, you can never tell with Discourse if a post is a reply to that immediately preceding or just the next post.
Mark Fidrych
Eddie Shack
Radek Stepanek
The Great One
Eden Hazard (best modern dribbler?)
Ja Morant
Tiger Williams
Mike Trout
Messi
Usain Bolt (in the relatively short amount of time there was to do so)
Ozzie Smith
McEnroe (while his obnoxiousness got super tedious, the lefty’s game - starting from his singles serve, often taken way out by the first tram line - was mesmerizing to take in.)
Indeed, I recall, with much relish, seeing him up at the net and jumping way up to send an overhead smash up into the 30th row.
I’ll add Steph Curry. That man has hit shots that impressed even Kobe Bryant. After getting posterized on like a 35-footer, Kobe patted him on the butt and smiled.
Well this opens up a whole different line of thinking. I’ve had some involvement in the entertainment world and seen some wonderful jugglers, unicyclists and other variety artists that I think should be called athletes. Here are a few:
Francis Brunn, as much a dancer as a juggler
Michael Moschen and his triangle (also known for doing the contact juggling for David Bowie in Labyrinth)
The Flying Karamazov Brothers - None of them elite jugglers, but definitely among the most entertaining as a group. This particular piece is probably their best technical juggling, which doesn’t matter all that much. Great technical jugglers are often amazing, but not very entertaining (see Sergei Ignatov).
I recall him being up at the net, opponent lobs one way over his head for a point, Noah turns and flies to the service line, jumps over the ball (which was inside the line for a score) and returns it perfectly between his legs! I believe he scored, too. Phenomenal.
I don’t know if anyone else here knows him, but top of my list would be Kerry Kittles, of the Villanova basketball team, and then the Nets. You know how, in some RPGs, there’s a class with auras that buff their party-members? That was him. His own stats were good, but nothing that’d particularly stand out when compared with other top NCAA players… but whenever he was on the court, everyone else on his team played better. And he always, always, had a huge smile on his face.
Basketball Court Bard?
I didn’t intend to imply there weren’t other athletes who were primarily entertaining instead of competing. Many such performers are great athletes. This shouldn’t detract from the competitive athletes who are fun to watch when they have the opportunity. Some competitive athletes have more opportunities to focus on the fun that other also. Freestyle gymnasts can entertain and perform technically to perfection at the same time. They have a script though, they may slip, but they don’t have to chase a ball that a competitor is trying to keep away from them.
Stefan Holm
Pietro Mennea
Peter Daicos
Dustin Martin
Matt Le Tissier/Roberto Baggio/Maradona/Ronaldinho - pick one.
Barry Sanders
Jason Williams
My favorite guy to watch bat was Rickey Henderson.
My favorite guy to watch pitch was Nolan Ryan.
(Incidentally, Rickey was Ryan’s 5,000 strikeout).
He was awesome. And he could RUN!