Depending on your age, Joe Namath would have been the NFL’s signature player ca. 45 years ago.
That was my first thought, and it’s certainly true that the legend of Bradman has an incredible impact in countries like Australia and England.
If you’re going by weight of numbers, though, India has over 1 billion people, and i’m not sure they would see Bradman as a more significant player than Sachin Tendulkar. Someone like Garfield Sobers might also be in the conversation.
Not Lance Armstrong?
That’s what I was thinking too.
This isn’t really a “who is the best player ever of the sport?” it’s more of a “who is the person the most people immediately think of when they think of the great players of the sport”.
When you say “cycling”, I think most people will immediately think of (or at least know) Lance Armstrong…using illegal drugs, aside. I’ve never even heard of Eddy Merckx.
I agree with you and Walken After Midnight on Ali the personality. Ali the boxer…no way. He legitimately lost too many fights…and won a couple he should have lost. But he was probably the most charismatic and socially important athlete ever.
England and Australia, probably.
Not so in the subcontinent; I would say Imran Khan in Pakistan and probably Sachin in india.
Agreed. Messi plays either as a Right Forward or False Nine for Barca. His worst position is as the No 10/Attacking Midfielder role; which is what he usually plays for Argentina. Ironic considering his number. And this was Pele/Maradona’s best position.
However, his international “failures” while brought into sharp relief twice in the last 18 months can be overstated. If just two plays had gone differently, no one would have had a doubt as to who the greatest footballer; the guy who won a WC, CL and Major Continental title in 12 months.
I’d pick John McEnroe for tennis for exactly the same reasons that Ali was suggested for boxing.
Well, McEnroe was a bit more controversial, but nonetheless he was the voice of tennis for almost a generation.
This is kind of like a Japanese guy saying that Hideo Nomo is emblematic of baseball, and he’s never heard of Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, or Hank Aaron (in an alternate reality where Nomo won 3 Cy Young awards but was found to have been cheating his entire career after he retired.)
Agreed…maybe Messi could have used a ummm stronger hand in those matches. But why no love for Ronaldo? Hes a guy who can carry a side all by himself. I get it that Messi is by far a better human being. But CR7 on the pitch in his prime was magic.
I think Martina could certainly count. She has the most titles (singles and doubles) of any other player in the Open Era and her longevity is unparalleled.
Women’s Soccer: Abby Wambach
Swimming: Michael Phelps
Skateboarding: Tony Hawk (While you could make a case for others, especially in street, I remember when he landed the 900. It was unreal at the time.)
Gymnastics: Nadia Comăneci
To me - the ‘Signature’ player is the one who is associated with the sport as the cliche - eg, if you and your mates are mucking about and someone throws a mock punch, someone will shout ‘Look out! It’s Muhammed Ali!’. This has nothing to do with whether Ali was better than Dempsey, or Louis, or Robinson or anyone else - it’s just that if you want to use a name to refer to boxing, you use Ali.
Similarly, in the UK, it was standard that if a cop pulled you over for speeding he would ask ‘Who do you think you are, mate? Stirling Moss?!?’. Stirling Moss never won a world championship. the UK have had many other drivers who had - but, Stirling Moss is the name. (It actually may never have happened in real life - it’s a very old gag - but Moss is EXACTLY the right name to use).
Regional variations come into it, of course. (In Australia, we would use Peter Brock - local motoring racing hero - rather than Jack Brabham, who was a 3-time world champ).
Tennis is Federer, no question.
Tennis - Federer
Boxing - Ali
Football - Pele
Cricket - Bradman
Rugby - Lomu (RIP…very sad)
Skiiing - Klammer
Motor Racing - Senna
Ronaldo has a bit of the show pony about him (like Neymar). Messi is a lot more solid.
Both CR7 and Messi need a good midfield backing them up. Its no surprise that CR7 started doing better when Carrick joined Man U. Same way, Messi had the advantage of playing with Xavi.
While nowhere near their level, Beckham could sometimes singlehandedly win games on his own.
Since no one mentioned it, I nominate Mario Andretti for Indy/Cart Racing.
McEnroe. I wouldn’t recognize Federer if I passed him on the street.
If you asked me to name a tennis player I suspect my first answer would be Serena Williams.
A lot of these are going to depend on the age of the person asked. A twentysomething who is only vaguely familiar with golf will almost certainly say Tiger Woods, while a 60 year old might say Nicklaus. Similarly, younger people might say Federer for (men’s) tennis, while older ones could say McEnroe, Connors, Borg, or even Laver.
Oh, and horse racing = Secretariat.
Mia Hamm.
Yeah, for tennis, I’d go Federer or Nadal, but if you asked me not to consider currently playing players, it’d be Bjorn Borg. On the women’s side, I was a huge Chris Evert fan as a kid, so her, Navratilova, and Graf immediately come to mind. It’d probably be a toss-up between the last two, though, if we don’t consider current players. Otherwise, yeah, Serena.