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Best athlete in their respective sports?


LethalStriker

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Darts - Phil Taylor (easily the most dominating athlete in any sport when you consider that out of the last twenty years he's been the best in the world at least seventeen of those years and arguably the best in eighteen.)

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Surfing- Kelly Slater

 

He's been the most dominant surfer for over 20 years now.  I assume surfing is one sport if you stay in good shape that the traditional 40 year old drop in athleticism doesn't affect it as much since it's a much more technique based sport that doesn't require the ability to run and jump like the stick and ball sports.

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I think the category where the separation between one and two is the closest is in baseball.  Mike Trout and Giancarlo Stanton are really close stat wise.  Trout is better at getting extra bases and Stanton is hitting with better power and a slightly higher average.  Even their wins over replacement is very tight with Stanton at 6.05 and Trout at 6.00.  The reason I would give the nod to Trout is that I feel like you have to be a better athlete to play CF than RF. 

 

I really wish Andrew McCutchen had not gotten hurt this year as I would have loved to compare them equally.  Trout is beating McCutchen right now in most stats that aren't average but Andrew is such a great fielder.  I really think the only real stat that Trout could significantly improve on is his strikeouts.  Still they are all amazing athletes and I'm glad that we will have many more years of watching them play!

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Boxing - Floyd Mayweather.

 

Talk all you want about stats, titles, technique, style etc. at least half of the 'sport' in Boxing is the promotion and this guy promotes like no other. Love him or hate him, the man gets paid.

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Best at their sport is a much lesser conversation than best pure athlete in a sport.  So I'm just going to ignore that clarification...forgive me.

 

Football:  This is the most interesting one since there are so many different skill sets on a football team.  Adrian Peterson is a great athlete, but is he a better athlete than someone like Clowney, Watt(they're on the same team...shudder), or Suh who are so much bigger and stronger than him while being incredibly fast.  How about quarterbacks RGIII, Andrew Luck and Cam Newton are all insanely good athletes?  Is Michael Vick still a better athlete than just about every guy in the league despite the fact that he is 34?  All that said, I think I'm going with Megatron, he is huge fast and has all the skills that are required of his position.

 

Basketball:  LeBron is about as good of an athlete on the entire planet, but I'd go with Russell Westbrook.  LeBron is bigger, stronger, and pretty damn fast so I'm admittedly splitting hairs.  The question is...When was the last time Westbrook tried to do something athletically and failed?  He seems to be able to do just about anything he wants to do (he clearly doesn't want to stop shooting). 

 

Baseball:  I'm not the biggest baseball fan, but it has to be Trout or Puig right?

 

Hockey:  I've probably watched a total of 10 hours of hockey in my 33 years, so I really don't know.

 

MMA:  Jon Jones is probably #1, but Pettis Weidman, and Aldo can do everything a fighter would ever need to do.  GSP might be the most athletic fighter ever.  Some of the ways he stuffed takedowns was incredible. 

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If it's the best at their sport, its not Ovechkin for hockey. The best should at least attempt to play defense, Ovi and James Harden probably exchange notes. I honestly don't know who it would be actually, maybe playoff-mode Anze Kopitar or Drew Doughty?

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Basketball:  LeBron is about as good of an athlete on the entire planet, but I'd go with Russell Westbrook.  LeBron is bigger, stronger, and pretty damn fast so I'm admittedly splitting hairs.  The question is...When was the last time Westbrook tried to do something athletically and failed?  He seems to be able to do just about anything he wants to do (he clearly doesn't want to stop shooting).

 

Obviously, I'm a LeBron fan, so my opinion may be slanted.  But I think a factor to consider is durability.  Westbrook and Rose are athletic geniuses, but it can't be seen if they're not on the court.  LeBron rarely takes off a game, even when he tweaks an ankle or has his nose broken.  Kobe was the same way until this major injury hit him.  Just something to think about.

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Basketball:  LeBron is about as good of an athlete on the entire planet, but I'd go with Russell Westbrook.  LeBron is bigger, stronger, and pretty damn fast so I'm admittedly splitting hairs.  The question is...When was the last time Westbrook tried to do something athletically and failed?  He seems to be able to do just about anything he wants to do (he clearly doesn't want to stop shooting).

 

Obviously, I'm a LeBron fan, so my opinion may be slanted.  But I think a factor to consider is durability.  Westbrook and Rose are athletic geniuses, but it can't be seen if they're not on the court.  LeBron rarely takes off a game, even when he tweaks an ankle or has his nose broken.  Kobe was the same way until this major injury hit him.  Just something to think about.

 

Until Westbrook got injured a couple years ago, he had never missed a game in high school, college, or the pros.  He is pretty damn durable, but Lebron is amongst the most durable athletes ever. 

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Durant is literally Dr. Ock.  Legs and arms everywhere, and doesn't blink when he takes a 40-foot shot. 

 

LeBron has lost 20 lbs recently and he's STILL built for war.  Good grief.  Empires were won with guys like that centuries ago.

 

I wavered on RW a bit because of his previously good health, and because he came back playing 0-to-90.  I like Westbrook.  I know folks gripe about him, but the dude comes to play every night and gives it his all.  Hard to hate a guy like that.

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As far as "best athlete", whatever that means, goes the answer for NBA is probably some guy who never plays because for all his athleticism he can't defend or shoot jumpers. A guy like James White is a good example, he exists in professional basketball purely based on his athleticism and to participate in dunk contests.

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Well, if we want to go backwards, Jim Thorpe is the answer for... eh, pretty much everything.

Dave Winfield, the douchebag who sucker punched an Ohio State guy during a brawl in college, could also qualify. He was drafted by teams in three major leagues.
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Jackie Robinson played four sports in college and baseball was the one he was the worst at.  He hit .097 his only year at UCLA, but was a long jump champion a starter on both offense and defense for the football team(his punt return average is 4th in history), and I read an article once who said he may secretly be the best basketball player of his time(he was apparently playing above the rim in the 30s). 

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