JB99 said:

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Golf is not an athletic event. It's a hobby. That's like calling a billiards player an athlete.

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Troll

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I'm pretty sure at least 90% of the US wouldn't recognize Messi in street clothes.

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To be fair, most Americans couldn't correctly point to their own state on an unlabeled map either, some the entire country on a globe.

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I don't watch NBA, yet I know who Steph Curry is. I don't watch MLB yet know who Judge is. It's called being generally informed.

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I knew Messi played soccer. No clue who for nor what he looks like.

Your definition of "well-informed" is oddly specific.

aTmAg said:

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Ellis Wyatt said:

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aT said:

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That's idiotic and insulting. The only Kardashian I have ever watched on TV was a little bit of Robert Kardashian during the O.J. trial.

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I don't like soccer. I think it's a ***** sport. My team won the city championship the only year I played it, then I was done with it. OK?

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Coming from a guy who said "you seem special".

I didn't like it either. Until my kid started playing and I ran across Messi clips trying to find something to teach her. You may want to give a few highlight videos a shot.

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You're the one who started making insinuations because you refused to read what I typed. It's OK that you like soccer. I won't judge you anymore.

When the World Cup was in Russia in 2018, I was in Russia and could see the stadium from where I was staying, and I literally walked the other way. I am not remotely interested. I can watch paint dry at home.

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Just so you know, that's like saying "meh.. I don't feel like watching Jordan's last season. I'd rather watch paint dry at home."

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Meh.

How about seven time F1 champion- Michael Schumacher.




There are fewer active F1 drivers in the world than astronauts. By far one of the most difficult sporting profession out there.

TXAG 05 said:

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Jordan or Bo. Not some guy that plays soccer. I never knew what Messi even looked like until I clicked on that link.

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Internationally, soccer is king. Nobody makes as much money as the top soccer club guys in Europe do. Messi is listed as the highest paid athlete in the world making $130 million annually.

cecil77 said:

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I don't watch NBA, yet I know who Steph Curry is. I don't watch MLB yet know who Judge is. It's called being generally informed.

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I knew Messi played soccer. No clue who for nor what he looks like.

Your definition of "well-informed" is oddly specific.

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If I heard of a guy named Michael Jordan who was the GOAT of his sport, and then heard that he was playing his final season, I probably would go out of my way to watch a game on TV.

To say, "oh I never watched him, but clearly he cannot be GOAT since I've never seen him before." makes absolutely no sense.

Ellis Wyatt said:

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aTmAg said:

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Ellis Wyatt said:

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aT said:

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That's idiotic and insulting. The only Kardashian I have ever watched on TV was a little bit of Robert Kardashian during the O.J. trial.

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I don't like soccer. I think it's a ***** sport. My team won the city championship the only year I played it, then I was done with it. OK?

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Coming from a guy who said "you seem special".

I didn't like it either. Until my kid started playing and I ran across Messi clips trying to find something to teach her. You may want to give a few highlight videos a shot.

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You're the one who started making insinuations because you refused to read what I typed. It's OK that you like soccer. I won't judge you anymore.

When the World Cup was in Russia in 2018, I was in Russia and could see the stadium from where I was staying, and I literally walked the other way. I am not remotely interested. I can watch paint dry at home.

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Just so you know, that's like saying "meh.. I don't feel like watching Jordan's last season. I'd rather watch paint dry at home."

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Meh.

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So your opinion on his GOAT nature is meaningless. You know nothing about the matter.

FrioAg 00 said:

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Jim Thorpe and it's not close.

2 Olympic medals at multi-task sports, pro baseball, pro football and pro basketball.

I get that athletes have evolved, but it isn't like he wants competing with the best of his time at ALL those respective sports. And he won ALL of them.

Unlike the other great mentioned here, he mastered so many sports at the highest levels that his skill mix had to be elite at strength, coordination, speed, endurance, everything.

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He had 176 hits in 7 years in professional baseball.

He was a loser in professional football for the entirety of his career, and the football of that era was looked at more like we look at semi-pro football today. It was not favorably viewed, not like professional baseball. It was more of a "You're a grown ass man, why are you still bashing yourself against other grown-ass men? Grow up."

He did not really play professional basketball, he was on a touring sideshow like the Harlem Globetrotters or the And1 Mixtape Tour.

Thorpe does not compare favorably to someone like Deion Sanders. Not even close. Amazing for his time, but his time was filled with a bunch of people that worked in factories/did not have leisure time to dedicate to sports.

At no point in modern history has a decathlete been the best athlete at the Olympics.

I'm not saying he wasn't a great athlete for his era, but it is absurd to compare him favorably to someone like Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders.

aTmAg said:

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cecil77 said:

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To say, "oh I never watched him, but clearly he cannot be GOAT since I've never seen him before." makes absolutely no sense.

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No it doesn't, and no one is saying that.

hph6203 said:

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FrioAg 00 said:

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Jim Thorpe and it's not close.

2 Olympic medals at multi-task sports, pro baseball, pro football and pro basketball.

I get that athletes have evolved, but it isn't like he wants competing with the best of his time at ALL those respective sports. And he won ALL of them.

Unlike the other great mentioned here, he mastered so many sports at the highest levels that his skill mix had to be elite at strength, coordination, speed, endurance, everything.

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He had 176 hits in 7 years in professional baseball.

He was a loser in professional football for the entirety of his career, and the football of that era was looked at more like we look at semi-pro football today. It was not favorably viewed, not like professional baseball. It was more of a "You're a grown ass man, why are you still bashing yourself against other grown-ass men? Grow up."

He did not really play professional basketball, he was on a touring sideshow like the Harlem Globetrotters or the And1 Mixtape Tour.

Thorpe does not compare favorably to someone like Deion Sanders. Not even close. Amazing for his time, but his time was filled with a bunch of people that worked in factories/did not have leisure time to dedicate to sports.

At no point in modern history has a decathlete been the best athlete at the Olympics.

I'm not saying he wasn't a great athlete for his era, but it is absurd to compare him favorably to someone like Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders.

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My 31 year old son is a huge soccer fan, and has been for many years. Even though he played football in HS he actually attended their soccer games and followed the team.

Asked him how many Americans would recognize Lionel Messi in street clothes? After a moment or two the answer was "under 1%".

As to athleticism. His comment was that Messi is the fasted soccer player ever, but that in each of their prime, Deion could "back pedal past him". Clearly hyperbole, but his point stands.

Take the cream of American athletes and put them in soccer from childhood, and no country could touch us.

cecil77 said:

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My 31 year old son is a huge soccer fan, and has been for many years. Even though he played football in HS he actually attended their soccer games and followed the team.

Asked him how many Americans would recognize Lionel Messi in street clothes? After a moment or two the answer was "under 1%".

As to athleticism. His comment was that Messi is the fasted soccer player ever, but that in each of their prime, Deion could "back pedal past him". Clearly hyperbole, but his point stands.

Take the cream of American athletes and put them in soccer from childhood, and no country could touch us.

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A couple of things. You are assuming that Deion could do it with a ball at his feet. That's what makes Messi different. Messi has always been very fast, especially his acceleration, but not elite track speed. It's what he does with the ball at his feet.

Second, I have no doubt that if the USAa best athletes all grew up playing soccer we would be a top 2-3 team in the world. No doubt. We are already a top 25 or so team. But ita a cultural thing more than anything else in most countries. It's an identity, something we don't have in any sport for that matter.


Edit to add- I am sure if Deion Sanders was born in a country like France he would have been a world class soccer player. One of the very best.

If we're going to talk soccer...

Do not forget the greatest player in the sport...

Who is Lionel Messi. I'll take a wild guess that he plays the boring game of foosball.

Messi is probably the best soccer player. He's basically the Usain Bolt of soccer.

Best athlete? Probably not. In my opinion, there's too many other sports that require more pure athleticism (swimming, gymnastics), physical demand (football, fighting, most racing sports), and skill (tennis (imo, I'm sure some would disagree), golf, hockey, decathlon). And there's players that made their name or excel in multiple sports.

cecil77 said:

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My 31 year old son is a huge soccer fan, and has been for many years. Even though he played football in HS he actually attended their soccer games and followed the team.

Asked him how many Americans would recognize Lionel Messi in street clothes? After a moment or two the answer was "under 1%".

As to athleticism. His comment was that Messi is the fasted soccer player ever, but that in each of their prime, Deion could "back pedal past him". Clearly hyperbole, but his point stands.

Take the cream of American athletes and put them in soccer from childhood, and no country could touch us.

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Messi's balance and ball control is the best of all time, guarantee his shuttle runs would rank among the best ever for any sports star. He's the soccer version of Darren Sproles except with world class balance and agility. Messi was never the fastest player, that was never his strength. It was his body control and overall skills. Comparing him to Deion isn't a good comparison. Mbappe would be a better comparison there hecause Mbappe is a speed demon with great skills.

When you watch the man play, the ball never leaves his feet and he plays like Larry Bird with a soccer ball. He always knows where everyone is on the field at all times. No look passes by Messi are simply something he can easily do.

There will never be anyone like him again.

Messi is basically a combination of Tom Brady and Larry Bird with Johnny Manziel like body control and agility.

MuchosPollos said:

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How about seven time F1 champion- Michael Schumacher.




There are fewer active F1 drivers in the world than astronauts. By far one of the most difficult sporting profession out there.

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Sorry, Ayerton Senna mutch better athlete, God took him too soon. He gave Lotus a few more years of survival and turned Williams on. Schumacher was a brilliant racing engineer and breathed new life into a lackluster Ferrari. Senna drove his failed active suspension (all four corner dampers gone) Lotus to victory and was the undisputed rainmaster.

An F1 pilot has the best ability to slow time down has lighting fast reaction with phenomenal hand eye coordination (let's call it fine motor skill since they use their feet too to modulate pressure) need upper body strength and fitness.

Diego Maradona also had the ability to slow time down, you can see it clearly in a slowmo and close up of his "hand of God goal".

F1 pilots are up there with fighterpilots.

panamamyers00 said:

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Read through a bit of the article and the author is an obvious Messi fanboy and either is writing tongue in cheek or too big of a fan boy to know it should be tongue in cheek.

He says that Messi has now obviously passed Ronaldo which is not the case at all.

Messi is a great soccer player, perhaps the best ever but not a certainty. To be the greatest ever for certain I would need to see 3 world cup trophies for him. I mean at very least 2 right?
Messi has won 4 Champions league titles. Ronaldo has 5. Brady won 7 super bowls to the next closest 4. I'd expect to see the hands down best ever to have 8 champions league trophies at least.

It's just a fanboy article. He is no Jordan or Brady.

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Jordan and Brady dominated a sport mostly played in America.

Messi dominated a sport played by the entire planet.

Why do American soccer fans get so pissed off that the vast majority of the US does not care about soccer? It is so weird. Do baseball/basketball/football fans go on message boards filled with non-fans of their sport and screech about how great their favorite sport is?

In a word, "narcissism".

Aggrad08 said:

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Messi dominated a sport played by the entire planet.

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OK?

Really? We have had a great discussion for the better part of five pages?

I think it says more about those haters like you that have hung around

Haters…? If the shoe fits…

Dante Hall, what if he played soccer instead?

jeremiahjt said:

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Why do American soccer fans get so pissed off that the vast majority of the US does not care about soccer? It is so weird. Do baseball/basketball/football fans go on message boards filled with non-fans of their sport and screech about how great their favorite sport is?

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Yes to your last question.

People go onto all types of message boards to screech about anything and everything. Message boards do what they do.

Trying to compare GOAT athletes across sports is obviously very subjective with no 'right' answer. How do you even start to compare the accomplishments of someone in an individual sport such as Phelps as an Olympic swimmer or Tiger Woods in golf vs a star in a team sport where ultimate success relies on several parts? And then comparing stars across various different team sports requiring vary different skill sets? It is of course all a harmless debate.

General consensus seems to be Messi is the GOAT in men's soccer. Arguing whether Messi is a 'better' athlete than say Michael Jordan is IMO an impossible task. Two very different sports.

If Messi and Donovan Wilson collided on the pitch, which athlete would get up first?

FIDO*98* said:

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If Messi and Donovan Wilson collided on the pitch, which athlete would get up first?

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And if any NFL player got into a ring with a professional MMA fighter of comparable size, who would get their ass kicked?

Comparing athletes across sports is fun but an impossible 'right answer' debate.

Who said anything about Ronaldo? Definitely not me. Messi's an incredible player, of course, but no way is he in the conversation as best athlete of all time. Get over yourself and continue slobbering all over Messi's junk. It suits you.

Oh, and let's create a thread to feed our ego, hope for stars, and post on it 30+ times, then ridicule anyone who disagrees with our take...

The Fall Guy said:

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dmart90 said:

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The distain y'all show for soccer, the most popular sport in the world, is hilarious.

I don't know that Messi is the greatest male athlete ever; but he is certainly one of the best!

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The ones dissing soccer couldn't run half a mile without keeling over. Armchair athletes

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I play real sports, I'm not trying to be the best at exercising

I didn't compare them across sports. I said put Donovan Wilson on a soccer pitch.

blackgoldag11 said:

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The Fall Guy said:

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dmart90 said:

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The distain y'all show for soccer, the most popular sport in the world, is hilarious.

I don't know that Messi is the greatest male athlete ever; but he is certainly one of the best!

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The ones dissing soccer couldn't run half a mile without keeling over. Armchair athletes

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I play real sports, I'm not trying to be the best at exercising

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They got GPS thingies on those pro soccer players tracking their every move for later review and I read a lot of those guys cover 8+ miles distance in the hour and a half of play.

But that isn't jogging 8 miles over 90 minutes. That is 90 minutes of varying speeds and cuts including a ton of wind sprints.

I am guessing in terms of pure cardio conditioning required for particular sports, soccer is way up there.

Ag with kids said:

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If we're going to talk soccer...

Do not forget the greatest player in the sport...

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Not even close. Pele was vastly overrated.

AustinAg2012 said:

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Who said anything about Ronaldo? Definitely not me. Messi's an incredible player, of course, but no way is he in the conversation as best athlete of all time. Get over yourself and continue slobbering all over Messi's junk. It suits you.

Oh, and let's create a thread to feed our ego, hope for stars, and post on it 30+ times, then ridicule anyone who disagrees with our take...

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You forgot to mention that Messi is GOAT and Argentina are world champions.

It's hilarious how you pathetically spent every ounce of your being bashing Messi and Arg all WC long and had to watch them win the whole thing. Yet are now calling others "loser"? Hilarious. Go cry somewhere else.