Best of the best...

Liam Jackson

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The greatest sports novel of all time-

The greatest sports movie of all time-

Name the greatest athlete of all time, in any sport (Humans only. No Man-o-War answers, please.)

Name the greatest CURRENT sports story (any sport) Define "current" as of the past 24 months)
 

WerenCole

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The greatest sports novel of all time-
I am quite fond of Mickey Mantle's book which I believe is called 1956

The greatest sports movie of all time-
Rudy! No. . . really. My sentimental favorite is Fever Pitch. Or perhaps the Red Sox 2004 Collectors DVD. (I think the default answer for most people though is usually Slapshot.)

Name the greatest athlete of all time, in any sport-
Hard one. Let me think for a second. Lets see, I will throw out a couple. Michael Jordan, Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, Jerry Rice, Bobby Orr. Ted Williams.

Name the greatest CURRENT sports story (any sport) Define "current" as of the past 24 months)

I suppose the Red Sox in 2004 does not exactly count. (It is exactly 24 months ago)

Michael Phelps- Swimmer in Olympics with many medals. OR:
2006 Detriot Tigers.

Greatest is kind of ambiguous. The biggest are perhaps not the greatest, for instance, Floyd Landis, steroids, Albert Haynesworth, Terrel Owens, Jason Grimsly, The Cincinnatti Bengals Band of Merry Felons etc or the United States inability to dominate on the level of international competition anymore.
 
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Liam Jackson

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Purposely avoided defining "greatest." Sometimes, the best answers come from ambiguous questions.

However, with regard to the "greatest sports story" et's consider "greatest" as having the "greatest" fan impact over the broad spectrum of both amatuer and professional sports. Because of the year long celebration (or wailing and gnashing of teeth) we can consider the '04 World Series.
 

icerose

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You have Bruce Lee who overcame so much, and even though some people don't like him, Chuck Norris also overcame quite a bit. There is also Musashi (I believe that is his name) was considered the greatest swordsman of all times. As for recent, sorry, I haven't kept up with events. Greatest of all time is impossible to determine since there have been trilions of people and greatness is in the eye of the beholder, also depending on what sport types you favor.

And I haven't read any sports type books so sorry.
 

K-Mark

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Liam Jackson said:
The greatest sports novel of all time-

Answering this as my favorite. It's called, THE GREEN, by Troon McAllister. Not a best-seller, but I loved it! Moneyball is my favorite non-fiction title.

Liam Jackson said:
The greatest sports movie of all time-

No brainer. Rocky. If I wrote anything else, there'd be people knocking on my door.

Liam Jackson said:
Name the greatest athlete of all time, in any sport (Humans only. No Man-o-War answers, please.)

Barry Sanders.

Liam Jackson said:
Name the greatest CURRENT sports story (any sport) Define "current" as of the past 24 months)

A Philly team winning a championship...oh wait, you said 24 months not years.
 

aka eraser

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Hmmm...lessee...I'm going to subsititute "favourite" for "greatest."

Novel - Wee Geordie by David Walker. I read it when I was about 9 or 10. It was about a puny little Scottish kid who sent away for a muscle-building course and a few years later represented his country at the Olympics in the hammer throw. Warm and inspiring. Also made into a movie. (Yeah, I was a puny little kid....)

Movie - Toughie. Rocky is a good choice as would Chariots of Fire be. Ditto with Fear Strikes Out and Field Of Dreams but I'm gonna go with Bull Durham.

Athlete - Toughie again. Gordie Howe was amazing - playing competitive hockey into his 50s. Bobby Orr revolutionized the game. Hank Aaron with a flick of his wrists delivering those shots to left field...dang....then you've got multi-sport athletes like Lionel Conacher and Jim Thorpe. Jordan was absolutely amazing. But I'm going back to hockey and taking Mario Lemieux. Before his injuries, before his cancer, the man could do things on the ice I've never seen anyone else do. He could make plays like Gretzky, skate and shoot like Guy Lafleur and was bigger and stronger and just as graceful as Jean Beliveau. A darn shame his flame burned so briefly.

Current sports story - The White Sox Series' win and that of the Red Sox were both a lot of fun to watch.
 

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The greatest sports novel of all time- I can't come up with one off the top of my head.

The greatest sports movie of all time- Lucas. I just love the scene where they hang the jacket in his closet.

Name the greatest athlete of all time, in any sport (Humans only. No Man-o-War answers, please.) I say Jim Thorpe, but my hubby is hanging over my shoulder and insisting Michael Jordan.

Name the greatest CURRENT sports story (any sport) Define "current" as of the past 24 months): The biggest story of the last two years would be steroids. It's reshaped the way we think about our national pastime.
 

blazesally

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The greatest sports novel of all time- "Ball Four," by Jim Bouton. Really blew the lid off the world of major league baseball. This, however, wasn't a novel.

The greatest sports movie of all time- I'm partial to "Bull Durham," but the made-for-TV "Brian's Song" was also great.

Name the greatest athlete of all time, in any sport (Humans only. No Man-o-War answers, please.) Babe Ruth. No kidding. He did amazing things in the pre-steroid era, not to mention whacking a dead ball out of the park every day (they've given baseballs plenty of pop since the 1920's.)

Name the greatest CURRENT sports story (any sport) Define "current" as of the past 24 months) I'd also have to say the Barry Bonds-BALCO scandal, but another that's pretty amazing is Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro's recovery from a severe leg fracture. He's really bucking the odds.

Blazesally :)