OT: - Most influential U.S. athlete of the past 25 years? | Page 8 | The Boneyard

OT: Most influential U.S. athlete of the past 25 years?

Kolumbo said:
Jordan - simply iconic. I still remember when his sneakers came out and kids were spending over $100. It was insane. Google says they only cost $65 which was still a lot. He came in while legends like Bird, Magic, Dr. J were still playing and still managed to play differently. If you pick #23 for a jersey, everyone knows why
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Speaking of which, which number did Lebron pick?
 
I think you have to go with Taylor Swift. Without her, does anyone even know about the NFL? (the most popular sport in the US)
 
superjohn said:
24% of sneaker owners in the US own Jordans. Dude made $350 million from Nike last year.

View attachment 111280
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Pretty well known that Jordan is the only reason Nike itself it still around.

Inside info from my FIL who bought a house from Buck Night (Phil to most) back in the day is that Buck loved to have people over, party, socialize, but was not the business partner at Nike - just lucky as a Powerball winner to be in the right place and time.

Bill Bowerman was the brains and financial knowledge, Buck was the fun face.
 
.-.
Deepster said:
So, on Caitlin Clark.....

For what it's worth, she didn't win a title in the NCAA and she has 1 season in the WNBA (which I believe Paige Bueckers is outperforming so far in her 1st season). Beuckers was more heralded as a freshman in college until she got hurt. Can Clark actually win a title somewhere before she's mentioned with a Tiger Woods?
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Influential is not the same as successful. Clark has brought fans and money to women's basketball just as Tiger Woods did for golf, although Tiger started almost 30 years ago and his prime was very early in the 25-year window.
 
Scoe said:
What do you mean by this and how is Tommy John not influential, look how many careers have been saved by TJ surgery.
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How many of those surgeries did he perform himself?
 
Lafayette said:
Would say my top 10 are now:

1. Jordan
2. Tiger
3. Serena
4. Caitlyn
5. Ed O'Bannon (note: athlete, but influence was after playing)
6. Brady
7. Ichiro
8. McGwire/Sosa/Bonds
9. Federer
10. Beckham

Influence should amount to either raising the popularity of the sport, changing the sport, or having some effective change that matters to beyond a team fan base. 8 was for that magical season and continuation with Bonds - that captivated so many people. Sucks it was all steroids and such.

If you want to argue Brady vs Caitlyn - Brady definitely had influence of enlarging the sport, but Caitlyn brought the WNBA back from life support.
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Cal Ripken did as much for baseball as the three you listed, and earlier, without cheating.
 
Lafayette said:
  • If Chess were a sport, Magnus Carlsen would be in the list as kids are flocking to chess which lay dormant for a time.
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It was more than 50 years ago, but Bobby Fischer did way more than Carlsen ever did to make chess popular, at least in the US. (Probably The Queen's Gambit did too, more recently).
 
fomalhaut said:
Influential is not the same as successful. Clark has brought fans and money to women's basketball just as Tiger Woods did for golf, although Tiger started almost 30 years ago and his prime was very early in the 25-year window.
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Not even in the same universe.

She brought some MORE fans and some MORE money but it’s tiddlywinks compared to Tiger Woods. She’s really done nothing yet that will be remembered in 25 years.
 
If we are talking actual influence:

1) LeBron - Basketball is an international sport now, like soccer, and he is the face of it
2) Tiger - Not just a great golfer, but broke down the implicit racist barrier golf had
3) Ohtani and Ichiro - I put these together. Maybe not US, but they sure transformed baseball.
5) Phelps - Swimming is really #1 Olynpic sport because of him
6) Biles - Gymnastics is the premier women's Olympic sport, if not the overall premier Olympic sport, because of her
7) Curry - Changed the way NBA basketball is played
8) Williams - Would be higher but Tennis is no where near what it was like in 70s and 80s
9) Clark - WNBA is now taken seriously because of her
10) Brady - Great yes, but did he really change anything? Marino was more influential on the sport in my opinion.
 
.-.
MrJama100 said:
If we are talking actual influence:

1) LeBron - Basketball is an international sport now, like soccer, and he is the face of it
2) Tiger - Not just a great golfer, but broke down the implicit racist barrier golf had
3) Ohtani and Ichiro - I put these together. Maybe not US, but they sure transformed baseball.
5) Phelps - Swimming is really #1 Olynpic sport because of him
6) Biles - Gymnastics is the premier women's Olympic sport, if not the overall premier Olympic sport, because of her
7) Curry - Changed the way NBA basketball is played
8) Williams - Would be higher but Tennis is no where near what it was like in 70s and 80s
9) Clark - WNBA is now taken seriously because of her
10) Brady - Great yes, but did he really change anything? Marino was more influential on the sport in my opinion.
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Laces out Dan
 
MrJama100 said:
If we are talking actual influence:

1) LeBron - Basketball is an international sport now, like soccer, and he is the face of it
2) Tiger - Not just a great golfer, but broke down the implicit racist barrier golf had
3) Ohtani and Ichiro - I put these together. Maybe not US, but they sure transformed baseball.
5) Phelps - Swimming is really #1 Olynpic sport because of him
6) Biles - Gymnastics is the premier women's Olympic sport, if not the overall premier Olympic sport, because of her
7) Curry - Changed the way NBA basketball is played
8) Williams - Would be higher but Tennis is no where near what it was like in 70s and 80s
9) Clark - WNBA is now taken seriously because of her
10) Brady - Great yes, but did he really change anything? Marino was more influential on the sport in my opinion.
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It's almost a shame there wasn't a group of NBA players prior to LeBron that opened up NBA level basketball to the world on a global stage.
 
It's almost as if Dick's is eavesdropping. There were other sections full of Jordan attire. I watched Air (2023) the other night. Not bad.


Jordan.jpg
 
fomalhaut said:
It was more than 50 years ago, but Bobby Fischer did way more than Carlsen ever did to make chess popular, at least in the US. (Probably The Queen's Gambit did too, more recently).
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Yes but here we are with the 25 year rule and Chess is not even a sport. But agree on Bobby Fisher.
 
.-.
MrJama100 said:
If we are talking actual influence:

1) LeBron - Basketball is an international sport now, like soccer, and he is the face of it
2) Tiger - Not just a great golfer, but broke down the implicit racist barrier golf had
3) Ohtani and Ichiro - I put these together. Maybe not US, but they sure transformed baseball.
5) Phelps - Swimming is really #1 Olynpic sport because of him
6) Biles - Gymnastics is the premier women's Olympic sport, if not the overall premier Olympic sport, because of her
7) Curry - Changed the way NBA basketball is played
8) Williams - Would be higher but Tennis is no where near what it was like in 70s and 80s
9) Clark - WNBA is now taken seriously because of her
10) Brady - Great yes, but did he really change anything? Marino was more influential on the sport in my opinion.
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#5 Swimming is really #1 Olympic sport because there are 26 medals given out. Phelps got more medals than anyone, and once he did and people saw, even more medals came after. But yes, had influence but I'd bump down to 7-8.

#6 See #5 comment. People tuned in but IDK if more gymnasts are coming.

#8 Williams - for Women's tennis she dominated for years and grew the sport. Tennis (and Golf) are really 2 sports - men's and women's.
 
storrsroars said:
An interesting exercise would be to parse the last 125 years into 5 periods of 25 years each.

I don't think Ali wins the 1976-2000 period. His win over Foreman was in '74. But he'd crush the 1951-75 period, even over Jackie, IMHO.98 Jackie would win 1926-50 because it was just that big a thing. And Ruth wins 1900-25 as baseball was pretty much the only popular pro sport and he ushered in the live ball era with a bang.

And if we did it by decades, Ali might be the only one to win two.
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Ruth was like 1/8th the reason we went from dead ball to live ball. Others were changes in the ball itself, fences, rules against spit balls, marked balls, and lights at night, no tobacco juicing the ball, and oh one deadly beaning. And Ruth.
 
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