Battle of the Sporting Heroes

[NUFAN]

Cantona and Giggs. UTD, UTD.

 

[The Sean]

Cantona and Giggsy for me too.

 

[grecian]

Roddick, because he isn't the other two.

On Cantona, those polls tend to be utterly meaningless. This was Arsenals list will always be won by a relatively modern player. He wasn't actually a great player in an international sense, we aren't doing Uniteds best player here.

Navratilova, I think Giggs has more of a case then Cantona, though.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Roddick, Merckx.

First battle is appalling.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Schumacher and Merckx

 

[Tom Halsey]

Cantona - the best bloke ever.

Giggs - I'm biassed.

 

[Jono]

Schumacher & Navratilova

 

[GIMH]

Schumacher & Navratilova

Schumacher won about 7 world championships, United built their team around Cantona and never won the European Cup.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

United built their team around Cantona and never won the European Cup.

+ his France side got knocked out by Bulgaria before the World Cup

 

[Simon]

Battle #19
Eric Cantona 8
Andy Roddick 6
Michael Schumacher 7

Battle #20
Eddy Merckx 2
Martina Navrativola 8
Ryan Giggs 9

Sorry but that second result is a disgrace people. Two sporting legends gone to Giggs who is/was no better than good.

 

[Simon]

Battle #21

LeBron James (American) - Basketball

Honours
472 career club games
2004 NBA Rookie of the Year
3 time all NBA Team
5 time NBA All Star
2 time NBA All Star game MVP
2008 NBA Pointscoring Champion
2009 NBA MVP

vs

Joost van der Westhuizen (South African) - Rugby Union

Honours
89 International Caps for South Afica
Most tries by a South African in Tests (39)
2007 Inducted into International Rugby Hall of Fame
1995 World Cup winner
3 time World Cup player

vs

Pete Sampras (American) - Tennis

Honours
762 career match wins
64 career ATP titles
14 time Grand Slam winner
5 time Tour championship winner
2 career doubles titles
6 time ATP Player of the Year
6 time ITF World Champion
6 time year end world #1
Record 286 weeks spent at world numbner 1
1997 US Olympic committee Sportsman of the Year
2000 GQ Individual Athlete of the Year
Voted #1 in the past 25 years in a poll in 1997
48th in ESPN's North American Athletes of the century

----------------------

Battle #22

Michael Jordan (American) - Basketball

Honours
1072 career games
32,292 career points
6 time NBA winner
5 time NBA MVP
14 time NBA All Star
6 time NBA Finals MVP
10 time All NBA selection
1985 NBA rookie of the year
3 time NBA All star game MVP
2 Olympic Gold Medalist
NBA's 50th Anniversary All time team
1991 SI Sportsman of the Year
2000 ESPY Sportsman of the cenutry

vs

Denis Law (Scottish) - Football

Honours
485 career club games for clubs such as Manchester United and Manchester City
277 career club goals
55 caps for Scotland
30 goals for Scotland
1964 European Footballer of the Year
2 time English Football League First Division winner
1963 FA Cup winner
Inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002
2003 voted Scotland's Golden Player (most outstanding player of the past 50 years)

vs

Bobby Moore (English) - Football

Honours
699 career club games for clubs such as West Ham and Fulham
108 international caps for England
1966 World Cup winner
1964 FA Cup winner
1964 FWA Footballer of the Year
1966 World Cup Player of Players
4 time West Ham Player of the Year
Inducted into English Football Hall of Fame in 2002

 

[Magrat Garlick]

vd Westhuizen - would beat the other two on clay
Moore

 

[Blewy]

Sampras and Jordan...

 

[Uppercut]

Battle #19
Eric Cantona 8
Andy Roddick 6
Michael Schumacher 7

Battle #20
Eddy Merckx 2
Martina Navrativola 8
Ryan Giggs 9

Sorry but that second result is a disgrace people. Two sporting legends gone to Giggs who is/was no better than good.

Firstly, bear in mind that this is "battle of the sporting heroes", not "battle of the people who excelled extensively in a niche sport". My feelings on women's tennis are well known, and cycling is probably the least inspiring sport imaginable.

Secondly, Giggs is considered a hero for reasons far beyond his actual ability (which was several million times better than "good", but let's leave that for now). There's his longevity, being the only player to score in every season since the Premiership began 16 years ago. For United fans, there's his loyalty. Never have we heard a murmur that he might want to move. There's moments like these. And there's the fact that he's a remarkably gun bloke, evidenced by the fact that not only is he an ambassador for UNICEF, but noone knows he is.

I don't know what exactly the disgrace is, considering that a couple of hundred times more kids will have been inspired by Giggs than the other two combined. I seem to be misinterpreting the battle, are we supposed to just vote for whoever was/is best at their particular sport?

 

[Simon]

Naa you can vote for whomever you like. I guess I'm just surprised that he managed to beat two people that were absolute stars/heroes/however you want to put it. Giggs to me by himself has never been like them and when I think of him I think of Scholes, Beckham, Neville, etc... as a collective unit.

 

[duffer]

Sampras and Jordan.

 

[grecian]

Sampras

Moore

Gutted that Bobby will go out to Jordan

Also gutted that two more United blokes go through, would of voted for schumacher, if I could do now. Tactical voting FTW

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

**** me dead, shut up. What's with the siege mentality of every single United fan here? Grow a pair.

Lebron and Jordan

 

[ripper868]

vd Westhuizen - would beat the other two on clay
Moore

This

 

[Uppercut]

Citeh fan goes nuts every time someone talks about United, something about a siege mentality. As far as i can tell, he's serious.

Sampras and Jordan.