He's not the first cricketer and certainly won't be the last to rub shoulders with other top sportsmen and/or celebrities. Botham & Warne in particular spring to mind.
I don't like to overuse 'hyperbole', but that sentence in bold leaves me no choice.
but the population thing is very, very relevant. One of the biggest reasons M. Ali was so iconic was because he was Ameircan, black and represented the fact that black men could be the best at their field in a field as incredibly popular as boxing at the time. If he wasn't American or black or was at the top of a field less prominent than than boxing or wasn't born at that particular time when racial tensions were high etc., he wouldn't be as important a cultural symbol though he'd be as awesome a boxer.
Why do you think its hyperbole? You probably haven't moved out of your bubble if you think its just hyperbole. I actually know a few people like that.
I don't remember Warne or Botham being gifted a freaking Ferrari
Did it? He hit the six sixes in 1968. Batting in a limited overs game didn't really progress beyond 'hit a boundary an over and rotate the strike' until after the introduction of T20.
Valid question & given the OP left the criteria open, I'm basing my criteria (rightly or wrongly) from the point of view of a cricket lover/cricket historian.
2 pages late. Poor.
A 'few' being the operative word, that would actually say Tendulkar is the first thing that came to mind if someone mentioned India in a random conversation.
I never disputed those countries weren't in the SC, not sure what gave you that idea.
I meant apart from his greatness as a cricketer. If that was your criteria fine, though, not going to argue.
Haha what? He clearly mentioned that being the 2nd greatest cricketer is why he included Sobers. You can't then go and ask him why he picked him over someone like Sachin or Viv while ignoring the very reason he picked him in the first place..
I don't either, but I wouldn't even try to guess how many free concerts the likes of Eric Clapton and Elton John have done for Beefy over the years (and his many charities).
I just went back and looked at what i typed there. Not sure what your point is?
I get that obviously and I acknowledged it in the post itself but read the whole conversation ffs. I honestly want to know what the other factors were in Sobers being as admired as he was. Like Grace being a charismatic sob, and an incredible athlete in his youth or Worrell being an inspiration with the way be carried himself and being the first permanent black captain.
Well, I did just spell out my criteria, and being 'iconic' wasn't the be-all and end-all. That said, I do think as 'iconic' as Viv and Sachin both were/are, Sobers was at least their equal in this regard. I'm not basing this on the population of their respective fan-bases either, but by how 'iconic' Sobers was held within the cricketing community. If there's anyone with their nose in front of 'Viv' in terms of being a West Indian icon, it has to be Sobers.
Well, I think you used the word that best describes Sobers' style right there, and that's 'Charismatic', with a capital C. From everything I've read (admittedly the older literature is much more expressive), you couldn't wish to imagine a more charismatic cricketer in terms of the way he played the game than Sobers. They say his fielding at a very fine (to the keeper) leg-slip was out of this world and worth the ticket admission alone. He apparently just had skills that others could only dream of.
