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Bradman, the greatest sportsperson ever?

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karan316

karan316

State Vice-Captain
Just want your views on the topic... a lot of people(doesn't include me) rate him as the best cricketer ever and that he dominated the game like no other..
is he the greatest sportsperson ever?
 
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Coronis

Coronis

International Coach
Yes. Who else has dominated like him? Overwhelmed everyone that has come before or after him? There's no question in my mind.
 
The Sean

The Sean

Cricketer Of The Year
Impossible to say, really. I personally think he is, but there's no way to definitively answer the question.

I guess the best that you could say is that there is no other major sport with such a statistical outlier (Grace's astonishing early FC records notwithstanding). To get anything comparable, you'd probably have to look at squash with Heather MacKay or Jahangir Khan, or Walter Lindrum at Billiards, or something still more obscure. Wayne Gretzky's numbers were Bradmanesque for a lot of his career, though his stats came back to the field just a little as his career went on.
 
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D

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
There is no way to accurately compare across sports, IMO. He was so far ahead of anyone else to have played the game that it is absolutely indisputable that he is the greatest batsman ever (and it is extremely hard to make a case for anyone as being a better 'cricketer'), however comparison across codes is impossible - the skills required are far too different to create any sort of concrete criteria.
 
Furball

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Dan said:
There is no way to accurately compare across sports, IMO. He was so far ahead of anyone else to have played the game that it is absolutely indisputable that he is the greatest batsman ever (and it is extremely hard to make a case for anyone as being a better 'cricketer'), however comparison across codes is impossible - the skills required are far too different to create any sort of concrete criteria.
Click to expand...
You can compare, to a degree, across sports statistically. Bradman's batting average is certainly so far ahead of anyone else that's ever played the game in a way that say, Chamberlain's NBA ppg record isn't.
 
D

doesitmatter

U19 Cricketer
Purely on the ability to play the game at the super human level, Don B, Great one,Pele(Maradona),Bill Russell(Wilt,MJ),Jim Brown, Babe Ruth, Dhyan Chand(Field Hockey), Jehangir and Jansher Khan, Federer/Nadal are some of the greatest with some freakish numbers ..As a cricket fan i will say Bradman but as an Indian i might go for Dhyan Chand(man was a wizard... somebody write an article please :) )..But on the basis of a sportsman's impact on the lives of many people and for the social impact it has to be the Loiusville Lip..Muhammed Ali
 
Lostman

Lostman

State Captain
In a team sport I think the closest comparison would be Babe Ruth.
Both played at around the same time as well. This is going to be a bad comparison but if you are only counting home runs vs batting average (what they were famous for), Ruth dominated his contemporaries more than Bradman. IIRC there were years when Ruth hit more home runs than some whole teams combined. On the other had Bradman's average was "only" twice as good as the next best.
 
Slifer

Slifer

International Captain
Simple answer no. Bradman, lest we be confused (and I'm gonna get plenty of flack for this I know) was the greatest "batsman" of all time by a long long way. He didnot completely master his sport like some here like to lead on. Cricket is about 3 fundamental aspects: batting, bowling and fielding. Obviously DB is the undisputed greatest batsman but he sure as hell didnot master the other aspects of the sport. I think Ian Chappell put it best, if your gonna pick ur all time team and u pick DB, you expect him to kill u with runs but runs alone arent gonna win u a cricket match. Sportsmen I think greater than the Don would be the likes of Federer, MJ, etc. MJ didnt dominate scoring in a Bradmanesque way but at varying periods of times in his career he was the best offensive player while also being the best defensive player in the NBA. Roger Federer once reached 10 GS finals (across clay, grass and hard courts ) in a row not to mention his ridiculous streaks (ex consecutive quarters at majors, weeks at #1 etc). Again they probably didnt dominate in a single aspect like the Don but all around over various aspects of their respective sports they were awesome.
 
honestbharani

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
karan316 said:
Just want your views on the topic... a lot of people(doesn't include me) rate him as the best cricketer ever and that he dominated the game like no other..
is he the greatest sportsperson ever?
Click to expand...

I dont know enough about other sports to comment but I know enough about cricket and his domination in this game to feel that he will definitely belong in such discussions, whether he is in fact the greatest sportsperson or not.. :)
 
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chasingthedon

chasingthedon

International Regular
Wayne Gretzky would be up there too.

I have a problem with comparing averages and aggregates statistically though, eg home runs and batting average. Charles Davis did a similar comparison in Best of the Best, but fell into the same trap IMO.

Plus I'm not convinced there's a bell curve in there for example if you just look at Test batsmen, possibly there is when you consider all people in the world that play cricket, but Test batsmen would be at the extreme right end.
 
fredfertang

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Interesting question, and he's certainly in with a shout, as is WG - but for sheer dominance its difficult to look past the squash players and, if you consider darts and snooker to be sports, which I do but some don't, then Phil "The Power" Taylor and Joe Davis both deserve a mention
 
Agent Nationaux

Agent Nationaux

International Coach
Can't really say who is the greatest but I rate Jahangir alongside the other titans like Bradman, Pele, Ali, Jordon, etc. 555 consecutive wins in a sport way more intense than Tennis, cricket, football, etc (professionals have had heart attacks whilst playing). He then won a world championship without losing a single point!! Did it 8 or 10 times (can't remember) and then went to the US and won their championship around the same amount of times (completely different game in the US because they use a different ball). He was at one point known as the fittest man on the planet.
 
Ikki

Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
Not sure. I think Gretzky gives him a run for his money. He is the all-time scoring leader and broke crazy records but what is scary is if he never scored a single goal he'd have more points than any NHL player in history due to his assists. He has more assists than any other player has assists+goals.
 
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