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Who is the most famous sports person of all time?
- Thread starter Moze
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WorriedCitizen
Member
No love for Lance Armstrong?
Manchester United has way more fans outside of Europe than it has in it, let alone fans from Manchester
WesternHeretic
Member
But the fact is you know he's a basketball player to even start with. What if I was you who was Pete Carroll is? What profession is he in? Is he a plumber? Electrician? Football player? Football coach? Football general manager? Soccer player? Accountant? CEO of Disney?
Even if people don't know what Jordan looks like they know he's the basketball player.
Scully Scully Scoo
Member
manchester united
real madrid
barcelona fc
these 3 are the most popular teams on the planet. people travel to their stadiums from across europe/asia to watch them play
crimzonflame
Member
Dont bother reasoning with him. He thought OJ Simpson was a basketball player.
Interesting. What about a club like FC Barcelona? I would think with Messi, Naymar and Suarez, they'd be up there.
Edit: HateGames answered this basically. Thanks.
Do fans in Europe know of teams here like the Cowboys, Yankees, etc? I assume the lack of popularity in their sport alone doesn't make them as notable.
D
Deleted member 231381
Unconfirmed Member
It's Pele or Maradona. Nobody outside the United States plays any of the sports in the United States so it's hardly likely to be Jordan.
WesternHeretic
Member
That's exactly my point. A lot of people who don't watch or care for sports can't even tell you what X person does in sports. At least with Michael Jordan just the fact of hearing his name a lot of people already know oh that's the basketball guy, even though they have 0 clue who he played for, when he played or what he looks like. But they know he's the basketball guy on the shoe.
The UK tries to get into the Superbowl spirit every year but it's usually just marketing from various news/entertainment channels than anything real.
There are fans of American Football here but it's niche compared to many other sports, and the names of those teams are largely unknown.
curlyfriski
Banned
Lmao at Tim Henman, how could anybody think he's being serious
Scully Scully Scoo
Member
i know of newyork yankees purely because of the caps though, they sell like crazy over here in uk and are very popular amongst teenagers
boiled goose
good with gravy
Jordan.
He became an icon, not even Pele or Maradona did that.
He became an icon, not even Pele or Maradona did that.
What did he ever win, eh?
Col WillieSharp
Member
Everybody said "Hitler 'stache!" and it didn't matter at all. I truly believe that that was no accident.
OverBlood 3
Banned
:/ all three of them are icons in their respective countries.
I'd have to say Ali as a universal figure, I mean he had that great documentary made about him and the will smith thing too I guess.
You can't be serious...
OverBlood 3
Banned
Is Jimmy White the snooker player?
Edit: Yes!
If it wasn't for space jam and jays I wouldn't know who Michael Jordan was.
We know New York Yankees here in Scandinavia because of the logo (the one in your avatar). People wear caps with it, and the LA one. Their basically just brands here. An american friend was baffled seeing it when he was visiting "What the hell? Why are they wearing Yankee caps without being from New York or knowing what the Yankees are?"
BlitzerRadic
Member
Stupid analogy. Jordan Brand is a multibillion dollar brand by itself. How much is the Stan Smith brand worth? How many shoes or articles of apparel have been sold with his name and his image?
Nike pays Jordan 70-80 million a year. He doesn't have to play, all he literally has to do is just be himself and occasionally make photo ops when the new numbered Jordan sneaker drops every year. Why would Nike pay him so much if no one cared who he is?
People do know who Jordan is. None of them live outside the US though.
Scully Scully Scoo
Member
i dont think beckham is as popular as pele/maradona/messi/ron + he wont have the legacy 10/20 years from now like those guys.
thats not true, in my highschool there was a poster of jordan in the gym, thats when i first heard of mj.
So nobody in China knows who Jordan is? Yeah, okay.
Cygnus X-1
Member
Roger Federer should be in this list however....
Someone has been living under a rock.
Football is bigger than basketball in china.
NervousXtian
Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
Someone said Tim Henman?
Dude never even REACHED a Grand Slam final... let alone won one (which you can't when you don't even get to the final, derp).
BTW, you do realize Google search results go off your history of what you've searched and are also location based? What I type "TIM" I don't get Henman at all.
Dude never even REACHED a Grand Slam final... let alone won one (which you can't when you don't even get to the final, derp).
BTW, you do realize Google search results go off your history of what you've searched and are also location based? What I type "TIM" I don't get Henman at all.
teruterubozu
Member
Is there any left?
There must be something wrong with your machine.
Remember that Henman does commentary as well now.
JumpJeff84
Member
Someone chinese, I would think.
And that has what to do with your post?
You're just now figuring this out?
LMAO, OJ?!
Too bad for you, Basketball is arguably the 3rd most popular sport worldwide. Just about every school in Thailand (and I bet most of other East/South East Asia) has Basketball court. Saying Basketball is less popular than Football isn't useful at all. Nothing is more popular than number 1 most popular sport in the world? What do people follow? Again, the shit people watch are either European Football or NBA, you don't have to guess, I lived it.
Pretty much this. I can't think of an athlete with as much recognition and fame as Ali.
Laieon
Member
As someone who doesn't really watch sports, from the list on the 1st post I recognize: Jordan, Ali, Pele, Beckham, Tiger Woods, Ronaldo, Tyson, Messi, Gretzky, and Babe Ruth.
If you were to show me a picture of them though, I would only be able to recognize Jordan, Tiger Woods, Tyson, and maybe Ali.
If you were to show me a picture of them though, I would only be able to recognize Jordan, Tiger Woods, Tyson, and maybe Ali.
Every school has a badminton court and ping pong table as well, but that doesn't mean people watch the actual games or know the players. See we can turn this argument the way anyone wants.
KiwiLannister
Member
If the football fans could also realize that there is a difference between playing/watching/awareness. Basketball might not be the most played sport in some parts of the world but everyone is still aware of it. And I know in NZ there are a lot of people who will watch basketball who don't play the sport.
I was actually under the impression that Basketball was bigger than Soccer in China, don't know if that's accurate, would be interesting to see some figures.
I think the thing with soccer is you have Beckham and Christiano Ronaldo who are the two most famous figures, and then you have the likes of Pele/Messi etc who are probably better players but less well known to the actual public. People who don't know football are less likely to have heard of Messi than of C Ronaldo. The thing with Jordan is that not only is he historically great (and therefore going to be remembered) but he's also extremely famous and has a powerful brand.
I was actually under the impression that Basketball was bigger than Soccer in China, don't know if that's accurate, would be interesting to see some figures.
I think the thing with soccer is you have Beckham and Christiano Ronaldo who are the two most famous figures, and then you have the likes of Pele/Messi etc who are probably better players but less well known to the actual public. People who don't know football are less likely to have heard of Messi than of C Ronaldo. The thing with Jordan is that not only is he historically great (and therefore going to be remembered) but he's also extremely famous and has a powerful brand.
Nope, my school didn't have badminton court and ping pong table.
KiwiLannister
Member
Tendulkar is a bit unique because pretty much nobody knows about him unless they follow cricket or sports. Outside of India. He is the opposite of Jordan. Jordan is known by people who don't care about basketball, Tendulkar only by people who know Cricket (all 1 billion of them).
Schumacher is not a contender. I would be shocked if he was popular in Asia/Africa/Middle East. I'm aware F1 has international courses like Singapore but I'd bet almost all of his fanbase is in Europe with people in other English speaking countries only having some awareness of him.
Golf, Cricket and Tennis are all bigger than basketball.
What actual public are you talking about here?
If someone is even remotely interested in football then the first thing that comes is Messi/CR7. There are no two ways about it.
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