most overrated athlete ever. All sports

[Pope Joan]

Beckham is a logical choice but I named Namath just because American football means more to me than Association footie.

Many of these names were much better at garnering publicity than they were at athletic achievement.

Diana Nyad is a good example of the phenomenon.

[TaQud]

any person who went from a bad team to the yankees and looks good...

[The UK in Exile]

Peter Charles. 52 years old and wins a medal for show jumping.

[Williamson]

any person who went from a bad team to the yankees and looks good...

you have no idea how much i wanted to put all yankees on here. Maybe a few knicks and a would keep joe namth. Just to piss of people from new york

[The House of Petain]

Tom Brady.

Though he does have fantastic taste in women.

[Williamson]

Tom Brady.

Though he does have fantastic taste in women.

that the truth

[Nadkor]

Not true. He was a very good player who had two particular things he could do as well as or better than anyone else in the world. You don't play for the teams he played for when he played for them (before LA) if all but two areas of your game are slightly above average.

That Beckham is more famous for his looks and celebrity is undeniable, but he was actually a very good footballer in the late 90s/early 2000s, even on into the mid-2000s.

I was ribbing you with the slightly above average comment...

He wasn't a bad player but there were aspects of his game that he was not good at such as tackling...my objection as such is that he was put on a pedestal as some kind of Pele...which he wasn't. He had good talent but nothing on Pele or Messi or even C Ronaldo. What Beckham did have was an extraordinary will to succeed by improving his game through practice. That I totally respect. So yeah he was a very good player as long as you didn't play him in central midfield and played him on the wing. I don't have an issue with him as a person either...I do respect the way he has managed to keep out of trouble. On the downside I do think he was a bit of mong re the entire WAGS thing though.

To be fair, Paul Scholes can't tackle either

And one of my abiding memories of watching Beckham for United was in the 2000 Club World Cup, when he came sprinting down from our right wing to cut out the opposition's right winger in our left-back position, executing a perfect sliding tackle from behind (the ones where the tackler kind of slides around the player he's tacking rather than through them), standing up still in control of the ball, and pinging a perfect ball upfield to build an attack (he later got sent off, but that's not the point )

Not bad for a player who supposedly had no pace and couldn't tackle...

I don't think Beckham was ever built up to be anything like Pele, or even like the Zidane's, Ronaldo's, and Figo's of their time. Around international tournaments he was built up as England's great hope, or whatever, and then vilified after 1998, but in terms of actual footballing ability? That was it, he was never talked up that much. Most of the talk about him surrounded his celebrity, which was out of proportion to his abilities (but not necessarily out of proportion to his his looks and the fact that he had a famous girlfriend/wife), but that's not so much being overrated as a sportsman or an athlete as being overrated as a celebrity.

[Gaveo]

Cristano Rolnaldo

Plays good in club plays like a blind man in international play...

[Capitolinium]

Tyson doesn't belong on this list. He was an absolute wrecking machine until he changed trainers, married Robin Givens, and got Svengali Don King as his manager.

[Pope Joan]

Tyson doesn't belong on this list. He was an absolute wrecking machine until he changed trainers, married Robin Givens, and got Svengali Don King as his manager.

He also changed after his mentor, coach and father figure Cus D'Amato died.

[Rubiconic Crossings V2 rev 1f]

I was ribbing you with the slightly above average comment...

He wasn't a bad player but there were aspects of his game that he was not good at such as tackling...my objection as such is that he was put on a pedestal as some kind of Pele...which he wasn't. He had good talent but nothing on Pele or Messi or even C Ronaldo. What Beckham did have was an extraordinary will to succeed by improving his game through practice. That I totally respect. So yeah he was a very good player as long as you didn't play him in central midfield and played him on the wing. I don't have an issue with him as a person either...I do respect the way he has managed to keep out of trouble. On the downside I do think he was a bit of mong re the entire WAGS thing though.

To be fair, Paul Scholes can't tackle either

And one of my abiding memories of watching Beckham for United was in the 2000 Club World Cup, when he came sprinting down from our right wing to cut out the opposition's right winger in our left-back position, executing a perfect sliding tackle from behind (the ones where the tackler kind of slides around the player he's tacking rather than through them), standing up still in control of the ball, and pinging a perfect ball upfield to build an attack (he later got sent off, but that's not the point )

Not bad for a player who supposedly had no pace and couldn't tackle...

I don't think Beckham was ever built up to be anything like Pele, or even like the Zidane's, Ronaldo's, and Figo's of their time. Around international tournaments he was built up as England's great hope, or whatever, and then vilified after 1998, but in terms of actual footballing ability? That was it, he was never talked up that much. Most of the talk about him surrounded his celebrity, which was out of proportion to his abilities (but not necessarily out of proportion to his his looks and the fact that he had a famous girlfriend/wife), but that's not so much being overrated as a sportsman or an athlete as being overrated as a celebrity.

I'd have given both my gnads and possibly my winkle to have had Scholes play for us...that guy was just a bulldog. Just never stopped...tenacious is not the word.

I remember that game (even a broken clock is right twice a day)...I also remember Beckhams goal v the Dons...I was like you have got to be bullshitting me!

He was built up, like I said earlier as being a footballing god by people who knew fuck all about football....which was basically as you say the celebrity thing. In terms of that he was over rated....all proper fans that I've ever spoken have basically, after the vitriol of him being a Manc, say the same thing....damn fine player with an killer right foot...anyone who says he's crap needs a kicking. heh...I used to be on the Chelsea site back in the 90's and some of the lads were all like he'd shite...I was like...dudes...he's not shyte...and thats coming from a Leeds fan! Oh heady days LOL

[Runfin]

Sidney Crosby

[Capitolinium]

Tyson doesn't belong on this list. He was an absolute wrecking machine until he changed trainers, married Robin Givens, and got Svengali Don King as his manager.

He also changed after his mentor, coach and father figure Cus D'Amato died.

Very true. Kevin Rooney still kept him centered for thee years after Cus died. He never lost with Rooney in his corner.

I was incredulous when Tyson dumped Rooney for Aaron Snowell because Don King (this is true, believe it or not) wanted Tyson to train with an exclusively nonwhite team.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

considering i strongly dislike baseball i will say it is some famous baseball player

than you should vote for jason Giambi

no you should have put arod up there.

[Sentinel XV]

Iron Mike? Overrated? Have you seen him fight? He turned dodging punches into a damn artform.

[Cestyr]

Travis Cloke, obviously.

Million dollars a year? Pfft.

I'd say Tom Scully. Callan Ward turned out to be much better value.

[Dyakovo]

I want to know who NS think the most overrated althlete of all time.

All professional athletes.

[Sardine World]

Anyone that votes for mike tyson is a racist

[Sentinel XV]

I want to know who NS think the most overrated althlete of all time.

All professional athletes.

That's a very rash generalization. Many athletes are genuinely fantastic at what they do. Most every sport has a level of required skill and fitness that you, me, and most everyone on this forum could not hope to measure up to without training: and even then, most of us would still fall short.

Some athletes, though, are genuinely overrated. I voted for Danica Patrick. Sure, she's a woman in a male-dominated sport, but she's simply not a good racer at all. And even worse off, the sports media constantly tries to paint her as a supermodel when she's clearly a six at best (Daniel Tosh).

[Priori]

I don't know who most of these people are.

[Interstellar Space Corps]

Defending David Beckham...
Do ANY of you watch soccer? lol...

I might not watch Golf but I know enough from the news to know that Tiger Woods just flat out disinterests me. Another grand example of how thinking with our genitals can ruin our lives.

[Sedikal]

Fedor Emelianenko
They call him the greatest ever but it's easy to be great when your in strike force. I'll stop giving him shit when he wins the belt in the UFC were there's real talent.

[Williamson]

it seems like nobody tinks vince cater overrated.

[Sentinel XV]

it seems like nobody tinks vince cater overrated.

He was a good basketball player. I don't remember enough about him to form an opinion as to whether or not he was overrated.

[Williamson]

it seems like nobody tinks vince cater overrated.

He was a good basketball player. I don't remember enough about him to form an opinion as to whether or not he was overrated.

fair enough