most overrated athlete ever. All sports

[Risottia]

Ronaldo (Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima).

He was a footballing god. You don't finish with a career goal/games ratio of 0.7 if you're overrated.

It depends on what you face.
Why do you think he never managed to win an Italian championship?
He was good, but he wasn't that good as advertisement claimed. Definitely not on the same level of Platini, Maradona, Di Stefano, Yashin, or Pelè.

[Cromarty]

Massimo Taibi.

[Nazis in Space]

I ain't saying 'Most overrated of all, ever', because that's ridiculous.

I am, however, putting Pelé forward as a star who is consistently overrated.

His domestic success came to no small part from the brasilian league system at the time - lots of small, regional leagues, with the country's best teams playing in different leagues. When Brazil finally tried out a countrywide league, and Pelé got to play in it, he scored, well... Not at all, actually. Suddenly, the competition was too strong.

Brasil didn't really have any problems winning the 1962 world cup without him, either, it's not like their team depended on him.

He was of course a capable player. You don't get the reputation Pelé got without having skills and success. But compared to the likes of Matthäus, Maradona, Cruyff, Platini et al - they had to prove themselves against top competition all the time, and they succeeded.

Pelé didn't do that.

[DesAnges]

He was a footballing god. You don't finish with a career goal/games ratio of 0.7 if you're overrated.

It depends on what you face.
Why do you think he never managed to win an Italian championship?
He was good, but he wasn't that good as advertisement claimed. Definitely not on the same level of Platini, Maradona, Di Stefano, Yashin, or Pelè.

He may never have won a championship in Italy but he still scored 71 goals in 115 games for Inter. That's astounding, considering how strong Serie A was at the time.

I'm not saying he was on the same plane of talent as the true titans, but saying he was overrated is wrong as well.

[EnragedMaldivians]

Okay I'm interpreting 'athlete' very widely here and my pick doesn't actually have much of a record of competition but: Bruce Lee. Merely because his fanboys think that if he were alive he could go toe to toe with contemporary MMA and UFC fighters three times his size and come out not only victorious, but unscathed. Bullshit.

[Forsakia]

Boo! Messi.

Actually Messi's probably a pretty good answer.

Messi overrated? You are joking right?

You can be overrated even if he's really good. Some people have started putting him up there with Maradona etc which is certainly premature.

[Nazis in Space]

Messi overrated? You are joking right?

You can be overrated even if he's really good. Some people have started putting him up there with Maradona etc which is certainly premature.

Messi's already got five national championships, plus three champions league titles. Compare to Maradona's three national and zero CL-predecessor titles.

Now, this does, admittedly, not tell the whole story - Maradona played largely for Napoli, sticking it to the established clubs in the north (And being effectively worshipped for it), leading what amounted to a little proletarian revolution in the Serie A, whereas Messi collects titles in a hilariously lopsided league of lopsidedness - I would, without any hesitation, rate each and every one of Maradona's titles at at least twice the effective value of Messi's titles. Probably thrice. OTOH - while it's pretty damned easy for Messi to win national titles in Spain, the CL is an entirely different thing - and it's these three titles that do, IMHO, justify putting him on the pedestal he's spending his time on.

[DesAnges]

Messi overrated? You are joking right?

You can be overrated even if he's really good. Some people have started putting him up there with Maradona etc which is certainly premature.

I think it's more banking on the expectation curve than overrating him.

[Samuraikoku]

Cristiano Ronaldo without a doubt.

[Rubiconic Crossings V2 rev 1f]

You can be overrated even if he's really good. Some people have started putting him up there with Maradona etc which is certainly premature.

Messi's already got five national championships, plus three champions league titles. Compare to Maradona's three national and zero CL-predecessor titles.

Now, this does, admittedly, not tell the whole story - Maradona played largely for Napoli, sticking it to the established clubs in the north (And being effectively worshipped for it), leading what amounted to a little proletarian revolution in the Serie A, whereas Messi collects titles in a hilariously lopsided league of lopsidedness - I would, without any hesitation, rate each and every one of Maradona's titles at at least twice the effective value of Messi's titles. Probably thrice. OTOH - while it's pretty damned easy for Messi to win national titles in Spain, the CL is an entirely different thing - and it's these three titles that do, IMHO, justify putting him on the pedestal he's spending his time on.

Sort of...bearing in mind that Maradona pretty much single handedly won Napoli the Scudetto in 86/87 as well a WC winner and a 2nd place in the WC along with possibly the greatest goal ever (frankly I rate John Barnes goal against Brazil as equal)...well Maradona is the greatest ever. Messi has the potential though. Like you said - Messi has three CL titles to Maradona's none. However Messi has not done it on the international stage yet. The potential is there though.

To say that Messi is overrated is clearly nuts. To say he is the greatest ever is also nuts. To say he is in the top 5 of modern players (say 1990 to 2012) isn't entirely insane.

[New England and The Maritimes]

For all his insanity, Tyson was one of the best boxers who ever lived.

[Disserbia]

Tiger Woods

Ummm no. Absolutely not.

On there Id say beckham and c Ronaldo if he's playing for country lol

[Dunroaming]

3 points:
1. All the athletes are American except Beckham who is finishing his career in the US. The list is Americo-centric. There is a world out there.
2. It is disrespectful to have Joe Frazier in the list. He was a warrior who beat Ali in his prime.
3. David Beckham was, and is, a footballer with only one foot. I never rated him.

[Risottia]

He may never have won a championship in Italy but he still scored 71 goals in 115 games for Inter. That's astounding, considering how strong Serie A was at the time.

I'm not saying he was on the same plane of talent as the true titans, but saying he was overrated is wrong as well.

Vastly overrated. He was heralded as the "best forward ever". Pfft. He couldn't tie the shoelaces to people like Maldini, Del Piero, Totti or Inzaghi, just to quote some of his contemporaries.

[Forsakia]

3. David Beckham was, and is, a footballer with only one foot. I never rated him.

So was Ferenc Puskas.

He may never have won a championship in Italy but he still scored 71 goals in 115 games for Inter. That's astounding, considering how strong Serie A was at the time.

I'm not saying he was on the same plane of talent as the true titans, but saying he was overrated is wrong as well.

Vastly overrated. He was heralded as the "best forward ever". Pfft. He couldn't tie the shoelaces to people like Maldini, Del Piero, Totti or Inzaghi, just to quote some of his contemporaries.

And yet Totti never lived up to it on the International stage.

[Chinese Regions]

Beckham

[Miasto Lodz]

Cantona? Maradona? Recoba? LeBron? Florence Griffith-Joyner? Katrin Krabbe? Pantani? Chabal? Ottey?

[Nadkor]

Ronaldo (Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima).

You must be kidding, surely.

[Nadkor]

3. David Beckham was, and is, a footballer with only one foot. I never rated him.

So is Ryan Giggs. Maradona, mostly, too.

Shit players, obviously.

[Samuraikoku]

3. David Beckham was, and is, a footballer with only one foot. I never rated him.

So is Ryan Giggs. Maradona, mostly, too.

Shit players, obviously.

Ah, Giggs. Must be one of the most underrated ever.

[TaQud]

Anyone that votes for mike tyson is a racist

[Ethel mermania]

joe frazier. If it wasn't for ail nobody would know about him.

If it wasn't for ali, he would have been undisputed heavyweight champion for 1p straight years

[Ethel mermania]

than you should vote for jason Giambi

no you should have put arod up there.

A-rod is done as a player, now he is a slighlty better than average 3rd basemen.
In his best years he was a monster.

[Dunroaming]

3. David Beckham was, and is, a footballer with only one foot. I never rated him.

So is Ryan Giggs. Maradona, mostly, too.

Shit players, obviously.

Beckham had no pace which Giggs had in his early years and could not dribble like Maradona. Beckham could take free kicks and could hit long crosses and that was about it.

[Nadkor]

So is Ryan Giggs. Maradona, mostly, too.

Shit players, obviously.

Beckham had no pace which Giggs had in his early years and could not dribble like Maradona.

Neither of which is relevant to you saying "David Beckham was, and is, a footballer with only one foot. I never rated him", which implies that your prime reason for not rating him was that he had only one foot.

Beckham could take free kicks and could hit long crosses and that was about it.

Yeah, this is a lazy, lazy opinion held by people who didn't actually watch him play very much and who get their viewpoints from other people on internet forums who also didn't actually watching play very much.