OT(ish): The Mount Rushmore of Sports...

[XXtwindad]

The passing of the great John Havlicek got me thinking about the seminal and transformative figures in different sports. My criteria is that the athletes had to bring their sport to greater heights in popularity or transform it. Four presidents on Rushmore, so four athletes.

The only sports I feel qualified to comment on:

Basketball:

1) Russell
2) Wilt
3) Magic
4) Jordan

apologies to: West, Baylor, Mikan, Bird, James, Curry

Baseball:

1) Ruth
2) Robinson
3) Mays
4) Eckersley

Apologies to: Cobb, Aaron, Williams, Brock, Koufax, Ripken, Henderson, Barry Bonds.

Cycling:

1) Coppi
2) Anquetil
3) Merckx
4) Armstrong

Apologies to: Bartoli, Hinault, LeMond.

Others?

[Drmojo]

Mantle
Joltin JoeDiMaggio

[Jaybee]

Oh man, this is going to piss some people off....


LeBron belongs on the basketball Rushmore.

[rst72]

1. Pele
2. Maradona
3. Cruyff
4. Messi

[Elefantino]

Originally Posted by rst72

1. Pele
2. Maradona
3. Cruyff
4. Messi

If there were five people on Rushmore I'd add Beckenbauer. But absent that, these are the correct four.

Pele's head should be twice as big as the others, though.

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by Elefantino

If there were five people on Rushmore I'd add Beckenbauer. But absent that, these are the correct four.

Pele's head should be twice as big as the others, though.

+1

Exactly what I was thinking.....

[jadmt]

LeMond deserves to be there he got the USA involved like no one before him.People that never watched a minute of cycling were mesmerized by his win. besides do you want youth looking at the rushmore of cycling and thinking cheating is ok......

[nmrt]

Hah! Pele should not even be next to Messi. But if you must, Pele's head should be microscopic.

Originally Posted by Elefantino

If there were five people on Rushmore I'd add Beckenbauer. But absent that, these are the correct four.

Pele's head should be twice as big as the others, though.

[Elefantino]

Originally Posted by nmrt

Hah! Pele should not even be next to Messi. But if you must, Pele's head should be microscopic.

Messi is the greatest player of this generation.

Pele changed football forever.

[nmrt]

Messi is the great footballer of all time. Period.
Let's agree to disagree.

Originally Posted by Elefantino

Messi is the greatest player of this generation.

Pele changed football forever.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

Oh man, this is going to piss some people off....


LeBron belongs on the basketball Rushmore.

Definitely thought about him in lieu of Wilt since Russ is already there.

[torquer]

In terms of changing the game I would advocate for Dr. J.
But he was two years ahead of me at Roosevelt High School so I’m a bit prejudiced.

[Onion]

what about Kareem over Wilt? they banned dunking in college because of kareem so he just invented another unstoppable shot. i know this is not a list of of the greatest, but the idea that TR is on rushmore already makes the rushmore thing kinda off. should definitely be FDR if we were doing it over.

according to wiki "Between October 4, 1927, and October 31, 1941, Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers[22] sculpted the colossal 60-foot-high (18 m) carvings of United States Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln to represent the first 130 years of American history. These presidents were selected by Borglum because of their role in preserving the Republic and expanding its territory."

preserving and expanding the game--I gotta go:

Russell
Kareem
Jordan
LeBron (though I am tempted to put Dirk on there for being 1) the first truly great international player and expanding the reach of the league and 2) redefining what it meant to be a big man in the league. his shooting ability as a 7 footer really changed the game into the pace and space style we have now)

[Elefantino]

Originally Posted by Onion

what about Kareem over Wilt? they banned dunking in college because of kareem so he just invented another unstoppable shot. i know this is not a list of of the greatest, but the idea that TR is on rushmore already makes the rushmore thing kinda off. should definitely be FDR if we were doing it over.

according to wiki "Between October 4, 1927, and October 31, 1941, Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers[22] sculpted the colossal 60-foot-high (18 m) carvings of United States Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln to represent the first 130 years of American history. These presidents were selected by Borglum because of their role in preserving the Republic and expanding its territory."

preserving and expanding the game--I gotta go:

Russell
Kareem
Jordan
LeBron (though I am tempted to put Dirk on there for being 1) the first truly great international player and expanding the reach of the league and 2) redefining what it meant to be a big man in the league. his shooting ability as a 7 footer really changed the game into the pace and space style we have now)

My NBA mountain, based solely on how they changed the game:

• The NBA widened the key because of Wilt
  
• The NCAA junked the dunk because of Kareem
  
• Dr. J brought the aerial wing game to the NBA (although Elgin Baylor preceded him but not as well or as much in the media spotlight)
• Magic changed the nature who brings up the ball and of the transition game … forever

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by Elefantino

My NBA mountain, based solely on how they changed the game:

• The NBA widened the key because of Wilt
  
• The NCAA junked the dunk because of Kareem
  
• Dr. J brought the aerial wing game to the NBA (although Elgin Baylor preceded him but not as well or as much in the media spotlight)
• Magic changed the nature who brings up the ball and of the transition game … forever

Dr. J is tricky. He was the direct link between Baylor and MJ. But Baylor did it first and MJ's ascendancy coincided with the globalization of the league. So, hard for me to give him a spot in stone.

Where he might be alone: NBA players retired for at least fifteen years that can still dunk. Dr. J still looks trim and regal.