[Diablo]

Let’s play a game.
1) who do you wish you could see play, that you never did?

2)who did you see play that you wish others could have seen?

me: 1) Babe Ruth, followed by rocket richard, prime gordie Howe or Bobby Orr.

2) Mike Tyson. I’ve never seen anyone so dominant in a sport as Mike in his prime.

 

[Paul M]

1) Eddie Mercx. Nobody has dominated their sport the way he dominated cycling. Nicklaus would be a close second. (Clearly I disagree with you about Iron Mike.😋)

2) Bryan Fogarty. Not the most successful, but IMHO, the best hockey player to come out of Brantford. Sundin said Fogarty was better drunk than anyone he played with sober. I saw Fogarty play junior, when he was breaking Bobby Orr's records. He was magical on skates.

 

[keto]

1) My mind immediately leapt to prime Gordie, I’m old enough to have seen him play WHA.

2) The mid-late 70s dominant Canadiens team. I lived in Montreal for 2 years just before they got good. Went to the Forum once, I think Michel Plasse started and it was Bunny Laroque’s rookie year. Anyways, we moved away but I followed them religiously until the Jets hit the NHL. Best d-core ever, almost all HOFers, no wonder Dryden was so good. Lafleur Shutt Lemaire Cournyer PMahovlich etc up front. Scotty Bowman didn‘t just win in Montreal, but he won a lot there. What a team.

Holy cow, this is their backup goalie, lookit the crazy W-L numbers he had too, I don’t remember that!

Michel Larocque - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Doug Gifford]

Let’s play a game.
1) who do you wish you could see play, that you never did?

2)who did you see play that you wish others could have seen?

me: 1) Babe Ruth, followed by rocket richard, prime gordie Howe or Bobby Orr.

I saw Babe Ruth in Ottawa at Lansdowne Park. Robert Palmer and Elke Brooks on vocals. Pretty fine band. I think they warmed up for Manfred Mann but it may have been the other way around.

 

[cboutilier]

1) Roy Halladay. My childhood sports here.

2) Jean-Sébastien Giguère. Watched him, Shelley, and Tanguay play street hockey in front of my house when I was a kid. They all played for the local QMJHL team.

 

[Guncho]

The US/Russia series at Lake Placid.

 

[Diablo]

1) Eddie Mercx. Nobody has dominated their sport the way he dominated cycling. Nicklaus would be a close second. (Clearly I disagree with you about Iron Mike.😋)

we can disagree about iron Mike...esp bc I’ve never heard of Eddie Merckx as someone who doesn’t follow cycling, the only name I know is, well, you know who...
nicklaus...great golfer...I don’t think of him as being as dominant in his sport (considering Palmer, Woods) the way Mike was, but definitely top 5 of all time.

 

[keto]

we can disagree about iron Mike...esp bc I’ve never heard of Eddie Merckx as someone who doesn’t follow cycling, the only name I know is, well, you know who...
nicklaus...great golfer...I don’t think of him as being as dominant in his sport (considering Palmer, Woods) the way Mike was, but definitely top 5 of all time.

It just didn’t last that long, at least on top. He was a bum for a long time, and not generally considered a top 3-5 all time guy. Go thru Ali Jack Johnson Dempsey Louis, all spent more time on top. But he was a fearsome beast no doubt, I watched him from when he was doing Saturday afternoon network TV fights at I believe 19, there was no one in recent memory who fought like that. I drove 2 hours to Regina with 3 other guys to watch 91 seconds of, was it Spinks or Berbick?

 

[guitarman2]

1.) Bobby Orr in his prime live at the game. I've seen him play on TV
2.) Freddie Mercury with Queen.
3.) Muhammad Ali (Live)

 

[Paul M]

we can disagree about iron Mike...esp bc I’ve never heard of Eddie Merckx as someone who doesn’t follow cycling, the only name I know is, well, you know who...
nicklaus...great golfer...I don’t think of him as being as dominant in his sport (considering Palmer, Woods) the way Mike was, but definitely top 5 of all time.

Jack won Majors over a 23 year span. From '62 to '80 he was out of the top 5 at the British Open only twice. For Tiger to catch Jack, Tiger needs to have Phil Mickleson's career to date. Roughly Tiger + Phil = Jack. Tyson's career at the top was very high, but short. Tiger had better media coverage than Jack....just products of their times, I suppose.

Foreman and Chivalo are the only two with long and successful careers in boxing that come to mind.

Edwin Moses won 122 consecutive races in 400m hurdles over a 10 year span. In '67 Richard Petty won 27 races, included 10 in a row. Al Oerter won 4 consecutive Olympic gold medals in discus. Swimmer Dara Torres won olympics medals in '84 and '08. She medaled in 5 different games. She didn't dominate like Phelps, but a 24 year winning career in swimming is almost unimaginable. Lots of ways out there to argue most dominant in any field.

It's really hard to compare sports. I'm not a Mike Tyson fan, but he is definitely on the list of people I don't want to get punched by.

And... not for nothing....this morning I broke my own personal record for consecutive days still alive. I've been on a bit of a hot streak since the mid 60's. I'm not even 1/2 way to the world record.

Interesting topic....thanks for starting it.

 

[guitarman2]

1) Eddie Mercx. Nobody has dominated their sport the way he dominated cycling. Nicklaus would be a close second. (Clearly I disagree with you about Iron Mike.😋)

2) Bryan Fogarty. Not the most successful, but IMHO, the best hockey player to come out of Brantford. Sundin said Fogarty was better drunk than anyone he played with sober. I saw Fogarty play junior, when he was breaking Bobby Orr's records. He was magical on skates.

Like this comparison taken from wiki

Fogarty's talent was apparent right away. Brantford Minor Hockey Association coordinator Bob Coyne told reporters that "he was a star. From the time he put skates on, he was better than everyone else. "We had seen Wayne (Gretzky). Wayne had to work at it. His game was outsmarting everybody else. Fogarty's game was outperforming everybody else. That's like comparing a Volkswagen to a Corvette."[3]

Then in an attempt to straighten him out the room him with Kordic? That was doomed to failure.

The Nordiques knew about his drinking problem and sent him to an alcohol rehab clinic in Minnesota, provided a psychologist, and housed him with a family in Quebec City. They roomed him with another hockey player who was looking to straighten out his life: John Kordic.

Would have been fantastic to see what Fogarty would have been able to become with out the demons.

 

[Diablo]

It just didn’t last that long, at least on top. He was a bum for a long time, and not generally considered a top 3-5 all time guy. Go thru Ali Jack Johnson Dempsey Louis, all spent more time on top. But he was a fearsome beast no doubt, I watched him from when he was doing Saturday afternoon network TV fights at I believe 19, there was no one in recent memory who fought like that. I drove 2 hours to Regina with 3 other guys to watch 91 seconds of, was it Spinks or Berbick?

oh Mike definitely didnt have a long career the way, frankly many others did. He was a wasted talent due to his personal life.
It was his intensity in his prime that makes me think of him as so dominant, and what sets him apart from the rest. I mean, just lasting a minute in the ring with him was considered an accomplishment.
But ya, I totally see how hes a controversial pick...but an interesting one bc you can put a layperson in front of tapes of Ali, Foreman etc and Im not sure they would get their greatness. But watch a couple of Mikes fights in his prime and just about anyone would walk away looking like

 

[Diablo]

1) Eddie Mercx. Nobody has dominated their sport the way he dominated cycling. Nicklaus would be a close second. (Clearly I disagree with you about Iron Mike.😋)

2) Bryan Fogarty. Not the most successful, but IMHO, the best hockey player to come out of Brantford. Sundin said Fogarty was better drunk than anyone he played with sober. I saw Fogarty play junior, when he was breaking Bobby Orr's records. He was magical on skates.

Like this comparison taken from wiki



Then in an attempt to straighten him out the room him with Kordic? That was doomed to failure.



Would have been fantastic to see what Fogarty would have been able to become with out the demons.

thanks for bringing Fogarty into this...I admit, Im not familiar with him.

 

[Diablo]

Jack won Majors over a 23 year span. From '62 to '80 he was out of the top 5 at the British Open only twice. For Tiger to catch Jack, Tiger needs to have Phil Mickleson's career to date. Roughly Tiger + Phil = Jack. Tyson's career at the top was very high, but short. Tiger had better media coverage than Jack....just products of their times, I suppose.

Foreman and Chivalo are the only two with long and successful careers in boxing that come to mind.

Edwin Moses won 122 consecutive races in 400m hurdles over a 10 year span. In '67 Richard Petty won 27 races, included 10 in a row. Al Oerter won 4 consecutive Olympic gold medals in discus. Swimmer Dara Torres won olympics medals in '84 and '08. She medaled in 5 different games. She didn't dominate like Phelps, but a 24 year winning career in swimming is almost unimaginable. Lots of ways out there to argue most dominant in any field.

It's really hard to compare sports. I'm not a Mike Tyson fan, but he is definitely on the list of people I don't want to get punched by.

And... not for nothing....this morning I broke my own personal record for consecutive days still alive. I've been on a bit of a hot streak since the mid 60's. I'm not even 1/2 way to the world record.

Interesting topic....thanks for starting it.

good points.
Just to circle back, this isnt a "who was the best in each sport?" discussion....its who would you most like to see or think others should see. Its about the visual experience, not statistical.

 

[keto]

good points.
Just to circle back, this isnt a "who was the best in each sport?" discussion....its who would you most like to see or think others should see. Its about the visual experience, not statistical.

Yeah, in the #2 category, I saw a guy named Kevin Haller with the Regina Pats (played with Mike Sillinger). Now, Haller isn't unknown, he was a 1st rounder and had a 13 year career cut by injury, so he was a legit NHLer. But I've never seen someone so impressive live in a hockey game, he was fast and dominant. Sillinger was more 'be in the right place at the right time', had 3 points that night and seemed to have done nothing. Nobody's putting Haller in any HOF or all timer lists, but for that 1 game, it was WOW. But he wouldn't be that widely known or remembered today.

 

[High/Deaf]

Interesting question.

1) Howe in his prime (so not WHA)
2) Jim Clark
3) Spartacus

That's just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more.

 

[Paul M]

good points.
Just to circle back, this isnt a "who was the best in each sport?" discussion....its who would you most like to see or think others should see. Its about the visual experience, not statistical.

Just to circle back to your original post..... Did you see Tyson fight live? That would be verrrrrrry cool. I'd love to go to the Kentucky Derby some day. Secretariat would have been a horse to see run in person.

 

[Paul Running]

Andy Irons.

 

[StratCat]

Every game of the St. Louis Cardinals vs. Texas Rangers World Series

 

[JHall55]

Andy Irons.

Yes!! Definitely on my list for part 2 of the OP’s question...”who did you see play you that you wish others could have seen?”

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