Culturally important sports players

[VictoriaGooner]

So we are speaking the most culturally important sports figures of all time, you have to include the two other sports that are played and spectated in higher numbers than that of hockey, baseball, American football, and basketball combined. That would be rugby and cricket. Oh course football (soccer) is the highest played and most popular sport in the world.

Cricket players:

1. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) - Muthiah the king of swing is undoubtedly one of the greatest off-spinners of all time. He took exactly 800 wickets in his test career, a record which seems to be unbreakable after the introduction of T20 edition.

2. Imran Khan (Pakistan) - Imran Khan led Pakistan towards 1992 world cup glory with his outstanding leadership and cricketing skills. He is considered one of the top notch bowling all-rounders.

3. Gary Sober (West Indies) - Gary Sober is one of the best all-rounders the world has ever witnessed. His temperament, class and test match batting average is above many legendary cricketers.

4. Sachin Tendulkar (India) - This batting Guru has scored a hundred 100s in his career, a record which seems to be unbreakable. He has the highest number of runs in both ODI and Test formats, with over 34, 000 runs under his belt. He is one of two players who are able to score a double century in an ODI match.

5. Best Cricketer hands down: Sir Don Bradman - Sir Don Bradman is considered the greatest batsmen of all time as he averaged approximately 100 in test cricket. None of the modern batting Gurus are able to even come close.

कौन?

What are you exactly asking...which one what?

आप वास्तव में क्या पूछ रहे हैं ... जो एक क्या?

[seattlesonicsofsacramento]

So we are speaking the most culturally important sports figures of all time, you have to include the two other sports that are played and spectated in higher numbers than that of hockey, baseball, American football, and basketball combined. That would be rugby and cricket. Oh course football (soccer) is the highest played and most popular sport in the world.

[...]

1. Jonah Lomu (New Zealand) - Jonah Lomu combined speed and power to dazzle opponents. He is recognized as rugby’s first true superstar, and helped grow the sport during the early 90’s. Lomu only had two caps entering the 1995 World Cup, but stunned the rugby world by scoring seven tries in five matches. His tries helped New Zealand to the final, where they lost to South Africa in a historic match. He remains the highest try scorer in World Cup history, with 12 tries. He was also crucial to New Zealand winning the first Tri Nations tournament, in 1996.

I'm glad there's someone here who can make this thread a little less American-centric. So far it's basically been "Culturally important sports players in the U.S." I don't know how many of the ones you listed I'd agree with, though, just based on your description of them and not knowing anything else (could very well be that some are national or ethnic icons). The guy I kept in your quote is the one that I think sounds most like my definition of culturally important. He's not just one of the best at his sport (like all the other guys you mentioned); he's "recognized as rugby's first true superstar". The fact that he "helped grow the sport during the early 90's" makes him sound like a Michael Jordan/Bo Jackson type athlete who was able to capitalize on the surge of 90s sports consumerism that allowed for the full emergence of dominant, superstar athlete as brand.

I would like to see more soccer players named ITT btw, other than Pele, who was basically an international Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan (and who continues to ensure his importance, unlike many other people ITT). I'll nominate Socrates, although I should mention Wladimir and the others who made Democracia Corinthiana possible. For one major sports team to organize itself as a democracy in the face of a military dictatorship, winning 2 Campeonatos Paulistas (translates more or less to Sao Paulo Championship, which at the time was basically the national championship, because of the dominance of Sao Paulo teams in Brazil) is remarkably ballsy and probably historically unique.

[nash61]

If we're going to use a football player, I would choose either Jim Thorpe or Pat Tillman

Thorpe: Broke down some of the native-American stigma, while winning and being stripped of his two Olympic gold medals. One of the only three-sport athletes, Thorpe was mired in one of the first public sports scandals. (Even before the Black Sox), and was named the ABC's Greatest Athlete of the Century despite all this.

Pat Tillman: Known to many for giving up his career than the career itself. Lives on through scholarships and awards.

[dfwabel]

Hell, we may be seeing the next one in our midst...

Rhonda Rousey.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Hell, we may be seeing the next one in our midst...

Rhonda Rousey.

We should have said Serena Williams a long time ago. We're all jerks for overlooking women.

[dfwabel]

Hell, we may be seeing the next one in our midst...

Rhonda Rousey.

We should have said Serena Williams a long time ago. We're all jerks for overlooking women.

I mentioned Billie Jean King and other women before in this thread.

King is still Serena's USTA mentor.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/us-open-2014-serena-williams-will-grab-title-no-18-says-billie-jean-king-9716654.html

Ignorance or bigotry is on y'all.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Hell, we may be seeing the next one in our midst...

Rhonda Rousey.

We should have said Serena Williams a long time ago. We're all jerks for overlooking women.

I mentioned Billie Jean King and other women before in this thread.

King is still Serena's USTA mentor.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/us-open-2014-serena-williams-will-grab-title-no-18-says-billie-jean-king-9716654.html

Ignorance or bigotry is on y'all.

Well now we're a team of two.

[sc49erfan15]

Hell, we may be seeing the next one in our midst...

Rhonda Rousey.

I'm not sure. Not yet. I realize that's why you said "may be," and, yeah, she may be. I think UFC has to stick around for a little longer and prove that it's just not a fad.

That said, I'm by no means a UFC fan, but there wasn't squat else on TV last night and I pulled up a stream of the fight. I happened to catch it just as they were being introduced. 3 minutes later... done. It was impressive for sure, but afterwards you get the... "that's all?" feeling. That's no fault of her own, she did what she needed to do and did it in 13 seconds. I'm sure the feeling after Tyson vs. Spinks was similar.

Speaking of Mike Tyson... have we mentioned Mike Tyson? I think he's culturally relevant.

[Gothamite]

Mike Tyson was famous enough, but never transcended his own sport. Not by a long shot. He's no Ali.

Rhonda Rousey is MMA? I'm not sure that's a significant enough sport to produce a culturally-relevant athlete.

[The_Admiral]

MMA is culturally relevant for the way it helps meatheads sublimate their latent homosexual urges.

[sc49erfan15]

Mike Tyson was famous enough, but never transcended his own sport. Not by a long shot. He's no Ali.

Rhonda Rousey is MMA? I'm not sure that's a significant enough sport to produce a culturally-relevant athlete.

Of course he's not Ali. Nobody's Ali. You could make the argument that Ali is the most culturally relevant American sports figure of all time. I still think Tyson is worthy of mention, though.

The fact that we haven't even yet spelled Rousey's name correctly should say a lot.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

It is too soon for Ronda, especially since she's something like 11-0 for her career. However, it's culturally significant that she's one of the main draws of a sport otherwise dominated by men and her matches (bouts? what's the word?) are able to sell PPVs on their own.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

Let's get some perspective. No one doubts Rousey's stature in her sport. But the topic is relevance in the broader culture.

There are huge numbers of people who have never heard of UFC, let alone any of its athletes. No UFC fighter can possibly qualify right now.

[Gothamite]

Exactly. It's a fringety-fringe sport. The sport itself isn't terribly relevant to the larger culture, so it's doubtful any single athlete could be.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I think the point is Ronda Rousey has had a pretty big impact within her sport. Whether that means something in 10, 30, 50 years is something we'll have to wait and see.

I wish I knew more about Billie Jean King other than the Jimmy Connors match. Is that enough? Or if we're chosen women tennis players, can Serena be that choice?

[sc49erfan15]

I think the point is Ronda Rousey has had a pretty big impact within her sport. Whether that means something in 10, 30, 50 years is something we'll have to wait and see.

I wish I knew more about Billie Jean King other than the Jimmy Connors match. Is that enough? Or if we're chosen women tennis players, can Serena be that choice?

Right.

I'm having trouble finding female athletes that are seriously culturally relevant. Mostly because they're all Olympians - which, regardless of gender, most Olympians tend to fade from the spotlight because 99% of the time anyone watches 75% of Olympic sports is in the Olympics. That's not a knock on women's sports at all - it's just that they still haven't really achieved the widespread popularity necessary to vault someone into that tier of cultural importance.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias is lost to time the same way Jim Thorpe is. Annika Sorenstam and the Williams sisters have to be at the top for women - but how important they are on the larger scale, we're talking 3rd (maybe 2nd) tier. Martina Navratilova is up there too. Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, FloJo, Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, Mia Hamm, Hope Solo... none of them, nor women's sports in general, are quite "there."

Auto racing is a bit different, but Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James, Shirley Muldowney and Danica Patrick still just kinda stand out as "women who have had levels of success at racing" instead of "culturally relevant."

[2001mark]

What about misfits?

Ben Johnson.

9.79* in Seoul I claim to be one of the most significant tipping points in modern sports history. Nothing has ever quite been the same since:

- intense global hype, worldwide audience

- media coverage/news coverage

- steroids/scandals

- scrutinizing athletes, programs, training, coaching, etc

- the Olympics as we knew them lost a ton of innocence.

It was the first time such a tidal wave of reaction, reflection, & doubt all crashed into sports at once yes?

It really was the end of the old sports guard & when the new commenced... nothing has ever been the same since before that race.

[Gothamite]

That's a good point about Olympians. Someone like Mary Lou Retton can be a true national icon for an era, but how often does that extend beyond sports? How often does an athlete leverage success in a game into meaningful dialogue on national issues?

Aside from the rare heroes like Owens or Carlos and Smith, it seems not very.

[The_Admiral]

How about Bruce Jenner? All-American man who decided to become a woman.

[Gothamite]

Do we know that for a fact?

If it turns out to be true, and it causes the country to treat transgendered persons with more understanding, then maybe he could be a worthy addition to the list.