Most fascinating (non ND) athlete?

[Pancake Bandit]

I'd have to go with Ty Cobb. Shrewd, innovative, brilliant and an absolute maniac.

I love sports history, and Cobb has always completely fascinated me. One of my absolute all-time favorite athletes, for any sport, any time period, etc etc., and perhaps the most spellbinding character study of all. I have many books on him, which I like to read over and over.

 

[BobD]

SF Giants ace closer and multi-sport champion Brian Wilson.

 

[Carlyle Javar Holiday]

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[NDPhilly]

Anything other than Tebow is heresy.

 

[kmoose]

Not sure I could name just one............

Bo Jackson
Muhammad Ali
Brian Piccolo
Jim Brown
Jesse Owens ( I love that Jesse Owens stuck it to Hitler at the '39(?) Olympics)
Nolan Ryan

 

[BobD]

Not sure I could name just one............

Bo Jackson
Muhammad Ali
Brian Piccolo
Jim Brown
Jesse Owens ( I love that Jesse Owens stuck it to Hitler at the '39(?) Olympics)
Nolan Ryan

Nice list. Great choices!

 

[Pancake Bandit]

Not sure I could name just one............

Bo Jackson
Muhammad Ali
Brian Piccolo
Jim Brown
Jesse Owens ( I love that Jesse Owens stuck it to Hitler at the '39(?) Olympics)
Nolan Ryan

Nice, love the Ryan Express. He is one badass dude.

 

[phgreek]

I'd have to go with Ty Cobb. Shrewd, innovative, brilliant and an absolute maniac.

I love sports history, and Cobb has always completely fascinated me. One of my absolute all-time favorite athletes, for any sport, any time period, etc etc., and perhaps the most spellbinding character study of all. I have many books on him, which I like to read over and over.

...ok, I always wondered this. As a young man I read a book about Cobb, which portrayed him much like Ruth (although both had a darker side).

Later in life I saw a movie where Tommy Lee Jones was Cobb...obviously the portrayal was SIGNIFICANTLY different.

So which book should I grab...one that tells me who Cobb really was?

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

Charlie Brown. Aaaaaaaugh!!!

 

[Pancake Bandit]

...ok, I always wondered this. As a young man I read a book about Cobb, which portrayed him much like Ruth (although both had a darker side).

Later in life I saw a movie where Tommy Lee Jones was Cobb...obviously the portrayal was SIGNIFICANTLY different.

So which book should I grab...one that tells me who Cobb really was?

There are actually 3 'main' bio books on Cobb. One is his autobiography ("My Life In Baseball: The True Record"), which is still awesome, but obviously is pretty self-serving and skewed. A second one ("Cobb: A Biography") was written by Stump, the guy who Cobb wrote his autobiography with, and it is much more negative (still a GREAT read though) and it was later revealed that Stump falsified a bunch of Cobb memorabilia, etc -- including completely making up some Cobb letters and such, so the author's word now has to be taken with a BIG grain of salt.

The best one is also the most reliable and unbiased, simply called "Ty Cobb" by Charles Alexander. That one is more based on research, interviews, etc.

I really like all 3, as I find it interesting just getting all the different viewpoints, but if you were to read just one, I'd definitely suggest the last one, by Charles Alexander.

 

[MacIrish75]

Tony Siragusa

 

[IrishinSyria]

Patrick Roy
Alexander Ovechkin

 

[phgreek]

There are actually 3 'main' bio books on Cobb. One is his autobiography ("My Life In Baseball: The True Record"), which is still awesome, but obviously is pretty self-serving and skewed. A second one ("Cobb: A Biography") was written by Stump, the guy who Cobb wrote his autobiography with, and it is much more negative (still a GREAT read though) and it was later revealed that Stump falsified a bunch of Cobb memorabilia, etc -- including completely making up some Cobb letters and such, so the author's word now has to be taken with a BIG grain of salt.

The best one is also the most reliable and unbiased, simply called "Ty Cobb" by Charles Alexander. That one is more based on research, interviews, etc.

I really like all 3, as I find it interesting just getting all the different viewpoints, but if you were to read just one, I'd definitely suggest the last one, by Charles Alexander.

Awesome...I now have 1 (or maybe 3) of my winter lineup taken care of.

Thank You...I owe you one...

 

[Irish2015]

Tiger Woods. Man has so much swag.

 

[Buster Bluth]

JD Bergman. Easily.

 

[arrowryan]

I would say arrowryan but thats just me

 

[GO IRISH GO]

Jerry Rice

 

[BeauBenken]

Bo Jackson

My dad use to always say he named me after him, but my mom didn't want the simple spelling. Bo was one of the greatest athletes of all-time. It was said he could throw a football across the entire field. I know he could get a baseball from the backfield wall. He was very strong and could run sub 4.3 40s. I'm a fan.