Why is there ever a debate about who was the best Irish Sports person ever? *READ OP*

ec18

begbysback wrote: »

Rugby has zero credibility with the amount of overhyped friendlies, it’s structured terribly, how can it be taken seriously when the sport tries to sell games where a bunch of northern hemisphere players are picked to play a bunch of southern hemisphere players, and it’s marketed as if it’s a war, another overhyped friendly which most people don’t care about. No rugby player should ever get “greatest” anything, you may as well pick a cricket player.

when ewan mckenna join boards?

circadian

sxt wrote: »

Roy Keane

There is no other Irish person close. Who ever is second, is a distant second

He is the most influential sports person in Irish sporting History, and in British football history

Any objections?

Paul McGrath.
Barry McGuigan.

Both not ***** to boot. As much as I respect the great career of Roy Keane, and he was an excellent player he's a bit of a dick. There are much better Irish sports persons and many more better Ambassadors.

afro man

jimgoose wrote: »

Yizzer are all wrong. The greatest Irish sportsperson ever to have lived or who ever will live, is Big Paddy Ryan, the Pallasgrean Grizzly, who won gold in the hammer-throw and silver in the 56-pound shot in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Belgium.

what about Dr Pat O'Callaghan
Won gold in 1928 And 1932 in Hammer throw

John Pius Boland won gold in tennis singles in Athens in 1896 and Mend Doubles but as Pre Independence of Ireland he may not be Recognised as irish

begbysback

Homelander wrote: »

Has fought in some of the biggest PPV's in history. His antics outside UFC made mainstream news across the world.

He is in the top 5 of the ESPN World fame list alongside the likes of Ronaldo and Messi.

But sure no, no-one knows who he is.

Everybody knew who Eddie the eagle edwards was too in his day, has no relevance to who is considered best sportsperson, mc Gregors biggest win was managing to get himself into a ring with mayweather and having people pay handsomely for it. MMA as a sport still lacks credibility as the fights are hand picked and there’s more ducking and diving going on than an episode of only fools and horses.

khalessi

Michelle De Bruin

circadian

Oh and Liam Coyle, how many times did Keane nutmeg Puyol in his prime?

Gretas Gonna Get Ya!

cdeb wrote: »

In fairness, in 1992 anyway, she was beaten by three Chinese who were pumped full of drugs (as the Chinese themselves recently admitted)

Was also beaten by a Russian in 92 who was later banned for drugs, and another who died unexpectedly at 43 (shades of Flo Jo?)

1996 was weird though. And silver in 2000 was probably respectable at 31.

I wouldn't be too critical of her performance in 92 either way, because she was very young and not one of the favourites for a medal.

96 and 2000 were undoubtedly failures though. She was one of the favourites for gold in 96 having won both the european and world championships, but didn't handle the pressure of being one of the favourites and dropped out with "stomach issues" (a bit like paula radcliffe - the old "stomach issues").

2000 she should have been in her prime, but for some strange reason decided to take a year off from competition in 1999 to have a child... And so her chances of winning gold in the 2000 olympics were very slim after that.

You might say this is an unfair criticism of her, but she was 30 years old and one of the best in the world at that point. She had a serious chance of winning gold in those games, why not wait until after those games and then have a baby? Very odd timing...

Homelander

begbysback wrote: »

Everybody knew who Eddie the eagle edwards was too in his day, has no relevance to who is considered best sportsperson, mc Gregors biggest win was managing to get himself into a ring with mayweather and having people pay handsomely for it. MMA as a sport still lacks credibility as the fights are hand picked and there’s more ducking and diving going on than an episode of only fools and horses.

OK? But the post I was responding to was a bizarre claim that McGregor isn't well known outside of Ireland.

You might as well claim that Mayweather isn't known outside of Boxing fans, or Rory McIllroy is only familiar to golf enthusiasts.

Mister Vain

gourcuff wrote: »

mcgregor is definitely infamous, but i think only really loved in dublin.

Most Irish people think hes a complete gimp and an embarrassment, sucker punching old lads in pubs and just being a general scrote.

he got destroyed in his last fight, and more than a hint of discrimination/racism about some of his comments..

Actually he won his last fight. And he's definitely loved and well known outside of Ireland, let alone Dublin.

joe40

Homelander wrote: »

Which has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with your deluded initial claim that Conor McGregor isn't well known outside of Ireland.

When he's literally one of the most famous athletes in the world.

It's OK to be wrong.

I seem to have struck a nerve here. There is no way McGregor is well known outside Ireland or MMA circles.

Also a lot of the fame or rather infamy of his is due to antics outside his sport, and a silly boxing match.
Hardly criteria for greatest Irish sportstar

eagle eye

joe40 wrote:

I know McGregor is well known in Ireland, but outside of Ireland and outside the fairly niche sport of MMA I don't think he would be well known at all.

McGregor is known worldwide no doubt about that. When you see players all over the world in different sports copying his walk you know a guy is really big worldwide. Please let's not descend a bit a discussion on whether it's his walk not not, it's not important.
I'm not a lover or hater of McGregor. I didn't like the way he went on the last couple of years with the nasty trash talk but understand it's a business move. I don't really pass much heed on his personal life but obviously have heard about the alleged assault and that's not nice.
Still doesn't take away from.howcwell known he is though. Deffo most well known Irish sportsperson and maybe most well known Irish person globally.

joe40 wrote:

In order to decide the greatest sports person you would have to decide a particular criteria beforehand.

I think success has to be a big part of it.

Like if you are named the world's best at any point then that's a huge thing. That's why, for me, it's hard to beat Katie Taylor who has been the AIBA Women's boxer of the year as an amateur and the British and American sportswriters both named her their professional.womens boxer of the year. She has numerous Irish awards too and then there's the Olympic gold, 5 world titles and 6 European titles as an amateur among her 18 hold medals. She then goes pro and not only wins a world title but unified the belts and then moved up a weight class and won the title.
And she was also the FAI under 19 international women's player of the year at soccer and played 11 times for the senior international team before quitting at 23 years of age to concentrate on her boxing career.

Homelander

joe40 wrote: »

There is no way McGregor is well known outside Ireland or MMA circles.

Stop embarrassing yourself.

Strumms

Gretas Gonna Get Ya! wrote: »

Roy Keane was a great player, but he only has one Champions League to his name in his entire career... and he didn't even play in that final.

People tend to overhype the premier league and how much it's really worth in terms of sporting achievement. To truly be classed among the greats of the game, you really need to be dominating both domestically and in europe. Keane's man utd team never really did that consistently. (Apart from the treble season - but that was only one season out of about 13/14 that he was at the club)

How many clubs in football the world over though have managed to win their own league, Europe and their domestic cup in one season ? Keane captained United to the achievement...

Klinsmann, Fabregas, Shearer, blanc, Weah, Batistuta, Viera, Nedved, Baggio, Totti, Bergkamp , Buffon, Ronaldo (Brazil) .... are all considered some of the greatest players over the last 20-25 years... none of these guys won a treble, in fact none of them can even boast a single Champions League winners medal to their name.

All those players are some of the greats the game has ever given us, that’s not open to question. But have never been successful in Europe despite being with excellent teams.

joe40

Homelander wrote: »

Stop embarrassing yourself.

Why do people get so uppity about McGregor.

The previous poster made a perfectly reasonable post about why he believes McGregor is in fact well known outside Ireland. I don't necessarily accept his opinion but it was said in a mannerly way I'll take on board what he said.

Nonsense about "embarrassing myself" is just stupid. Some McGregor fanboys seem to take this stuff far too personally.

ErnestBorgnine

Strumms wrote: »

How many clubs in football the world over though have managed to win their own league, Europe and their domestic cup in one season ? Keane captained United to the achievement...

Klinsmann, Fabregas, Shearer, blanc, Weah, Batistuta, Viera, Nedved, Baggio, Totti, Bergkamp , Buffon, Ronaldo (Brazil) .... are all considered some of the greatest players over the last 20-25 years... none of these guys won a treble, in fact none of them can even boast a single Champions League winners medal to their name.

All those players are some of the greats the game has ever given us, that’s not open to question. But have never been successful in Europe despite being with excellent teams.

Klinsmann, Fabregas, blanc,, Viera, Totti, Buffon, Ronaldo (Brazil) all won the World Cup.

Keane went home and walked his dog.

Homelander

joe40 wrote: »

Why do people get so uppity about McGregor.

The previous poster made a perfectly reasonable post about why he believes McGregor is in fact well known outside Ireland. I don't necessarily accept his opinion but it was said in a mannerly way I'll take on board what he said.

Nonsense about "embarrassing myself" is just stupid. Some McGregor fanboys seem to take this stuff far too personally.

Nothing to do with fanboys. I don't give a crap about McGregor or what he gets up to.

Your "opinion" is basically 1+1=3.

McGregor is, objectively, one of the most famous athletes in the world. That's not opinion, that is literal fact.

And you're attempting to argue that he's not well known outside of Ireland.

So it belongs in the same category of opinion as "the earth is flat" and "5G causes autism".

Sir Guy who smiles

endacl wrote: »

By what measure? Henry Shefflin earned more silverware, captained more teams, and played for longer. Not international though.

The question is, as both Keane and Shefflin would agree no doubt, pointless. And any answer would be incorrect as it could easily be logically dismantled. ‘Who was the best ever’ is a mindset lads carry over from the playground debates of which was the best dinosaur, and Oasis v Blur.

Spinasaurous

Strumms

ErnestBorgnine wrote: »

Klinsmann, Fabregas, blanc,, Viera, Totti, Buffon, Ronaldo (Brazil) all won the World Cup.

Keane went home and walked his dog.

Keane could have walked his pet budgie but he wasn’t playing in a team capable of winning a World Cup.

None of the above players while achieving internationally in a once in four year competition... ever succeeded in the general rigorous and competitiveness of Europe, Keane did, Keane was never going to do it Internationally as he never had the talent beside him sadly.. talk about Saipan till the cows come home.

AdrianBalboa

eagle eye wrote: »

McGregor is known worldwide no doubt about that. When you see players all over the world in different sports copying his walk you know a guy is really big worldwide. Please let's not descend a bit a discussion on whether it's his walk not not, it's not important.
I'm not a lover or hater of McGregor. I didn't like the way he went on the last couple of years with the nasty trash talk but understand it's a business move. I don't really pass much heed on his personal life but obviously have heard about the alleged assault and that's not nice.
Still doesn't take away from.howcwell known he is though. Deffo most well known Irish sportsperson and maybe most well known Irish person globally.



I think success has to be a big part of it.

Like if you are named the world's best at any point then that's a huge thing. That's why, for me, it's hard to beat Katie Taylor who has been the AIBA Women's boxer of the year as an amateur and the British and American sportswriters both named her their professional.womens boxer of the year. She has numerous Irish awards too and then there's the Olympic gold, 5 world titles and 6 European titles as an amateur among her 18 hold medals. She then goes pro and not only wins a world title but unified the belts and then moved up a weight class and won the title.
And she was also the FAI under 19 international women's player of the year at soccer and played 11 times for the senior international team before quitting at 23 years of age to concentrate on her boxing career.

Katie Taylor is definitely Ireland's greatest sportsperson but her achievements are consistently overlooked because of our society's patriarchal capitalist focus on male sports people or whoever makes the most money. This kind of latent misogyny is why Michelle Smith has been totally scrubbed from history, despite the fact that almost every male professional athlete is just as dirty as she was.

ErnestBorgnine

Strumms wrote: »

Keane could have walked his pet budgie but he wasn’t playing in a team capable of winning a World Cup.

None of the above players while achieving internationally in a once in four year competition... ever succeeded in the general rigorous and competitiveness of Europe, Keane did, Keane was never going to do it Internationally as he never had the talent beside him sadly.. talk about Saipan till the cows come home.

He has 1 CL title, which puts him on the same level as Djimi Traore. Probably slightly behind him actually as Keane played in a better team.

It's almost as if choosing a single arbitrary individual measure in a team sport to determine who is better is kinda silly.

joe40

Homelander wrote: »

Nothing to do with fanboys. I don't give a crap about McGregor or what he gets up to.

Your "opinion" is basically 1+1=3.

McGregor is, objectively, one of the most famous athletes in the world. That's not opinion, that is literal fact.

And you're attempting to argue that he's not well known outside of Ireland.

So it belongs in the same category of opinion as "the earth is flat" and "5G causes autism".

Why is McGregor famous but other MMA stars aren't?
I have no doubt he is well known, but no way is he one of the most famous athletes in the world. I just don't understand how a niche sport could produce a world wide sportstar.

If you can give me evidence, without such an argumentative tone, I'll engage.

I just don't think an average French or German person would know who McGregor is compared to someone like tiger woods or Usain Bolt.

Kilboor

AdrianBalboa wrote: »

Katie Taylor is definitely Ireland's greatest sportsperson but her achievements are consistently overlooked because of our society's patriarchal capitalist focus on male sports people or whoever makes the most money. This kind of latent misogyny is why Michelle Smith has been totally scrubbed from history, despite the fact that almost every male professional athlete is just as dirty as she was.

Katie Taylor is a fantastic athlete and an all time great boxer. However women's boxing is nowhere near as competitive (due to women not having the same opportunities or push to take up boxing), or skillful as men's boxing.

It's not patriarchal or sexist to say that men's boxing is harder hitting, more skillful, more competitive and contains a lot more weight and history.

Katie is a great role model for future generations of women boxers though.

Kilboor

joe40 wrote: »

Why is McGregor famous but other MMA stars aren't?
I have no doubt he is well known, but no way is he one of the most famous athletes in the world. I just don't understand how a niche sport could produce a world wide sportstar.

If you can give me evidence, without such an argumentative tone, I'll engage.

I just don't think an average French or German person would know who McGregor is compared to someone like tiger woods or Usain Bolt.

McGregor is the most famous UFC fighter of all time and arguably has done more to push UFC and MMA to the masses than any other character in the sport. The reason being is because he has a unique and confident personality not too unlike Ali back in the boxing days. He has come up against the best in UFC and beat them with the odds against him, even predicting how he would do it. He is loud mouthed, confident, the first two weight world champion, and a damn good entertaining fighter.

He has even transitioned into boxing and fought arguably one of the best boxers of all time in Floyd Mayweather which drew a near record PPV audience and income. You're absolutely delusional if you think he's not known worldwide.

Net Worth of probably a quarter of a billion euro.

https://www.ranker.com/list/most-famous-athletes-right-now/celebrity-lists

No.5 on this Worldwide ranking list

Gretas Gonna Get Ya!

Strumms wrote: »

How many clubs in football the world over though have managed to win their own league, Europe and their domestic cup in one season ? Keane captained United to the achievement...

Klinsmann, Fabregas, Shearer, blanc, Weah, Batistuta, Viera, Nedved, Baggio, Totti, Bergkamp , Buffon, Ronaldo (Brazil) .... are all considered some of the greatest players over the last 20-25 years... none of these guys won a treble, in fact none of them can even boast a single Champions League winners medal to their name.

All those players are some of the greats the game has ever given us, that’s not open to question. But have never been successful in Europe despite being with excellent teams.

Barcelona have done the treble twice in the 20 odd years since Man Utd did it... I think Inter Milan and Bayern Munich have also completed trebles as well in that same period too.

So it's not quite as unique an achievement as the sky sports and Man Utd fans would like to believe. (But of course their bias towards their own league, makes them think that their treble was more important)

Still a great achievement though... it's not easy to accomplish. It's still only one great season though.

Why did that Man Utd team never make it back to any more CL finals? Ferguson and Keane himself have both acknowledged that they seriously underachieved in europe in the years after that treble win.

Getting knocked out against teams like Deportivo and Leverkusen was a big failure for that team... that treble team was stacked with world class players in almost every position, and Ferguson had huge amounts of cash to spend in those years... relative to the time in question of course. They were one of the top 3 richest clubs in the world.

Great players and great teams don't just do it for one season... they have a period of dominance. That United team had a period of dominance domestically, but they failed to do it in Europe. They cannot really be classed as one of the truly great teams in history, not just based on one outstanding season. For a player like Keane, to have never played in a CL final in his entire career is a big disappointment.

lawrencesummers

begbysback wrote: »

Rugby has zero credibility with the amount of overhyped friendlies, it’s structured terribly, how can it be taken seriously when the sport tries to sell games where a bunch of northern hemisphere players are picked to play a bunch of southern hemisphere players, and it’s marketed as if it’s a war, another overhyped friendly which most people don’t care about. No rugby player should ever get “greatest” anything, you may as well pick a cricket player.

Overhyped friendles they are, I can agree with you there, but they still have far greater intensity and physicality than the hardest soccer game ever witnessed

They dont try and sell them, because they have no issues getting full houses for every "friendly". Autumn internationals are normally alwas full houses in the northern hemisphere.

ThewhiteJesus

An honourable mention to Padraig Harrington a three time major champion and all round good guy,
but for "best" i would have to agree with Roy Keane by a million miles

lawrencesummers

Mcgregor has had more retirements than fights in the last 5 years.

His record in the last 4 years is bad, and thats when at 28-32 years old he should be in his prime.

To say he is the greatest sportsman is just some weird homoerotic fascination that shoes without sock wearing people who consider insta photos in the gym a competitive sport go on with.

The only thing Mcgregor could be considered the greatest irish person at is cutting weight, and frankly there are probably 20 jockeys ahead of him in that regard.

Strumms

ErnestBorgnine wrote: »

He has 1 CL title, which puts him on the same level as Djimi Traore. Probably slightly behind him actually as Keane played in a better team.

It's almost as if choosing a single arbitrary individual measure in a team sport to determine who is better is kinda silly.

Nope. You don’t get solely judged as an athlete or sports person by virtue of one competition. You have been furnished with Keane record.

That’s like saying Roberto Baggio is on the same level as Jorge Burruchaga. Have won a World Cup each and both having scored in the finals.

lawrencesummers

ThewhiteJesus wrote: »

An honourable mention to Padraig Harrington a three time major champion and all round good guy,
but for "best" i would have to agree with Roy Keane by a million miles

Then where does Denis Irwin come in that, because he has the same

Pawwed Rig

Homelander wrote: »

Which has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with your deluded initial claim that Conor McGregor isn't well known outside of Ireland.

When he's literally one of the most famous athletes in the world.

It's OK to be wrong.

Ah here. He is famous in pop culture in the US which seems to be all that counts for some people. MMA is no where near as popular worldwide as football. Go out of the Anglosphere and you would be hard pressed to find anyone who knows him. Even within the Anglosphere you would not really be aware of him unless you read the celebrity gossip sections on news sites.

Beechwoodspark

Roy Keane walked out on the national team in our time of need

He scuttled back to “sir Alex”

That to me says a lot about the man and I would never consider him a great Irish sports man after his little amateur dramatics hour in Saipan

CalamariFritti

Padraic Harrington?

Kilboor

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Ah here. He is famous in pop culture in the US which seems to be all that counts for some people. MMA is no where near as popular worldwide as football. Go out of the Anglosphere and you would be hard pressed to find anyone who knows him. Even within the Anglosphere you would not really be aware of him unless you read the celebrity gossip sections on news sites.

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/26113613/espn-world-fame-100-2019

I don't understand how people can not appreciate McGregor's success and fame. I get the hate for the man personally but saying he's not known worldwide or that his accomplishments are nothing is absolutely ridiculous.

I'm also not saying he is the best Irish sports person ever.

Gretas Gonna Get Ya!

Strumms wrote: »

Nope. You don’t get solely judged as an athlete or sports person by virtue of one competition. You have been furnished with Keane record.

That’s like saying Roberto Baggio is on the same level as Jorge Burruchaga. Have won a World Cup each and both having scored in the finals.

Paolo Maldini won the same amount of league titles as keane, but also played in 6 Champions League finals - winning 5 of them!

Keane has played in zero Champions League finals.

I'm sorry, but that Man Utd team seriously underachieved in Europe after winning the treble. When you have both Ferguson and Keane admitting this, you know it's the truth. (Particularly Ferguson - who very rarely admits to his own failings in anything!)

B.A._Baracus

Poorside wrote: »

Well that certainly makes him out greatest ever sportsman, was Hitler a sportsman of any sort?

A rather sarky post
You see Poorside awards, accolades and even medals are fine and dandy. But money is what counts. That's the true measurement of success.

Personally I think McGregor is a wan*er but who cares what I think. McGregor is believed to have a couple of hundred million. That right there makes him the best.

Mad_maxx

Strumms wrote: »

Nope. You don’t get solely judged as an athlete or sports person by virtue of one competition. You have been furnished with Keane record.

That’s like saying Roberto Baggio is on the same level as Jorge Burruchaga. Have won a World Cup each and both having scored in the finals.

When did Roberto Baggio win a world Cup?

Homelander

lawrencesummers wrote: »

His record in the last 4 years is bad, and thats when at 28-32 years old he should be in his prime.

Eh, what?

Literally, his last fights have been:

Cerrone - knocked him out in 30 seconds. Now, obviously, Cerrone is past his prime, but he's never been knocked out that quick and dominantly before.

Khabib - lost in Round 4 to someone, who has literally not been defeated, ever, and is arguably the best lightweight of all time. In fact, McGregor put up as good, if not better, fight than Dustin Porier did, but the fight ended exactly the same way - overwhelmingly wresting from Khabib.

Mayweather - lost to the best boxer in the world, as literally anyone with half a brain cell knew beforehand would happen, it was only ever about money for the pair of them, who were laughing from the get go.

Alvarez - Wrecked him, and became the UFC's first two division champion.

Those are his last 4 fights. I'm not seeing what's so bad about them. His record is still 22-4 with 19 knockouts.

Ah here. He is famous in pop culture in the US which seems to be all that counts for some people. MMA is no where near as popular worldwide as football. Go out of the Anglosphere and you would be hard pressed to find anyone who knows him. Even within the Anglosphere you would not really be aware of him unless you read the celebrity gossip sections on news sites.

Not sure why people keep bringing up these weird strawmen. No-one claimed MMA is as popular as Football? But McGregor has global reach and fame on-par with many footballers.

I mean, what's Kim Kardashian famous for? A sex tape, a braindead reality TV show, being married to that spanner Kanye West?

That doesn't change the fact that she's one of the most famous people in the world.

Omackeral

AdrianBalboa wrote: »

Katie Taylor is definitely Ireland's greatest sportsperson but her achievements are consistently overlooked because of our society's patriarchal

Maybe more women should get out and support their sisters?

Omackeral

joe40 wrote: »

Why is McGregor famous but other MMA stars aren't?
I have no doubt he is well known, but no way is he one of the most famous athletes in the world. I just don't understand how a niche sport could produce a world wide sportstar.

If you can give me evidence, without such an argumentative tone, I'll engage.

A simple test would be to start typing C-O-N-O into google and see what comes up in the auto fill. Or if you search “Conor McGregor Famous” it gives a plethora of articles about his superstardom.

Like it or not, he’s noteworthy. For the record I think he’s a knackbag.

ErnestBorgnine

Strumms wrote: »

Nope. You don’t get solely judged as an athlete or sports person by virtue of one competition. You have been furnished with Keane record.

That’s like saying Roberto Baggio is on the same level as Jorge Burruchaga. Have won a World Cup each and both having scored in the finals.

Yeah they are silly comparisons to make i agree, but you started it.


Your argument is akin to saying Steve McMahon is better than Bryan Robson, count their League. Championship medals

afro man

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Roy Keane walked out on the national team in our time of need

He scuttled back to “sir Alex”

That to me says a lot about the man and I would never consider him a great Irish sports man after his little amateur dramatics hour in Saipan

Did Mick Mc Carthy not send him Home

Beechwoodspark

afro man wrote: »

Did Mick Mc Carthy not send him Home

Yeah because Roy threw the rattler out of the pram

lawrencesummers

Homelander wrote: »

Eh, what?

Literally, his last fights have been:

Cerrone - knocked him out in 30 seconds. Now, obviously, Cerrone is past his prime, but he's never been knocked out that quick and dominantly before.

Khabib - lost in Round 4 to someone, who has literally not been defeated, ever, and is arguably the best lightweight of all time. In fact, McGregor put up as good, if not better, fight than Dustin Porier did, but the fight ended exactly the same way - overwhelmingly wresting from Khabib.

Mayweather - lost to the best boxer in the world, as literally anyone with half a brain cell knew beforehand would happen, it was only ever about money for the pair of them, who were laughing from the get go.

Alvarez - Wrecked him, and became the UFC's first two division champion.

Those are his last 4 fights. I'm not seeing what's so bad about them. His record is still 22-4 with 19 knockouts.



Not sure why people keep bringing up these weird strawmen. No-one claimed MMA is as popular as Football? But McGregor has global reach and fame on-par with many footballers.

I mean, what's Kim Kardashian famous for? A sex tape, a braindead reality TV show, being married to that spanner Kanye West?

That doesn't change the fact that she's one of the most famous people in the world.

So he is 50% for his last four fights, and that’s supposed to be great?

The truth of the matter is that McGregor has chased money over a lasting legacy of greatness in MMA, there is nothing wrong with that, I would have done the exact same as would many others, but don’t start talking about him being the greatest when he is leaving his talent behind and going off to take a beating in a different sport because of the payday

If he wanted to be considered the best he should have concentrated on defending his belts and beating the best challengers, instead he went boxing and came back to get hammered by kabib.

jmayo

ratracer wrote: »

Seán Kelly!

People, especially thre kids around here, don't realise it now, but he was unofficial world's no.1 for at least 5 years.
They had no official world rankings.

The guys that won the major tours only did the major tours whereas Kelly was humping around all the one days and other events from Feb to October every year.

He won one day classics like Giro di Lombardia, Milan–San Remo, Paris–Roubaix and Liège–Bastogne–Liège multiple times.

He won Paris–Nice seven years in a row.

And he was hard as nails.
He rode a stage of Tour De France with a broken collarbone.
He rode multiple stages of Vuelta a Espana with an abscess on his ass.
Riding a bike the whole day in the Spanish summer heat with a boil on your ar** has to be fooking hard.

joe40 wrote: »

Yeah, you're probably right. The sport Keane played in, is played by millions of people world wide, so to be competitive at a high level in such a popular sport is indeed a great achievement.

There are probably only a handful of elite MMA fighter so McGregor doesn't compare.

Ahh FFS Keane wasn't even our best ever soccer player.
Giles, Brady and McGrath were better players.

Oh and Giles was a tougher nut than Keane could ever dream to be.
Giles lamped Keegan when he was considered one of England's best players, whereas Keane could only indulge in handbags with Shearer.

BTW when anyone starts listing how many trophies someone has won as measure of how good they are, just think Jerzy Dudek has a champions league winners medal whereas Gigi Buffon hasn't.
Does that mean he was a better keeper ?
Likewise Pogba has world cup winners medal and Messi, Baggio don't, so which are better players ?

cdeb wrote: »

Clifton Hugh Lancelot de Verdon Wrottesley

Came fourth in the skeleton in the Winter Olympics despite us not having any aul bit of snow since that one time yer man hit his head off the footpath on the news

It would be between himself and Joey Dunlop when it came to Irish sportsperson with the biggest balls.

Now there was a sportsman and gentleman Joey Dunlop.

lawrencesummers

The complete lack of credibility that cycling has (and rightly so) will always preclude somebody from getting the title of greatness and if its ok to rule out a rugby player because Rugby isnt a global sport, then its equally ok to rule out a cyclist. Only 13 countries have a top level cycling team in 2020.

ErnestBorgnine

lawrencesummers wrote: »

The complete lack of credibility that cycling has (and rightly so) will always preclude somebody from getting the title of greatness and if its ok to rule out a rugby player because Rugby isnt a global sport, then its equally ok to rule out a cyclist. Only 13 countries have a top level cycling team in 2020.

Sean Kelly was salt of the earth type thou, rugby is full of ****.


That has to count for something.

wexandproud

lawrencesummers wrote: »

The complete lack of credibility that cycling has (and rightly so) will always preclude somebody from getting the title of greatness and if its ok to rule out a rugby player because Rugby isnt a global sport, then its equally ok to rule out a cyclist. Only 1 countries have a top level cycling team in 2020.

their have been and still are world class cyclists from all over the world .All you have to do is look at the results of the races in any year . Even in Kelly's era the eastern block countries all the european countries were competing as were Australians , americans north and south . Indeed some of the best ''grand tour'' rider were columbians , tiny little lads but boy could they go uphill fast. If you look at kelly's last world championship medal an american and russian beat him . National teams only compete in a few races , professional teams made up from riders from all over the world compete in the vast majority of races . before you turn pro you have to have won top level races and be among the best of the best in your country. To win a race you are competing against up to 200 of the best in the world and sometimes in conditions most other competitions would be called off . Cold, rain , snow , heat races are only very rarely stopped usually because roads are blocked/flooded and impassible . Top level professional races also take place all over the world and professionals can race for up to 10 months of the year.
Just out of interest what is the 1 country you would class as having top level team

as you have edited your post . National teams have very little to do with the professional side of the sport which is where the vast majority of the sport takes place and there is some who would say that in the olympics and world championships where riders compete on national teams that their is often conflict as riders are racing against people who would normally be team mates in the pro teams. It would be hard to race against people who are your team mates on your professional team for the vast vast majority of the season and where you make your living

Mad_maxx

Sean Kelly is indeed a legend

No nonsense tipperary man who always came off the saddle for interviews sounding like a farmer hungry for a feed of spuds after a day footing turf

a very cool kid

jmayo wrote: »

He rode multiple stages of Vuelta a Espana with an abscess on his ass.
Riding a bike the whole day in the Spanish summer heat with a boil on your ar** has to be fooking hard.
.

Could you imagine the relief when it was burst/lanced that night??

wexandproud

a very cool kid wrote: »

Could you imagine the relief when it was burst/lanced that night??

and then come back a year later and win the race . Never any conflict or complaints within the teams he was on , just got on with the job .