Who is the best athlete in the world?
By Justin “The nuT” Boroski
IV Leader Sports Writer
About ten years ago it would have been Michael Jordan.
Five years ago it was Tiger Woods. But who is the best athlete in the world
right now?
Soccer fans would probably say David Beckham. Tennis fans
might argue that it is Roger Federer. So how do you judge something so
controversial that no one will ever agree?
For me it wasn’t to hard at all and here’s why. For starters
the athlete’s skill has to be hand-eye coordination. While there are a lot of
runners, swimmers, cyclists, skiers and endurance athletes with impressive
feats, they won’t feature in this argument (sorry Lance Armstrong). After all
how much better are you than someone else if you only beat them by one hundredth
of a second? That is exactly what happens in many of those sports.
So what is the defining quality that makes one athlete’s
skill better than another? Is a hockey player more talented than say a rugby
player?
Football fanatics would argue that a star quarterback such as
Brett Favre or Peyton Manning has superior skills to a basketball superstar such
as LaBron James, Kobe Bryant or Allen Iverson.
All are worthy of consideration but there is still a group of
athletes who are so impressive, they are on the next level in terms of athletic
ability. Just about every sports analyst and expert would agree that the
single-most difficult thing to do in sports is hitting a baseball. So wouldn’t
it be logical to say that the best athlete in the world is the best at what is
hardest to do?
Finding the best hitter in Major League Baseball poses a
whole new argument, especially with the absence of Barry Bonds this past year,
but I narrowed it down to a few.
Ichiro Suzuki gets more hits than anybody but it is just as
much speed than anything else – a lot of his hits don’t leave the infield.
For me, I didn’t look any further than this year’s two MVPs –
Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols.
Their salaries tell the story. Both guys hit for power, have
high averages and a very disciplined at the plate. In fact, the two are so even
in just about every offensive category that this judge couldn’t single one out
as a winner.
Okay it’s A-Rod, but only just.