Getting worked up about the AP "Athlete(s) of the Decade Award is a waste of time. Who are the judges? What do they know?

The Oscars fall into a similar non-issue category. It is essentially a Union vote. The ballots are cast by individuals who, for the most part, have difficulty speaking without cue cards.

As fpor gender and race quibbles--until the NBA and NFL institute affirmative action programs to guarantee whites a place as starters, we're better off ignoring questions of bias.

Ultimately, we're left to consider your point that golf is not a sport. Physically, there is no comparison with football or basketball; but mentally, the stress factor is substantially higher...and, anent soccer, most goalies could be arrested for loitering through the course of a match. As an American, my view of soccer(Association football) is skewed. My three kids were excellent soccer players. But the game as played is more melodrama than reality. Players writhing in agony are miraculously restored by an aerosol spray--faked fouls, crooked refs, awful misses at the goal, racist fans making monkey chants at black players, or hissing gas chamber sounds at Jewish players, often accompanied by "Sieg Heil" salutes...a "beautiful game" indeed.

Finally, your list is no less provocative than the AP's. Serena? Ray Lewis? Madness.

Kudos to Lionel. I couldn't have said it better.


PS. To DZ. When you go to see the Washington Nationals do you say I am going to see men playing the sport of baseball or do you say I am going to a baseball "game"? I say the latter.

I’m surprised that Niklas Lidstrom, the brilliant Detroit Red Wings defensemen, did not make your top five. Lidstrom’s resume speaks for itself. In the past decade the Red Wing blueliner was named the NHL’s best defenseman six times and made the First All Star team seven times. He also won two Stanley Cups, an Olympic gold medal and the Conn Smythe Trophy for being the NHL’s playoff MVP. In 2008, Lidstrom became the first European-born captain of a Stanley Cup champion, a significant achievement given the overt racism that European players have to put up with from the North American hockey establishment. Perhaps you should consider revising your list!

Agree that Ray Lewis and Kobe Bryant should have major questions following them around. Probably more so than Lance Armstrong who has been alleged to be doing something harmful only to himself (and, some may say, the sport, if true of course.) But what Ray and Kobe are accused of?!? Rape scars a person for life, and slashing someone with a knife... Controlled adrenaline indeed.

Heyzeus Christos on a pogo stick Dave!

I probably would have chosen Kobe as player of the decade. Nice to see him recognized here - amazing athlete.

But enough of these silly "golf is not a sport" arguments. The criteria should be clear: when I play golf, it is a game (I am a "duffer"). When Tiger plays golf, it's a Sport.

. . . and why attack Armstrong without evidence of misconduct? The "anabolic odor" costs Bonds because he has admitted to taking steroids (knowingly or not, he took steroids). Has Armstrong admitted to doping or has he failed a drug test?

Ronaldinho is a pretty sound choice for athlete of the decade, although I think Fedor Emelianenko is a better choice.

The guy is the fastest on the face of the earth! An honorable mention at least.

Lionel, bias in the NFL needs to be addressed, indeed...but in the front office, not on the playing field. Also, you cannot discount the play of a tremendous athlete, such as Ronaldihno, because of the nationalistic and racist tones which fans place upon the matches.

As for Kobe, Ray Ray, Bonds, and Lance - you have to keep all to the same standard. Kobe Bryant and Ray Lewis were never convicted. Lance Armstrong has never tested positive. Bonds' "cream" and "clear substance" use places him in a different category, whether the use was knowingly or unknowingly.

Ray Lewis hasn't finished in the top five in tackles since 2004. His Super Bowl Victory and MVP Award came in 2001. Many NFL players far surpass Lewis' play this decade.

Also the "substantially higher" stress factor of golf... not sure that argument would hold up against a kicker, left tackle, or quarterback in the NFL.

I don't know about Ray Lewis, but these choices are all stellar, in my book. People are also taking the satirical tone of the piece a little too seriously. I don't think Zirin is blasting Armstrong as much as pointing out the double standard. As for Bolt, how can he be athlete of the dcade when he's been on the scene less than two years?!?

Bottom line, based on how he has dominated his sport, Tiger is the athlete of the decade. Granted, given that he plays an individual sport and not a team sport, he has a leg up on other deserving candidates like Kobe, but the rate at which Tiger wins or places highly in tournaments is absurd, and I can't imagine another athlete who's impacted his/her own sport as greatly as Tiger has this decade.

Also, you maintain that golf isn't a sport, yet you've written articles before about golf and Tiger Woods. Should this site then be changed to Edge of Sports/Games?

I agree with some of the readers that Ray Lewis should not be on a list top 5 athletes of the decade. I think Dave put him up there for "shock" value and to make people "think." But he's only been to one super bowl and his team even missed the playoffs several times is decade. If any one from football goes on the list it has to be Tom Brady. Football championships are all about the QB and the Pats dominated the decade.
I'm sure this is an American athlete list so that's why no "futbol" players are on there. I'm sure the writers are under the assumption that golf is a sport so Tiger is a natural choice under that assumption. My list would be
1) Tiger - If I go by the "sports" writers assumption golf is a sport nobody won more.
2) Kobe - Nobody won more in team sports even if he wasn't the star in the first 3 championships.
3) Federer - Dominated the decade and is called "the Michael Jordan of tennis" too often to ignore. Serena was inconsistent the "whole" decade and I don't give race and gender points
4) Brady - Best player on the best team of the decade in pro football. Nobody was more clutch this decade in the 4th quarter
5) Lance Armstrong - he dominated everyone in his sport and did something nobody ever did. He has never had any positive tests in a sport where testing is intense. Barry couldn't have passed a test and there is enough evidence to assume his quilt.

I don't think ronaldinho is the soccer player of the decade. Zirin references how important soccer is in Brazil, but fails to reference that after Ronaldinho played so poorly in 2006 world cup that they burned effigies of him there. I would have said Zidane, who has won just as many world player of the year awards, and unlike most great stars plays at the same level for his country as he did for his club.

Another better choice than Ronaldinho (who has been a bench player and hasn't even gotten caps for his country in the past 2 years) is Fabio Cannavaro, the key man in Italy's world cup win, and was the oldest man to win a fifa player of the year award.

But that's the difference between Ronaldinho and Woods, Phelps Federer, and armstrong. If you ask 10 soccer fans who the player of the decade is, you'll get 10 different answers. If you ask whose the best golfer everyone will say Tiger, while if you ask who the best cyclist has been everyone will say Armstrong.

Finally Ray Lewis? A killer and a snitch? Tom Brady despite his dreaded pale complexion is much better player than lewis. So is peyton Manning.

There is no scientific formula that will settle any arguments surrounding debates over athletes of the decade. Certainly one could identify the key criteria (dominance, sustained excellence, transformation of how a sport is covered/percieved by public, records broken etc.), but even then the results are always biased by the preferences of the selector. Take dave's list. Serena Williams has broken barriers and faced adversity in a predominantly white sport and these are qualities that dave, who wants to highlight the social justice aspect of sports, admires (rightfully so). Therefore he can rank Serena ahead of Roger Federer in spite of the chasm between them in terms of dominance and sustained excellence (serena was no.1 at years end only twice in the decade). He also ranks her ahead of Tiger Woods in spite of the fact that Woods broke down even more established and entrenched racial stereotypes than the Williams sisters, mainly due to his distaste for Tiger's corporate shallowness (which I share). As for Ronaldinho at #1, I can only conclude that dave's populist sympathies lead him to select the best player from the sport most widely played by the global poor, a noble sentiment but one that precludes even the slightest chance of at least an approximation of objectivity. And as for Kobe and Lewis, dave is a diehard NBA fan and from the Baltimore area, I daresay no more need be said on these counts. I am not saying the list is not valid, only that it cannot and should not make any claim of being a definitive list.
That said, here is my entirely subjective list:
1. Roger Federer
2. Tiger Woods
3. Michael Phelps
4. Ronaldinho
5. Albert Pujols
6. Annika Sorenstam
7. Kobe Bryant
8. Usain Bolt
9. Tom Brady
10. Serena Williams
(Notable omissions: Armstrong - one-dimensional sport, likely cheated, Bonds - ditto on the cheating, Tim Duncan - love him but doesn't have wow factor Kobe does that will make Kobe the most remembered/talked about basketball player of his generation.)

Seriously Dave, after going off about country club sports, two of your top 5 athletes for the decade are tennis players?

Some other possible candidates for a top 5 list:

Marta: For breaking the gender barrier in Brazilian soccer, winning a world cup, and taking the women's game to a whole new level.

Oscar De La Hoya: I'm not a big fan, but I think it woud be fair to say he played a significant role in keeping the sport alive through one of its worst decades. De La Hoya fought the very best of his generation, sometimes losing matches, but always winning respect. (De La Hoya the promoter might be a different story. . .)

Usain Bolt: I'm breaking the requirement for dominance throughout a decade here on the basis that a top flight sprinter normally has a very short career. Unlike Phelps, whose record breaking was largely driven by technology, Bolt left the rest of the field moving in slow motion. There may not be anyone as fast as him for a very long time.

Monty Panesar: I don't follow Cricket, but over 1 billion people do. My impression is that Panesar's spin bowling is unique. I welcome correction.

Sean beat me to it. Way more than one billion people consider Cricket to be the most important sport. Consider the population of India 1.2 bil, Indonesia .2bil, Pakistan .2bil and Bangledesh .2bil, you are much closers to 2 billion than one.

I don't think I'd go with Panesar though, Sachin Tendulkar is a better choice. Having hit the most centuries in test match history, he's kinda like the Barry Bonds of Cricket. He surpassed the career run record of Brian Laura in 2008.

I think there is a Male and Female athlete of the decade.

With that said...... Federer is the guy.

Dave, if you're going to rank Serena ahead of Roger Federer, I wish you would state something other than her race and the fact that she has an older sister who is also a tennis player. The achievements certainly don't back up your ranking. I can't really slam the AP for their choices of individuals vs. those who play team sports. It's a lot easier to quantify their success than those who contribute as part of a team. As far as Ray Lewis, I'm a Bengals fan, and certainly he was unreal the first half of the decade. He played better last year, but the second half of the decade he's been king of the "jumping on top of the pile" pseudo tackle.

Tiger Woods has dominated the sports pages from year 2000 (remember the Tiger Slam) all the way through year 2009. No need to list his accomplishments, they're well documented. None of the other contenders can make a similar claim.
As to whether golfers are athletes, I question that myself. However, given that golf is a sport that's included in sports pages right next to baseball, football, track, etc., I think Tiger qualifies for this award. I think Dave is taking the word athlete too literally. Hmmm.... wonder if Dave has a axe to grind regarding Tiger Woods? Duhh, YOU THINK. (Can't say that I disagree with most of Dave's criticism of Tiger but I think this is going too far.)

....as opposed to the efficient Timmy Dunk. But until this past year the latter led more teams to championships than Kobe in the 2000s (the same amount if you include 1999). And he wasn't accused of rape.

And if Serena is used as a role model for breaking barriers, don't Manning or Brady deserve at least a little mention for being white men finding consistent success in a black man's game? But I guess they haven't been indicted for murder, so they aren't "cool" like Lewis is in Zirin's book.

Dave, I know it lyrically jibes with Serena's behavior at the US Open, but aren't you a bit old to be busting out your N.W.A. discs while you write articles like this?

Honestly, it's surprising that you even gave Federer -- quite arguably the best tennis player of all time, let alone the 2000s -- the #4 spot on your list. Given a darker pallor and a rap sheet, I'd like to hope you'd move Federer past Kobe. You'd probably nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, too.

JJ, if you think that a white dude playing quarterback is breaking any kind of color barrier, I want some of whatever it is you are smoking. Event your buddy Rush would tell you you're way out on a limb on that one. Maybe you should just crawl back under your bridge. . .

Meanwhile, back on planet earth:

Forgot to suggest Ann Wolfe: simultaneously held four world titles in four weight classes, and had Laila Ali running scared. Legitimized women's boxing. 'nuff said.

My goodness. Here we go again. Another one of those people. Mike L if you're out there I'll let you handle this one. I'm tired of dealing with it.

"Golf is not a sport. It's a game. It's darts. It's billiards. It's the World Series of Poker with walking. I believe that anything that you can gain weight while performing, or anything you can do at a world-class level while smoking, just isn't a true athletic competition." Hah! That's great! Side note: Colin Montgomerie is one of the best at the game and Scottish painter Jack Vettriano declined a commissioned painting of the national "sports" hero because "I don't do men with breasts." It would be harder to imagine an artists saying such a thing about a male basketball, hockey, or soccer player in his prime.

This is a really good sports topic. I guess I can't get outraged over Tiger's inclusion, even though I have said the exact same thing about golf. The other choices are bizarre, though you did conveniently leave out that Usain Bolt rounded out the top 5.

As for the others on AP's list, some of them wouldn't be my first choices, but considering the source, I get it. Roger Federer? I don't know what order to place these, but when you can stay on top of tennis like he did, he's darn hard to keep off a list like this. Phelps? I won't pretend I care about swimming outside of the actual olympic event, and I doubt most people do, either. Still, he's been the Edwin Moses of his sport, so I can understand it.

Armstrong? My only objection is, if a French cyclist won this many, he wouldn't get 2 sentences worth of coverage in this country. That doesn't bother me, since we care about a lot of sports here, and cycling just isn't one of them ordinarily. Still, the cancer thing had a human interest angle, so no surprise. As for "it's been rumored that the man has done more illegal pharmaceuticals than Keith Richards," that's cute and all, but reckless. Many have uttered this rumor, but nobody has been able to produce any kind of tangible evidence. Since that sport had an avowed history of doping long before Armstrong entered it, agencies have had the chance to catch him with tainted blood or urine. Plus, famous as he is, if anybody had aided him with cheating a drug test, or supplied him PED's, don't you think such a person would have come forward by now if only to get his 15 minutes?

That aside, I too would have Kobe Bryant in my top 5 of the decade, and how he misses this list I have no idea, considering he won 4 of the 10 possible championships in his sport, bookending the decade, and came close on 2 other occasions.

I'd also have Roger Federer, Tim Duncan, Serena Williams (why not?) and it pains me since I hate the Yankees, but Alex Rodriguez: started 2000 as possibly the best player in the game, finished it with a ring. I'd like to name an NFL player, but the closest I can come to a high level performer for a all of, or a long stretch of this decade is maybe Brady or Manning.

Admittedly my list isn't much more diverse than the AP's, but I don't apologize for that, as I'm not a big believer in diversity for its own sake in athletics. If I have to give out 10 honors and the best 10 happen to be in the same immediate family, I have no problem with that. Even if you cover multiple ethnicities or nationalities in naming Ronaldinho, or anybody else, we're still leaving out athletes in hockey, skiing, rowing, marathon running, volleyball, gymnastics, ad infinitum. No matter which ones get chosen there is somebody great at what he or she does who will escape notice.

Sean, my Manning and Brady point was there to highlight the ridiculousness of Dave’s racial preferences, one that gave Serena a high-ranking because she succeeded in a “lily-white” game – although she broke more rackets than barriers, she’s no Althea Gibson.

But he then places a criminally-indicted linebacker with a single championship on the list, and leaves out two of the top quarterbacks of all time, with clean records, simply because they’re white, even though 65% of the players in the NFL are black? Good thing Ray Lewis’ “adrenaline” was “controlled”, or he may have had a tougher time only getting a year’s probation and a 250k fine.

And, of course, Tiger’s “Cablinasian” heritage – like it or not, he is a true racial amalgam, except for his choice in women – gets short shrift because Dave has issues with his sport and (a)political nature, yet Serena gets endorsed by the “benign” companies of Kraft Foods, Hewlett Packard, Tampax and, similarly, Nike? Are corporate whores only the domain of men, now? That’s not very equitable of you, Dave. Oh wait, Kobe did pretty big business with the Mickey D’s prior to the rape charge and is still getting millions from Nike and Coke. But he’s #3 on Dave’s list.

As for you, Conspiracy Brother, if there was an emergency, you would probably send the ambulance back because it was painted white. Fight the power!

It was widely known that ex-Cub 1b Mark Grace smoked of course not when playing the "game". But when golfer and US Master winner Angel Cabrera was caught smoking on TV between golf shots, I didn't think less of him as an athlete. Golfers have the time and opportunity kind of like soccer goalies in an exciting 0-0 game..
It would also be interesting to check the playing weights of all athletes from their first to their last games. I believe golfers are not being given their due. I will say this if synchronize swimmers smoked, I'd watch that sport even more.

Sean, my Manning and Brady point was there to highlight the ridiculousness of Dave's racial preferences, one that gave Serena a high-ranking because she succeeded in a ''lily-white'' game -- although she broke more rackets than barriers, she's no Althea Gibson.

But he then places a criminally-indicted linebacker with a single championship on the list, and leaves out two of the top quarterbacks of all time, with clean records, simply because they're white, even though 65% of the players in the NFL are black? Good thing Ray Lewis' ''adrenaline'' was ''controlled'', or he may have had a tougher time only getting a year's probation and a 250k fine.

And, of course, Tiger's 'Cablinasian' heritage -- like it or not, he is a true racial amalgam, except for his choice in women -- gets short shrift because Dave has issues with his sport and (a)political nature, yet Serena gets endorsed by the 'benign' companies of Kraft Foods, Hewlett Packard, Tampax and, similarly, Nike? Are corporate whores only the domain of men, now? That's not very equitable of you, Dave. Oh wait, Kobe did pretty big business with the Mickey D's prior to the rape charge and is still getting millions from Nike and Coke. But he's #3 on Dave's list.

As for you, Conspiracy Brother, if there was an emergency, you would probably send the ambulance back because it was painted white. Fight the power!

Usually I love Zirin's work. Its nice to hear a liberal voice in the Fox-think world of professional sports.

Buuuuut.

I am not sure how anyone other than Phelps can be called athlete of the decade. He set an all-time record for Olympic Gold Medals won, dominated in two Olympiads, destroyed world records. He did this by excelling in multiple events (I would like to see Ronaldihno win the world cup while playing multiple positions on the pitch including keeper). And he didn’t just reign supreme in the Olympics he also won medal after medal in a slew of World Championships. Add to his sheer dominance with the fact that he accomplished so much with the scope of controversy that followed Bonds, Armstrong and others.

This is not to take anything away from Ronaldihno, Williams et al but their accomplishments simply don’t measure up to Phelps’.

The rest of Zirin’s list is populated by some real jewels…Kobe-paid off a plaintiff to make a sexual assault suit go away saying, after his acquittal in criminal court, that he eventually realized that victim thought she didn’t consent to sex with him, which seems like the text book definition of rape.



Ray Lewis…are you kidding me! There is no way he should be on this list. He is not top 5, or 10 or 20, 50, 100 or 500 sports people of the decade For starters he is the most overrated player on the most overrated team to ever win a Super Bowl. And he spent the better part of 2000 in jail in a murder charge which he plea bargained down to obstructing justice in exchange for testifying for the state-which went so well the defendants were acquitted. Throw on top his constant self aggrandizement-we’ve all heard he’s a great guy-just ask him he’ll tell and in your face/transparently false piety and you’ve got one of sports’ great dirt bags.

I'm a fan Dave but this may be your worst article to date. I almost lost all respect for you when I saw Ray Lewis' name on your list. Almost every response before mine basically shares my own sentiments towards Lewis. He's not even close to being the best DEFENSIVE NFL player of the decade! Here's a name that no one has yet to mention: Troy Polamalu! Troy is by far the best defensive player of the decade and his humanitarian nature is unparalled by ANYONE in the NFL. When not practicing or spending time with his family, you can find Troy alone in a van (with no cameras or media) dispersing food and $20 bills once a week to 50-100 people under the 9th Street Bridge in Pittsburgh's North Side. Yes, he gives every homeless person enough food for the entire week and a $20 bill (no questions asked). That's my definition of humility. Troy's in the streets by himself out of respect for humanity, not his own personal image. Sorry Dave, you can have 50 "Ray Lewis Foundations" and it still won't compare to Troy or save Lewis' image.

My fellow American, my brother, my friend, I love my white brothers and sisters. I'm just anti-ignorance, anti-hatred, anti-white supremacy and anti-fear. Quick lesson for you, football isn't a black man's game. The NFL is owned by white men, run by white men, attended and watched mostly by white people. Only a slight majority of the players are black and it's only recent that blacks have been allowed to play the sports most visible and most heralded position. I don't disagree with you because you're white, I dsagree with you because you're wrong.

Actually, I've noticed boxing's been absent from a lot of your posts, aside from the nods to Muhammad Ali. Pacquiao has a whole nation that stops its wars and crimes when he fights. He's leading the way for Filipino representation in mainstream media.

Pacman's the first to win 7 different world titles in 7 different weight classes, and he's the only boxer to win lineal championships in 4 different weight classes.

Thanks for doing the lifting CB.

Looks like JJ needs some broader historical and socio-economic context, not to mention a class-based critique of the history of white supremacy!! (Like our other friend.) These two just don't understand its not just about 'fairness' and 'equality' but its also about JUSTICE! White people thinking they're some kind of oppressed minority because of things like Affirmative Action, etc, is just beyond ludicrous. It didn't take much for me to realize that I've been the beneficiary of this system in a thousand ways that are so much a part of how 'we' see things that we can't even see it! They're some of the non seeing.

But like I said before I'm really not good at this communicating in soundbytes-thing and I like the way you say it better anyway. So I'm out. Like C.L.R. James said: Sometimes they just need to shut the fuck up!

I agree wi the poster who argued for Niklas Lidstrom. The hand-eye coordination that world class hockey players possess is nothing short of mind blowing. Tipping a small black disc of vulcanized rubber that's traveling at 100 mph or more while propelling themselves on two thin baldes of steel along a sheet of glare ice to score and being able to do it again and again? Seriously.
And to the person who says the mental stress factor is substantially higher in golf than football: you don;t fully understand football. Dude, football players can't be sure that they'll be able to get up and walk or even live after the next play is over. How many golfers worry about that?

Come on dave, this article is terrible. Kobe Bryant? Kobe won one title this decade, maybe two, but Shaq was clearly the dominant force on those temas and won another in Miami. If a basketball player deserves it, it is clearly shaq. Tiger Woods this decade and the end of last decade became one of the most dominant and most famous athletes ever. He clearly deserved it. Phelps has an argument, but not the otehr guys you mentioned. Barry Bonds? He set his records this decade but was a better player and more deserving of the award in the 90s.

Dave put RL on the list *because* he was involved in a murder, not despite it. And the Ravens have been nowhere since January 2001.

As for Kobe, he was *accused* of rape, there is not reason to believe he is guilty of it.

But such lists are almost always BS anyway.

Odd that you'd make a list with 2 tennis players, but no fighters. Professional fighters are among the hardest working and best conditioned athletes in the world, and outside of an elite handful, most of them are hardly compensated for this. And of course, Dave, you're no stranger to the social implications of fighting in America. Men like Jack Johnson, Joe Louis and Ali weren't just fighters inside the ring, they fought for social and political equality outside, too. Boxers come from all countries, but the common thread holding them together is that they've almost always come from the bottom.

I'd include Manny Pacquiao, at least, on this list. He's at the top of what may be the most difficult sport around, and he hasn't just been winning, he's been dominating. His record of 7 belts in 7 divisions is unheard of and he only seems to be getting better. He also represents a very poor, marginalized country, becoming a symbol of hope for millions of Filipinos. Being as we're going back a decade, you'd also have grounds to include Floyd Mayweather, Bernard Hopkins, Juan Marquez, Erik Morales and lots of others.

That's totally ignoring MMA, too.

The only fair way to determine superiority when comparing top athletes sport-to-sport is to measure how much better an athlete was than his/her peers of the era.

There are only two names that lapped the also-rans of their sports in the past decade: Tiger Woods (#tourneys won, #majors won, scoring average, $money won, Golfer of Year awards), and Michael Phelps (Olympic medals, winning streak, world records). One could also make a case for Albert Pojols whose overall hitting numbers this decade rank right next to Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Barry Bonds.

Nobody comes close to the demonstrated superiority of Woods, Phelps and perhaps Pujols. The gap between their performances vs their peers over the past 10 years is like the gap between Secretariat and the field in the Belmont Stakes of 1973.

How on earth can you rank Serena Williams above Federer, even with the affirmative action slant you have on everything?

Hey, I heard a rumour that Williams is on steroids, and her extremely improbable physique rather persuades me to believe it.

I play golf - lots of golf. And I agree it's a game versus hockey, hoops, football, and even the pastoral "sport" of baseball. I rarely get support in this argument and was glad to read this - especially the point I always make - you only need be in shape to walk slowly an average of less than 100 yards about 70 times! :-)

Thank you Dave! I saw you on Morning Joe and I could not agree more. Golf, which I play alot, is a great game. It demands enormous skill and those who play it well should be rewarded richly, but to compare it to soccer, football, basketball, swimming, track and field, boxing, hockey, etc is ridiculous.

Personally my big objection to the AP list is the incredible american lean it had. NFL football is something I really enjoy watching but in the global sense of things it is a local sport and even it's best athletes should only get a partial consideration for being the greatest athletes in the world......