Top 100 Athletes

The greatest closer off all time. 

Everyone, especially media outlets, put together various lists. 

There can, and is, always debate over the lists. 

The latest list, from ESPN, is the top 100 professional athletes since 2000. I'm not going to go over the full list. Go check it out for yourself. 

There were 24 basketball players (male and female), 17 baseball, 15 soccer, 12 football, six tennis, four golf, four boxing, three track and field, three auto racing, three hockey, two swimming, two gymnastics, two MMA, one skiing, one snowboarding and one cricket. 

The top 10 is: 

1. Michael Phelps
2. Serena Williams
3. Lionel Messi 
4. Lebron James
5. Tom Brady
6. Roger Federer
7. Simone Biles 
8. Tiger Woods
9. Usian Bolt
10. Kobe Bryant

I have some thoughts. 

Yes, Tom Brady has seven championships, but he also lost two since 2000. And if it wasn't for the Tuck Rule, he'd have one less. Can we also talk about Deflategate? He's great, but number five seems a bit too high. 

First, how is the first baseball player, Albert Pujols, down at number 24. I get people say baseball is boring (I disagree), but you can't say that the best baseball player is the 24th greatest athlete since the turn of the century. He has to be higher.

Now, if you want to debate that he's the best baseball player since 2000, that's totally fair. 

Staying with baseball, Mariano Rivera at 59. Come on! 

Now I'll admit, I look at the "mainstream" sports more than I do others, and there are some terrific athletes in those non-mainstream sports, that often don't get enough credit. 

I'm very surprised there are more baseball than football players on the list, to be honest. 

It's great to see the number of women athletes make the list, especially the WNBA players. 

Oh, and I guess away from the sport issues aren't talked about when coming up with this list. 

Another issue I have with this list, for the "team sport" athletes, it seems to mainly take into account their individual accolades, not necessarily how they helped their teams win championship. 

The list is also too modern for my liking. For example, talking Packers quarterbacks, I'd put Brett Favre on the list over Aaron Rodgers, however, Rodgers comes in at 91 and Favre is nowhere to be seen. 

It's definitely interesting and fun to debate. Open to hearing your thoughts.