Ignorance is bliss...

ESPN is asking people to rank the 30 greatest athletes in American history.

The top 10 at the moment are:
1. Michael Jordan
2. Lance Armstrong
3. Muhammed Ali
4. Wayne Gretzky
5. Babe Ruth
6. Tiger Woods
7. Jim Thorpe
8. Jesse Owens
9. Jim Brown
10. Joe Montana

When ESPN did their Sports Century rankings a few years back, they put Thorpe seventh as well. Not to be rude, but if you think there were six better athletes than Jim Thorpe and three better than Jim Brown (including Michael Jordan???) then you're an asshole.

Michael Jordan was a great basketball player. He was a dogshit baseball player and a less-than-professional golfer.

Lance Armstrong rides a bike. He's very good, and an inspiration to cancer survivors across the world. But he just rides a bike.

Tiger Woods? Muhammed Ali? Wayne Gretzky? All very good at one sport.

You could make an argument for Babe Ruth, simply because he was a Hall Of Fame-caliber pitcher on top of being the greatest power hitter of all time, but the other guys can suck it.

Jim Thorpe won Olympic gold medals in the decathalon and pentathalon (meaning he had to do more than just run), was one of the greatest college football players of his time, and played Major League Baseball. Then, there's the chandelier story (look it up sometime).

Jim Brown might have been the single greatest running back in NFL history. Oh, he was also perhaps the greatest lacrosse player of all time as well and the second-leading scorer on his college basketball team.

Both struggled personally after they left the playing field, but that's not part of the criteria.

If you think Michael Jordan (or Armstrong or Gretzky...) was a better athlete than Thorpe or Brown, you're an incredibly short-sighted imbecile. I won't even argue this point.