Why do we watch sports? There are lots of answers, but here’s my favorite: To experience greatness. To get goosebumps. To see the human body, this thing we all share, do incredible things. To witness men and women who can change our definition of what’s possible.
And there are so many of them. This all started off as a much shorter list. A top ten turned into a top fifteen, which turned into a top thirty and, well, here we are. It’s been seventeen years and nine months since the beginning of the 2000s, a period that encompasses nearly my entire memory as a person, and I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of that time watching and reading and thinking about sports. I’ve had the chance to develop some opinions.
This is going to be a bit of a journey, if you choose to stick around. I’ll do my best to make it worth your while.
Some ground rules: The rankings are broken up into four parts covering ten athletes each. For each athlete, I included a relevant YouTube clip, a few paragraphs of analysis, and a link to further reading, in case I manage to pique anyone’s interest.
I tried to consider every athlete, man or woman, in any professional sport that’s at all close to mainstream in the U.S. So no cricket, no rugby, no Aussie rules football, but just about everything else. I didn’t rank players based on their achievements in college (a.k.a. the Ndamukong Suh corollary). Numbers and individual records count, but so do championships and other traits like leadership, longevity, and “Does this person seem like an asshole?” It feels like a strange qualification to have to make, but humans only. Sorry, American Pharoah.
The honorable mention selections, in alphabetical order:
Lance Armstrong: Would be in the top forty proper if he weren’t so bad at cheating … Martin Brodeur: One of the greatest goalies ever, or so I hear from people who watch hockey … Miguel Cabrera: Winner of the 2012 AL Triple Crown and back-to-back MVPs … Natalie Coughlin: A twelve-time Olympic medalist in the pool … Stephen Curry: Probably the greatest shooter of all time … Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce: Winner of back-to-back Olympic golds in the 100-meter dash … Kevin Garnett: Hs 2004 campaign was maybe the best all-around NBA regular season of the millennium, and as always, ANYTHING IS POSSIBULLLLL) … Justine Henin: Winner of seven career tennis grand slams … Ichiro: Baseball’s all-time hit leader … Calvin Johnson: If everyone in the world played a game of flyer’s up, he’s my choice … Dennis Kimetto: He ran the fastest marathon in human history in 2014 … Lydia Ko: A 20-year-old golf wunderkind who will rank much higher ten years form now … Lisa Leslie: A three-time WNBA MVP … Nicklas Lidstrom: One of the greatest defensemen ever, or so I hear from people who watch hockey …
(takes a deep breath)
Randy Moss: The scariest wide receiver ever … Steve Nash: A two-time MVP and the progenitor of the modern point guard … Dirk Nowitzki: The other part of the best sports photo of the millennium … Cat Osterman: One of two left-handed pitchers to dominate softball this millennium … Candace Parker: She once beat J.R. Smith in a dunk contest … Paula Radcliffe: The women’s marathon world record holder … Aaron Rodgers: As close as a football player can get to genius … Ronaldinho: The most fun soccer player of the millennium … David Rudisha: Few runners have owned an event the way the Kenyan has the 800 meters … Jordan Spieth: The closest thing to Tiger since Tiger … LaDainian Tomlinson: More terrifying with the ball in his hands than anyone in football … Lindsey Vonn: Winner of more World Cup ski races than any woman in history … Zinedine Zidane: Much more than the head-butt.
Now, on to the list.
40. Monica Abbott
I mentioned above that Cat Osterman is one of two left-handed pitchers to dominate the world of softball over the past decade-plus. The other is Abbott.
During her time at Tennessee from 2004 to 2007, the 6-foot-3 southpaw compiled the greatest statistical résumé in college softball history, finishing her career as the sport’s all-time leader in games, wins, innings, shutouts and strikeouts. She’s kept it up in the softball’s nascent pro league, earning all-league honors in National Pro Fastpitch eight times, more than any player in history. Through the first ten years as a professional, Abbott’s compiled a 1.01 ERA and 1,626 strikeouts in 1,108.2 inning pitched.
In May 2016, she signed a six-year, $1 million contract with the expansion Scrap Yard Dawgs of Houston to become the highest-paid softball player ever.
What gives her the edge over Osterman, another tall lefty at the game’s most important position who’s posted similar stats and found similar success on the diamond? For one, the advanced stats (FIP and whatnot) seem to like Abbott a bit more. And when in doubt, opt for the more entertaining option. While Osterman tends to get outs with a mystifying array of spins and speeds, Abbott does it the old fashioned way: throwing that yellow ball past the batter as fast as she can.
Recommended reading: The Case for Monica Abbott, by Kelsey McKinney
39. Ashton Eaton
As the story goes, when Jim Thorpe won the decathlon at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, King Gustav V of Sweden greeted him with the following phrase: “You, sir, are the world’s greatest athlete.” Ever since, that’s been the mythical title bestowed upon the world champion in the event. (It would probably have a little more cachet if anybody actually understood decathlon’s scoring system, but that’s neither here nor there.)
So it wouldn’t feel right to create this list and leave off Eaton, the greatest athlete ever in the sport that claims to crown the greatest athlete in the world.
Eaton is the current world-record holder in the decathlon and one of only two men to win gold in the event and back-to-back Olympics, defeating all comers in both London and Rio de Janeiro. He completely dominated the rest of the world from 2012 until his retirement earlier this year, winning gold at all four Olympics or world championships at which he competed. For good measure, Eaton added three indoor world titles in the heptathlon, a potpourri of seven different track-and-field events.
The Oregon native’s combination of skills is incredible. He’s nearly world-class in the long jump. He’s run 400 meters in 45 seconds flat and 100 meters in 10.21. He pole vaults at the level of an NCAA champion, and he can clear a high-jump bar that’s ten inches taller than he is. World’s greatest athlete? In reality, not quite. Most versatile? You can make a great case.
Recommended reading: Ashton Eaton adds Mars to post-retirement to-do list, by Jim Caple
38. Alex Ovechkin
I don’t really watch hockey. So take this one with a grain of salt.
From what I can tell, though, Ovechkin is already one of the all-time greats. He’s led the NHL in scoring six times during his twelve year career and won MVP on three separate occasions, plus finished second in the balloting twice. He’s also been excellent in international play, helping Russia to three world championships between 2008 and 2014. I’m going to give him bonus points for having the smile you would expect all hockey players to have.
Who’s been the greatest hockey player of the 21st century so far? The statistics make a strong case for Ovechkin. His Washington Capitals have also been superb in the regular season, finishing with the NHL’s best record in 2010, 2016 and 2017. But the Caps’ inability to get out of the second round of the playoffs leaves a bit of a ding on an otherwise shiny coat of paint. Ovechkin can still be an extraordinary player without his team ever making the Stanley Cup Finals, but on a list like this, the margin for error is awfully small.
Recommended reading: Why Alex Ovechkin could be the best goal scorer in NHL history, by Stephen Burtch
37. Yelena Isinbayeva
Pole vault is a funny sport. Most track-and-field events require one certain skill: sprinting fast, or endurance over long distances, or the muscles to throw a discus as far as you can. But the pole vault is different. It’s a hybrid. It combines sprinters speed (for about twenty steps) with the precision and coordination of a thrower (during the plant and the takeoff) with the acrobatics and body control of a gymnast (during the clearance itself) with practical Dutch transportation. And no female athlete in history has mastered the intricate dance quite like Yelena Isinbayeva.
Isinbayeva set the world record in the women’s pole vault for the first time in 2003. She set a new mark seven months later, and again the month after that, and again three months after that. In all, Isinbayeva has cleared a world record height on seventeen separate occasions, most recently in the above video, setting a mark of 16 feet, 7 inches that’s now stood for eight years—longer than any other record in the event since the 1970s. She’s a two-time Olympic gold medalist. She’s been named athlete of the year by the IAAF three times, more than any woman in history.
Isinbayeva also has consistency on her side. Her true peak probably extended for six or seven years, but she continued to compete at an elite level for about twice that long. She was a world junior champion in 2000 and won her most recent world title in 2013. A third Olympic gold might have followed in 2016 if not for the unfortunate foibles of her countrymen.
Like the rest of the Russia’s track-and-field athletes (and despite having never failed a drug test), Isinbayeva was banned from the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro after allegations of a comprehensive, state-sponsored doping scheme. So instead of pursuing another gold medal as the final act of her storied career, Isinbayeva simply retired. Which is too bad (as are her politics). But it doesn’t erase the utter, worldwide dominance she achieved in the fifteen years prior.
Recommended reading: Russian pole vault champ condemns homosexuality, Associated Press
36. Simone Biles
Standing at 4-foot-8, Biles is the shortest athlete on this list by a wide margin. At just 20 years old, she’s also one of the two youngest. But as her nineteen Olympic and world championship medals indicate, that’s never stopped the Texan before.
With three consecutive world titles and Olympic all-around gold to her name, a real argument can be made for Biles as the greatest gymnast of all time. She’s already the most decorated American in the sport’s history. And with plans to resume her career next year after taking 2017 off, more medals may soon begin to stack up.
The scale of her dominance is overwhelming. She easily executes skills that are too difficult for the other best gymnasts in the world to even attempt. She generates an awesome amount of power and combines it with stunning body control and abject fearlessness, flying through the air in ways that would kill a normal human being only to land flawlessly on her feet and, after a moment’s pause, do it all again. Floor is likely her best event, but Biles has no weak spots. She’s won Olympic or world championships in every discipline except bars.
While Biles’s four-year career is one of the briefest of any athlete in these rankings, her total dominance of her sport is still enough to get her on the list.
Recommended reading: A Full Revolution, by Reeves Wiedeman
35. Hicham El Guerrouj
That video’s from 1999, but still. El Guerrouj remains to this day the world-record holder in both the 1500 meters and the slightly longer mile, and he’s run seven of the ten fastest miles in history. By most accounts, the Moroccan is the greatest middle distance runner ever. For him, a four-minute mile was painfully slow.
El Guerrouj peaked in the late 1990s, but he was still plenty dominant during the current millennium. He won the 1500 at the World Championships in both 2001 and 2003, adding third and fourth consecutive victories to prior triumphs in 1997 and 1999. He was named IAAF World Athlete of the Year in 2001, 2002 and 2003. At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, El Guerrouj won gold in both the 1500 and the 5000 meters, taking home a pair of titles from the sport’s biggest stage after falling victim to a major upset in the 1500 in Sydney.
As is the case for most (all) champion distance runners, substantial suspicions exist that El Guerrouj doped. There are certainly reasons to think so. His record in the mile’s remained untouched for 18 years; before that, the longest interval in recent history in which the mile mark wasn’t lowered was nine years, from 1945 to 1954, an era that ended when Roger Bannister became the first man to break four minutes. Without some help, humans tend not to make that sort of quantum leap. That degree of departure from history raises eyebrows (looking at you, Florence Griffith-Joyner).
But even if El Guerrouj were chemically aided, it’s not like his competitors weren’t, too. Others have doped; none could do the things El Guerrouj could do. The greatest of all time in track’s most mythical event gets a place on the list.
Recommended reading: Desert Star, by Steve Rushin
34. Mariano Rivera
It always starts with the cutter. You can watch the above video or others like it a hundred times, and it still doesn’t make sense that the greatest hitters in the world couldn’t figure it out. But they couldn’t. It’s with that single pitch that Rivera became the greatest relief pitcher in the history of baseball.
Rivera didn’t debut for the Yankees until he was 25 years old, yet he still played nineteen seasons, including fourteen of them in the current millennium. Across those two decades, he compiled 652 saves, the most in MLB history; more impressive, though, is his ERA+ of 205—the best career mark in the history of baseball for a stat that adjusts ERA based on a pitcher’s ballpark and the overall ERA of the league in any given year.
In other words: When you adjust for the era and stadiums in which he played, no pitcher in history has been better at preventing earned runs. Which is kinda the point of pitching.
It’s also worth emphasizing Rivera’s ungodly numbers in the playoffs. Across 141 postseason innings, the right-hander finished his career with a stunning 0.70 ERA and 42 saves, with 110 strikeouts compared to just 21 walks. He never gave up more than one run in any of his 96 postseason outings. That shouldn’t be possible.
So you might be asking: If Rivera is so fantastic, then why’s he so low on the list? Because he’s a closer. Yes, it’s a very important position, but Rivera still was on the field for 1/18th of the game, at most. He’s a specialist—but perhaps the greatest specialist in the history of baseball.
Recommended reading: 42 things you need to know about Mariano Rivera, by Cliff Corcoran
33. Kevin Durant
Durant lacks the longevity of some other basketball superstars who didn’t make this top forty, including Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Garnett. He’s only played ten pro seasons this millennium, not eighteen. What separates the Slim Reaper? Ultimately, basketball is a game of putting the ball in the basket. And when it’s all said and done, Durant will go down as the greatest scorer in the history of the sport.
Through his age-28 season, Durant has tallied a staggering 19,121 points, just outside the top fifty all-time. If he were to play 75 games a year over the next six seasons and average 25 points per game, he’d cross the 30,000 point mark. It would take about four more seasons of 75 games a year, 25 points a night—so ten years total—to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as tops all-time. Perhaps playing on a team with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson will depress Durant’s scoring, but for a guy who’s averaged at least 25 points per game in every pro season in which he wasn’t a teenager, it sure seems doable.
That consistency is part of what makes Durant so special. Kyrie Irving, Curry, Thompson, and a handful of other players are all eminently capable of exploding for 50-point nights, but nobody makes it look as easy as Durant. He’s so tall he can shoot over anyone. He’s so quick no big man can guard him. Sometimes he gets hot and reels off fifteen straight, but a more typical Durant performance is something like this: nine points in the first quarter, ten in the second, twelve in the third and nine more in the fourth—nothing all that spectacular, but when you look up at the end of the night, No. 35 has 40.
He’s been one of the two best players in the NBA for seven or eight years now, an extended peak few can equal. Durant will likely shoot up this list in the years to come, but he’s already locked up a lofty placement. All you need to appreciate the Durantula’s greatness is to watch him put the ball in the bucket.
Recommended reading: Kevin Durant Doesn’t Care What You Think Of Him, by Zach Baron
32. J.J. Watt
J.J. Watt does things that other defensive linemen simply don’t. Who else can change gameplans with his ability to knock down passes at the line of scrimmage? Who else compiles sacks and knockdowns at such a rate? What other defender seems like a legitimate threat to score points whenever he’s on the field? And we’re not talking about the occasions when he moonlights as a tight end.
From 2012 to 2015, Watt had the best four-year stretch of any NFL player this millennium. He was named the NFL’s defensive player of the year in 2012, 2014 and again in 2015. Lawrence Taylor is the only other player to win the award on three occasions. He’s the only player in NFL history with multiple 20-sack seasons. He’s consistently at or near the top of the league’s leaderboard in quarterback knockdowns and logs an extraordinary number of pass breakups for a defensive lineman.
Even if he never played another down, Watt would be a Hall of Famer. But at just 28 years old, it’s reasonable to think Watt will have several more stellar seasons ahead. Speaking of which…
Recommended reading: All Work and No Play for J.J. Watt, by Robert Mays
31. Mike Trout
Mike Trout is just 26 years old, with time for another decade’s worth of fantastic seasons in front of him. Like Watt, if Trout never played another game, he’d already be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame. Not bad for a guy in the midst of his sixth full season.
In his first five campaigns with the Angels, here are Trout’s finishes in the American League MVP voting: second, second, first, second, and first. In terms of WAR, his worst season to date came in 2014—when, as a 22-year-old, Trout his .287 with 36 home runs, 39 doubles, 111 RBI, 16 steals and a league-leading 115 runs scored. That’s a career year for most guys. Never has Trout posted an OPS below .939, a number that would rank just outside the top thirty all time; as it stands, Trout’s career OPS of .975 ranks 13th in baseball history, trailing names like Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx and Stan Musial.
And then there’s the defense. It’d be one thing if all Trout was were a slugger. As it happens, though, he’s also one of the most breathtaking centerfielders in recent history, an unholy athletic force who is to robbing home runs what Stephen Curry is to shooting 30-footers: No one has ever made such a difficult feat look so easy.
How do you judge a player who didn’t emerge onto the scene until 2012 against, say, current teammate Albert Pujols? There’s no easy answer—that’s the fun of it. If we were analyzing the best athletes of the current decade, Trout might reside in the top five. But he can’t quite compare to those who have been at the top of their sports for the past seventeen years.
Recommended reading: Mike Trout Has Reached a Hall of Fame Threshold — But What If His Career Collapses?, by Jay Jaffe
Check back soon for Part II