An Epic Examination of the 21st Century's GOATs - Part 1

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2024

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

ESPN has released its rankings of the greatest athletes of the 21st century so far, and we’ve got some bones to pick! That is, after all, the point of these things –– it’s fun to argue about. So that’s exactly what we’ll do today. Emily Kaplan and Kevin Clark join guest host Jeremy Schaap to examine why the players missing from the list may be more telling than those actually on it (no Breanna Stewart?!), why the term “GOAT” may be losing its meaning, and why Serena Williams, Tiger Woods, Lionel Messi, Tom Brady and beyond are all more deserving of the top slot than Michael Phelps. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	that I don't understand at all. I'll start with those like how can Roger Federer be ahead of Novak
0:06.7	Jokers. Like that doesn't make any sense.
0:10.7	If we're looking at criteria of, yeah, career.
0:13.4	Of excellence.
0:14.4	Okay, so what you're hearing now, listeners, is some tape from a conversation we were having
0:19.7	last week, me and two of my esteemed colleagues, Emily Kaplan and Kevin Clark, they covered the
0:26.3	NHL and the NFL respectively, but if you've seen them on around the horn, you know they are very
0:31.3	well versed in the sports world period.
0:34.0	And this was the kind of conversation we have often in the world of sports.
0:39.0	Kind of the bread and butter of sports debate.
0:42.0	Who's better? Player X or Player Y?
0:45.4	Emily, you were probably taken aback by Sydney Crosby being significantly higher
0:50.6	than Alexander Avechkin. Yes and no, actually.
0:54.0	Well, you could, that I could agree with,
0:57.0	but I don't understand how Steph Curry and Kobe Bryant
1:00.0	are both ahead of Tim Duncan.
1:02.0	But there was some special context to this version of that discourse,
1:07.1	Player X versus Player Y, because depending on how you count these things,
1:10.9	we are now in the 25th year of the 21st century and in honor of that
1:17.5	milestone our friends at ESPN.com they've rolled out a new list. We love lists. This list, the 100 greatest athletes so far of the 21st century.
1:28.8	It's the kind of thing that makes perfect fodder for these timeless debates.
1:34.0	Calvin Johnson is the 57th best athlete
	...

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