General Sports Water Cooler

I did a research project on the '36 Olympics in school so I've always had a soft spot for Jesse. All the fans and normal people in Germany actually loved him during the games. He dealt with more overt racism in the United States than he did in Nazi Germany. There's a great story about the German athlete Luz Long and Owens that you can read here:

Back in 1999-2000, I got to organise Champions League matches in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Amazing to walk into the stadium and feel like you've been there before because you've seen it in Jesse Owens history clips. Got chills walking through the Marathon gate where they have the gold medal winners from 1936 carved in stone and seeing Owens up there four times.

Living: Lance Armstrong. Even his name is American awesomeness.
Dead: Len Bias. Gotta go with a Terp.

If you want greatest athlete ever then go Jim Brown. Greatest lacrosse player ever, arguably greatest football player ever. Highly likely he would have destroyed at any Olympic event he participated in.

But your entire line of thought on this thread is wrong.

If we can get him, the Jewish Jordan. If not, the other one will do, I guess.

If you picked Jordan to carry an Olympic flag, just kill yourself. Yes they do consider BB an Olympic sport but who actually thinks of BB when a discussion about the Olympics comes up? Plus it isn't like Jordan was even needed for the US to win.

I would go with Phelps or Jesse Owens, but probably MP.

Who would you go with on the winter side? Would it be someone like Bonnie Blair or Apolo Anton Ohno in terms of medal winners or someone from the Miracle on Ice?

I wish I knew how to make aliases so I could upvote this 100x.

Didnt consider the 80 team. in fact i didnt consider any winter games athlete. weird. but this is a great idea. i doubt you could send the entire team but what about the Capt. Eruzioni? that team winning the gold has to be the best olympic moment for anyone in the alive category right?

Also, an FU choice would be to send the whole '72 Basketball team.

Probably Ali. His torch-lighting was an awesome moment. Jordan and Carl Lewis are up there too. Phelps is an obvious thought but I can't get over how dorky he is.

love the idea of him waving the rest of the team up.

and i agree that Phelps is too dorky/douchey to be the one.

Lol at Jordan.

The guy couldn't even wear the team outfits because they wouldn't have a swoosh. Not to mention, I prefer NOT to have despicable humans represent my country on a global stage.