No love for kevin stevens from the Devils?

You're welcome. It would be fun to watch some of the old Steelers games now that I'm older and have a better idea of what's going on. I'd also like to see some of the Chiefs games from the 1960's and early 70's.

Yeah, me too. I'd love to see some of the old games fom the 60's. I remember them as played at a slower pace without as much shifting and other strategy like nickle defenses we see today. It was more of a line up and run over them mentality. 17 points would win nearly any game. Both the '72 Dolphins and the great Steeler teams had one thing in common. Consistancy on offense. They were both grind it out ball control offenses. Both had a great WR, Miami's Warfield and Pittsburgh's Lynn Swan but neither made many big plays. They both would keep the ball for what seemed like hours and if you did manage to stop them they would three and out you and start over again. Both were truly complete teams.

Brza Smrt would have literally killed both of them. :thumb:

i should have been on the list too.

ye tho i walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
i shall fear no evil, for i am the baddest mother f**ker in the valley

I got a kick out of that. Did you notice when Brza Smrt lived? The 1200's. That guy ws almost a caveman. I'm sure his strenghth was awesome but Ali could have hit him 15 times before he could drag his knuckles up out of the dirt to whiff on Ali. Hahahahaha

what about Isiah Thomas? Detroit Pistons, injured himself badly in a finals game and damn near single-handedly wins the game for them

Is there an old time boxing fan on the board? I'd sure like to pick his brain. I never saw Joe Louis except in film clips and I wasn't that impressed. But I really don't know how good the guy was he was fighting. I think he fought Schmelling at least once but he was a white guy. The first Heavyweight champion I remember seeing on TV was Rocky Marciano. I think he retired undefeated. Hey, he was a white guy who barely weighed 200 lbs. And who did he fight? Eras make a hell of a difference. And then there was Floyd Patterson. As poor an excuse for a heavyweight champion as I've ever seen. Undersized and no particularly good skills. Ali nicknamed him "The Rabbit" and then pounded the shit out of him three times. Ali fought several top notch fighters during his career. Notably Frazier and Foreman. Either one of which would have killed Patterson and maybe Marciano as well. It's had to compare fighters from different eras. But back to Ali. When he first showed up, Sonny Liston was the baddest dude on the planet or so everybody thought. (Except Ali) Liston's problem, though, was that he was big, dumb and slow. Ali fought him twice and knocked him silly both times. Both fights lasted a total of 3 rounds. Makes me wonder just how good Joe Louis was. Ali could beat you several different ways. He could stay away from you and never let you hit him if he wanted to. He used to stick his jaw out toward his opponent and dare them to try to hit him. Or, when he faced a good fighter like Foreman who was probably the hardest puncher in history, he would lay on the ropes (rope-a-dope) and wait for you to punch yourself out. Then destroy you while you are spent. He hit Frazier enough times to kill an ordinary man in Manila. Go rent it. I have utmost respect for Frazier as possibly the 2nd best fighter ever. He gave Ali all he wanted when Ali was in his prime. If Frazier had come along in 1950, we may have never heard of Marciano or Patterson. Tyson came along at just the right time for him. He was a brawler with some quickness and a devastating left hook. But best of all, there was nothing out there but tomato cans that he could easily knock out early. But he got exposed when he ran up against someone who would put up a fight. Even Holyfield outclassed Tyson and knew all he had to do is make it last past the first few rounds and Tyson would fold. Which he did. Tyson wouldn't have lasted 3 rounds with Frazier. And he would have lasted as long as Ali's poem predicted he would. Hehe. Ali quit the poems after the first few fights. He said it put too much pressure on him to predict the round although he was usually right. I think the real reason he quit that was named Joe Frazier. As best I can tell, Louis and Dempsey were both one trick ponies. Pretty good fighters with not much competition. (I could be wrong on Louis as he has a lot of support from the old guys). Ali could adjust his style to fit the opponent. I've never seen any fighter that was able to do that let alone a heavyweight. Can you imagine Ali and Louis when things started badly for Ali? He could use his quickness, speed, durability, or evasiveness to change the fight several directions. If the reverse happened, what could Louis do ? Ali is the best I've ever seen in any weight class. I've ignored Larry Holmes. He was a very good fighter in an era of nobodies. He simply beat everybody they put in front of him with very little glory. He lasted a long time too. By no means do I consider myself any kind of authority on boxing. These are just my impressions over the years and I'm sure somebody with a record book could tear some of this apart. Well, except for Ali that is. He was simply the best fighter that ever lived.

During a 5-7 year period Mike Tyson was the Baddest of all bad ass Mofo's." Nobody, I mean nobody, wanted a piece of this guy. During that time period, if you were walking down a dark alley, who's the last guy you would want to run into? Who cares if Ali or Foreman "would have" or "could have" beaten him. That's not the point. That's not what this discussion is about. We are talking about the baddest mofo's of all time.

Mike Tyson
Ronnie Lott
Lawrence Taylor
Pete Rose
Ty Cobb
Dick Butkus
Ray Lewis
Derrick Thomas

These guys are bad mofo's. Not the best players or athletes of all time, just badass dudes.

Not so at all. Tyson did, in fact, get in a street fight with another pro boxer who kicked his ass. I don't remember his name but it was in all the papers. Tyson was a pussy who took out tomato cans and then only if he could put them away early. If the opponent put up a fight, Tyson would fold. See Buster Douglas. Douglas played basketball for Coffeyville Jr. College. How the hell did he ever get a fight with the champ. Simple. There was nobody else around.

Although my memory doesn't go back as far as Skips'. Eh, I guess nobodys does.:D
I'd have to agree with him. When I think back to the times I watched him compared to any of the fighters that have come along since, it's apparent he was truly the greatest. The man was on a completely different level.

I had to come full circle on Ali. I absoltely hated him when he first showed up. Everybody did. It was his mouth. The press called him the "Louisville Lip" among other things. But then all his BS started coming true. He'd write goofy poems predicing the round he'd take a guy out. He actually had to carry one guy for a couple of rounds just so his prediction would come true. He was a true character with fabulous talent. I read somewhere that his face is the most recognized around the world. And now everybody loves him. Even Frazier.

Ali showed up in the early 60's with a unique style and the ability to change styles at will. In all other sports I've seen, youngsters try to emulate heroes like this. And they are often successful. So I expected Ali to influence younger boxers to fight like he did. It never happened. More than 40 years later, there hasn't been even one Ali disciple appear. I can't believe it's because nobody tried. No, it's because nobody else, in all that time, has the physical skills to do what Ali could do. Neither, can I find any evidence of anyone else being able to do it in the last 100 years. Can the same be said about ANY other fighter? Nope, Louis was a enough better than what we'd seen before that he was deemed great. But Ali took it to the next level like Louis couldn't have imagined. The fighters of that day were all similar in build and mentality. Rarely over 6' tall and around 200 lbs. with the ability to deliver heavy blows and absorb them. Louis was the best of them. But Ali brought another dimension to the table like noone had before. He could hit you as much as he wanted and you couldn't hit him at all if he didn't want you to. He toyed with all but the very best of the day. Just made complete fools of them by dropping his hands and sticking out his jaw daring them to try to hit him. And they still couldn't. Not even Frazier although he tried the hardest by charging Ali repeatedly. And he paid for it. Ali battered him unmercifully until Frazier just couldn't get off his stool for the final round. So if you have any doubts about just how great Ali was, go watch the Thrilla in Manila and the Foreman fights. Then go watch a film of Louis. Joe Louis was great for his day but Ali would have chopped him up into little pieces. As he would any other fighter over the past 100 years. And no clones have showed up in the last 40 years. The guy was simply one of a kind.

I agree, and it is sad to see him in the kind of physical shape he is in now. Too many blows to the head are what I've always heard - don't know if it’s true.

WRONG. In 1988 Tyson fought Mitch ""Blood"" Green. The fight went the distance with Tyson winning the decision. 2 months later in New York, Mitch Green approached Tyson on a side-walk. Green talked some trash to Tyson. Something to the effect of, "i told you, you couldn't knock me out." A second later, Tyson dropped Green with a right hand. Green went to the hospital with a broken nose and a broken cheek bone.

I have to admit, im not old enough to have seen Ali or a prime George Foreman. Maybe they would beat Tyson in the ring. But neither one of them would have a chance in a street fight. No way in hell.