Tiger Woods -- "The most famous athlete on the planet?"

I'd be shocked if Beckham is more famous than Ronaldinho right now. Beckham is probably No. 2 among active soccer players, although there is an argument that Ronaldo -- the fat Brazilian, not the metrosexual Portugese (who is likely top 10 among soccer players) -- is as well known as Beckham.

 

Ronaldo definitely over Beckham.

 

Mr macg,

Google numbers skewed.

Maradona's fans don't have computers, maybe not even electricity.

Yao #'s: try entering it in Mandarin.

YHS, etc

 

Especially now that Ronaldinho is the highest paid soccer player,including endorsments and all that good stuff.....

 

Hence my serial disclaimers. Interesting how the collective sports mind of the developed West is self-reinforcing, though. Not much fiber-optic technology in Zaire or Uzbekistan one presumes. And since Ali and Pele pre-date the current internet generation, relatively little curiosity there to drive youngsters to search for them.

Still, it refines the notion that while Tiger may be in the top 3 or 4, he is probably not the most famous (active) athlete in the world.

 

Because there's nothing on TV, I Googled Yao in Mandarin (姚 明), and came up with 17.1 million hits.

I have to get Tivo.

 

Schumacher would come first. While he's not as famous in the US, he makes a killing worldwide. I remember going up to the Great Wall and there were three Iranian guys on the bus as well, two were wearing Schumacher hats, the other a jacket.

Beckham is more famous than Ronaldinho right now. Among soccer fans Ronaldinho is more popular, but if I walked into the other room and asked my wife who Beckham was and who Ronaldinho was, she would absolutely know the former.

In terms of former athletes, I would have to guess Pele. His time was more recent than that of Ali's and his reach may have been a bit more global.

After Pele comes Jordan.

Tiger Woods is probably close to this discussion, in terms of nations that give a shit about golf. But, in terms of worldwide popularity and name recognition, it won't be that of Schumacher, Beckham, Pele and Jordan.

 

While it is true that you do need to get TIVO, or whatever DVR your cable company provides, Yao's popularity is fairly contained to the US, China, Taiwan, and the Koreas.

If you are in England, it is unlikely that the person you are conversing with will know much about Yao unless they happen to follow the NBA.

 

I'm sorry, but I'm still stickin' with Jordan. I used to live overseas and have visited many times and I have to say that Jordan is number 1.

 

Mr macg,

You have to get Tivo? Canada has to get Tivo. The Internet's been up and running here only since the spring.

Have you ever noticed that Yao Ming in Mandarin looks like comic strip characters swearing.

Maybe Hercules or Samson or Mercury would be the most famous if you counted fans through the ages.

YHS, etc

 

Chuck,
Jordan is a former athlete, the rest are current athletes.

 

I just flipped over to golf, curious to see whether Tiger's still killing the competition. He is. But on No. 18, the announcers talked about the crowds that had gathered in England to see the guy playing, saying that it used to be Michael Jordan who people wanted to see play once. Now it might be Tigers Woods.

Tiger then promptly eagled No. 18 for the third time in three days with a long putt. Unreal.