Customer Reviews

The 100 Greatest Athletes of All Time: A Sports Editor's Personal Ranking

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When reading the description, high hopes are raised on the potential reader. Mr. Sugar's selection is disproportionally biased towards boxing. Even Mr. Sugar's boxing selections are disappointing; quite a surprise considering his prestige in the field. Other popular sports such as football, soccer, and basketball are not covered in the depth that they deserve. Furthermore, his oppinions are rarely supported by facts, sometimes leading to disinformation . Sincerely, I regret buying it and I would not recommend it to any serious sports reader.

well what do you expect, it isnt biased towards boxing, boxing is the greatest sport of all time, and many great athletes have been boxers. This book is very thorough and well written.

Despite Bert Sugar's reputation, this is one of the most worst sports books I have read. He is guilty of "overwriting", inserting awkward metaphors and descriptives throughout each fact-starved page. I have tried several times to read this book, but each section is bloated with commentary such as "...Aaron had quietly snuck up on Ruth's record...he was laying claim to more records than an Alaskan claim-jumper..." Huh? And describing a young Bill Russell: "...a skinny, six-foot-two, 128-pound teenager who looked like he worked in an olive factory dragging the pimientos through..." What in the world are you talking about, Bert?

This book is better when Sugar sticks to facts and doesn't try to dazzle us with his "wit". He is not a terrible writer, he just tries way too hard here. I wouldn't recommend this unless it were rewritten.

I have known Bert Sugar personally for almost thirty years and I have always found him to be very interesting with a mind like a steel trap. Reading this book, for me, was a real treat, because, like Mr. Sugar, I fancy myself to be a fan of sports-related trivia. Unlike one previous reviewer, I found Mr. Sugar's rankings to be equally distributed among all the sports. Ranked among the top 5 were yesteryear's incarnations of Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders - multi sports stars who could do everything on and off the field. Jackie Robinson, ranked number 4, excelled at baseball, football, basketball, swimming, track, and even tennis. Number 2 rated Jim Thorpe, in addition to his success in football, baseball, and track, also won (Bert, you might or might not be aware of this!) the 1912 Intercollegiate BALLROOM DANCING championship! Coming in at number one........JIM BROWN, a FIVE sport star at Syracuse in football, baseball, basketball, track, and...get this... LACROSSE! I consider Bert's book to be a must read and a sure-fire conversation starter.