Bring an athlete current day

[Unsold Bacon]

So I was wondering if you could bring one athlet you never got to see because you were too young or you wanted to see how they would fair againist current athletes who would it be and why.

For me it is Wilt 'The Stilt' Chamberlain.

First of all this is a man that averaged 30 and 22 for his career which nowadays are great number even just for one game. He was known as a scoring and rebounding machine to the point where he averaged 50 points a game one season and even scored 100 points once. He was no slouch on defense either.

The one knock people have against him is that his opposition were slow 6'8 white guys. I would be in intrested to see how he can play with the big and fast players of today. (e.g Howard, Bynum). If that ever happened he could prove his legendary status.

 

[Owen 3:16 says I just stole your Slammy!!]

I would love to see Dennis Rodman play in todays NBA. I was too young to watch the "Worm" play. I watch Rodman's highlights on youtube or watch old Bulls/Pistons games on NBA TV. Rodman is my favorite player of all time in the NBA. I love to see guys fight for the rebound and play tough D then watching somebody dunking or offense players. Rodman is 6'6" and grabbed an average of 14-18 rebounds a game. That is a tough feat when he is battling guys who are 6'11 or 7'0". I think Rodman will do better in the NBA if he had played today. If Rodman can defend and play with legends like Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, Shaq, and others past stars. He can defend todays stars like Howard and Bynum.

People sometimes forget, Rodman is a 2 time defensive player of the year. Rodman was small enough to defend against guards and he was strong enough to guard power forwards or centers. I think what is missing today in the league is tough play, I think players are affraid to knock James or Kobe down when they go up in the middle for a lay-up. Rodman, would knock down Jordan or Pippen or Bird if they went down the middle to lay up or dunk. Rodman would of hit LeBron hard if he dared to go up in the middle. I think Rodman would be great if he played today.

For some reason, This video wont go up. I'll giving a url for a great highlight video of The Worm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LUOwcoBZ8E&feature=related

 

[Silly Willy Nilly Vanilly in the Milly]

I would want to see Ted Irvine in today's NHL. A lot has changed since his time in the 60s and 70s and I just want to see how he would fare against the likes of Sidney Crosby and Loui Eriksson.
I also was not alive during his tenure and would love to be able to see him on live TV.

 

[Big Sexy]

I'm going to go with Jim Brown. Many see him as one of, if not the best, running back of all time (I have him at number two). Back when he played in the 50's and 60s he was one of the biggest guys on the field, and that includes linemen so he was able to overpower defenders. In today's NFL he would still be a bigger back at 6-2, 232 but he wouldn't be towering over defenders like he did back in his day. Defenders today are much bigger, faster, and more athletic so it'd be interesting to see how his numbers would be affected.

Honorable mention: Oscar Robertson

 

[Killercam]

Great thread, this is always a great conversation. I would love to see the Great Bambino playing today. Also would love to see LeBron with a team with an equal supporting cast and let him have a best of 7 with any of the 6 teams Jordan won with or any of the teams Bird or Magic won with. But most of all, I would love to see Bo Jackson playing both baseball and football now, he was the last great duel sport athlete (I'm not forgetting Neon Deon but he wasn't great at baseball too).

 

[Davi323]

Gordie Howe. I would love to see what Mr. Hockey could do on a team with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. That would be fun.

Honorable mention: Barry Sanders. Sure, I watched almost every down of his career, and it wasn't that long ago. But the NFL has changed even since 1999, its become way more of a passing league, with less and less attention to strong running games. Put Barry Sanders on today's Detroit Lions, with a real QB and WR combo like Emmitt Smith had? Barry + Stafford + Megatron = Super Bowl. Their offense would be impossible to defend against.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

Football - Dick Butkus. This man was a monster in the middle of the field. Players were literally afraid to go in his area. I would love to see how he would play against NFL players now.

Baseball - Babe Ruth. There really isn't an explanation needed here.

Basketball - Oscar Robertson. Any man who averages a triple-double for a season has to be fun to watch, right?

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Any great hitter of the past: Williams, Ruth, Gehrig. Athletes have gotten bigger, stronger and faster which makes bringing in a past athlete kind of pointless, but the idea of having the coordination to hit a round ball with a round bat makes these guys special, timeless and the most intriguing if put in to today's game.

 

[lowandmighty]

I'd like to bring back in a time machine prime Muggsy Bogues to see how he'd go in today's NBA. I think everyone in the NBA is bigger now than back then in the early 90's even the white guys and on average faster too, its almost a different game.

I wonder if a guy as small as muggsy could still play with the freaks of today. Its like Jurassic park out there, makes me wonder where they breed these guys and what they eat. Where do they find beds big enough to sleep on? How do they stand up in their houses?

The big show wouldn't even be one of the tallest guys in the NBA these days.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

id bring Ted Williams back hes my all-time favorite baseball player and I have never seen him play I did meet him very briefly at a card show with my father and he was a nice guy cracking jokes and everything I would love to see how the greatest hitter to ever play would handle todays pitching.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

A few I thought of right off the bat:

Dan Severn in today's UFC. The dude was nicknamed The Beast for a reason, but stepped away before UFC's true renaissance period. It'd be fun to see Severn in his prime vs. today's stars.

Lawrence Taylor in today's NFL. I'd be fascinated to see how one of the hardest hitting and most feared defenders of all time would fare in the NFL's kinder, gentler league. I still think he'd be a beast, like Jared Allen.

Nolan Ryan in today's MLB. The Strikeout King had 7 no-hitters in a period when no-no's were a tad more rare. The 2nd coming of the MLB pitcher these last few years begs the question - could the Texas Express have earned 10 no-no's?