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Originally Posted by Glice
It's tricky, because you'd have to go for a sport with a broad appeal. If you were saying snooker players, I'd go with Davis or (in a few years time) Hendry or O'Sullivan. In itself this shows my age, as I can't remember Willie Thorn as a player. But snooker is hardly the most popular of sports.
I wonder if it's asking about their personality, their life, general influence as well? Y'know, in a Martina Navratilova kind of way.
Obviously, some smart-arse is going to say Kasparov, who's probably a million times closer to 'real' genius than Pele, but chess isn't a sport. It is something, but that something isn't a sport.
I don't think cricketers would get the mass appeal either. For all Warne's absurd ability, or Lara's legend, or the sheer 'how the fuck?!' of Muralitharan, do these players mean anything to non-cricket fans? I'm a non-football fan, and Péle certainly means something to me.
I'd expect some might say Tiger Woods. Is he as good as Sebe? I dunno, but he's certainly high-profile.
Anyway. The obvious answer is Fred Perry. Table Tennis champion, last Brit to win Wimbledon and inventor of a shirt so ubiquitous no-one ever thinks to associate it with Fred.
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Yes I agree with a number of the problems you pose.
I assume that the BBC referred to a figure's broad influence within sport in general. Realistically, as you mention, it has to be a fairly universal sport: football, athletics, boxing and tennis.
I'm willing to stand corrected, but I'm beginning to drift towards nominating George Best, whose general reception by both professionals, critics and fans seems to have completely validated the notion of the way-ward genius, so crucial to the career of Ayrton Senna, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Paul Gascoigne, Zidane, John McEnroe, Mike Tyson, and so on. Prior to Best, It could be argued that sportsmen were thought of either as professional athletes, or craftsmen. Best may not have been responsible for the idea of the sporting genius (I still stand by Pele for this) but being read as the 'tortured genius' he defines the critical reception of so many sportspersons today.