Who is to football what Michael Jordan was to basketball or Pele to footbul?
Its a hard question, but the answer is easily Red Grange. Michael Jordan and Pele, your examples, had as much to do with the off-court promotion and creation of their sports as the on-court domination of it. Michael Jordan made basketball matter across the globe, pretty much singlehandedly. Pele made futbol (soccer) matter in the US (at least temporarily) again, basically by himself. To find one player who rose above the entire league in such an obvious way as those two is pretty much impossible, but I think that Red Grange, and the immense effect he had on the entire COUNTRY, not just the league, probably comes the closest. Even when baseball was still “America’s pastime,” Red Grange alone would put 100,000 butts in the bleachers at football games. He dominated the sport like no one else ever has, or ever will. 80 years later, not one person has ever come close to his level of domination, but that’s just the way football is played these days. But as far as the off-field considerations
Only one person got this question right: Red Grange. The most significant impact Jordan and Pele had on their sports was increasing it’s popularity. Nobody ever has, or ever will have that affect on football like Red Grange. Rice or even Montana did not really affect the popularity of the sport that much on a national scale, and neither did anyone else listed here.
Now I know that people are going to say I just said this because he just retired, but I seriously think it’s Favre. Just like Michael Jordan did for the Bulls, he won them games many times alone. He is the main reason people were in the stands for the Bulls and the reason that so many people liked them. When people think Bulls, they think Michael Jordan. For me, it’s the same thing. Favre was the reason the pack got to the NFC Championship game. He was the heart and soul of the team and solid as a rock (just look at his streak of games played). I think that Favre and football go together just as well as Michael Jordan and basketball. It’s not just about who was the best at their respective sport. I also choose them because they each have more passion for their sport than any other player I have ever seen step onto a court/field.
