A LEGEND?

“He’s a legend.”

That phrase used to mean something. “Legend” used to be reserved only for the special few who truly earned the status. Nowadays, it feels like it’s thrown around to anyone. Apparently, there are legends everywhere.

The title of “legend” has become devalued. It has become overused. And it has become confused. There’s not one clear definition of a “legend”; there are many, most of which are subjective.

Put simply, nobody knows what the heck constitutes a legend anymore.

WHAT IS SPORTS?

Sports has a wide array of fields where one can excel. Sports is all forms of usually competitive physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while providing entertainment to participants, and in some cases, spectators.

Sport is generally recognized as activities which are based in physical athleticism or physical dexterity. Sports are usually governed by a set of rules or customs, which serve to ensure fair competition, and allow consistent adjudication of the winner.

Winning can be determined by physical events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first, or by the determination of judges who are scoring elements of the sporting performance, including objective or subjective measures such as technical performance or artistic impression.

In addition, sport is a major source of entertainment for non-participants, with spectator sports drawing large crowds to venues, and reaching wider audiences through sports broadcasting.

AN ATHLETE?

An athlete is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed or endurance. The use of the term in sports such as golf or auto racing is somewhat controversial.

Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-developed physiques obtained by extensive physical training and strict exercise accompanied by a strict dietary regimen.

Kobe Bryant

Rest in Peace

23 August 1978 – 26 January 2020

He’s the only NBA player to have a 20-year career with one team. Kobe’s raw statistics are otherworldly: Five championships, two Finals MVPs, one regular season MVP, third on the all-time career scoring list, 15 All-NBA teams, 18-time All-Star, four-time scoring champion, and the list goes on and on.

However, those stats do not define Kobe — we will remember him more as one of the game’s ultimate competitors, a guy as driven as anyone who has ever laced up shoes and walked onto a court. He talked about that and his legacy over the course of this final season, something we captured at PBT. Kobe talked about a lot of things, but it all started with chasing his dream — and inspiring a generation of players to do the same.

Efren Manalang Reyes

August 26, 1954 – Present

Efren “Bata” Reyes, aka “The Magician”, is one of the best-known, most popular and best pool players of all times. At his peak – he’s over 60 now – he literally shocked the pool world with his skills, especially when nobody knew him in the 1980ies. Still today his game seems to be from another planet. Us “normal” players will never get there; and still we can learn from him.

Bata is known as one of the most creative players in the world. Sometimes he’s more like an artist than a pool player. He sees patterns that nobody else sees. And he’s willing to try them out. And the stuff that looks so easy nowadays, because he did them thousands of times before, is based on him being willing to try out new things and fail.

Michael Phelps

30 June 1985 – Present

Michael Phelps is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished athletes of all time. He captured more Olympic medals, World Championships, US National Titles, and world records than any other swimmer in history. Throughout his career, Phelps has been committed to helping to promote the sport of swimming at all levels. He established the Michael Phelps Foundation in 2008 to promote water safety, healthy living, and the pursuit of dreams. That same year, he was recognized by Sports Illustrated as the “Sportsman of the Year” while, befittingly, Eunice Kennedy Shriver posthumously received the publications “Legacy Award.”

Manny Pacquiao

17 December 1978 – Present

Manny Pacquiao has competed in professional boxing since 1995. Regarded by many boxing historians as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time, Pacquiao is the only boxer in the history of boxing to win 12 major world titles in eight different weight divisions.He is also the first boxer in history to win the lineal championship in five different weight divisions, as well as being the first boxer in history to win major world titles in four of the original eight weight divisions of boxing, also known as the “glamour divisions”: flyweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight

Muhammad Ali

January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016

 He is an American boxer who is not only widely regarded as one of the best boxers in history but also consistently rated as among the greatest athletes of the 20th century. Ali was a leading heavyweight boxer of the 20th century, and he remains the only three-time lineal champion of that division. His joint records of beating 21 boxers for the world heavyweight title and winning 14 unified title bouts stood for 35 years. Ali is the only boxer to be named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year six times. He has been ranked the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, and as the greatest athlete of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated, the Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC, and the third greatest athlete of the 20th century by ESPN SportsCentury.