Bodog Builds the Ultimate Athlete
You can’t be good at everything in this life – not like our Ultimate Athlete here at Bodog Sportsbook. Just like we did with our Ultimate NBA Player, we’re taking all of the best attributes from the best male athletes and combining them into one unbeatable foe. Let’s start with the most important attribute of them all:
Intelligence: Ken Dryden
Winning six Stanley Cups as the top goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens is a noteworthy accomplishment – but that was just the beginning for this Cornell graduate. Dryden famously took the 1973-74 season off, at his peak, in order to finish a second degree in law at McGill (and get a better contract from the Habs). Then he retired early at age 31 and became a respected author, sports executive, and Member of Parliament for the Toronto riding of York Centre.
Dryden’s support for early-learning child-care initiatives wasn’t enough to get him elected leader of the Liberal Party in 2006, but he did advance this agenda significantly during his time as Minister of Social Development. He’s also fearlessly dedicated to raising awareness of concussions and their horrifying impact on players like the late Steve Montador. The world needs more Ken Drydens.
Left Foot: Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic
Moving on to educated feet, “Cro Cop” possessed the most devastating move in all of mixed martial arts: his left roundhouse kick. His motto was “right leg hospital, left leg cemetery,” and Cro Cop honed those lethal skills as a kickboxer and Croatian police commando before making his name in Japan as a Grand Prix champion for the PRIDE promotion.
Cro Cop was also elected to the Croatian Parliament in 2003, representing the capital of Zagreb, and like Dryden has been a force for good in the past – but we’ll respectfully take his left foot for our Ultimate Athlete. He’d chop Victor Wembanyama down at the knees just like Cro Cop felled 7-foot-2 Choi Hong-man.
Right Foot: Johan Cruyff
The master of the Cruyff Turn could burn you on both sides, and there’s some argument over whether or not he was naturally right-footed, but we’re not too concerned about that. We just want the Dutchman’s right foot next to Cro Cop’s left.
Cruyff may have had even more impact off the pitch as a proponent of Total Football, which he employed as the manager of FC Barcelona from 1988 to 1996. But as a three-time winner of the Ballon D’Or, Cruyff dazzled many a soccer fan – and opponent – with his magical right foot.
Speed: Alphonso Davies
Not Usain Bolt, but another soccer player. For pure speed, we’re going with the greatest Canadian player of all time. Davies is called “The Roadrunner” for a reason; in 2020, while playing midfield for Bayern Munich, Davies set a Bundesliga record when he was clocked at 36.5 km/h, or 22.7 mph.
Bolt is faster, of course, but Davies runs for miles and miles, not 100 metres at a time. That means Davies probably has more pure, distilled speed at his disposal, as opposed to horsepower. Our Ultimate Athlete needs to tap into those vast resources even more than Team Canada does.
Professionalism: Frank Boucher
The NHL’s Lady Byng Memorial Trophy is awarded to the player who best combines sportsmanship and skill – and nobody in the history of hockey did it better than Frank Boucher. The Ottawa native was an RCMP officer as well as a hockey player; Boucher won the Lady Byng a record seven times in eight years while playing for the New York Rangers, impressing Lady Byng herself so much that she let Boucher keep that trophy, and donated another one for 1935-36.
Boucher went on to coach and GM the Rangers to some success, leading them to the Stanley Cup in 1940 – their last until Mark Messier helped end the curse in 1994. As a member of the Rules Committee, Boucher helped introduce the red line (along with Cecil Duncan) in 1943. Then, after he was done with pro hockey, Boucher returned to the amateur ranks and served as commissioner of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League from 1959 to 1967, running the entire Canadian junior program in his last year before skating off into the sunset. This is how it’s done, folks.
Right Arm: Wayne Gretzky
As with Cruyff, people can’t seem to figure out whether Gretzky is a natural northpaw; he grips his stick left-handed, but that means his right hand (the top hand) should be dominant. And it’s that dominance we’re looking for in Bodog’s Ultimate Athlete.
We probably don’t have to tell you, but Gretzky owned the NHL during the ‘80s and ‘90s. It might be several lifetimes before anyone breaks his single-season record of 92 goals scored. A flick of that right wrist, with a bit of guidance from the left, and on went the red light – 894 times in total during the regular season, plus another 46 on top of that if you include his one year in the WHA.
Left Arm: Marvin Hagler
According to boxing lore, Marvelous Marvin Hagler (which he made his legal name, since he loved the nickname so much) was once told early in his career that he had three strikes against him: “You’re black, you’re left-handed, and good.” Actually, though there is once again some disagreement, the undisputed middleweight boxing champion from 1980 to 1987 was a natural northpaw, using a southpaw stance to bridge the distance between his heavier right hand and his opponent.
Over time, Hagler’s left would become his calling card – that and his granite chin. Which is why it was so curious in 1987 to see Hagler start his fight against Sugar Ray Leonard in the orthodox stance. Leonard clearly won those first two rounds en route to a controversial split decision; good thing our Ultimate Athlete also has the intelligence of Ken Dryden.
Power: Usain Bolt
There’s no way we were leaving Bolt off this list. If you know sprinting, you know why we have Bolt here under Power instead of Speed – although you could argue that he should represent both attributes. Either way, sprinting is about raw, anaerobic power, and Bolt has displayed more of that power than anyone in recorded history, setting world records in the 100m (9.58 seconds) and 200m (19.19 seconds).
Strength: Hafthor Bjornsson
We also made the distinction between power (Shaquille O’Neal) and strength (Wilt Chamberlain) when we put together our Ultimate NBA Player. With that in mind, how can we – or anyone – overlook the former World’s Strongest Man? Bjornsson is a 6-foot-9, 415-pound slab of Icelandic beef who’s better known as “The Mountain” from Game of Thrones. He also played basketball for the national junior team before Magnus Ver Magnusson took him under his very large wing.
Stamina: Jim Thorpe
While it’s impossible to say for certain, the decathlon may be the most demanding sport of them all. But in case that isn’t enough for you, Thorpe didn’t just win the gold for Team USA at the 1912 Summer Olympics; he also excelled at baseball, football and basketball, and was even said to be considering a gig with the Tecumseh Hockey Club in Toronto.
It’s the gold medal that most people remember about Thorpe. It was taken away for a violation of the rules surrounding amateurism, which were considered important at the time and enforced as such. That decision was overturned in stages, with the medals and records fully reinstated by 2022. Lost somewhat in the controversy was Thorpe’s greatness – he was arguably the greatest athlete of all time, at least until our Ultimate Athlete came along.
Aggression: Michael Jordan
We had Jordan’s focus as the take-away attribute for our Ultimate NBA Player, and we obviously want our Ultimate Athlete to possess that same winning trait. But when it comes to sheer ruthless aggression, MJ is the blueprint. Jordan’s focus allowed him to channel that aggression, seize the initiative, and turn his opponents into a quivering pile of Jell-O.
Creativity: Ernie Barnes
This is probably the least famous name on our list – unless you’re an art dealer. Barnes was an offensive lineman for five years in the NFL during the early 60s, but had a hard time catching on at first, partly because he was always doodling during team meetings. Denver Broncos head coach Jack Faulkner once fined Barnes $100 over one of his sketches.
That sketch would later sell for $1,000. Turns out “The Big Rembrandt” (Barnes stood 6-foot-3 and weighed 250 pounds, massive for a lineman of his era) was better as a painter than a football player; New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin even put Barnes on the payroll not for his blocking skills, but because of his “value to the country as an artist.” If only Woody Johnson saw the world the same way.
Durability: Gordie Howe
If a 52-year-old man wanted to play in the NHL today, they’d probably find a nice cushioned room for him somewhere. Nobody was going to stop Gordie Howe from playing hockey. He rarely missed a game in 25 years with the Detroit Red Wings, then ended his brief two-year retirement to play six more seasons in the WHA.
That last year with the 1979-80 Hartford Whalers after the NHL/WHA merger wasn’t even the end for Howe. He played one shift for the IHL’s Detroit Vipers in 1997 at the age of 69, becoming the first pro hockey player on record to compete across six decades.
Intangibles: Roberto Clemente
While Jerry West was “Mr. Clutch” in the NBA, Roberto Clemente didn’t have a catchy nickname to remind you how he elevated his game when the chips were down – they simply called him “The Great One,” just like Gretzky. Clemente definitely had his share of clutch moments, though, like that infield single in the eighth inning that helped the Pittsburgh Pirates come back to win Game 7 of the 1960 World Series.
Again, Clemente’s heroics that day were overshadowed somewhat by Bill Mazeroski’s Series-winning home run. But that only makes his greatness that much more intangible. Clemente was more than the sum of his parts, thanks in no small measure to his Marine Corps training (he was private first class in the Reserve for six years) and his offseason charity work.
It was that charity work which led to Clemente’s untimely death in 1972, while he was in the twilight of his career. Major League Baseball waived the waiting period and immediately put Clemente in the Hall of Fame.
When all is said and done, we hope our Ultimate Athlete here at Bodog Sportsbook can be half the man that Clemente was, but more importantly, we hope every young athlete out there will try to do the same.