Globally, all three of those guys are more famous that Jordan. That’s not me being a soccer fanboy (I am.) It’s just true. There’s a golden statue of Beckham in Thailand for Christ’s sake. Jordan isn’t even the most famous American athlete. Tiger still has that title.

All good points. I tend to think Cristiano Ronaldo has ascended towards the top, as any man vaguely familiar with sports at least sort of wants to be him, and all women want to be with him.

You’re right, they’re no Nick Foles.

No, because I think Obama and The Pope both have Jordan beat.

Lack of competition for Graf? When she started winning GS tournaments, she had to beat Evert and Navratilova, as well as Hana Mandlikova, all multiple GS winners. Her contemporaries were players like Seles, Sabatini, Sanchez, Pierce, Serena and Venus Williams, Davenport and Hingis (all of them multiple GS winners as…

Her father is basque, and basque language is one the few pre-Indo-European languages in Europe, so the surnames from that region are quite characteristic.

Without being French, I’m guessing he’s more revered outside of the country.

On the volley? Don’t kid yourself.