How the hell is that dispositive on the subject of worldwide fame? The top cricket players have easily double the following of any American football player, but the latter is more "world famous" because he does it in America?
Yeah, what is he trying to do, pass off the idea that Zimbabwe and America are of equal importance? Did IP hack his account?
If Player A has 2 billion fans, and Player B has 400 million, I can pretty comfortably say which one is more famous worldwide without having to ask which one plays in America.
Zimbabwe has less people, so no I wouldn't say it would have more power than America in global popularity matters. However, if someone was a household name in all of Africa, they're more famous than someone only known in the US. Because that is over 1 billion people.
That is myopic. India and China are many times as populated as the USA. And soccer players come to play in mls and are amazed that they can go out to eat and no one even bothers them or even looks at them. Anywhere else in the world they would be hounded. So, they are not relevant because we never heard of them?
I think you underestimate our global media presence. I bet if you put a photo of tom Brady and that cricket player the average non American/Indian/Britain is more likely to say "that's that famous American" than recognize said cricket player.
To be fair, I really don't think cricket gets much attention outside of countries colonized by the British in the last 150 years. But in all honesty, there probably should be more soccer players in the second half of the list.
Wait. . . James is ahead of Zlatan? Even with Sweden missing out on the last World Cup, I would've thought Zlatan was top ten. That said, I agree with everyone who's watched any soccer in saying that James absolutely deserves a high place on this list.
They're both soccer players. Zlatan is Swedish and is one of the best strikers in the world. James is Colombian and won the Golden Boot (most goals) and Goal of the Tournament at the last World Cup. He's a big name for anyone who has even passing familiarity with soccer (which is most of the world)
Which is reflected in the poll as so many NFL players are on the list for a sport that few in the rest of the world give two shits about. Being famous world wide, though, is not completely dependent on the whims of the American sporting culture and media.
Just for kicks, I read the list to my wife and asked her to guess the sports for the top 15. She got 9/15. An American non-sports fan was able to identify the sports played by: Ronaldo LeBron Messi Durant Tiger James Kobe Mahendra Singh Dhoni Usain Bolt was not able to identify the sports played by: Neymar Federer Virat Kohli Nadal Bale Mickelson
I don't recognize James, Dhoni, Neymar, Kohli, or Bale. My generic guess would be soccer for all though.
To be completely fair, she only guessed Ronaldo (Spanish-ish), Durant (American), and Dhoni (Indian) based on their names. I recognize 13 of the top 15, and would guess the Indian names to be cricket players.
Right They didn't write the lyrics "if you can make it here you can make it anywhere" about Kinshasa or Kansas City.
