Trust me, I agonized over putting socker in my original post. I also purposely left out Nascar.
I'm thinking about all of this a little differently after reading all of your responses.
How much of each of these athletes' stardom is created by the media? There's no doubt that Tiger and Jordan had a huge advantage in this discussion with the media and marketing.
Ali probably didn't have that. Ruth surely didn't have that, nor did Bobby Orr.
Socker would only be a third-world game if not for today's politically correct media. And I just don't understand Nascar at all. Clearly publicity driven.
That being said, I don't see a sport that is impacted more than when Tiger isn't on the course.