swimming after the 1972 Olympics, but he didnt.If Phelps was narrowly ahead of the competition -- if he had 10 or 11 gold medals -- maybe the i

Thursday, Ryen Russillo and Danny Kanell welcome Western Michigan coach P.J. Fleck (1:45 p.m. ET), ESPN NFL analyst Mark Schlereth (2:00), Buccaneers WR Mike Evans (3:00) and Dolphins WR Jarvis Landry (3:30).Todays main topics:? Cubs even World Series? NFL storylinesText us at 73776 (msg&data rates may apply) or tweet us at twitter.com/RussilloShow -- well be with you from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET on ESPN Radio and ESPNRadio.com. Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Yeezreel For Sale .B. -- The Baie-Comeau Drakkar took over sole possession of first place atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday with their sixth straight win. Yeezy Boost 700 v2 Cheap . Each of Houstons starters scored in double figures as the Rockets improved to 2-0 against the Spurs this season, with both victories coming on the road. They also moved within 3 1/2 games of San Antonio (22-7) for the lead the Southwest Division. http://www.cheapyeezyswholesale.com/ . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Hyperspace . 8 Iowa State on Saturday, sending the Cyclones to their third consecutive loss. The Longhorns (14-4, 3-2) got their biggest win of the season with their third in the row in the Big 12. Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Red Night For Sale . Vokoun departed practice on Saturday morning after discovering swelling in his thigh. He was taken to a local hospital where the clot was revealed. The club announced the surgery following a 5-3 exhibition loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. In his story for Tuesday, ESPN.com writer Bill Barnwell set out to find the best American athlete for every year since 1912, awarding the Best American Athlete Championship Belt to the person who won the year.The results? Babe Ruth held the title as best American athlete for 10 years, while Tiger Woods came away with six titles, Michael Jordan had five-and-a-half, and Muhammad Ali had four. Check out the criteria and results here.Heres your chance to weigh in: Who is the most accomplished American athlete ever?For the record, here are Barnwells thoughts on the topic:Michael Phelps is the greatest American athlete of all time. Hes the greatest Olympian of all time and its not particularly close: Phelps has 23 gold medals and nobody else has more than nine. The idea that the number of events in swimming inflates Phelps statistics doesnt really hold much muster. If it were that easy, why havent any swimmers before or after Phelps come close to matching Phelps totals? Ian Thorpe, the best swimmer in the world in the era immediately preceding Phelps, won five golds. Mattt Biondi ended up with eight.dddddddddddd. Jenny Thompson, the most decorated Olympic female swimmer in history, also won eight. Spitz won nine. He might have won more had he kept swimming after the 1972 Olympics, but he didnt.If Phelps was narrowly ahead of the competition -- if he had 10 or 11 gold medals -- maybe the inflation case would hold up. But 23 to nine is a landslide. Nobody has won four gold medals in a single Olympics more than once. Phelps has done it four times. Nobody won eight medals in a boycott-free Olympics before Phelps. He did it twice, both in these 2004 Olympics and again in 2008. To the extent that we can compare athletes across different sports, Phelps has dominated swimming in a way that no other American athlete has dominated his or her sport at the highest level over a longer period of time. And if youre not picking Phelps because its impossible to make those kinds of comparisons, you cant pick anybody else. ' ' '