Was just watching Randy Moss on SportsCenter, claiming he's the best wide receiver to ever play the game (American football). For those unfamiliar, Randy plays for the San Francisco 49ers, who will be playing in this Sunday's Super Bowl. Randy is a veteran of many seasons and has great career statistics, but in the opinion of most fans is probably not the best to ever play the game.

It was interesting to see the response by Jerry Rice (retired wide receiver also from the 49ers), who now does commentary for ESPN. Jerry pointed to the number of Super Bowls his own teams have won (whereas Randy has yet to win one). Also, the graphics shown on the screen show Jerry ahead in almost every major category.

Regardless of the sport, I have a problem with athletes proclaiming themselves to be "the best ever", "elite", blah, blah, blah. It's ok (and even necessary) to have self-confidence, but there's a fine line between self-confidence and coming off as a chest-thumping fool. The best athletes normally defer to the fans and media as to who's the best at this, and who's the best at that.

Any famous athletes in other sports that are like this?
And what kind of reaction do they get from the fans?

(In boxing, I guess you'd have to include guys like Ali and probably Floyd. And I guess if you can back it up, fine. But usually all-time rankings are best left to the fans.)