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Thread: Are we in the greatest sports era for the greatest ever?

  1. #11
    Senior Member JGlass's Avatar

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    Someone made a point that sports science has driven athletes to be better than ever and therefore beyond comparison to the athletes that came before them, and while it's true that it's a tough comparison for the old guys, it's not the current players' fault for taking advantage of the knowledge we have now about the human body and training and dieting techniques. LeBron is playing at a level at age 33 that most guys in the past never reached even at their prime. He played the full 48 minutes in game 7 last night and didn't miss a single game throughout the season and the playoffs this year. That's nuts.

    It's probably not fair to the athletes of old to do a statistical comparison between them and the players of today, but at the same time that's just an admission that the athletes in the past aren't at the same level of the athletes of today.

    So I think the answer to your question Sly is that yes, we are in an age of sports where we're seeing more GOATs in each type of sport than ever before, and I think it's largely because of the progress in sports science, which is why we will probably be in an era just like this one in another 10-20 years when even more progress is made in sports medicine and training.

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  3. #12
    Senior Member A11's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by JGlass View Post
    Someone made a point that sports science has driven athletes to be better than ever and therefore beyond comparison to the athletes that came before them, and while it's true that it's a tough comparison for the old guys, it's not the current players' fault for taking advantage of the knowledge we have now about the human body and training and dieting techniques. LeBron is playing at a level at age 33 that most guys in the past never reached even at their prime. He played the full 48 minutes in game 7 last night and didn't miss a single game throughout the season and the playoffs this year. That's nuts.

    It's probably not fair to the athletes of old to do a statistical comparison between them and the players of today, but at the same time that's just an admission that the athletes in the past aren't at the same level of the athletes of today.

    So I think the answer to your question Sly is that yes, we are in an age of sports where we're seeing more GOATs in each type of sport than ever before, and I think it's largely because of the progress in sports science, which is why we will probably be in an era just like this one in another 10-20 years when even more progress is made in sports medicine and training.
    I said the advantages of sport science means that they should be peaking. I said its hard to compare who is the greatest if you want to look at it from the achievements side of things its hard to compare players whose career are in progress

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  5. #13
    knows REAL wrestling! Барбоса's Avatar

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    In an era of sports science and sports teams having so much money to find the cream of the crop around the world, we really should be in the greatest era.

    And for the most part, I would say that we are - Messi, Ronaldo, LeBron, Brady, Bolt, the All Blacks etc.

    However, there are a few caveats, such as the predominant taste and style and the power of money.

    I would argue that the overall standards of defending in football have dropped considerably over the past decade or more, mainly because good defending is 'boring' to many a casual fan, which would be viewed as bad for the TV/sponsorship ratings. Possession and pressing have become the go-to tactics for many of the top teams, and when it works, it can be glorious to watch like with Man City or Liverpool. But when they are successfully stifled (not often enough in an age of supposed greatness), it is dreadfully boring.

    The sports science argument can be somewhat double-edged too. While it can help the greats can be helped to stay great for longer and even reach greater heights, the potential cookie-cutter approach of sports science can stifle creativity and excitement as everyone is the same. ON top of that, there is so much money in these top level sports that many teams and their managers/coaches can become scared of losing rather than incentivised to win, leading to players being forced to 'stick to the plans', even when a blind man can see that the plan is wrong/not working as well as something else would.

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