This essay will no doubt offend if not anger some readers. In fact, it may be the most controversial essay that I’ll ever publish—even more outrageous than my many other controversial essays on, say, the Pajama-Boy Nietzscheans. I will probably lose friends, make more enemies than I have already, and the woke mob at ESPN will no doubt come for my scalp.
Great article and many good points made - probably an anglophile thing but skills sets for Rugby and Cricket are the equal of if not far superior to NFL and baseball imho - so mystified as to the huge difference in ranking. Rugby - 80 mins of non stop action with each player having to demonstrate a wide range of skills -speed /dexterity/agility/decision making. Yes certainly there are specialist positions but all players need to be able to run/pass/kick/tackle - an if facing a small projectile from 22 yards travelling sometimes in excess of 150Km per hour - or catching the same projectile traveling a pace from half the distance of a short stop is a recreation I dont want to play games at your house. By the way - doesn't the silly hat thing also drop baseball to a simple recreational sport?
It's said the hardest thing to do in sports is to hit a baseball. The ability to see the pitch, "know" if it's a strike or a ball and what kind of pitch has to be done in a split second. That implies attributes that can't be taught. Improved upon but not taught. So where does that particular skill fit in? And does that make Babe Ruth the greatest athlete of all time?
This was a pure, soul-fueling delight to read and to watch. I vote for a regular curation of your favorite athletic displays, achievements, and moments in sports.
I know you don't think much of swimming - but you might want to reconsider, at least certain events within swimming. My wife swam the English Channel, at the time, 20 years ago, only 900 people had ever accomplished that feat. The water is about 58-60 degrees, it is 26 miles and you don't get to wear anything but a traditional bathing suit - no wet-suits. She had the fastest time for any male or female the summer of 2001, and accomplished this while pregnant.
Only 1,881 people have ever completed a solo crossing of the English Channel - compared to the 50,000 people who finish Iron Man Triathlons every year.
If the high school water polo team played football against the football team, the football team would win but the water polo team could put up a fight. If they played water polo against each other, the football team could literally die.
Interesting article. I sort of agree. But not completely. You seem to ignore variations in muscle fiber types between the various sports. Lets look at Bo Jackson for instance:
"I have no doubt that Bo Jackson could have been a world class gymnast, soccer player, collegiate wrestler, or badminton player if he’d put his mind to it from an early age."
World class Gymnast: No, too big.
World class Soccer player: No, too much fast twitch muscle.
Collegiate wrestler: Probably, given todays rules and match length. Still I think he would struggle if his opponent could drag him into the third period.
I have not played baseball, and I don't understand where the athletics in baseball come in. Is it sprinting? Is the sprinting just as hard as real sprinting on a track?
On the IR front I finished a short hawkish book by Robert Kagan. John Mearsheimer is next. I'm curious which Founders had the best grasp of geopolitics. In Revolutionary Characters, Gordon Wood praises James Madison's approach towards the War of 1812 because it didn't compromise our ideals, but I don't feel as sanguine about that.
I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned Bullet Bob Hayes. He's from the 1960s and I think that the Dallas Cowboys were the first team to try to convert a pure sprinter to a wide receiver. It worked that time, but not always. Iirc, the 49ers tried to do that with Renaldo Nehemiah with less success. Willie Gault was a triple threat, iirc; track, football, and bobsled.
An interesting take. In your follow up article I wonder if you'll consider "guts". I'm thinking of skateboarding (which I think you ranked low. Any competitive skateboarder has high stamina and quickness) and other X-games sports. I don't know where you'll draw the line between guts and crazy though.
cj goad. Where would you rate this lady? Shanda Hill of Vernon B.C. The first Canadian to complete the Double-Deca. She did hers in 26 days. 844k running,3600kcycling, 76k swimming. I don't think any of the athletes you mentioned could come anywhere near that effort. Look her up she has some interesting training routines
You ranked swimming “begrudgingly”. This was the most controversial ranking, I saw. On the point of transferability, swimming by it’s nature is definitely not very transferable to other sports. Based on personal experience, doing sprint running events, C.C. and sprint triathlon—It does require more technique, coordination, and training to be competitive in swimming compared to sprint running events. From what I have seen, there is more competition in swimming in the US now than in track and field, more so before/outside of high school. I’ve also observed, that to be in the top tier of short distance events, requires you to be gifted. You can see this when some young swimmers will eclipse the progress of other swimmers with years more experience in a few weeks.
Great article and many good points made - probably an anglophile thing but skills sets for Rugby and Cricket are the equal of if not far superior to NFL and baseball imho - so mystified as to the huge difference in ranking. Rugby - 80 mins of non stop action with each player having to demonstrate a wide range of skills -speed /dexterity/agility/decision making. Yes certainly there are specialist positions but all players need to be able to run/pass/kick/tackle - an if facing a small projectile from 22 yards travelling sometimes in excess of 150Km per hour - or catching the same projectile traveling a pace from half the distance of a short stop is a recreation I dont want to play games at your house. By the way - doesn't the silly hat thing also drop baseball to a simple recreational sport?
It's said the hardest thing to do in sports is to hit a baseball. The ability to see the pitch, "know" if it's a strike or a ball and what kind of pitch has to be done in a split second. That implies attributes that can't be taught. Improved upon but not taught. So where does that particular skill fit in? And does that make Babe Ruth the greatest athlete of all time?
This was a pure, soul-fueling delight to read and to watch. I vote for a regular curation of your favorite athletic displays, achievements, and moments in sports.
No hate mail - just a fact for consideration.
I know you don't think much of swimming - but you might want to reconsider, at least certain events within swimming. My wife swam the English Channel, at the time, 20 years ago, only 900 people had ever accomplished that feat. The water is about 58-60 degrees, it is 26 miles and you don't get to wear anything but a traditional bathing suit - no wet-suits. She had the fastest time for any male or female the summer of 2001, and accomplished this while pregnant.
https://www.heraldnet.com/sports/regan-stacey-scheiber-distance-swimmer/
Only 1,881 people have ever completed a solo crossing of the English Channel - compared to the 50,000 people who finish Iron Man Triathlons every year.
If the high school water polo team played football against the football team, the football team would win but the water polo team could put up a fight. If they played water polo against each other, the football team could literally die.
Interesting article. I sort of agree. But not completely. You seem to ignore variations in muscle fiber types between the various sports. Lets look at Bo Jackson for instance:
"I have no doubt that Bo Jackson could have been a world class gymnast, soccer player, collegiate wrestler, or badminton player if he’d put his mind to it from an early age."
World class Gymnast: No, too big.
World class Soccer player: No, too much fast twitch muscle.
Collegiate wrestler: Probably, given todays rules and match length. Still I think he would struggle if his opponent could drag him into the third period.
Badminton: No doubt!
I have not played baseball, and I don't understand where the athletics in baseball come in. Is it sprinting? Is the sprinting just as hard as real sprinting on a track?
Why do you think that Rugby is not in the same tier as Football?
I think that the top triathletes, in their respective distances, could be in tier 1 or 2.
Gotta work harder on your trolling. If you really want to rile people up, try saying something negative about soccer.
No mention of Jim Thorpe? He was the Bo Jackson of his day.
On the IR front I finished a short hawkish book by Robert Kagan. John Mearsheimer is next. I'm curious which Founders had the best grasp of geopolitics. In Revolutionary Characters, Gordon Wood praises James Madison's approach towards the War of 1812 because it didn't compromise our ideals, but I don't feel as sanguine about that.
I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned Bullet Bob Hayes. He's from the 1960s and I think that the Dallas Cowboys were the first team to try to convert a pure sprinter to a wide receiver. It worked that time, but not always. Iirc, the 49ers tried to do that with Renaldo Nehemiah with less success. Willie Gault was a triple threat, iirc; track, football, and bobsled.
An interesting take. In your follow up article I wonder if you'll consider "guts". I'm thinking of skateboarding (which I think you ranked low. Any competitive skateboarder has high stamina and quickness) and other X-games sports. I don't know where you'll draw the line between guts and crazy though.
cj goad. Where would you rate this lady? Shanda Hill of Vernon B.C. The first Canadian to complete the Double-Deca. She did hers in 26 days. 844k running,3600kcycling, 76k swimming. I don't think any of the athletes you mentioned could come anywhere near that effort. Look her up she has some interesting training routines
You ranked swimming “begrudgingly”. This was the most controversial ranking, I saw. On the point of transferability, swimming by it’s nature is definitely not very transferable to other sports. Based on personal experience, doing sprint running events, C.C. and sprint triathlon—It does require more technique, coordination, and training to be competitive in swimming compared to sprint running events. From what I have seen, there is more competition in swimming in the US now than in track and field, more so before/outside of high school. I’ve also observed, that to be in the top tier of short distance events, requires you to be gifted. You can see this when some young swimmers will eclipse the progress of other swimmers with years more experience in a few weeks.