Has anyone heard of Eric Heiden? From his Wikipedia page; " Eric Arthur Heiden (born June 14, 1958) is an American physician and a former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. He won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. Heiden was the most successful athlete at those Olympic Games, single-handedly winning more gold medals than all nations except for the Soviet Union (10) and East Germany (9).[2] He is the most successful Winter Olympian from a single edition of any Winter Olympics. He delivered the Athlete's Oath at those same 1980 Games. His coach was Dianne Holum.[3]"
I think it’s clear they are alluding to a track that is 10 laps to the mile…as you know, the Meadowlands was such a track.
I looked up up. Meadowlands was the only 10 lap track.
Which was very fast and notably the place where Coghlan ran the first sub 3:50 indoor mile. While it wasn’t as high profile as MSG, it was well known and that included the fact that it was 10 laps to the mile.
Nicklaus faced far more all-timers than Woods when competing for Majors.
At the time Nicklaus was at his peak, there were maybe 8-10 players realistically capable of winning majors. So naturally a bunch of them won multiples and cemented themselves as greats. Now there are 200+ guys who on their day that can win, the depth is ridiculous. Someone who wins 5 majors today is probably the equivalent of 15 in Jack's day. And I'm a huge Nicklaus fanboy, but you can't compare eras. Tiger might have won 30 or 40 in the same era.
Well, if you take a peak 10 years of 1966-1975, more than 10 different guys other than Nicklaus won at least one major. In fact, it didn’t look wildly different than Woods’ best 10 year stretch of winning majors.
Individual World Championships gold medals: Ledecky 14, Hoszzu 9.
I don't know if Hoszzu has officially retired, but she is basically done. (Failed to medal in her home country last year.) Ledecky still has multiple Olympics and World Championships ahead of her.
In case you think Ledekcy is just a "non-sprint freestyler" she won the US Championships in 400 IM last year. Her winning time would have been 3rd in the World Championships. She does not race IM in the Olympics and World Championships because she already has too many freestyle races. If she focused on IM, she could probably win an Olympic or World title. (She would need to work on breast, but her back and fly are already very good.)
She won gold medals in 200, 400, 800 and 1500 in the same World Championships. That's like winning 800, 1500, 3000. and 5000 in running. What kind of an absurd range is that?
Her time in 800 and 1500 would rank in the world top 100 among men. And she would qualify for the US Olympic trial for men in both events. No other woman could claim that, including Hoszzu.
She deserves the GOAT title more than most people mentioned on this thread.
I have nothing but the highest regard for Ledecky, but her breast sucks—but recently did look much improved to my eyes.
Unless I am mistaken, she went 4:35.77 at Philips 66 last year. In December, a 16-yr-old Summer McIntosh went 4:28.61 at the US Open for # 3 all-time. Hosszu is way down at 4:26.36 in the terrible Rio pool. Ledecky isn’t even in the top 25 for the event. The young women, like Grimes, are dominating. OTOH Hosszu is not only a distant (for now) WR-holder in the 400 IM, but she is also the 200IM WR-holder, #11 all-time in 200 back, #13 all-time in the 100 back, #25 all-time in the 200 free, and #6 all-time in the 200 fly.
Ledecky’s entire claim to fame at this point is 200-1500 free, where she is of course the GOAT, male or female—but she is hardly the best swimmer.
Hosszu is the female equivalent of Phelps, the GOAT all-around female swimmer. FOR NOW. She could soon be dethroned by one of the crop of young women who are currently kicking azz LC—McInosh, Grimes, etc. They are amazing.
And…BAM! 💥
McIntosh 400 free LCM WR 💪💪💪💪
3:56.08
And Grimes, and Titmus, and Douglass, and Weinstein, and Curzan, etc etc etc
The new crop of women is INSANE.
Ledecky will be in tough in Paris, even in her strongest events. Ledecky did I he 400 back-half, McIntosh took it out with a crushing first 200, then brought it home.
At the time Nicklaus was at his peak, there were maybe 8-10 players realistically capable of winning majors. So naturally a bunch of them won multiples and cemented themselves as greats. Now there are 200+ guys who on their day that can win, the depth is ridiculous. Someone who wins 5 majors today is probably the equivalent of 15 in Jack's day. And I'm a huge Nicklaus fanboy, but you can't compare eras. Tiger might have won 30 or 40 in the same era.
Well, if you take a peak 10 years of 1966-1975, more than 10 different guys other than Nicklaus won at least one major. In fact, it didn’t look wildly different than Woods’ best 10 year stretch of winning majors.
Nicklaus finished second in 19 majors and finished top 5 in 56 majors. That is to go along with his 18 wins.
Brady? Hmmmmm... Brady is not fit to tie Usain Bolt's shoes. OR Kipchoge's. And I'm a Masshole!
Lebron hardly in the top 5 in his sport. Even Jordan turned his back on basketball to pursue a second sport. For me, it's between the 3 bigs: Wilt, Shaq, and Bill Russell.
Although I do think that Shaq was the most dominant player ever, in that once he had the ball in the paint nobody was going to stop him (although yes he did have trouble with Yao Ming), if you watch this YT vid of an old game from 93 you can see how Jordan is better. Can and did score from anywhere, got steals both in the open court and under the basket, had well-timed shot blocks, situational awareness, assists, you name it. He even picked Shaq a few times.
Yes Shaq was young here, but IMO it's representative of how the two of them played the game.
If I'm picking for my team, I'm picking Jordan before Shaq. Yes I know they played different positions, but IMO Jordan's versatility makes him more of an asset than a big-man center.
Wilt, now that's a tough choice. Russell, I know nothing about.
Brady? Hmmmmm... Brady is not fit to tie Usain Bolt's shoes. OR Kipchoge's. And I'm a Masshole!
Lebron hardly in the top 5 in his sport. Even Jordan turned his back on basketball to pursue a second sport. For me, it's between the 3 bigs: Wilt, Shaq, and Bill Russell.
Has anyone heard of Eric Heiden? From his Wikipedia page; " Eric Arthur Heiden (born June 14, 1958) is an American physician and a former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. He won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. Heiden was the most successful athlete at those Olympic Games, single-handedly winning more gold medals than all nations except for the Soviet Union (10) and East Germany (9).[2] He is the most successful Winter Olympian from a single edition of any Winter Olympics. He delivered the Athlete's Oath at those same 1980 Games. His coach was Dianne Holum.[3]"
I have nothing but the highest regard for Ledecky, but her breast sucks—but recently did look much improved to my eyes.
Unless I am mistaken, she went 4:35.77 at Philips 66 last year. In December, a 16-yr-old Summer McIntosh went 4:28.61 at the US Open for # 3 all-time. Hosszu is way down at 4:26.36 in the terrible Rio pool. Ledecky isn’t even in the top 25 for the event. The young women, like Grimes, are dominating. OTOH Hosszu is not only a distant (for now) WR-holder in the 400 IM, but she is also the 200IM WR-holder, #11 all-time in 200 back, #13 all-time in the 100 back, #25 all-time in the 200 free, and #6 all-time in the 200 fly.
Ledecky’s entire claim to fame at this point is 200-1500 free, where she is of course the GOAT, male or female—but she is hardly the best swimmer.
Hosszu is the female equivalent of Phelps, the GOAT all-around female swimmer. FOR NOW. She could soon be dethroned by one of the crop of young women who are currently kicking azz LC—McInosh, Grimes, etc. They are amazing.
And…BAM! 💥
McIntosh 400 free LCM WR 💪💪💪💪
3:56.08
And Grimes, and Titmus, and Douglass, and Weinstein, and Curzan, etc etc etc
The new crop of women is INSANE.
Ledecky will be in tough in Paris, even in her strongest events. Ledecky did I he 400 back-half, McIntosh took it out with a crushing first 200, then brought it home.
And…BAM💥💥💥💥💥
400IM LCM WR 4:25.87 !!!!
Beats Hosszu’s WR by half a second, and split 2.8s slower than Hosszu on breast.
Incredible.
4 WJR’s, 2 WR’s in events that nobody has ever before held together. IMO the 200IM will come in time, and maybe 200 fly.
200 free goes tomorrow, but that is a tall order. But hey, who knows.
At this point, she’s in the convo for the GOAT. Hosszu still has that 200IM WR, and was more balanced among the strokes. McIntosh looks stronger on 2 strokes, about even on 1, and much weaker on 1.
Holy crap. She is only 16-1/2 years old.
Wow! I wonder what Walsh, Douglass, etc are thinking. Ledecky already knows😁
Just not true. Incredible kicker, but he’s 413/418, on XP, so you are just making things up.
Also, forget position goats. There’s no GOAT kicker. There are a few GOATS of sports. Brady, Jordan, and Gretsky are the obvious ones. Really nothing else, except for sports that are on the fringe.
It’s really not. Jordan had two (basically consecutive) three-peats. Lebron has never been able to sustain dominance. Only once did he even repeat. He’s always had to jump ship after a few years because his model is to make them go all in and then the team craters shortly after. Wake me up when he has a single three-peat.