Gravity sports take advantage vertical free fall. Ice sports take advantage of low static friction to achieve near horizontal free fall like conditions. No matter how much b.s. is told by folklore the Laws of Physics don't change. Sports where velocity is NOT achieved with human power or where momentum is NOT sustained by human power are not athletics. Neither you nor I can change that fact.
Drug Tester wrote: If Pacman submitted to drug testing now it wouldn't matter. He has had money long enough now to hire people who can get him around the drug testers like Mayweather, Armstrong, Symmonds, Cliff Lee, Solinsky, etc. Like Conte's book says, it's child's play to get around dope testing.
Exactly. Little Nicholas has been keeping a secret for quite some time now.
Sports are created by human culture. You are right that they are governed on a scientific level by physics. However, this discussion is about the planet's most dominant sportsman. Surfing is universally regarded as a sport. Therefore, your personal definition is irrelevant. Now that you agree that surfing is a sport, you are free to start your own thread on what constitutes an "athlete."
Surfing is not athletics but is a judged contest like BCS and Figure Skating. Staged shows like WWE/MMA/UFC are neither sports nor athletics, but are stunts shows. Doped stunts shows like MLB, NFL, NHL are neither sports nor athletics.
Why not list Jimmy Johnson on the most dominant sportsman on the planet?
I am not a NASCAR fan, but you have to respect those guys for how long their season is (10 months?), and the amount of g-forces they exert on their bodies in a given race. Think about those guys going into a turn and how that affects them over the course of the race? They have huge amounts of force (4-5 G's over 5 to 15 seconds) that impact them, plus they race week in and week out. A fighter pilot experiences 10-12 G's, but only for a few seconds. These guys deal with the force over a 300 to 500 mile race over HOURS.
I am just sayin, drivers in NASCAR deal with a lot of stuff that makes them competitors, and Jimmy Johnson has made himself noteworthy for the most dominant sportsman on the planet
warpedspe wrote:
Why not list Jimmy Johnson on the most dominant sportsman on the planet?
I am not a NASCAR fan.... huge amounts of force (4-5 G's over 5 to 15 seconds) that impact them...
No, not in NASCAR they don't, maybe 2-3 G's at the most.
In Formula 1 or Indy cars perhaps 4-5 G's, but not in NASCAR.
KS won his first world title in 1992. He won his tenth this year. Mayweather has won nine. Mayweather first fought on the world stage in the Olympics in 1996. KS had already won four world titles by this time. Mayweather has only had two fights since 2007. KS added two more world titles to his name during the same time. Mayweather is great, but Slater is better.
p.s. Everyone else mentioned, besides Mayweather, as being a more dominant sportsman than KS do not warrant a rebuttal.
Agreed. Kelly Slater is the most dominant athlete on the planet. 10x world titles is extremely difficult given the vagaries of ocean swells and contest locations.
I saw Kelly stretching out before a surf at big Pipeline in Hawaii two years ago. The man is fit as a middleweight boxer; no fat, just lean muscle, flexibility, stamina, and balance.
Surfing takes skill, style, bravery, and conditioning. Running in circles around a track just makes you dizzy.
Good post Aussie Miler.
Manny Pacquiao.
Did you mean to post this on www.letssurf.com?
Manny Pacquiao has an equal number of world titles to KS at ten. However, Pacquiao began boxing as a 16-year-old in 1995. KS had already won three world titles by this time. Additionally, Pacquiao is not even the best boxer in the world. There are many men in heavier weight divisions who can beat him easily. Due to the length of Kelly Slater's world dominance, since 1992, and being the best at his sport, KS is clearly more dominant than Pacquiao.
Kelly Slater is a JOKE. Period.
He should not even be considered in the top ten of world's most dominant sportsman. Here is the proof:
How do you compare different athletes from different discipline. Easy - let's pit them against each other in a number of specific skill-based contests in a single setting.
Has this been done. Duh, it has been done since the 70's. Wiki "Superstars". ABC has been doing this for a while.
If Slater is SO dominant as YOU proclaimed him to be. How come he never participated in one.
Oh, yeah, that's right. He just simply SUCKS. Cannot even compete against any of the big boys. Pathetic, the most DOMINANT surfer can't even compete against those guys.
Case closed.
Plus there are only a few wealthy people in the world that live where you can surf. That is like saying the top curler in the world is great. Nobody does it.
Lets talk about the 1500m. Every country in the world has a 1500m championship. Poor and rich countries alike. You can't compare running to surfing.
The last two posts support my claim further. There is no current sportsman who has dominated his sport for as long as KS, so you're only able to complain, deflect, and make illogical statements. If you don't agree with me, offer up a current sportsman who you believe has dominated his sport for longer than KS. Several people have agreed with me already. It's truly amazing what he's accomplished. As a sportsman myself, a miler, I respect what KS has done immensely. Think about it. He won his first world title in 1992. What were you doing in 1992? Now, project forward to 2010. KS won his tenth world title this year. Amazing!
ROLF. Most dominant sportsman on the planet? You gotta to be kidding me. He wouldn't even be in the rank among the top 10 in the whole freaking U.S.
If, by your argument of winning his tenth world surfing, that he is the most dominant sportsman in the world, then Phil Taylor, winner of 14 world championships, would easily outrank him as the most dominant sportsman in the world.
Not to mention, surfing is NOT even a sport - it is a freaking performing arts where you "win" by the scores given by the judges. ROLF. It is the same reason I don't ever watch figure skating, diving, gymnastics - all the garbage junks purported as "sport".
"Judging" in performance arts introduces "subjective" elements into who wins and who loses. Just take figure skating for example. If judging is "objective", how come the range of scores can vary so much, by as much as 2 on a scale of 6. LOL. Sports my axx.
It is by the same token that surfing is not a sport.
Never heard of her.
aussiemiler wrote:
If you don't agree with me, offer up a current sportsman who you believe has dominated his sport for longer than KS.
There you go. Phil Taylor.
World Champions(14 years) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010
World Matchplay(11 years) 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010
World Grand Prix(9 years) 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009.
Kelly Slater doesn't even come close.
Darts is a leisure sport. Surfing is a gravity sport. Neither are athletics.
No one is claiming that surfing is athletics. Do you know how to form a logical argument? At least the guy backing the darts player offered up some support for his statement. However, since it's my thread I'm declaring that darts is not a sport because you can play it at the pub, while wearing your work clothes, and simultaneously drink a beer. Advantage Slater!