Greatest era of all time ???

[Kiwi Eagle]

Watched Usain Bolt this morning, and it got me thinking. Probably a better question for the older among us, but are we currently in 1 of the greatest sporting eras of all time ?

We have this lot running around

Bolt - Fastest man ever
Phelps - Arguably the best swimmer of all time
Federer - Arguably the best Tennis player of all time
Woods - Arguably the best golfer of all time
LeBron James - Potentially in the top 2 basketballers ever
Armstrong - Arguably the best cyclist of all time
Loeb- Best rally driver in history

Just sitting outside this group

Schumacher - Best Grand Prix driver of all time
Jordan - best Basketballer of all time

Is it common to have this sort of crop of talent all around at once ?

 

[ManlyBacker]

I have to agree that it is a pretty extraordinary time. Tiger, Phelps and Armstrong are definites. You forgot Matty Orford!

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

LOL, I was going to throw Andrew Johns in there for debate, but thought I would stick to the major sports

Actually I left Warne off the list as well, greatest spinner of all time

 

[kingyfan]

The seventies and eighties were pretty good too with Ali as probably the best heavyweight boxer of all time, Dennis Lillee as the best fast bowler I have seen and Bjorn borg as probably the greatest tennis payer.  Navratilova or Margaret Court is probably the best womens tennis player ever.  

Heather McKay was the best womens squash player of all time and her record will probably never be beaten.  Bob Fulton the best footballer?

The problem in comparing eras is that training techniques and equipment have improved considerably over the years especially in sports such as tennis.

 

[Garts]

Hard to compare eras.  I think we are seeing alot of high quality or "best ever" sportsman due to all sports now being full time professional.  Sure they may have been professional for a few years or even decades but the fact is over that time people have improved technologies, training methods etc and we are seeing the results now. 

 

[Chip and Chase]

Bolt is a freak. It's scary to think that most sprinters don't peak till late twenties. He might run sub 9 secs at this rate.

Woods will go down as one of the greatest ever no doubt.

Warney is a once in a lifetime cricketer, doubt I'll ever see another like him.

Motorsport is too hard to rate across eras, the advances in technology make life so much easier for drivers today. Put Vatanen in Loeb's car and he'd school him. Having said that Valentino Rossi would have been a champion regardless of era, and will rightly go down as probably the greatest rider in history.

 

[Matabele]

Laver is greater than Federer hands down (as much as I like Federer).

Prost is arguably better than Schumaker.

Still, some great talent on display at the moment.

Hauritz is sure to break all warne's records, surely?

 

[Fluffy]

New technologies, new drugs - impossible to compare

 

[lsz]

Football (i.e. Soccer) is currently lacking a definitive player

There is no Maradona, Pele, George Best, Beckenbauer Cryuff

Players like Ronaldo (not the fan one) and Messi are good but not great

 

[Zep]

Football (i.e. Soccer) is currently lacking a definitive player

There is no Maradona, Pele, George Best, Beckenbauer Cryuff

Players like Ronaldo (not the fan one) and Messi are good but not great

Really??? I thought Kaka, Messi and Ronaldo would all be up there, but i guess there are just Zidane, Henry and Viera + 5 years.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Bolt is a freak. It's scary to think that most sprinters don't peak till late twenties. He might run sub 9 secs at this rate.

Woods will go down as one of the greatest ever no doubt.

Warney is a once in a lifetime cricketer, doubt I'll ever see another like him.

Motorsport is too hard to rate across eras, the advances in technology make life so much easier for drivers today. Put Vatanen in Loeb's car and he'd school him. Having said that Valentino Rossi would have been a champion regardless of era, and will rightly go down as probably the greatest rider in history.

Bolt is unreal, I see he is now talking 9.4

I did see an article ages ago, stating a time that is impossible for humans to possibly go any faster before tendons etc start snapping, just can't recall what that time was

Apparently the time he took off yesterday is the equivalent of 17 years normally

 

[lsz]

[quote author=lsz link=topic=181390.msg237294#msg237294 date=1250565024]
Football (i.e. Soccer) is currently lacking a definitive player

There is no Maradona, Pele, George Best, Beckenbauer Cryuff

Players like Ronaldo (not the fan one) and Messi are good but not great

Really??? I thought Kaka, Messi and Ronaldo would all be up there, but i guess there are just Zidane, Henry and Viera + 5 years.
[/quote]

I would say the last great player was Zizou. He was amazing.

Do not get me wrong I am a massive Milan fan and love Kaka. He was good but not great (in fact we tend to use that word a bit too much)

Messi has the potential but he is still young. To be a great player I think you need to have that moment (Zizou in the world cup or “that” volley in the euro cup, Diego in 1986 or 1990)

 

[Matabele]

Jay Jay Okocha was a great player. 

 

[lsz]

I loved Jay Jay

Good but not great...

 

[clontaago]

Roy Jones Jnr. 8 time world champ in 4 different weight divisions.

 

[Matabele]

Roy Jones Jnr. 8 time world champ in 4 different weight divisions.

  I can't wait to see him smash Green like Mundine did.

 

[Chip and Chase]

I see the Insane one smashed the 200m record as well.

What do you guys think, is he clean or not ? You have to admit he is taking some pretty big chunks of time out of records that have only ever been chipped away at through history.

 

[Zep]

I see the Insane one smashed the 200m record as well.

What do you guys think, is he clean or not ? You have to admit he is taking some pretty big chunks of time out of records that have only ever been chipped away at through history.

to me that says he is legit more than anything. He is just a freak of nature.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

He would be tested more than anybody else in the world wouldn't he

Would have to be some sort of undetectable superdrug

Maybe there is something in those Yams he grew up on haha

I feel really sorry for that South African getting the gender test, must be humiliating if s/he is actually legit

 

[Fluffy]

3 times the normal levels of testosterone for teh SA person.

So its either a case of drugs or a freak of nature.