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| John Landsberg |
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COMPARING ATHLETES TO DIFFERENT GENERATIONS IS FUTILE
By John Landsberg, June 2008
It is always an interesting exercise to attempt to compare today�s athletes with those in the past. Interesting yes, but virtually impossible to do.
This came to mind recently because many swimmers are now allowed to wear special suits that make them go faster in the water. Records seem to be set now routinely. What�s next? Special propellers on their backs?
Swimming used to be one of those pure sports where you could somewhat compare swimmers from previous generations. However, that�s no longer the case. In the past you basically had a swimmer, water and a stop watch. It wasn�t terribly complicated.
Over time pools changed and the lanes were designed to be virtually wave-proof. High �tech entered the sport and swimmers could analyze videos of every stroke they took. That was about it.
However, with the latest suits worn by today�s swimmers you can now officially eliminate any comparison. In fact, every swimmer in the upcoming Olympics should be allowed to either wear the new suit or those who do wear them should be considered cheaters.
Why even allow the suits? Shouldn�t the sport go to the swimmer who swims the fastest? The suits reduce drag and give buoyancy to swimmers. In a sport that measures success in 1/100ths of a second, that can make all the difference in the world.
How about comparing athletes from previous generations in other sports? Can you compare football players from various eras? Nope. Years ago if a player fumbled it made no difference if his knee was down. A player had to actually cross the goal line for a TD, not just stick the ball out. Rules on holding, blocking, �in the grasp� and others have all changed.
Baseball? Ballparks, rules and equipment have changed so much over the years that any comparison of players is ridiculous. Ballparks today are smaller. Pitching mounds have changed. The ball is juiced as well as many players.
One example: Did you ever see the size of the mitts worn by baseball players 30 years ago? They were about the size of their hands. Compare that to the huge mitts players use today.
What�s funny is that in the old days the rule was if a ball hit your glove and you didn�t make the play it was an error. Today official scorers are so lax that if a ball goes off a player�s gigantic mitt they will frequently give the batter a hit because the �ball was hit hard.� Poor babies.
Basketball? Sure the ball has changed over the years, but probably the biggest change is in refereeing where �palming� is routine and �steps� is rarely called. At one point dunking was not allowed. That would easily knock 10 points off Shaq�s scoring average.
Tennis? Comparing players who used wooden rackets with the titanium rockets used today is fruitless. No comparison.
In many track events comparing generations is not totally fruitless. Athletes today run on special rubberized tracks and have far better shoes, but that�s about it. Compare that to running in tennis shoes on cinders. However, the pole vault used to be a stiff bamboo pole. Today the pole is made of fiberglass and twangs athletes over the bar.
Golf? See tennis. Bobby Jones and other former legends used wooden clubs and balls that traveled about half as far as today�s. With the high-tech clubs used today the ball acts more like a bullet.
The overall question often asked is: Are today�s athletes better than those of yesteryear? That�s a tough call. In the past many athletes played a variety of sports and then focused on the one they wanted to specialize in. Today? Kids are often directed to a sport when they are barely walking (see Tiger Woods) and then play only that sport for the rest of their lives.
Many of today�s athletes have the luxury of spending year-round on their sport. Athletes in the past often played football during the season and then had to make money working normal jobs in the off-season. (Conrad Dobler told me he made more money one season selling cars than he did playing football.)
Sports have changed over time. Have they changed for the better? Who knows? My guess is probably not. Trying to compare athletes from different generations might be an interesting discussion, but in the end it really can�t be done.
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