The Greatest Athletes?

With the Olympics, this question has been going around:  Who is the world's greatest athlete?  Beats me, but it's a good question.  Is it the 100- and 200-meter champion, who finishes his races by not really trying, pointing and talking?  That's pretty impressive.  But, although he's got some muscle on him, all he does is run fast in a straight line, although pretty darn fast.  Is it the decathlon champion, the gold medalist?  He, I guess, stated that he's not the greatest.  But he runs fast, both short and long.  He jumps and vaults.  And he throws, even some heavy stuff.

Of course, there are always those who point to NFL and NBA players.  It'd be hard to argue against someone like Michael Jordan or Calvin Johnson, among others.  And there are a host of others for which claims could be made.

I guess when athletes get that good, what difference does it make?  Does it really make any difference if you are Warren Buffett or Bill Gates?  I suppose to some it does, but such athletic skills are impressive to me.

I'd be curious to find out, though, if any of these "greatest" adhered to the 10,000-hour rule postulated in The Outliers by Malcom Gladwell.  This "rule" suggests that to be truly great at something, to become truly great, a minimum of 10,000 hours of practice is necessary.  He uses as examples some athletes, but also some computer wizards.  He traces their youths and how much time they spent with basketball or computers or whatnot.

But, I chuckle out loud when I think of my rather meager athletic accomplishments.  Could anyone have played more sports than I did as a kid?  How rare was the day I didn't play baseball or basketball or football or hockey!  If it wasn't a real or pick-up game, it was bouncing the ball off the steps of the front porch (and how many times did I have to sneak the window to the hardware to be repaired before my father arrived home from work?????), shooting baskets alone, playing street hockey, throwing the football through the tire, etc.  10,000 hours?  If I didn't spend that much time, I can't imagine how it was done.  I guess some innate ability is required, too?

Oh, let me get this one out, too.  Am I the only one who preferred the old college football bowl system to the BS, er, BCS?  I don't need "a national champion."  How much more fun to have heated discussions if this undefeated team or that undefeated team was better--all spring and summer long!  I liked the traditions of certain conferences sending their champions to the same bowl each year.  I guess I'm big on tradition.  I was talking the other day with a guy and we lamented, that in basketball, due to the new league make-up, the two local district high schools only play each other once a year.  What a loss that is.  And I don't care for interleague play.  Esp now with so much television, the argument that the AL cities can now see the NL stars and vice versa doesn't carry as much weight.

I still haven't checked if it's true or not, but I heard the Tigers now charge fans to come watch BP.  I wonder if that's so.  If it is, talk about greed!  It's enough that it's almost 10 minutes between half innings to get all the TV commercials in.  Still, I think I'd pay to see Miguel Cabrera take BP.  He's an incredible hitter.  His hip action is better than anyone I've ever seen.  I sometimes think that if he doesn't hit a frozen rope, he wasn't trying to hit one.  Oh, after seeing him hit three clothes lines in his first three at-bats, the fourth time wasn't a screamer--it was a 430 fly ball over the centerfield fence!  Yeow!

And I still think that Ted Simmons deserves to be in the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, esp when he is compared with some others already there.  He compares quite favorably, with other catchers and other position players, too.