Current Events > im sorry Lebron James but Messi is the greatest athlete alive right now

(+) Yeah! (+)

pinky0926 posted...

Like we're talking the biggest sport in the world, with kids being bred from age 3 to play the game, and a guy like Messi comes along who is basically like the cheat player in a PS1 game. It's unnatural. That boy not right.

That right there might be the most important factor in this debate, which some people are failing to grasp. Basketball is a popular sport for sure, but it does not compare to football (AKA soccer). The level of competition is higher because the entire world plays it. Messi, for pretty much his entire career, has dominated a sport that a vast number of humans aspired to be good at when they were first introduced to it as children. The fact that Messi isn't even physically gifted in his sport, like Lebron James is in basketball, should be really hard for all of us to comprehend.
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I agree, messi is LITERALLY Greatest of ALL TIME athlete

Im sad most of you never witnessed his greatness tbh
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Broseph_Stalin posted...

donkeyjack posted...

Like do you know how many scoring titles Jordan, A.I. and T-mac had? Like come the fuck on.

Those three spent 15, 14 and 16 seasons in the NBA respectively with none finishing as the leagues all-time point leader. Messi became the leagues all-time top goalscorer in his twenties while also being the all-time assist leader.

Trust me you don't know what you're talking about, no basketball player in history was as much of an outlier as Messi is.

Only because he got a 5 year headstart on Ronaldo.
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pinky0926 posted...

donkeyjack posted...

It was different before 2000s in basketball. the PG is like the quarterback and also SG shouldn't be dishing out the rock on some John Wall shit.

The same thing happened in soccer though, which is what makes Messi such a mutant. I don't know enough about basketball to make comparisons on that basis, but it's distinctly weird in this day in age with this level of competition for Messi to be so utterly dominant in so many categories.

Like we're talking the biggest sport in the world, with kids being bred from age 3 to play the game, and a guy like Messi comes along who is basically like the cheat player in a PS1 game. It's unnatural. That boy not right.

Indeed. But it's mostly down to all the growth hormones Barca pumped into him to make him not be a scrawny little midget.
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Broseph_Stalin posted...

Before he turned 30 Messi was already the leagues all-time leader in assist and goals scored and had broken a 70-year-old record for most goals scored in a single season, winning 8 league titles and 5 Ballon d'Ors.

So forget about Lebron, there is no one in the history of basketball that's comparable to Messi. He's an anomaly.


https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/lionel-messi-is-impossible/

So you know literally nothing about basketball, cool. Wilt Chamberlain led the NBA in scoring 7 straight times by incredible margins, with a season average of 50 points per game (compared to other points leaders historically averaging 30), and dominating the league in rebounding 11 straight years. Has Messi consistently scored 40% more than his contemporaries? Uh, no.

The problem I have with naming Messi or any football player as best athlete is that the skill of manipulating a ball with your foot is such a niche skill (aka humans had no real need to develop that kind of coordination with your feet) that its hard to separate the skill aspect with the whole package. I vote LeBron because he displays the full range of athletic skills because of the sport he plays. Balance, speed, intelligence, strength, hand-eye coordination, explosion, quickness, coordination, spacial awareness, endurance, toughness etc... are all on display.
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Teen Girl Squad posted...

The problem I have with naming Messi or any football player as best athlete is that the skill of manipulating a ball with your foot is such a niche skill (aka humans had no real need to develop that kind of coordination with your feet) that its hard to separate the skill aspect with the whole package. I vote LeBron because he displays the full range of athletic skills because of the sport he plays. Balance, speed, intelligence, strength, hand-eye coordination, explosion, quickness, coordination, spacial awareness, endurance, toughness etc... are all on display.

I kind of feel like that argument works both ways. Humans had no need to develop the ability to bounce a ball and shoot it through a hoop. And as for the things you mentioned (balance, speed, spatial awareness, intelligence, etc) - like have you ever watched a game of football? Haha.

So while I'm not going to make the call that Messi is a better athlete than LeBron I also don't think you can split hairs on this kind of argument.
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Teen Girl Squad posted...

The problem I have with naming Messi or any football player as best athlete is that the skill of manipulating a ball with your foot is such a niche skill (aka humans had no real need to develop that kind of coordination with your feet) that its hard to separate the skill aspect with the whole package. I vote LeBron because he displays the full range of athletic skills because of the sport he plays. Balance, speed, intelligence, strength, hand-eye coordination, explosion, quickness, coordination, spacial awareness, endurance, toughness etc... are all on display.

You... you do realize every single one of those also applies to soccer too, right?
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Heineken14 posted...

Teen Girl Squad posted...

The problem I have with naming Messi or any football player as best athlete is that the skill of manipulating a ball with your foot is such a niche skill (aka humans had no real need to develop that kind of coordination with your feet) that its hard to separate the skill aspect with the whole package. I vote LeBron because he displays the full range of athletic skills because of the sport he plays. Balance, speed, intelligence, strength, hand-eye coordination, explosion, quickness, coordination, spacial awareness, endurance, toughness etc... are all on display.

You... you do realize every single one of those also applies to soccer too, right?

Not upper body coordination (to nearly the same degree at least), and I feel the distribution is a bit more even. For football, I think the skill of handling the ball (which does require a lot of athleticism to be fair) is disproportionately high. Again, this is nitpicky but is why I lean towards the basketball player in this case. It really comes down to how you define athleticism and what aspects of it you value the most.
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Teen Girl Squad posted...

Heineken14 posted...

Teen Girl Squad posted...

The problem I have with naming Messi or any football player as best athlete is that the skill of manipulating a ball with your foot is such a niche skill (aka humans had no real need to develop that kind of coordination with your feet) that its hard to separate the skill aspect with the whole package. I vote LeBron because he displays the full range of athletic skills because of the sport he plays. Balance, speed, intelligence, strength, hand-eye coordination, explosion, quickness, coordination, spacial awareness, endurance, toughness etc... are all on display.

You... you do realize every single one of those also applies to soccer too, right?

Not upper body coordination (to nearly the same degree at least), and I feel the distribution is a bit more even. For football, I think the skill of handling the ball (which does require a lot of athleticism to be fair) is disproportionately high. Again, this is nitpicky but is why I lean towards the basketball player in this case. It really comes down to how you define athleticism and what aspects of it you value the most.

They run about 11kms on average a game. Basketball players run about 3. Just saying.
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Teen Girl Squad posted...

Heineken14 posted...

Teen Girl Squad posted...

The problem I have with naming Messi or any football player as best athlete is that the skill of manipulating a ball with your foot is such a niche skill (aka humans had no real need to develop that kind of coordination with your feet) that its hard to separate the skill aspect with the whole package. I vote LeBron because he displays the full range of athletic skills because of the sport he plays. Balance, speed, intelligence, strength, hand-eye coordination, explosion, quickness, coordination, spacial awareness, endurance, toughness etc... are all on display.

You... you do realize every single one of those also applies to soccer too, right?

Not upper body coordination (to nearly the same degree at least), and I feel the distribution is a bit more even. For football, I think the skill of handling the ball (which does require a lot of athleticism to be fair) is disproportionately high. Again, this is nitpicky but is why I lean towards the basketball player in this case. It really comes down to how you define athleticism and what aspects of it you value the most.

So like, you never watch a competitive soccer game I take it?
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LeBron looked like a man when he graduated high school.
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Heineken14 posted...

Teen Girl Squad posted...

Heineken14 posted...

Teen Girl Squad posted...

The problem I have with naming Messi or any football player as best athlete is that the skill of manipulating a ball with your foot is such a niche skill (aka humans had no real need to develop that kind of coordination with your feet) that its hard to separate the skill aspect with the whole package. I vote LeBron because he displays the full range of athletic skills because of the sport he plays. Balance, speed, intelligence, strength, hand-eye coordination, explosion, quickness, coordination, spacial awareness, endurance, toughness etc... are all on display.

You... you do realize every single one of those also applies to soccer too, right?

Not upper body coordination (to nearly the same degree at least), and I feel the distribution is a bit more even. For football, I think the skill of handling the ball (which does require a lot of athleticism to be fair) is disproportionately high. Again, this is nitpicky but is why I lean towards the basketball player in this case. It really comes down to how you define athleticism and what aspects of it you value the most.

So like, you never watch a competitive soccer game I take it?

I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert but I understand there is some usage in terms of creating space/boxing out but I suppose I'm failing to see other uses.
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sktgamer_13dude posted...

LeBron looked like a man when he graduated high school.

Na, he really didn't.
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Teen Girl Squad posted...

I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert but I understand there is some usage in terms of creating space/boxing out but I suppose I'm failing to see other uses.

Heading is one of the most useful ways to score and is difficult as fuck, and use of chest/shoulders is common for controlling the ball when it's in the air. Also despite the reputation for soccer players being a bunch of pansies soccer is actually an incredibly aggressive and physical sport in much the same way basketball is, so players generally need to be strong and able to bowl people out the way. The flopping is nothing but a below the belt strategy to get the best referee decision they can, which is it's own problem but has nothing to do with soccer players being soft. In reality they're brutal as hell.

Sure, basketball requires more use of your arms and hands by nature, but there's a lot more to soccer than just being fancy with your feet.
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Teen Girl Squad posted...

Heineken14 posted...

Teen Girl Squad posted...

Heineken14 posted...

Teen Girl Squad posted...

The problem I have with naming Messi or any football player as best athlete is that the skill of manipulating a ball with your foot is such a niche skill (aka humans had no real need to develop that kind of coordination with your feet) that its hard to separate the skill aspect with the whole package. I vote LeBron because he displays the full range of athletic skills because of the sport he plays. Balance, speed, intelligence, strength, hand-eye coordination, explosion, quickness, coordination, spacial awareness, endurance, toughness etc... are all on display.

You... you do realize every single one of those also applies to soccer too, right?

Not upper body coordination (to nearly the same degree at least), and I feel the distribution is a bit more even. For football, I think the skill of handling the ball (which does require a lot of athleticism to be fair) is disproportionately high. Again, this is nitpicky but is why I lean towards the basketball player in this case. It really comes down to how you define athleticism and what aspects of it you value the most.

So like, you never watch a competitive soccer game I take it?

I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert but I understand there is some usage in terms of creating space/boxing out but I suppose I'm failing to see other uses.

Yeah, I don't know. May just be getting uppity since I play soccer. lol
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Panthera posted...

shiby with it posted...

Sidney Crosby. Not even a contest.

Maybe if he'd been healthy, but as is he hasn't accomplished nearly as much as guys like Messi, Lebron, Federer

Records and trophies aside, Sid is better at hockey than Messi is at football.
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