Old one hit 10k posts
let’s go Spain
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Hopefully the storms tomorrow do something with all the smoke. Not sure they could play with this low of air quality.
All part of Infantino’s plans to add an oxygen break each quarter and sell more commercials
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keep betting against messi lol
he should have a 30-minute halftime split screen of dodge ram commercials and kid rock doing a concert for the 3rd place game.
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Messi is the best player at the World Cup, and the best male athlete of all time
cliffs
To define the “best athlete,” I think we need to look at just two criteria: How much better are you at your sport than the second-best person? And how many other people actually play that sport?
(We have to rule out the likes of Pelé and Diego Maradona because the sport simply wasn’t as globalized or as competitive or as consistent when they played. Plus, Messi has now dominated for way longer than either of them ever did, across national team and club soccer. If you want to fly your flag for Pelé or Maradona still, then I won’t stop you, but there’s no way to make an argument for either one based on peak individual performance across their entire careers.)
We’ve already established that Messi is a lot better than the next-best player of the modern era of the sport. In the major American sports, there isn’t any man who has a bigger gap between himself and the next-best guy than Messi does.
the closest thing to Messi-like undisputed dominance comes in the NHL, where Wayne Gretzky still holds claim to the most incredible individual record in sports. Gretzky scored 894 goals in his career – the second most all time. But if Gretzky never scored a single goal, he would still have more combined goals+assists than anyone else in NHL history.
Unfortunately, Gretzky – and all of the others mentioned thus far – fall by the wayside in this analysis. Gretzky dominated a sport that requires an ice rink and isn’t played by most of the rest of the world. American football is, well, just look at the name. Baseball has a global reach, but it barely exists in Africa, Europe and most of South America. And though the NBA is becoming increasingly globalized, it still can’t come close to matching soccer’s reach. [Plus most people are even tall enough to play. Tennis filters people out because it’s too expensive, and cricket also not popular enough so Bradman doesn’t count]
Given how popular soccer is and how much better Messi is than the next-best soccer player, there’s really only one other sport where someone could lay claim to being so much better than as many other people who participate in their sport.
In 2022, I was inclined to give the edge to Bolt over Messi: Everyone can run, and he was so much better at running than any person who has ever lived. But, four years later, I’m no longer sure that comparison is right.
Messi won his first Ballon d’Or in 2009, for his age-21 season. He’s currently 39, and based on what we’ve just watched this summer, he’s still the best player in the world. Bolt won his first gold in an Olympics or world championship at 21, too. But his last came at 29. That gives Messi an extra 10 years – a full decade – at the top.
Soccer is the most competitive team sport on the planet, and at worst, it’s the second-most competitive of all sports outside of running. Messi has been better than everyone else at soccer for almost 20 years at this point. His run at this World Cup, in my opinion, has stretched the lead he has held over the rest of the soccer world to the lead he now has on the rest of the sports world.
I thought soccer players weren’t even athletes
I don’t know what the author means by stating soccer is “the second most competitive team sport on the planet”…although I assume he’s misusing “competitive” for popular.
In addition, it’s seems like a weird leap to claim the “best” athlete in the world should be both one with the best offensive statistics and also one who plays in an extremely popular sport.
Furthermore, he implies that track and field is the most popular sport because “everyone can run,” even though relatively few people engage in track and field.
To me, this analysis would be less embarrassing if it was simply AI slop.
FWIW, I think Messi is a dominating player who’s had a long, successful career, but trying to use statistics to claim he’s the best athlete ever is pretty silly.
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ready for England humiliation and the subsequent “nobody cares about the third place match” cope.
4:0 France
England may not win the world cup, but their players are selling for crazy prices…
Morgan Rogers to chelsea for 117million pounds/157 million dollars. ridiculous price.
France 4-0 in play looking at the lineups
Cherki and WZE only just now getting their first starts is criminal
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We should do 3rd place game in other sports.
Imagine a Broncos v Rams game the day before the Super Bowl last year!
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It is borderline cruel to make them play this game. At least the NIT has some random schools that are stoked to take a shot at fallen greats.
Mbappe to score has to be like -800
Kane not playing?however will England score?
Funny you should say that…