They played in a high scoring era like Gretzky did in the NHL. Compare scoring to the 80s and 90s Serie A. Also CR7 was and still is a notorious stat padder. Top teams are also way more overpowered nowadays. I don't think it's comparable. When I look at peak skill and ability CR7 isn't better than R9 or Maradona.
We are living through the golden generations of sports and we don’t even know it
- Thread starter Cloned
- Start date
admiralcadillac
Registered User
- Oct 22, 2017
- 7,677
- 6,984
westc2
Registered User
the best modern athletes will always be the current GOATS in the majority of sports. It's more about how much better they are than their peers.
End on a Hinote
Registered Abuser
That sad reality is that nostalgia takes over a lot of us and we won't appreciate what we have now until 20 years after it's gone.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
I am out of my depth in this argument, but I would offer this — Gretzky also played in a high scoring era, on an overpowered team, and was accused of being a stat padder. In spite of all that, he was still the best player ever.
TheMoreYouKnow
Registered User
Cristiano Ronaldo is not even top 5 ever (though he certainly has by a long shot the best hype machine in the history of maybe any sport). The hockey comparison to Ronaldo is a shoot-first winger like Ovechkin. And their overall historical ranking probably isn't actually that far apart.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
That just supports my point, as Ovechkin is prepared to overtake Gretzky’s position as the GOAT of hockey within the next year or two.
(I’m just throwing shit at the wall, I didn’t really have a point beyond that one observation)
Sorry, any age where sports gambling took over the interests of pro sports is not eligible for "Golden Age".
TruKnyte
Give me the meds now
I'm not even a Ronaldo fan, but you'd be hard pressed to find any top 5 lists that don't have him on it.
- Jun 22, 2018
- 8,953
- 21,210
Kranix
Deranged Homer
- Jun 27, 2012
- 18,769
- 16,912
Incredible list. I'd extend a bit, and include ancient olympian runners like Leonidas of Rhodes. We are truly in an incredible era as humanity
Overall he has to be but in terms of peak skill only and not career achievements I could easily see that.
The thing about soccer is that for some reason the statistics don't go into depth enough (maybe Americans view team sports more individualistically and enjoy statistics way more). Secondary assists don't exist at all for example and neither do rebounded assists.
Given the fact soccer has way longer setups that often include 10+ passes you have top level playmakers who have low assist counts because they are too deep to make the final pass. A lot of casual fans only look at goals and nothing more. Up until like 10 years ago it was extremely difficult to find even regular assist numbers especially for players from previous eras. I even read an article on the net claiming Maradona wasn't that great because Messi scored a lot more goals and they didn't even mention that Maradona played deeper let alone the fact he played in a low scoring era. They merely looked at goals. This is what a lot of people look at - goals only.
Another thing is that modern day star players more often than not kick all penalties all free kicks etc. It is the case with CR7. Whoever gets fouled he kicks the penalty or the free kick. Imagine you could do that in basketball. All free throws thrown by your one star player. Messi did that too as well but Barcelona ended up buying two other superstar forwards so he ended up sharing penalties with them while CR7 kicked all of them. There is nothing wrong with that Cristiano was an excellent penalty taker (less so in terms of free kicks) but you can see how one can get more goals that way.
The overpowered teams are on a whole different level in modern day football. There is no draft either and only 20 teams per league and every European country has their own league. Historically there have what people called the big three (English, Spanish, Italian) leagues but nowadays it's sometimes the big five (+German and French). The sport itself is also much much bigger than hockey. Now to show how overpowered the teams were this is from the world all stars thing done by FIFA back in 2017:
out of 11 players originating in 7 nations it featured
5 Real Madrid players (Cristiano's team)
4 FC Barcelona players (Messi's team)
1 Juventus player (Italian league player)
1 AC Milan player (Italian league player)
Now if we compare La Liga in 11/12 to back when Maradona won his league title in the late 80s in what could be considered the first super league in history (Italian Serie A) it becomes crazy apparent. Real had 42 points more than the 4th place. Maradona's Napoli had 30 points more than the very worst team in the league. Also pay attention to the Goal Difference:
Last edited:
Donnie740
Registered User
- May 28, 2021
- 1,768
- 2,489
You’re living in a dream world, my friend.
If Gretzky played in this laughably watered down era of 32 teams, with no red line and five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime he’d be scoring 300 points a season.
Look at the MVPs and scoring leads over the past two decades - - no talent hacks like Jamie Benny, Tay Hall and Corky Perry would have been 3rd liners during the 80’s and early 90’s.
Strangle
Leafs Smol PP
- May 4, 2009
- 9,750
- 6,980
The goal record is only one of like 200 records Gretzky owns. It’s an important record, but goals aren’t even what makes Gretzky the goat.
The goal record certainly doesn’t make Ovechkin ‘the goat of hockey’
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
Takeahnase
Registered User
Most sports have changed the rules to suit scoring and increase offense as well as allow technology to manipulate it as well. Modern American football has basically told the audience that they don’t want defense to be played.
On the soccer front it is similar. As the guy said above, I would take OG Ronaldo over Portugese version. PSV or Barca Ronaldo running at defenders was incredible. Turned defenders hair white when he came over.
The ball does ridiculous things these days. How good would George Best have been if he wasn’t kicking a bag of cement instead of these flying saucer balls? We’ll never know.
Pitches sometimes resembled farmer’s fields.
Defenders get sent off for looking cross at attackers. Watch OG Ronaldo bounce off common challenges that would get yellows and reds today. As long as you got the ball defenders could tackle you into orbit on the follow through. Maradona was assaulted multiple times every match to “stop” him.
The back-pass rule was introduced in ‘92. All this pressing in today’s modern game would have meant f*** all back then.
None of this is to denigrate the likes of Messi and C-Ron as they are incredible players, but give former eras their due. Cruyff would have been a beast in any era, etc.
On the soccer front it is similar. As the guy said above, I would take OG Ronaldo over Portugese version. PSV or Barca Ronaldo running at defenders was incredible. Turned defenders hair white when he came over.
The ball does ridiculous things these days. How good would George Best have been if he wasn’t kicking a bag of cement instead of these flying saucer balls? We’ll never know.
Pitches sometimes resembled farmer’s fields.
Defenders get sent off for looking cross at attackers. Watch OG Ronaldo bounce off common challenges that would get yellows and reds today. As long as you got the ball defenders could tackle you into orbit on the follow through. Maradona was assaulted multiple times every match to “stop” him.
The back-pass rule was introduced in ‘92. All this pressing in today’s modern game would have meant f*** all back then.
None of this is to denigrate the likes of Messi and C-Ron as they are incredible players, but give former eras their due. Cruyff would have been a beast in any era, etc.
