We are living through the golden generations of sports and we don’t even know it

[Overrated]

Is that because there were actually more stars, or because Messi and Ronaldo have made the rest of the star players from this generation look worse in comparison?

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.

 

[admiralcadillac]

There’s always a goat

 

[westc2]

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]

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]

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.

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]

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.

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]

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.

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)

 

[daver]

Sorry, any age where sports gambling took over the interests of pro sports is not eligible for "Golden Age".

 

[TruKnyte]

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.

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.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

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.

That’s actually crazy and I hate Ronaldo

 

[Kranix]

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

 

[Overrated]

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.

Overall he has to be but in terms of peak skill only and not career achievements I could easily see that.

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.

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:

 

[Jeremy2020]

It's no 1456 to 1476.

Such great years for the NHL and NFL

 

[Donnie740]

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.

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.