Roger Federer
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I didn't say he was the only factor. However everyone knows how bad the Ferrari car was when Schumacher joined and yet he still managed to win races and challenge for the title with it.
You could look at other sports too:
Swimming - Mark Spitz
Track - Carl Lewis
Basketball - Michael Jordan
Ice Hockey - Wayne Gretzky
Cycling - Miguel Indurain and/or Lance Armstrong
Squash - Jahanghir Khan
Some are debatable, and granted some are great sportsmen in team games but I think all could have a case for being the greatest exponents of their respective arts.
Swimming - Mark Spitz
Track - Carl Lewis
Basketball - Michael Jordan
Ice Hockey - Wayne Gretzky
Cycling - Miguel Indurain and/or Lance Armstrong
Squash - Jahanghir Khan
Some are debatable, and granted some are great sportsmen in team games but I think all could have a case for being the greatest exponents of their respective arts.
Soldato
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Granted hes a good player, but dont you think he wouldnt be anywhere near what hes at now without taking the drugs, isn't he hated by 99% of baseball folk? /From my limited viewings of the MLB
Edit/ Isnt Arod way past his stats at the age Bonds was? IMO Bonds stats ect wont have a patch on Arods in a good few years times.
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Yes he's hated, but largely because he's such a tit, as well as because of the drug taking allegations.
It's never actually been proven that he broke any baseball rules and he's never been banned from the sport. So as I say regardless of the drug allegations, he's still a "perfect exponent" of his sport as he's probably in the top-5 greatest players of all time.
It's never actually been proven that he broke any baseball rules and he's never been banned from the sport. So as I say regardless of the drug allegations, he's still a "perfect exponent" of his sport as he's probably in the top-5 greatest players of all time.
But the point is he wasn't the only reason Ferrari turned around. As good as he is, I'd contend that a technical director and a chief designer have far more control over how to actually shape the car. For example, Schumacher might have been able to say "I'm getting terrible understeer", but would he have actually known how to fix it?
Doesn’t Schumacher still help develop the FXX and the Enzo? Awesome driver!! & IMO brought Ferrari in the right direction.
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Are you trying to say Ross Brawn should take more credit for Schumacher dominating the sport than Schumacher himself?
Schumacher should really be considered in this elite elite group we are talking about. How many sportsmen can say they had the rules of their sport changed in an attempt to try to stop him winning?
Granted hes a good player, but dont you think he wouldnt be anywhere near what hes at now without taking the drugs, isn't he hated by 99% of baseball folk? /From my limited viewings of the MLB
Edit/ Isnt Arod way past his stats at the age Bonds was? IMO Bonds stats ect wont have a patch on Arods in a good few years times.
Quite agree - while I really like Bonds way of playing the game I'm curious about the allegations. I'm very much a 'smoke and fire' man myself.
However, some of the greatest records in baseball are very old and may not be broken anytime soon:
Single Season Batting Average - .416 Nap Lajoie (1901)
Single Season Extra Bases, Base Hits and Runs - Babe Ruth (1921)
Bonds has broken some of the longest standing records and is therefore worthy of mention but I'm not certain he was clean in terms of drugs. What makes me laugh is the fact that Babe Ruth probably went to bat half drunk on more than one occasion.
Not quite. I'm saying that in a sport where the car itself is almost as much of a factor in a team's dominance as the drivers themselves, Brawn probably deserves a fair bit of the credit.
Schumacher dominated the sport with two teams - Ferrari and Benneton. Two teams that just happened to have both Ross Brawn and Rory Bryne involved at the same time. The very fact he got them to jump over with him says to me that they're just as much a part of the success. Does Brawn deserve more credit? I don't know, I'm not privvy into exactly how much everybody puts in to a winning F1 team. But to counter you, are you saying the entire team of Ferrari did nothing to help Schumacher win, and that the success is entirely his?
Michael Schumacher is the best F1 driver in history, I won't deny that. But he didn't turn Ferrari around by himself. There's far more to an F1 team than just a driver, no matter how involved in the inner workings he was.
Soldato
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Well, it ended 6-4, 6-3, so not a bad result for an old man playing the best in the world. He even lead 4-2 in the first set.
Have to say that I can't think of any current sportsmen or women who dominate like he does.
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Having won the Masters title last week though, you have to wonder just how much Roger was pushing himself, and he proved he had an extra gear by winning 10 of the last 13 games.
I don't think there is anyone in the world of sport at the moment who can touch Federer as a shining example of how their sport should be played. Federer always seems to have an extra level he can go to whenever he's pushed, and though he will lose the odd match here and there, he always seems to pick it up for the main tournaments. He's getting closer every year to transferring his game to the clay courts, and I think it's only a matter of time before he wins the French Open (though Nadal's ability on clay is better than anyone I've ever seen, even Thomas Muster).
If we were looking at any person ever, Michael Jordan would have to be up there. While I've not followed the NBA as much in recent years, I've never seen anyone play like him, with the ability to win games like he did, nor the clutch ability to get the job done when he had to. He's a true sporting legend IMO.
Soldato
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Here is my list:
Michael Johnson
Michael Schumacher
Roger Federer
Pete Sampras
Sugar Ray Robinson
Stephen Hendry
Phil Taylor
Tiger Woods
Haile GebreSelassie
Wilson Kipketer
Manchester United 93-99
Brazil 70-74
Lin Dan (badminton)
That'll do for now. Federer is on that list, but until he has the grand slam and especially the French, he cannot be placed above Sampras. Sampras actually had better competition IMO.
Michael Johnson
Michael Schumacher
Roger Federer
Pete Sampras
Sugar Ray Robinson
Stephen Hendry
Phil Taylor
Tiger Woods
Haile GebreSelassie
Wilson Kipketer
Manchester United 93-99
Brazil 70-74
Lin Dan (badminton)
That'll do for now. Federer is on that list, but until he has the grand slam and especially the French, he cannot be placed above Sampras. Sampras actually had better competition IMO.
I know you're a Manc but how can you compare that side with the rest of your selections? All the others were the best in the World and constantly won European/World titles, Utd were clearly an excellent side and dominated the EPL but only managed to win the 1 CL in that time which is why i wouldn't put them alongside the others.
The last club side that really dominated European football for a period was Liverpool between '77 and '84 and prior to that Ajax, Bayern and Real had periods of dominance.
Soldato
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I have to put them there tbh. Bar Ray Robinson, all the rest are from my lifetime. United's dominance of the league in that period was phenomenal and that can not be argued against. In those times, British football was badly recieved in Europe. Tactics which were the norm in th Prem were seen as overly aggressive by Uefa and I believe this hampered every British team that played in Europe unfairly.
Domination is part of what makes a player/team great and united did that.
edit. I would concede that the United team of the 2000 campaign was probably better than that of 99 though.
Indeed, it seems laughable that anyone could list only one single club side from the history of world sport and for it to be MU '93-99. Heck, you couldn't even call them the greatest football side based in England when you compare their record to the Liverpool side mentioned above.