My Michael Phelps rant...

[Hector]

Swimmers harder than a decathlete? Eh, no.

Good arguments on your part though...well written post from you.

[Hector]

BTW, Mark Spitz retired at 22 (with less swimming events)...just saying.

[Zemo]

BTW Hector, The FF football post is up there... I think it's about high time you joined.. Like 5 or six years now!

[Hector]

I really suck at that...lol.

[Tothiro]

Swimmers harder than a decathlete? Eh, no.

Good arguments on your part though...well written post from you.

(ah-thank you, ah-thank you)
Aaah, but see I wouldn't make that argument as you frame it - Of course a decathlon is a ridiculous slugfest of athletic machismo. It takes tremendous conditioning, agreed, and probably straight endurance and some skill. I think swimming is a lot of skill and some endurance.

It goes back to what was said before - the inability to really pigeon-hole "greatest." Your decathlon example only recognizes greatness in terms of testing maximum energy expended. Most of the technical skill there comes from distance/accuracy and body knowledge about self pacing. Rare is the decathlete if put in a pool who would touch many of the competition in an Olympic swim heat, and vice-versa. It's different than even comparing basketball, baseball, and soccer players to find the greatest "ball player" because here the Olympic apples and oranges might even be starfruit and grapes.

So my view is take the person that best exemplifies their sport in it's technical and physical achievement, because otherwise you're not even talking about individual players, you're arguing which overall sport is "greatest."

And Spitz at 22 - that just says to me oh-em-gee, how is Phelps still in it to win it for so long?

I'm having mine with swiss and bacon =)
PS - if it doesn't have swords and saving throws, I'm not into fantasy football.

[WannabeMego]

This is my definition of an Olympic Athlete:

jim-thorpe-athlete-century.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe

[J.B.]

Hec, there's a few things I disagree with and OF COURSE I'LL SAY WHY ... I mean did you guys just meet me or what?

One thing a lot of people who don't swim don't appreciate about swimming is it's really damn harder than they think, and the demands are different than other sports.
There was a lot of media guff about "Phelps didn't turn in great times during preliminary heats, etc" which is asinine because the preliminaries happen right before the actual heat - there's no rest period - nobody goes all in for a preliminary, they save it for the race... and there's no down time like other sports where you get a few hours between or even a few days to rest up - Olympic swimmers go all out, every competition and they do them back to back. It's exactly like running a sprint and then turning around and doing it again, trying to beat your time... sometimes several times an afternoon.
One difference though is when you get to Medleys, because you have to change strokes. There's no chance for you to get your swimming rhythm and find a peak speed, so it's much more demanding overall.

And the thing about Phelps not placing on the podium? That was the first time it had happened in like, twelve years - which is why you saw the push from him later. Not only that, but Ryan Lochte put in an amazing run. You have very few shots at the race he won in your entire swimming career. He looked at that one and really dug deep because basically, this was his only chance. He beat the world time record holder in that event by 3 seconds. 3 seconds in swimming is like, a score of 190 to 1 in a team sport. Most of this stuff is decided by hundredths of a second. Lochte finished, got cleaned up, ate dinner, and sat waiting while enjoying a nightcap for the number two guy to finish in swimming terms.
And yet... "Phelps labored to fourth" one reporter wrote. When Lochte met the press they asked him questions like, "Do you think this is it for Phelps?" like... nevermind that you just beat the world record holder by three full seconds, let's talk about what an amazing washout that guy who was 5 hundredths of a second behind him is...
And that's another thing. It's the swimmer and the pool. Rarely, almost never will you hear a swimmer come up with any BS excuse why they didn't come out first, because it is always only them. Phelps said he just wasn't the fastest guy in the water that day, which in swimming is good sportsmanship, and the reporters bent that around like sour grapes.

Careers are super short because swimmers age out very very quickly. Phelps is an old man by swim standards and the sport takes SMDM running down a cheetah kind of endurance. He picked up his 20th Gold, has the most medals of any athlete (yes, evah) and gets a lot of hate for what he does on his own time (honestly it's mostly for not obsessively practicing between seasons) but the fact that he is the guy who doesn't have to? It kinda makes him the Cassius Clay of swimming.
Like in Beijing, when his goggles filled with water, he couldn't see anything and swam blind but still knew where he was and when to reach for the wall because he's technical in a way that few other swimmers can be - he counts his strokes and knows his timing and where his body is going to be, how many strokes to get where... He's swimming in bullet time.

And Jesse Owens? Listen I'ma be just as quick as anybody to say that was an amazing moment. But Hitler being there only added textual overlay. You can't say "so and so" can't be the best Olympic pig-pong player because that loser never played in front of Hitler.
And I think even you would give it up for swimming before Ping Pong.
Now let's all have a burger.

[Hector]

[jwyblejr]

Has anyone else noticed Phelps ain't as dominate as he was since he got busted for marijuana? Just saying.

[megomania]

Michael Phelps is to "greatest athlete" what Keanu Reeves is to "greatest actor". Swimmers are swimmers, not athletes. Find me a swimmer who could compete in the decathlon events or hell, even the steeplechase. I'd be hard pressed to believe Bruce Jenner, Dave Johnson, or Dan O'Brien couldn't swim 50 meters.

-Chris

[Hector]

Has anyone else noticed Phelps ain't as dominate as he was since he got busted for marijuana? Just saying.

[4NDR01D]

Ronda's hot, but she's an annoying *****. when she has 20 medals then she can talk

Ronda only collects peoples arms!

[MegoMark71]

I know what the deal is with Phelps. See since he now is hanging out with Tommy Chong between races, he keeps grabbing a bite to eat. And you know what your parents always said about not swimming after eating.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^No wonder he's always at Subway!!!

Chris

[MIB41]

Hmmmm. I don't know Hector. Phelps started out pretty rough this time around. He lost to his team mate Lochte and made some mistakes in the relays to cost his team a gold as well. And man, if you want to see some arrogance, see this article on Lochte just before a match. That guy is unbearable...

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46952788/vp/48458996/#48458996

But you know it likely takes that kind of pride and arrogance to be the best. So I don't know. If you can compete in a squad of people like that and find a way to dominate, that is really saying something about your achievement. Because no one is just giving it to him. They all want to chop him down. But I understand how you feel about the media coverage. They blow it up whether it's good or bad. Imagine if he hadn't won any Gold this time around? Imagine the media dogging him out? I wouldn't want that on my head. But your right Hector. The media is pretty much just one big massive hype machine.