> I can't help but be drawn into the idea of "superhuman" feats and statistical outliers that always seem to permeate major sports. Because sports is just as m

> I can't help but be drawn into the idea of "superhuman" feats and statistical outliers that always seem to permeate major sports. Because sports is just as much entertainment as it is sports. These leagues need someone to be the face of their product in order to draw crowds and make money. Jordan and the bulls were such a product of the 90s to save the NBA from the end of the lakers-celtics dominated 80s. Gretkzy, like montana, was part of a super team through with the NHL and NFL built their brands and generated interest in the 80s. Brady and a bunch of QBs were beneficiaries of the NFL's move toward more passing and increased scoring to generate interest. The NFL found out that most fans love passing and scoring while the few purists loved defense and the running game. So they changed the rules to handicap defenses, especially against the pass. Now every year, we get superhuman passing records being set. Look at the curry, durant and the golden state warriors today. Beneficiaries of NBA's move to handicap defenses and allow more scoring - which is what NBA fans, especially fans overseas ( particularly china ) like. The days of the dominant center in the NBA or the running back in NFL is over, until the climate shifts and the they need to rebrand the product. All these "superhuman" statistics are a result of "sports" + "entertainment". It's partly earned through athletic prowess and it's also manufactured by rules changes, refs "managing" the game, etc. Was gretzky that much better than messier ( his teammate ) or lemieux as the stats seem to imply? Absolutely not. Was jordan that much better than pippen ( his teammate ) or dominique wilkins as the stats seem to imply? Absolutely not. But someone has to be the face of the product the leagues are selling. And the NHL before gretzky and the NBA before jordan was facing problems which was magically solved by gretzky and jordan.