4 ms·

He’s the most successful player in the most competitive position in the most competitive league in one of the most competitive sports on Earth. American footba

He’s the most successful player in the most competitive position in the most competitive league in one of the most competitive sports on Earth. American football requires a different skill tree than world football. So of course if you only judge by the standards of world football he is not great. But why would you do that? And athleticism as different from health. In fact, beyond a threshold I believe it is detrimental to it.

exceptione 2y ago
? You can assume that parent knows who Cristiano Ronaldo is.
- lukas099 2y ago
  I’m not sure what you’re trying to say, but I was talking about Mahomes.
  - exceptione 2y ago
    I see you edited your post, it is now clearer what you meant. I think you have a very local perspective, but you have every right to enjoy that. I have nothing to win in a handball versus football debate, besides calling spades spades. :)
    - lukas099 2y ago
      Fair enough. I would submit that you probably have a local perspective as well.
      - exceptione 2y ago
        If you live in the Netherlands you have to assume others don't know as much about you as you do about the bigger boys. :) We have our own kind of "American Football" in the Netherlands, it is called ice skating. But.. every Dutchman understands that being the world champion in ice skating doesn't say much as it is a highly local phenomenon. But you still can enjoy the athleticism that such a sport requires.
        lukas099 2y ago
        It’s not that it’s from my country, it’s that the top athletes from a pool of 350 million or so people are all competing to play it at the top levels. I’m not sure how many are competing to be ice skaters, but that’s why I said it’s ‘one of’ the most competitive sports.
        exceptione 2y ago
        I don't know either. Speed skating is an Olympic sport, so it is practiced in multiple countries, but you can bet it has a relatively small pool of professional players compared to something like tennis or hockey.
jjtheblunt 2y ago
He benefits from superlative play calling and a superlative supporting cast (pacheco etc) with no way to clearly establish how much that benefits his stats. Contrast him with same size Caleb Williams and it gets interesting, for example.
fear91 2y ago
Calling American football “one of the most competetive sports on Earth” feels like a stretch. It’s big in US, but not that popular anywhere else.
- jppope 2y ago
  The United States debatably has the most athletic population of an country and its the top sport in America where we funnel all of our talent (probably to our detriment). Regardless of the popularity abroad its where our athletes go. When we do compete in other sports we fair above average to exceptional (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_table https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_t...) with the notable exception of soccer, which we've never broken through despite investment and a decent population of players. Don't kid yourself, just because other countries don't play American Football doesn't mean the players aren't freak athletes - they are
- lukas099 2y ago
  It’s not the #1 sport there, but NFL football is popular in Canada too. To me, it’s dominance in North America is enough to qualify but I respect your position.
acatnamedjoe 2y ago
> He’s the most successful player in the most competitive position in the most competitive league in one of the most competitive sports on Earth Isn't it exactly the point of the article though that this doesn't necessarily mean elite across-the-board athleticism? Your statement would also have described Tom Brady for most of his career, and I don't think anyone would seriously claim he was a 99%ile athlete (certainly not for sprinting, agility, etc.)
- lukas099 2y ago
  Personally I can’t see how Brady is not a top athlete. It’s like judging a jazz musician on the skills needed in pop music or vice versa. You have to look at success within the genre or sport.
  - acatnamedjoe 2y ago
    It seems like this is more about the semantics of what we mean by athleticism then? It sounds like for you, being a top athlete simply means being very good at a sport. I've always generally understood athleticism to be about raw physical traits, like speed, strength and agility (and is therefore only part of the range of attributes that makes up the overall profile of a sportsperson). Out of interest would you consider people performing at an elite level in high-skill, relatively low-physicality sports like golf to be top athletes?
    - lukas099 2y ago
      Yes
jghn 2y ago
> He’s the most successful player in the most competitive position ... That is likely to wind up true when it's all said & done but Tom Brady still holds that title.
- lukas099 2y ago
  I meant currently successful, not throughout history, but yeah I can see that.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

exceptione 2y ago

? You can assume that parent knows who Cristiano Ronaldo is.

lukas099 2y ago
I’m not sure what you’re trying to say, but I was talking about Mahomes.
- exceptione 2y ago
  I see you edited your post, it is now clearer what you meant. I think you have a very local perspective, but you have every right to enjoy that. I have nothing to win in a handball versus football debate, besides calling spades spades. :)
  - lukas099 2y ago
    Fair enough. I would submit that you probably have a local perspective as well.
    - exceptione 2y ago
      If you live in the Netherlands you have to assume others don't know as much about you as you do about the bigger boys. :) We have our own kind of "American Football" in the Netherlands, it is called ice skating. But.. every Dutchman understands that being the world champion in ice skating doesn't say much as it is a highly local phenomenon. But you still can enjoy the athleticism that such a sport requires.
      - lukas099 2y ago
        It’s not that it’s from my country, it’s that the top athletes from a pool of 350 million or so people are all competing to play it at the top levels. I’m not sure how many are competing to be ice skaters, but that’s why I said it’s ‘one of’ the most competitive sports.
        exceptione 2y ago
        I don't know either. Speed skating is an Olympic sport, so it is practiced in multiple countries, but you can bet it has a relatively small pool of professional players compared to something like tennis or hockey.

jjtheblunt 2y ago

He benefits from superlative play calling and a superlative supporting cast (pacheco etc) with no way to clearly establish how much that benefits his stats. Contrast him with same size Caleb Williams and it gets interesting, for example.

fear91 2y ago

Calling American football “one of the most competetive sports on Earth” feels like a stretch. It’s big in US, but not that popular anywhere else.

jppope 2y ago
The United States debatably has the most athletic population of an country and its the top sport in America where we funnel all of our talent (probably to our detriment). Regardless of the popularity abroad its where our athletes go. When we do compete in other sports we fair above average to exceptional (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_table https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_t...) with the notable exception of soccer, which we've never broken through despite investment and a decent population of players. Don't kid yourself, just because other countries don't play American Football doesn't mean the players aren't freak athletes - they are
lukas099 2y ago
It’s not the #1 sport there, but NFL football is popular in Canada too. To me, it’s dominance in North America is enough to qualify but I respect your position.

acatnamedjoe 2y ago

> He’s the most successful player in the most competitive position in the most competitive league in one of the most competitive sports on Earth Isn't it exactly the point of the article though that this doesn't necessarily mean elite across-the-board athleticism? Your statement would also have described Tom Brady for most of his career, and I don't think anyone would seriously claim he was a 99%ile athlete (certainly not for sprinting, agility, etc.)

lukas099 2y ago
Personally I can’t see how Brady is not a top athlete. It’s like judging a jazz musician on the skills needed in pop music or vice versa. You have to look at success within the genre or sport.
- acatnamedjoe 2y ago
  It seems like this is more about the semantics of what we mean by athleticism then? It sounds like for you, being a top athlete simply means being very good at a sport. I've always generally understood athleticism to be about raw physical traits, like speed, strength and agility (and is therefore only part of the range of attributes that makes up the overall profile of a sportsperson). Out of interest would you consider people performing at an elite level in high-skill, relatively low-physicality sports like golf to be top athletes?
  - lukas099 2y ago
    Yes

jghn 2y ago

> He’s the most successful player in the most competitive position ... That is likely to wind up true when it's all said & done but Tom Brady still holds that title.

lukas099 2y ago
I meant currently successful, not throughout history, but yeah I can see that.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]