Is there another sport where a consensus of experts thinks the players 50 years ago..

How about Professional Wrestling? I think of men like George Hackenschmidt, Frank Gotch, Stanislaus Zbyszco or Bert Assirati.

 

Not so sure about golf. If Tiger Woods wasn't so dominant the other players would get a lot more recognition. Although there were many great players in the past there's still a lot around now.

That's a different discussion though

 

Cricket } Bradman, Trueman,Sobers,Larwood,Hobbs.




Wrestling } Gotch,Lewis,Hackenshmidt,Thesz,Shikat.

 

Man O War, Native Dancer,Nijinsky,Sea Bird,Mill Reef, Sea Biscuit.
Some , more 40 years than 50 ,but anything better since?

 

Your point about boxing writers being better back-in-the-day is valid with wordsmiths like Red Smith, Bob Considine, Ring Lardner 'n Bill Heinz, to name a few, yy.

Do you suppose it was because print media was flourishing; only boxing 'n baseball were front page, or the writers were giants we're not likely to see again?

 

my statement of great writers was more ambiguous. it was intended to include all forms of writing including sportswriters, but also novelist, poets, and playwrights.

boxing is part science, part art form, and part athletic ability I believe thats what makes it unique to many other sports.

I always thought that all greats in there field are the result of the times they lived in. technology being one component and public interest perhaps being equally as important combined with their natural potential in the particular field. take ray robinson for example. if he was born in a different age he would have to adapt to that era of boxing. Now if robinson was born generations earlier he would not have had the advantages of more advanced boxing techniques. the golden age in which he fought allowed him to prove his greatness against tough challenges.

 

As far as SRR, whattaya mean, specifically, yu?

 

In boxing fighters of yesterday could be better because of weight limits. They are the same weight as today's fighters.

In Basketball and Football the players today are alot bigger. Probably about 50 pnds a position in football.

Baseball, well thats not really a sport.

 

Today's boxers are far superior to yesteryear's equivalents.

 

When Max Merkel, trainer of the 1860 team that won the German Cup in ´64 and the championship in ´66, was doing against the alcohol abuse in his team he told the following little story: "Once I let play the alcoholica against the non-alcoholics. The alcoholics won, so I told them: "keep on drinking, boys!""

 

Any exceptions, w?

 

Gaelic.

 

Chess is a good mention. Another game/sport that relies on the strategy and adaptive mind of its competitors.

 

what is the difference in defining an artform and a science? its far too difficult to distinguish a line between the two of them at least for me...but athletic ability is definetetly needed at some point, theres no question.

 

Nobody plays at boxing.