I got thinking about this watching the darts. Michael van Gerwen may never be considered the Greatest of All Time in terms of numbers of titles - no-one will ever match Phil Taylor's 16 - but his 3-dart averages in recent tournaments are matching and arguably eclipsing anything Taylor ever threw. Indeed, all of MvG's last four tournament averages feature in the all-time top eight (including both of the top two); only two of Taylor's are in that list.
Objective comparisons are easier in sports for which directly comparable statistics are available, obviously. In athletics, for example, it's stark that all the women's sprint records have stood since the 1980s (and we all know why). I hadn't realised though that Hicham El-Gerrouj 's 1500m record has stood s for 20 years, or that Kenenisa Benkele's middle distance records have stood for 15. Is it fair to say those events are not at the standard they were 20 years ago? It was my naive assumption that athletics was improving year on year in all events, but this appears not to be the case.
And for other sports? Personally I think the standard, in terms of sheer pace, tactical organisation, athleticism and indeed skill (of the very best players at least) in football at the moment is of a standard that has never been seen before. I would say the same of both men's and women's tennis (although have both hit a peak with the generation now moving on that might not be reached again?). Golf's a bit like darts in that while no players are dominating like Tiger did for a decade, that's partly because almost all the top players are now routinely doing the things that made Tiger look superhuman twenty years ago.
I reckon the most subjective ones to judge in this, ironically, are going to be the sports surrounded by, indeed wallowing in, the most statistics of all, baseball and cricket. Are today's playing standards higher than in the 1990s? Or even the 1940s?
Objective comparisons are easier in sports for which directly comparable statistics are available, obviously. In athletics, for example, it's stark that all the women's sprint records have stood since the 1980s (and we all know why). I hadn't realised though that Hicham El-Gerrouj 's 1500m record has stood s for 20 years, or that Kenenisa Benkele's middle distance records have stood for 15. Is it fair to say those events are not at the standard they were 20 years ago? It was my naive assumption that athletics was improving year on year in all events, but this appears not to be the case.
And for other sports? Personally I think the standard, in terms of sheer pace, tactical organisation, athleticism and indeed skill (of the very best players at least) in football at the moment is of a standard that has never been seen before. I would say the same of both men's and women's tennis (although have both hit a peak with the generation now moving on that might not be reached again?). Golf's a bit like darts in that while no players are dominating like Tiger did for a decade, that's partly because almost all the top players are now routinely doing the things that made Tiger look superhuman twenty years ago.
I reckon the most subjective ones to judge in this, ironically, are going to be the sports surrounded by, indeed wallowing in, the most statistics of all, baseball and cricket. Are today's playing standards higher than in the 1990s? Or even the 1940s?
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