Most dominate decade of sports athletes

[Bing Bong]

Admittedly there's always recency bias but someone combat this fiery hot take:

Did the 90s not give us the most dominant athletes in sports?

My case: MJ, Gretzky, bonds.. GOATS in their respective, 

the plethora of QBs, Kelly, Marino, aikman, Favre, young, moon, elway. Not to mention Jerry rice, the GOAT until TB12 surpassed him.

Lance Armstrong, Pete Sampras, aggasi, Mike Tyson, fat Ronaldo, early toger woods.

 

At the time almost every sport had a GOAT in the 90s. Some of them are still there.

[Bing Bong]

 

 

Honorable mention: 70s: Ali, Kareem, wilt, OJ, Bradshaw, Jim brown, PELE, Reggie Jackson, Barry Sanders, SECRETARIAT!

[BillsPride12]

7 hours ago, PetermanThrew5Picks said:

Admittedly there's always recency bias but someone combat this fiery hot take:

Did the 90s not give us the most dominant athletes in sports?

My case: MJ, Gretzky, bonds.. GOATS in their respective, 

the plethora of QBs, Kelly, Marino, aikman, Favre, young, moon, elway. Not to mention Jerry rice, the GOAT until TB12 surpassed him.

Lance Armstrong, Pete Sampras, aggasi, Mike Tyson, fat Ronaldo, early toger woods.

 

At the time almost every sport had a GOAT in the 90s. Some of them are still there.

The 90s would have my vote for sure, but that also comes with some bias because that was the era I grew up in.  

[Bing Bong]

1 hour ago, BillsPride12 said:

The 90s would have my vote for sure, but that also comes with some bias because that was the era I grew up in.  

Yeah hard to get past the bias. But Gretzky Jerry rice and MJ alone make the case I think, especially if we're talking team sports. Obviously Olympians get DQ'd and Tyson is a stretch if you want the counter with Ali

Edited April 18, 2018 by PetermanThrew5Picks

[shrader]

Gretzky's dominance was in the mid 80s. 

Tyson’s major moment in the 90s were going to jail and biting Holyfield’s ear. 

 

That are just just two glaring cases of you crediting the 90s for the previous decade’s moments. And then there’s your list of the 70s...

Edited April 18, 2018 by shrader

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

The word is DOMINANT.

 

Sorry, pet peeve of mine

 

[Gugny]

I'm gonna go with the 80s.

 

Men's tennis, NBA, NHL, boxing ... to me ... had the most dominate athletes/teams in that decade and the NFL of the 80s (Steelers, Cowboys, 49ers) was very close, IMO, to the NFL of the 90s.

[Royale with Cheese]

49 minutes ago, Gugny said:

I'm gonna go with the 80s.

 

Men's tennis, NBA, NHL, boxing ... to me ... had the most dominate athletes/teams in that decade and the NFL of the 80s (Steelers, Cowboys, 49ers) was very close, IMO, to the NFL of the 90s.

 

I'd say 80's too.

Jordan and Gretzsky are in both decades....I know the OP mentioned them too in the 90's.

 

Think about the 80's.

Jordan, Gretzsky, Magic, Bird, Isaiah Thomas, Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson in his prime, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man Randy Savage,  Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Doc Gooden, Roger Clemens, Orel Hershisher etc.....

[Gugny]

1 minute ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

I'd say 80's too.

Jordan and Gretzsky are in both decades....I know the OP mentioned them too in the 90's.

 

Think about the 80's.

Jordan, Gretzsky, Magic, Bird, Isaiah Thomas, Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson in his prime, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man Randy Savage,  Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Doc Gooden, Roger Clemens, Orel Hershisher etc.....

 

Good call on MLB.

 

I'll also add women's tennis.  Navratilova and Graf?  Come on!

[FappyTheClown]

1850's

[shrader]

12 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

I'd say 80's too.

Jordan and Gretzsky are in both decades....I know the OP mentioned them too in the 90's.

 

Think about the 80's.

Jordan, Gretzsky, Magic, Bird, Isaiah Thomas, Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson in his prime, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man Randy Savage,  Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Doc Gooden, Roger Clemens, Orel Hershisher etc.....

 

Just to put Gretzky in perspective a bit.  He score 985 total points from the 1980-81 season through to the 1984-85 season.  From 1990-91 to 1998-99, he scored 875 points.  I realize I'm missing part of the 90s thanks to the 89-90 season, but that takes more digging around than I'm willing to do.  But anyway, 80s Gretzky blows away the 90s version.  I chose my cutoff of 1985 intentionally.  Those insane point totals I added up?  They do not include the following season (85-86), which just happened to be the season where he put up the most points all-time.  His better playoff runs were in the 80s as well.

 

But then again, this is the same thread where 12 years old as of 1/1/1980 Barry Sanders and retired in 1965 Jim Brown are credited to the 70s.

[CommonCents]

Good thread. 

 

I'd go with the 90's. Maybe it's the age we grew up in that we tend to remember as "good ole days"

 

I looked up Nolan Ryan's stats, just from glancing over the numbers he had to have struck out almost 2500 batters in the 70s.

[apuszczalowski]

It's hard to actually say because many players careers span over different decades.

 

Also sports seem to always be changing and evolving. What was once considered dominant in a certain sport may now be considered pedestrian. There also weren't as many really good players compared to now. You had usually a dominant player or 2 and then a bunch of mid level guys.

[row_33]

Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Red Grange, Eddie Shore

 

Ruth completely altered the way the game was played, strangely enough it has taken 100 years for a starting pitcher to show up who can play every day as well.

 

 

Edited April 18, 2018 by row_33

[shrader]

13 minutes ago, apuszczalowski said:

It's hard to actually say because many players careers span over different decades.

 

Also sports seem to always be changing and evolving. What was once considered dominant in a certain sport may now be considered pedestrian. There also weren't as many really good players compared to now. You had usually a dominant player or 2 and then a bunch of mid level guys.

 

I think that's a big part of why people want to credit the 90s.  You have major expansion in sports right around that time, but the talent pool hadn't yet caught up.  You had more jobs to fill, but with a bigger talent gap.  Later as the talent gap shrinks, there are more good players who are much closer together in terms of skill.  It becomes that much harder for someone to excel beyond the rest of the field.

[row_33]

hockey has completely lost the Gretzky edge, it's now an interference zone-trap shutdown of the great players

 

the best days of sports were when you were 11 years old....

 

 

[Bing Bong]

11 hours ago, joesixpack said:

The word is DOMINANT.

 

Sorry, pet peeve of mine

 

Annoys me too. Typed over phone

11 hours ago, shrader said:

12 hours ago, shrader said:

Gretzky's dominance was in the mid 80s. 

Tyson’s major moment in the 90s were going to jail and biting Holyfield’s ear. 

 

That are just just two glaring cases of you crediting the 90s for the previous decade’s moments. And then there’s your list of the 70s...

Sorry man. It's a a pain coming up with these lists. Help me out in your infinite wisdom. Or just name your decade lol

[Kelly the Dog]

10 hours ago, row_33 said:

Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Red Grange, Eddie Shore

 

Ruth completely altered the way the game was played, strangely enough it has taken 100 years for a starting pitcher to show up who can play every day as well.

 

 

Yep. Babe Ruth was the most dominant player in any team sport ever. In his first few seasons playing in the field he hit more homeruns than entire teams.  In 1921 he hit 59 homeruns, 44 doubles, 16 triples, scored 177 runs, 171 RBI, 145 walks, stole 17 bases and hit 378. That's pretty good.

[Buffalo716]

13 hours ago, PetermanThrew5Picks said:

Yeah hard to get past the bias. But Gretzky Jerry rice and MJ alone make the case I think, especially if we're talking team sports. Obviously Olympians get DQ'd and Tyson is a stretch if you want the counter with Ali

 

Gretzky to me is a hard  call for a 90s guy. He came into the league in like 78 iirc

 

i know he played till 99 or something but his prime was definitely the 80s not 90s

[Fadingpain]

13 hours ago, joesixpack said:

The word is DOMINANT.

 

Sorry, pet peeve of mine

 

Don't be so dominate.

 

 

[row_33]

1 hour ago, Kelly the Dog said:

Yep. Babe Ruth was the most dominant player in any team sport ever. In his first few seasons playing in the field he hit more homeruns than entire teams.  In 1921 he hit 59 homeruns, 44 doubles, 16 triples, scored 177 runs, 171 RBI, 145 walks, stole 17 bases and hit 378. That's pretty good.

 

Ruth changed the way the pros batted forever, the power game became mandatory with the greats who imitated him and joined the majors during his career, and is still mandatory 100 years later

 

 

 

[Kelly the Dog]

59 minutes ago, row_33 said:

 

Ruth changed the way the pros batted forever, the power game became mandatory with the greats who imitated him and joined the majors during his career, and is still mandatory 100 years later

 

 

 

He actually changed the entire nation that way. The idea that you can have it all and win with one big swing - or one big oversized chance and gamble - became an American phenomenon because of him. The term "out in left field" was because Ruth played right field and everybody wanted tickets in right field, so if you sat out in left field you were out of touch with what was going on.  

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

5 hours ago, Kelly the Dog said:

He actually changed the entire nation that way. The idea that you can have it all and win with one big swing - or one big oversized chance and gamble - became an American phenomenon because of him. The term "out in left field" was because Ruth played right field and everybody wanted tickets in right field, so if you sat out in left field you were out of touch with what was going on.  

 

Chicks dig the long ball 

[row_33]

5 hours ago, Kelly the Dog said:

He actually changed the entire nation that way. The idea that you can have it all and win with one big swing - or one big oversized chance and gamble - became an American phenomenon because of him. The term "out in left field" was because Ruth played right field and everybody wanted tickets in right field, so if you sat out in left field you were out of touch with what was going on.  

 

Good point.

 

 

[May Day 10]

Gretzky's cartoon like dominance was in the 80s, and no cups after he left (was traded by) the Oilers in 88.  Tyson's run was also performed in the 80s.  I wouldn't consider Bonds anywhere near the GOAT, and I'm not even sure what he accomplished in the 90s.  Jordan was certainly 90s... but was he as dominant as Wilt? (I dont know, I didnt see).

 

I think the (late 80s and) 90s seem that way because we had a media explosion right around then, and these guys were canonized in a way never seen.  We also were concentrated on select few sources.  We had ESPN, our Regional Sports Network (which often were fused with the same programming for 75% of the day), and local coverage... so everybody was exposed to virtually the same exact content.

 

I do feel fortunate I was able to see sports back then, because I feel like it was truly the tail-end of the glory days of sports.  Before complete over-saturation with exposure, money, and medical knowledge.

 

 

Edited April 19, 2018 by May Day 10

[row_33]

Kawhi Leonard is changing the game by refusing to play unless he is 100 percent happy with it,  not even showing up for playoff games

 

[Doc Brown]

I'll be the first to argue the 2000's.  Tiger Woods, Lebron James, Lance Armstrong, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Roger Federer, Peyton Mannng, Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Kobe Bryant, Shaq, Lionel Messi, Albert Pujols, ARod (yuck), and Chris Kelsay.

[row_33]

Floyd by never fighting a worthwhile fight?  He can stay champ until five years after he died.

 

 

 

 

Steph Curry is far most influential than LeBron, a Jordan type.

 

Messi is great at penalty area tricks. Midfielders and sweepers are the true innovators of soccer.

 

 

[Greybeard]

On 4/19/2018 at 12:42 AM, Kelly the Dog said:

He actually changed the entire nation that way. The idea that you can have it all and win with one big swing - or one big oversized chance and gamble - became an American phenomenon because of him. The term "out in left field" was because Ruth played right field and everybody wanted tickets in right field, so if you sat out in left field you were out of touch with what was going on.  

   So today I learned.

[Greybeard]

On 4/18/2018 at 10:38 AM, row_33 said:

Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Red Grange, Eddie Shore

 

Ruth completely altered the way the game was played, strangely enough it has taken 100 years for a starting pitcher to show up who can play every day as well.

 

 

           Thanks for posting that.   Every time a post of this variety shows up, it is always full of recent history.   Ruth alone could carry that decade to the top.  No single person has dominated a sport the way he did.

 

         We can add a golfer also, with what a search turned up.

 

Bobby Jones was the dominant golfer in the 1920s and is regarded as the sport's greatest practitioner. His victory began in 1923 U.S. Open at Inwood and ended with his U.S. Amateur victory at Merion in 1930.

[Kelly the Dog]

12 hours ago, Greybeard said:

   So today I learned.

I did a project on Ruth a bunch of years ago and did a ton of research on him. It was a real eye-opener. A couple different books I read mentioned that phenomenon. It makes sense.

[Gugny]

7 hours ago, Kelly the Dog said:

I did a project on Ruth a bunch of years ago and did a ton of research on him. It was a real eye-opener. A couple different books I read mentioned that phenomenon. It makes sense.

 

This is very interesting.  It would be fun if you listed 3-5 things that you learned about Ruth that were jaw-dropping to you.

[row_33]

The Babe didn't like asparagus.