Even then the sport specificity may keep them from the elite level.

Armstrong's times for the NYC Marathon were very good for an age group runner, but not elite.

Laurent Jalabert also ran a marathon with a bit better time than Armstrong's first NYC time but still not elite.

I have a good friend who can run a Marathon about as fast as Armstrong or Jalabert, but got dropped in Cat 5 races because had very poor acceleration.

I have to show this to my neighbor. He raised his son to think that he was going to be an NBA player. Had his son on all the "competitive" teams at an early age, had him go to numerous basketball camps, and inculcated a d-bag attitude in him that he was destined to be a point guard in the NBA out of high school. He was furious when his son didn't make the Freshman basketball team in HS last year. Recognition that all of the hard work in the world won't matter if there isn't natural talent or ability there would have served him well. He should have had his son be 7 feet tall obviously!

I couldn't care less about who is the "better athlete" or baseball or basketball. :)

I believe that calimtb has finally hit trolling territory.
calimtb, I used to think like you believe me I did. Then I started doing endurance sports.
First there was denial. "How could I suck so much at this? I could still dunk in my 30s and 40s! Why are all of these people just leaving me behind? Why do I keep getting cramps? If this were a 40 I would smoke everyone of them."
Then acceptance. "I am so bad at this. I need a slow moving vehicle symbol on my jersey back for going uphills."
Then respect and admiration. "Those guys can go for six hours and still have it like that at the end? Unbelievable!"
Lebron isn't any more or less of an athlete than Usain Bolt or David Beckam or Peter Sagan or the Boston Marathon winner or that lovely dutch sprinter Dafne Schippers. They all excel in different sports that require different abilities.

should just close the thread here

its survived the last few pages just because of 1 salmon swimming upstream....

So he is a better basketball player than me. Also better at football. I bet I am better than him at cycling, soccer, and boxing. Am I the better athlete now?

It depends whether you consider more important to be really good at several things, or the absolute best at once. Froome is much, much better at 'sitting on a bicycle seat and pedaling for a long time' than Lebron James is at running or jumping or catching or taking a hit (are those last two even 'athletic abilities?') Again, it all depends on what you decide to give more importance to when making up your 'better athlete' definition: breadth or depth.

To take your chef analogy, who is the better chef? One who can make the absolute best Ossobuco or one who can make several very good but not the best dishes? A matter of preference, I am sure you will find.

Says the guy who thinks 51 RBIs in 127 games is noteworthy.

[MENTION=406877]PepeM[/MENTION] now has 2 post mentions.

Eat that one Lebron!

+1 .

Lance was a triathlete before he was a road cyclist.

Well that's hardly a fair comparison. If Eddy, Mig and Lance have to go up against NBA players, why shouldn't we make LeBron saddle up and pin on a number against a field of World Tour pros? If LeBron gets to try and dominate a local Cleveland crit race, I say we see how Merckx does in the local Leuven seniors pickup league before asking him to throw down against Wilt Chamberlain.

The problem is, you've designed a test that cyclists can only fail; of course pro cyclists are unlikely candidates to compete in the NFL or NBA; those are 2 sports that reward size and power, particularly in short bursts, whereas cycling rewards endurance and penalises size.

You're also making assumptions about the ball skills of cyclists on no evidence whatsoever. While I've no doubt that there are guys in the pro peloton who can't catch cold, pass gas, or dribble gatorade, for all you know Chris Froome may have a better 3-point %age than Steph Curry, but you'll never find out for certain because you'll never see him play. Oh,and Nacer Bouhanni is planning a pro boxing career once he's done with cycling. Presumably down the weight divisions.

I'd say if you asked, an awful lot of current pro cyclists got offered trials, maybe even contracts, by top level soccer clubs in their home countries. I'd be willing to bet, even having never seen him play, that Peter Sagan is a better soccer player than you or anyone you know. There's probably more than a few high-level-talent tennis, golf, squash, whatever players in the ranks (almost definitely some cricketers with all the Aussies).

Thing is,you just know that with all the athletic talent there is in a Tour de France field, there have to be a few of those type of guys who are just infuriatingly good at everything they do.

I recall Michael Schumacher being quite good at football.

Not so good at skiing.

This thread sucks

Yea no, not classy.

You're absolutely right. One of the most incredible athletic feats you will ever see. I will never forget that play.

Take it easy pal, true or not, you're crushing a lot of dreams, maligning a lot of heroes.

Why is everybody all worked up about how many post mentions [MENTION=406877]PepeM[/MENTION] has?

Spoken like a man that can't play basketball. Like that other guy I referenced earlier, to imply that all you need is height to be a good basketball player is the height of folly. And the gymnastics reference is equally bad.

He never said that is all you need. He did say it makes you more likely to succeed. Would you disagree with that? Would you say that height is not a trait desirable in a basketball player?

Because it proves that I am better than Lebron.

The fact that 1 in 7 American males over 7' tall is in the NBA pretty much proves that all you need is height. I laugh my ass off when I hear about teenagers over 7' being so "talented" when talent is completely irrelevant. If the goal was only 6' tall, then you wouldn't need height.

#facepalm

Isn't that like saying all you need to be a pro cyclist is weigh less than 140 lbs? No skill set involved, just the right body type?

Come on now, you can't mean that. Say it isn't so, please!

PLEASE! :lol:

It "proves it" lmao. Did you read the article? When a kid hits 6' tall in grade school, coaches invest a lot of time. If you had a cycling coach at the age of 10, you'd probably be a team rider.