The roar is deafening

"You just can't really compare the eras... "

"In cricket we have a player like Jacques Kallis. He is easily the best cricket player the game has ever seen"

Interesting quotes mr Crowley.

Originally posted by Trev33
"You just can't really compare the eras... "

"In cricket we have a player like Jacques Kallis. He is easily the best cricket player the game has ever seen"

Interesting quotes mr Crowley.

Uhm, OK. You don't agree?

Originally posted by shortcircuit
In all honesty, there are a VERY few top flight athletes, in any sport, that do not possess the arrogance you speak of.

I think you watch too much American sports dude.

Originally posted by Crowley
I think you watch too much American sports dude.

Oh, so Euros have no attitudes? Africans? Asians?

Originally posted by shortcircuit
Oh, so Euros have no attitudes? Africans? Asians?

I'm sure there are a few (probably more than a few) football players that are arrogant asses. I don't know, I don't watch much of it anymore.

You won't see too many professional players here get all gangsta like the dudes at the top in American sports.
Maybe it's the money... root of all evil and that.

Originally posted by Crowley
I'm sure there are a few (probably more than a few) football players that are arrogant asses. I don't know, I don't watch much of it anymore.

You won't see too many professional players here get all gangsta like the dudes at the top in American sports.
Maybe it's the money... root of all evil and that.

Wow. You are being arrogant in asserting this! I have lived in many places and it is the English who are the absolute most arrogant people I have ever met.

Getting "all gangsta" isn't a sign of arrogance in any case.

Originally posted by Crowley
Uhm, OK. You don't agree?

Erm... Kallis? Best ever? Don't be silly. Good, certainly. Better than the likes of Shane Warne, Sachin Tendulkar, and, dare I say it, Mr. 99.94? Come off it, mate, you've been drinking too much fermented heuningbos.

Richard

Originally posted by Shallow Blue
Erm... Kallis? Best ever? Don't be silly. Good, certainly. Better than the likes of Shane Warne, Sachin Tendulkar, and, dare I say it, Mr. 99.94? Come off it, mate, you've been drinking too much fermented heuningbos.

Richard

Read it slowly this time.

Best [all round] CRICKETER. There have been, and are, better pure batsmen than Kallis. No better all rounder though. Not even close.

Originally posted by Trev33
3 thumbs down are harsh.

6 thunbs down are harsher, but its the nature of public opinion

Originally posted by Crowley
Uhm, OK. You don't agree?

I agree with your first comment, meaning it's impossible to declare Kallis the best cricketer the game has ever seen.

Originally posted by Trev33
I agree with your first comment, meaning it's impossible to declare Kallis the best cricketer the game has ever seen.

Golf equipment has changed so much, it's difficult to compare eras.
That was my point.

Cricket equipment has not evolved in the leaps that the game of golf has had. Sure, the bats have become pretty awesome, but you could hit a cricket ball 60m for a six with a 1920 bat too.

If anything, getting to where the likes of Lara, Kallis, Ponting and Tendulkar did is so much better than a Bradman ever was.
Bowlers are quicker, stronger and much more cunning these days. Teams video analyze batsmen for weaknesses.

The BIGGEST change in the game though has been fielding.
Fielding has improved so much since the 80's that I think we can easily take off a linear percentage of runs for every decade a player made their runs in, starting at the 80s. Fielders actually dive to stop boundaries and take catches, they are much faster, fitter and much better drilled now. Hell, I remember watching when fast bowlers at fine leg would merely jog to pick up the ball behind the boundary if the shot didn't come directly at them.
We didn't have the third umpire, so 90 percent of close run out chances went in favour of the batsman. These days we know how many of these chances actually go in favour of the fielding side.
I'd say 5000 runs now is the same as making 10,000 runs anywhere before the 60's


Cricket is interesting in that everything that happens on the field is recorded, so it's quite easy to actually check 'greatness'. Fire up cricinfo.com go to records and it's easy to see Kallis' greatness.

Unfortunately a psychological phenomenon prevents us humans from admitting a player's legendary status while they are still playing. I don't know why, but we'll have to wait for him to die, or at least retire, before he will get the recognition he deserves.

Unfortunately for the naysayers, stats don't lie. It's all opinion with legends, never the stats, which to me is very weird.

Big thud was the sound of Tiger falling to the ground after choking! Tiger is finished! He'll never again win a major. Cannot even beat Bubba Watson!

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
Big thud was the sound of Tiger falling to the ground after choking! Tiger is finished! He'll never again win a major. Cannot even beat Bubba Watson!

Amazing!! Tiger finished tied with Rory McIlroy.

Guess Rory is finished too??

And no one else could beat Bubba Watson this weekend.
Maybe they all choked???

Originally posted by shortcircuit
Amazing!! Tiger finished tied with Rory McIlroy.

Guess Rory is finished too??

And no one else could beat Bubba Watson this weekend.
Maybe they all choked???

That's right, Rory and Tiger are in exactly the same circumstances. They might as well be the same person. Do you believe Ernie Els or Vijay Singh to be Arnold Palmer's match? How about Padraig Harrington? Tiger has done more to raise awareness for the sport than any other golfer, I'll grant. That doesn't make him the best to ever play the game. Perhaps Phil Mickelson is a match for Arnold?

Originally posted by dryhump
That's right, Rory and Tiger are in exactly the same circumstances. They might as well be the same person. Do you believe Ernie Els or Vijay Singh to be Arnold Palmer's match? How about Padraig Harrington? Tiger has done more to raise awareness for the sport than any other golfer, I'll grant. That doesn't make him the best to ever play the game. Perhaps Phil Mickelson is a match for Arnold?

Wow, do you think Arnold is Tiger's equal??

Arnold is a better ambassador of the game than Tiger, but the rest isn't really close.

I think Mickelson compares decently to Arnold.