What players have fundamentally changed a sport?

[cycloneG]

Lawrence Taylor.

He changed how teams play defense and he changed how offenses had to play offense. Left tackle became a critical piece of your offense.

Left tackle is by far the highest-paid position in the NFL thanks to LT.

 

[wxman1]

Kaleb Hurt and really the whole Hurt family have dominated bags.

 

[Dopey]

Deacon Jones's headslap

 

[Shawker]

Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods are the best examples.

MJ forced the NBA to change the rules for how you could guard a player. He also completely changed the way an athlete could be marketed on a wide scale. Not to mention the massive growth in the popularity of the NBA.

 

[Proton]

 

[MugNight]

Boxing has had many men whose styles have been transformative and whose personalities had everyone talking.

Joe Louis, Mohammed Ali, Mike Tyson, Rocky Marciano, Lennox Lewis, Roberto Duran, Evander Holyfield, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Roy Jones Jr, the Klitschko brothers.

Ali & Tyson are the two that stand above the others with their dominance and disruptive style in the ring. Ali’s defense and movement. Tyson’s bone crushing power. Both were great in front of a microphone too.

 

[madguy30]

Lawrence Taylor.

He changed how teams play defense and he changed how offenses had to play offense. Left tackle became a critical piece of your offense.

They were showing some clips of his time in college last season during a game and it was laugh out loud funny how much he dominant he was. It was just him overrunning everyone and killing whoever had the ball.

 

[Gonzo]

Doesn’t matter the level, era, gender, or even locale.

• What players have changed a sport?
• How did they change the sport?
• Was that change for the better or worse?
• Was that change short-term or long-term?

Jack Johnson
- First black heavyweight world champion (1908-1915).
- Was obviously an amazing boxer from the outside with lots of punching power, but what he doesn't get enough credit for is pretty much inventing how to effectively punch in the clinch, his uppercut from the inside was unlike anything the sport had ever seen. He also created defensive tactics and techniques from the outside that are still used today.
- Some think his mastery of fighting from the clinch made him boring, but watch his fight films and you'll see he was anything but.
- Obviously his impact of being the first black heavyweight champion and contributions to the art of boxing have been long term.

Some say Jack Johnson was the first Ali, but I think Ali was the second Jack Johnson. This was the 1910s, and he was brash, loud, cocky, wore fur coats, ran around with white women, never apologized for beating the h*ll out of the best white boxers in the world, and refused to step into line because of his race at a time that was 50 years before the Civil Rights movement.

 

[ISUTex]

Doesn’t matter the level, era, gender, or even locale.

• What players have changed a sport?
• How did they change the sport?
• Was that change for the better or worse?
• Was that change short-term or long-term?

Jordan - Nike/endorsement deals - Better- Long term
Tiger - douchebags yelling "get in the hole" - worse - don't know, I haven't watched golf in a long time
The Babe - Dingers - better - long term

 

[ISC]

This is one where I think people tune in when she’s on but will tune out when she’s gone. She’s an elite player, and any new excitement that can be generated for Women’s Basketball is absolutely great, but I still don’t see her moving the long-term needle. While I don’t like her on-the-court antics and showboating, you can’t deny she’s had a good short-term impact.

Unfortunately, I don’t know that a single player can impact the college sports quite as much because they’re there for such a short period of time. Like it or not (I personally don’t like it), Women’s Basketball seems to be largely stuck. New excitement comes every few years – Ionescu before Clark – but just like Oregon’s attendance increased overnight, it’s quickly going back down.

Clark is probably one of the first in a line of ladies who play the game more like Steph. She's changing the wbb college game for sure, but it's likely an extension of watching Steph/NBA games. But she's one of the first who has the kind of 3pt range you usually attribute to seeing in the men's game.

 

[jcisuclones]

The GOAT, Cristiano Ronaldo

 

[mramseyISU]

A little bit out of left field for most of this group but a pro paintball named Oliver Lang was the youngest guy to ever make a pro roster at 16 or 17 and the first guy to ever get paid a 6 figure salary to play that sport. After him the pro teams all started looking for 16 or 17 year old kids there were fast as **** to push the field and within a year every pro team had 3 or 4 kids like that on their roster. A couple years after that **** Clark came in and dumped a bunch of money into trying to make it the next big action sport for the X games generation. The 2008 recession kind of killed the TV dreams but none of that would have happened without Oliver.

 

[Sousaclone]

Lance Armstrong. It's an interesting thing to look at because he was on both sides.

He was incredibly dominant. He became a household name, turned the tour de france into some must see TV, had a massive foundation/fundraiser for cancer awareness, and for the longest time appeared to have this massive success story all while being "clean" and recovering from cancer.

Then as the pressure mounts and everyone else from that era comes about with doping charges, he finally relents and tells the truth.

It raises an interesting question, if everyone is cheating (including you), are you the best or are you simply one of the best cheaters?

• What players have changed a sport - Lance Armstrong
• How did they change the sport - Popularity/Awareness/Incredible Doping
• Was that change for the better or worse - Both: Better: General awareness, Livestrong foundation success. Worse: Integrity, doping, loss of credibility
• Was that change short-term or long-term? Both

 

[4theCYcle]

Tony Hawk.

Was just about to type this out. He brought eyes to the sport and having a game also brought more eyes.

I wouldn't say it was talent but more so luck and timing, but Chris Moneymaker for poker. The poker world blew up and following that year, texas holdem and poker was mainstream and lot of people then began playing. You had other big faces and names like Chris Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Hellmuth, and Ferguson, but Moneymaker became a regular name because he won that big pot and brought eyes to poker.

• What players have changed a sport - Chris Moneymaker
• How did they change the sport - Popularity/Awareness
• Was that change for the better or worse - better
• Was that change short-term or long-term? probably short-term - a decade as poker doesn't seem to have the luster it used to.

 

[ISUKyro]

Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty for NASCAR
Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher for F1

 

[cykadelic2]

Jordan - Nike/endorsement deals - Better- Long term
Tiger - douchebags yelling "get in the hole" - worse - don't know, I haven't watched golf in a long time
The Babe - Dingers - better - long term

Babe and Tiger are the easiest two to select for their respective sports.

For BB, Wilt fundamentally changed BB moreso than any other player. And there is a new Showtime doucmentary on Wilt and supposedly it is very good. Here is a link to the trailer.

FB is a tough one but the modern day game is primarily rooted from the coaching of Paul Brown (with due respect to Bill Walsh, LaVell Edwards, Mouse Davis, Hal Mumme and Mike Leach). From a players' standpoint, that is very difficult but certainly Lawrence Taylor (as the first great non DL premium pass rusher) is at or near the top (with due respect to Jim Brown as the greatest player of all time).

 

[ISUcyclones11]

The GOAT, Cristiano Ronaldo

Pep's false 9 system with the actual GOAT changed the game completely

 

[Cyhig]

Belmonte for bowling. First person with great success bowling with two hands. Many to most of the youth coming up in the sport are two handed. He single handedly (I mean double handedly) changed the way people bowl. This would be comparable to a "happy gilmore" golfer

 

[nrg4isu]

Lance Armstrong. It's an interesting thing to look at because he was on both sides.

He was incredibly dominant. He became a household name, turned the tour de france into some must see TV, had a massive foundation/fundraiser for cancer awareness, and for the longest time appeared to have this massive success story all while being "clean" and recovering from cancer.

Then as the pressure mounts and everyone else from that era comes about with doping charges, he finally relents and tells the truth.

It raises an interesting question, if everyone is cheating (including you), are you the best or are you simply one of the best cheaters?

• What players have changed a sport - Lance Armstrong
• How did they change the sport - Popularity/Awareness/Incredible Doping
• Was that change for the better or worse - Both: Better: General awareness, Livestrong foundation success. Worse: Integrity, doping, loss of credibility
• Was that change short-term or long-term? Both

Re: loss of credibility. He lost his credibility, but the sports credibility had already been lost. He also brought in millions for the sport, and that effect has been lasting.

One thing I feel like is undervalued (by a lot) is the discourse on what it means to be "clean" in competition. His recent tweets about transgender are part-in-parcel of the same discussion. If you want to talk about someone who has changed SPORT as a whole, he's a very good candidate.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Boxing has had many men whose styles have been transformative and whose personalities had everyone talking.

Joe Louis, Mohammed Ali, Mike Tyson, Rocky Marciano, Lennox Lewis, Roberto Duran, Evander Holyfield, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Roy Jones Jr, the Klitschko brothers.

Ali & Tyson are the two that stand above the others with their dominance and disruptive style in the ring. Ali’s defense and movement. Tyson’s bone crushing power. Both were great in front of a microphone too.

I'd add Marvelous Marvin Hagler to that list. Loved watching him fight. Iron Mike was pure, unadulterated violence and aggression.