What players have fundamentally changed a sport?
- Thread starter Jer
- Start date
Reading the thread it seems like this breaks down into a couple categories:
-Brought eyes and money to the sport
-Changing the way the sport is played
-Both
First group: much bigger with different levels for certain sports (Magic and Bird brought US eyes to the NBA, Jordan took it worldwide).
Second Group: Steph Curry, Bob Gibson, Wilt Chamberlain....people that forced rule changes or dramatically different styles of play to become the norm.
Third group: Tiger, Babe Ruth, Tony Hawk/Matt Hoffman.....forced monumental leaps that literally changed everything. And Tiger would be #1 by a wide margin: course/equipment design, demographics, prize money.
Jordan is tough.....I'd say he did more to change the business of professional athletics and the earning power of athletes than he did to actually change the game of basketball from the mid 80's to the late 90's..
-Brought eyes and money to the sport
-Changing the way the sport is played
-Both
First group: much bigger with different levels for certain sports (Magic and Bird brought US eyes to the NBA, Jordan took it worldwide).
Second Group: Steph Curry, Bob Gibson, Wilt Chamberlain....people that forced rule changes or dramatically different styles of play to become the norm.
Third group: Tiger, Babe Ruth, Tony Hawk/Matt Hoffman.....forced monumental leaps that literally changed everything. And Tiger would be #1 by a wide margin: course/equipment design, demographics, prize money.
Jordan is tough.....I'd say he did more to change the business of professional athletics and the earning power of athletes than he did to actually change the game of basketball from the mid 80's to the late 90's..
Football - I'd say the two most important people that have changed the game to what it is today are Bill Walsh and LT.
Basketball - MJ from a popularity and marketing standpoint. As far as current style of play Curry is the obvious answer in the modern era. Another one that I think is drastically underrated in impact of the game's current style of play is Kevin Garnett. I would say next to the three point shot, the next most notable change in personnel and style of play is bigs shifting from back to the basket scorers to playing in space facing the basket. When it comes to style of play, I think of what players changed how kids in middle school and high school play. Curry made the 3 point shot wildly popular, and KG pretty much killed the back to the basket post-dominant big man.
Baseball - It will take a while for this to take effect, but Ohtani is going to be the modern era game-changer. For decades there have been kids coming up that are dominant pitchers and hitters in HS and sometimes even college, and once they get drafted it's an either/or situation. We will see more pitchers hit in the future. I highly doubt we see anyone like Ohtani that is dominant in both, but I think we'll see a few more guys that are legit pitchers and hitters at some point in the near future.
The entire mid-2000s Pistons and Pacers teams
Jose Canseco
Michael Vick
Shohei Ohtani
Aaron Donald
Jose Canseco
Michael Vick
Shohei Ohtani
Aaron Donald
This is always an interesting topic, and in a lot of ways I agree, but I view the physical outliers like Wilt as not really changing the game. It wasn't like teams were not looking for tall athletic guys, they just didn't really exist, and Wilt was a physical unicorn at the time.
I kind of view Wilt and Shaq as guys that changed rules because they were physical outliers at the time. But they didn't have a long term effect on style of play, how kids develop, how teams are constructed, etc. Their impact was solely because of physical attributes that really can't be developed or replicated. Likewise I don't think Wemby is going to change the game. He could become super-skilled and great, but ultimately he's going to be dominant in large part because physically he's 1 in a billion.
Mark Allen- Triathlon.
He showed that a new level of dominance was possible with his 5 straight Ironman World Championships from '89 to '93. This has never been repeated.
His total of 6 Ironman Championships is tied with Dave Scott for all time and he once won the world championship at the Olympic distance which Scott never did.
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en.m.wikipedia.org
He showed that a new level of dominance was possible with his 5 straight Ironman World Championships from '89 to '93. This has never been repeated.
His total of 6 Ironman Championships is tied with Dave Scott for all time and he once won the world championship at the Olympic distance which Scott never did.
Mark Allen (triathlete) - Wikipedia
I agree that Wilt was a physical unicorn but he wasn't a transcendent player solely due to his attributes. In the late 60s, he was amongst the NBA's assist leaders.
I think a simple barometer could be applied in some regards to anything outside the absolute core mainstream leagues (NBA, NFL, MLB) - do you remember a name of a person for a sport you otherwise would know nothing about? It doesn't work as well for the core leagues in my opinion.
To that degree, it likely means that person made a big enough impact to transcend the sport itself and/or have wide recognition for a long period of time. Now, that obviously doesn't mean they "changed" the sport, but created a wide enough awareness to the masses.
This is going to have recency bias for the above reasons...
Guys like Earnhardt, Gordon, or Jimmy Johnson are examples for racing - I know nobody but them and Lightning McQueen (the true GOAT).
Agassi, Ash, Sampras, Nadal, Federer, Williams sisters, and Djokovic for tennis.
Woods, Palmer, Mickelson for golf.
Ronaldo and Messi for soccer.
McGregor for MMA or UFC - don't know the different.
@isufbcurt for local racing.
To that degree, it likely means that person made a big enough impact to transcend the sport itself and/or have wide recognition for a long period of time. Now, that obviously doesn't mean they "changed" the sport, but created a wide enough awareness to the masses.
This is going to have recency bias for the above reasons...
Guys like Earnhardt, Gordon, or Jimmy Johnson are examples for racing - I know nobody but them and Lightning McQueen (the true GOAT).
Agassi, Ash, Sampras, Nadal, Federer, Williams sisters, and Djokovic for tennis.
Woods, Palmer, Mickelson for golf.
Ronaldo and Messi for soccer.
McGregor for MMA or UFC - don't know the different.
@isufbcurt for local racing.
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That's a good point. Now that you say that you can definitely say that was a pretty rare case where you had offense running through a center like that. So I change my mind a bit about Wilt.
Dirk Nowitski
You can build a world champion basketball team around the right European star player. Maybe Manu/Parker were part of that too but Dirk was just one guy and "the man" rather than part of an equal ensemble of stars. He really should have had two championships if the refs hadn't transparently gifted Wade 97 free throws in 6 games.
We'll see if Wemby develops and can stay healthy. But the trend of Joker being the world's best for the past few years (and Doncic simultaneously being a top 5 or top 10 talent) kind of started in a serious way with Dirk. If Jokich had landed at a franchise with a better history of winning he'd be working on a dynasty already.
You can build a world champion basketball team around the right European star player. Maybe Manu/Parker were part of that too but Dirk was just one guy and "the man" rather than part of an equal ensemble of stars. He really should have had two championships if the refs hadn't transparently gifted Wade 97 free throws in 6 games.
We'll see if Wemby develops and can stay healthy. But the trend of Joker being the world's best for the past few years (and Doncic simultaneously being a top 5 or top 10 talent) kind of started in a serious way with Dirk. If Jokich had landed at a franchise with a better history of winning he'd be working on a dynasty already.
Paul Brown for football (and yes a coach not a player but he certainly counts) --
-- integrated his teams in the 1940s and 1950s... before Jackie Robinson played for the Dodgers
-- invented the modern facemask and the idea of a practice squad
-- invented the screen game and many modern blocking techniques
-- invented the draw play that still forms the backbone of many running games
-- invented film study (something other coaches borrowed in every sport)
-- first coach to have a full-time staff of assistants and offensive/defensive coordinators
-- made Massillon Washington into a premier HS program
-- made Ohio State into a premier college program
-- won countless championships with the Cleveland Browns in the AAFC and NFL
-- they're named after him... how many athletes have teams named after them?
-- helped forced the merger of the AAFC and the NFL
-- founder of the Cincinnati Bengals, helped give the AFL legitimacy in the late 1960s
-- so a third of the teams in the NFL (3 from the AAFC, 10 from the AFL) owe their place in the NFL to him
-- countless awards, coached countless legends and HoFers
-- basically every NFL coach of any note is from his coaching tree
Professional football is what it is as a sport and a business juggernaut because of Coach Brown.
-- integrated his teams in the 1940s and 1950s... before Jackie Robinson played for the Dodgers
-- invented the modern facemask and the idea of a practice squad
-- invented the screen game and many modern blocking techniques
-- invented the draw play that still forms the backbone of many running games
-- invented film study (something other coaches borrowed in every sport)
-- first coach to have a full-time staff of assistants and offensive/defensive coordinators
-- made Massillon Washington into a premier HS program
-- made Ohio State into a premier college program
-- won countless championships with the Cleveland Browns in the AAFC and NFL
-- they're named after him... how many athletes have teams named after them?
-- helped forced the merger of the AAFC and the NFL
-- founder of the Cincinnati Bengals, helped give the AFL legitimacy in the late 1960s
-- so a third of the teams in the NFL (3 from the AAFC, 10 from the AFL) owe their place in the NFL to him
-- countless awards, coached countless legends and HoFers
-- basically every NFL coach of any note is from his coaching tree
Professional football is what it is as a sport and a business juggernaut because of Coach Brown.
Trying to come up with one that hasn't been said yet...
Marcus Smart changed how defense in CBB is played. He flopped so much, and sadly was often rewarded for it, that it has become a normal part of the game. So much so that they added the flop rule, which they should just call the Marcus Smart rule.
Marcus Smart changed how defense in CBB is played. He flopped so much, and sadly was often rewarded for it, that it has become a normal part of the game. So much so that they added the flop rule, which they should just call the Marcus Smart rule.
If you took away all of Gretzky's goals, he would still be the all time point leader in the NHL.
That is Brett Hull next to Gretzky's and not his brother Brent.
For better or worse?
The only reason Conor McGregor is so well known is for doing sh*t outside the octagon that he should be in jail for, including sucker punching a 50+ year old guy who criticized his branded whiskey. I don't think getting yourself into the news for nearly blinding a fellow MMA fighter by throwing a steel dolly through a bus window or sucker punching some older dude in a pub should qualify as making an impact that transcends the sport.
But I do understand that for people who don't follow the sport of MMA (mixed marial arts, UFC is one production within the sport of MMA) that's a name that stands out. IMO it just stands out for all the wrong reasons. Dude should be in prison.
If Shane Battier had played anywhere but Duke they'd have made the same rule change for him because he was at least as bad.
E Sports
- What players have changed a sport?
- Ninja
- How did they change the sport?
- Made it cool to be a gamer. Made it possible to make a great living on social media
- Was that change for the better or worse?
- Better
- Was that change short-term or long-term?
- Long-term
I think Conor McGregor and Rhonda Rousey 100% deserve to be on lists like this. More than a lot who have been listed actually.
The question was not "who is the technically greatest of all time in their sport and a great human being?".
They were very entertaining personalities who took their sport main stream more than anybody else at a time where it grew exponentially.
