World's Greatest Athlete - Ever

Except he drives cars and rides motorcycles, so there're engines involved. Different challenge. And when he was no longer competitive on two wheels, he went to four. In his 30s.

Kelly is still on the main stage, not on the Longboard tour.

 

True, but does Kelly Slater flip off the top of a ladder onto a flaming table with barbed wire and florescent light tubes?

 

Nope.

 

Greatest surfer ever? Sure.

Greatest athlete? No, and LOL. Our best athletes play the money sports. Same argument I have every time someone makes fun of men's USA Soccer ... guess what?

 

Ha! SO THERE!

 

You need to go back to the beginning of this thread and read all of the evidence I have presented. I'll wait.

 

Evidence!?!? evidence!?!?

 

I did. Are you trying to pull one of those "best vs. greatest" semantic arguments like "Wilt Vs. Russell?" If so, Slater still does not rate. He is the best surfer of all time. Our best athletes play the money sports.

 

Nope - no semantics about best or greatest. I completely reject your assertion that the best athlete has to, by definition, play one of the "money" sports - football, baseball, basketball or hockey. There is no logical imperative that makes that so. I have made a case to define athleticism and athletic greatness both in terms of results in formal competition over time and in terms of what is required of the mind and body to do the sport. Then compared that to other athletes and other sports to compare the types of challenge on one's mind and body, then comparing the best in those sports to Mr. Slater. Tom Brady is in the same category. I can still argue that football is more "practicable" in a controlled environment than surfing is (or was before legit wave pools). And a football field has the same dimensions in every stadium.

It's OK though, I don't expect many to agree with me.

 

Herzalot your logic wins again...everytime. LOL!
Pastrana is good at so many other disciplines that do not involve a motor. Spend some time learning about him. What he has done for action sports is beyond measure.

 

I have to totally agree with you, the money sports mostly have the same conditions from place to place ( like turf vs grass) or (rain and snow). Surfing conditions change from place to place and are not the same like a basketball arena or hockey rink.

 

The crew who climbed the worlds 14 highest peaks, all over 8000 meters each, in the same year, are all better athletes by far. And I don't even think they are the greatest.

 

Tom Brady is not even the best athlete on his side of the football on every snap. Greatest/most successful QB ok but greatest athlete?

Conditions are not the same in almost all other sports. Waves don't think/plan/strategize/coordinate, athletes do...

 

So walking up a hill takes more skill than the other sports mentioned here? Hardly.
Being able to perform at high altitude is nice - but there is no real body movement skill involved. Just acclimation and energy management. The rest is logistics - not athleticism. Planning your route, clothing, equipment, food.
Yeah, no.

 

Poor Herzie, getting flak from the commons on a subjective assertion. At least he established a set of criteria against which comparisons are made. Still, if your athletes can’t take a pizza cutter to the face, they’re not very athletic. #NickGage

 

I am seriously not sure if you are joking or not. Because if you are serious, then I can't take you serious about ANYTHING athletic related.

And that I am being serious about.

 

Faustie and I bagged the summit of Potato Mountain on Tuesday! It towers 1,018 meters above sea level! Lemme know next time you can’t sleep at night, and I’ll show you some of the shenanigans out there.

 

could we just go back to the era where so called sports analysts proclaiming Tiger Woods is the greatest athlete and that he could be the GOAT of any sports?

 

Water is one of the oldest “engines” used for locomotion known to man. He's not moving himself at the velocities he achieves. Take away his engine and what's left?

To my untrained eye, surfing looks to have the same skill set as bull riding. Balance- Hang on and don't fall off.

 

You prob have offended every bull riders, including mechanical ones...

 

I know quite a few, so let's just keep this on the forum...

 

I'd compare it more to skateboarding. A lot of competitions are about groveling in knee-high blown out crap. They generate their own speed by pumping rail to rail.

 

Herz is not going to be happy when he sees his thread...

 

A recent top player said to the ump midmatch: "you're all corrupt".

Tennis instituted a shot clock, 25secs to serve, to curb stalling. Nadal is the GOAT of stalling and every opponent is annoyed which is a huge mental advantage for Nadal. And umps practically never call time violation on Nadal (and some others) and then there are mysterious injuries with medical timeouts and bathroom breaks that go beyond the time limits, always when losing. In the meantime, his opponent is fuming, losing momentum/rhythm and also getting cold. Luv the talent, hate the cheat.

 

Not when you get to the QS or CT level. They are at waves that I’d die to surf.

 

Slater won the Pipe Pro in 1992…

and today - in 2022. (8 Pipe wins total)

He was On Fire!!!! Soooo good. 18.77 in the final.

words fail me

 

I

I knew when I saw he won you’d post something and I was right. He is just an ageless badass.

 

30 years at least makes him the best at Surfing.

 

And what sport do you propose is more difficult than surfing?

I am talking a combination of a specialized skill, physical fitness, risk, courage, motion and environment. Maybe DH or EWS mt biking.

 

Curling. Knitting. Competitive Scrabble...