Teddy Atlas: What makes an All Time Great different than everyone else

[UpAndComing]

1:35


- "People say it's the IQ when they are playing, but it's more than that"
- "Crawford has the ability to slow things down that very few people have, and see things that no one else can see, because he slows it down"
- "Other athletes can't see it. That is what makes his TIMING so special. Yeah he's talented, but his timing is impeccable, better than anyone else's"
- "He has the vision to see things in a slow pace, that someone else sees in a blur"
- "It's like he's in the matrix. He's calm in an uncalm environment"
- "Yeah he wants to get paid like other athletes. But to him it's legacy. They just don't want to flaunt on how good they are, they want to find out how good COULD they be. And they are willing to take that challenge and that risk"
- "And very few people have the appetite for that, the inclination for that, to chase that"


This interview is from a Boxing perspective. But it's the same in all of the All time greats. Terence Crawford, Mahomes, Floyd, Lebron, MJ, Jokic, Tom Brady, etc etc

It's a beautiful thing to watch

 

[Remote]

He makes it seem like some athletes have this special ability to slow things down.

Nobody has that ability.

It's repetition. It's training. It's practice.
The first time you see a 90 mph fastball, it's a blur. The 500th ninety mile an hour fastball you see is not a blur.

I understand he's praising Crawford. I just think people should acknowledge the work. It's work. There's no secret gene or special ability that makes these guys great. X-Men isn't real. They work at this stuff.

 

[Shadow King]

He makes it seem like some athletes have this special ability to slow things down.

Nobody has that ability.

It's repetition. It's training. It's practice.
The first time you see a 90 mph fastball, it's a blur. The 500th ninety mile an hour fastball you see is not a blur.

I understand he's praising Crawford. I just think people should acknowledge the work. It's work. There's no secret gene or special ability that makes these guys great. X-Men isn't real. They work at this stuff.

I disagree. If that's the case why aren't you pro in the sport you loved as a kid?

 

[Remote]

I disagree. If that's the case why aren't you pro in the sport you loved as a kid?

Attitude and work ethic.

Nobody would ever say there isn't a talent element to success in sports.

But it's 90% work. And 10% everything else.

 

[Shadow King]

Attitude and work ethic.

Nobody would ever say there isn't a talent element to success in sports.

But it's 90% work. And 10% everything else.

Nah. 10% is entirely too small. Professional athletes are physically gifted. Plenty of people work hard and don't sniff a league/pro level let alone become an All-Time great.

Remember half the NBA has a least 1 D1 or Olympic level parent. And that's probably gone up. In sports in general you need a toolset to maximize the hard work you put in if you're going to be a literal 1 in 1000000 case, let alone the greatest of 30-40 1 in 1000000s.

 

[fifth column]

Attitude and work ethic.

Nobody would ever say there isn't a talent element to success in sports.

But it's 90% work. And 10% everything else.

It’s not just work, it’s the right kind of focused and discipline work that lead to positive gain. Perfect practice makes perfect

 

[Remote]

Nah. 10% is entirely too small. Professional athletes are physically gifted. Plenty of people work hard and don't sniff a league/pro level let alone become an All-Time great.

Remember half the NBA has a least 1 D1 or Olympic level parent. And that's probably gone up. In sports in general you need a toolset to maximize the hard work you put in if you're going to be a literal 1 in 1000000 case, let alone the greatest of 30-40 1 in 1000000s.

You're using the NBA as your basis when that's the one sport where genetic height is an inherent factor.

Most other sports aren't capped by this.
Maradona's parents weren't college athletes.
Ali's parents weren't Olympians.

It's work.

But we can disagree.

 

[UpAndComing]

Nah. 10% is entirely too small. Professional athletes are physically gifted. Plenty of people work hard and don't sniff a league/pro level let alone become an All-Time great.

Remember half the NBA has a least 1 D1 or Olympic level parent. And that's probably gone up. In sports in general you need a toolset to maximize the hard work you put in if you're going to be a literal 1 in 1000000 case, let alone the greatest of 30-40 1 in 1000000s.

Facts. No one respects innate talent, probably because they never found their talent

We could be Muhammad Ali or Barry Sanders if we just worked hard enough

 

[Remote]

Facts. No one respects innate talent, probably because they never found their talent

We could be Muhammad Ali or Barry Sanders if we just worked hard enough

Whether you believe you can or you can't, you're right.

 

[PatCake]

For me, they just always have another gear in them. Their belief is that no one's ever above them or better than them.

 

[Shadow King]

You're using the NBA as your basis when that's the one sport where genetic height is an inherent factor.

Most other sports aren't capped by this.
Maradona's parents weren't college athletes.
Ali's parents weren't Olympians.

It's work.

But we can disagree.

I'm using the NBA because it demonstrates the fact that at least half the time you come from the type of stock. It never said how tall these parents were and if their respective sports required height, we can assume they were tall but there are also cases of men hitting a recessive genetic lottery in height.

I do believe most humans are more athletic than we try to be, so all pros do not have to have some clan of pros and Olympians behind them, since everyone doesn't play a sport for various reasons, but I'm simply not going to agree to 90% work, least of all to be the best ever to do something physical.

There are people who will do all the reps in the world and cannot say they were ever top 50 in a sport.

I don't think X reps makes any man able to make shots in the manner in which they'd get defended with guys in their shirts in scrimmages at the pro level. You need a template for that, height is included.

I don't believe X reps makes any man able to get 3 punches in on Crawford, Mayweather, Pacquiao, Ali, in 36 minutes of action. Or have the reflexes to duck any 1 punch from them or a lesser fighter.

I don't believe X reps makes any man able to manipulate a ball with his foot through 11 men at full speed for 20 years while not straining or breaking something and still processing everything happening.

I don't believe X reps can make any man accurate and aware enough to dominate a football game with their shoulder and wrist joints, and peripheral vision and win 15 games against 200-350 pound men trying to crush you, well enough to win championships.

There's also late bloomers who clearly missed out on reps but still become HOF athletes in their sport. Why? Natural ability unlocked.

We'll have to agree to disagree. And I think we talked about this years ago. There's hard work but the best of the best, of the best of the best, tend to be rewarded by having a natural gift or set of gits others don't.

 

[Remote]

I'm using the NBA because it demonstrates the fact that at least half the time you come from the type of stock. It never said how tall these parents were and if their respective sports required height, we can assume they were tall but there are also cases of men hitting a recessive genetic lottery in height.

I do believe most humans are more athletic than we try to be, so all pros do not have to have some clan of pros and Olympians behind them, since everyone doesn't play a sport for various reasons, but I'm simply not going to agree to 90% work, least of all to be the best ever to do something physical.

There are people who will do all the reps in the world and cannot say they were ever top 50 in a sport.

I don't think X reps makes any man able to make shots in the manner in which they'd get defended with guys in their shirts in scrimmages at the pro level. You need a template for that, height is included.

I don't believe X reps makes any man able to get 3 punches in on Crawford, Mayweather, Pacquiao, Ali, in 36 minutes of action. Or have the reflexes to duck any 1 punch from them or a lesser fighter.

I don't believe X reps makes any man able to manipulate a ball with his foot through 11 men at full speed for 20 years while not straining or breaking something and still processing everything happening.

I don't believe X reps can make any man accurate and aware enough to dominate a football game with their shoulder and wrist joints, and peripheral vision and win 15 games against 200-350 pound men trying to crush you, well enough to win championships.

There's also late bloomers who clearly missed out on reps but still become HOF athletes in their sport. Why? Natural ability unlocked.

We'll have to agree to disagree. And I think we talked about this years ago. There's hard work but the best of the best, of the best of the best, tend to be rewarded by having a natural gift or set of gits others don't.

I don't believe anyone who was considered the greatest at anything, ever, was the most talented or gifted.
And what that means is that work is by far the biggest separator and predictor of success/greatness.

 

[Shadow King]

I don't believe anyone who was considered the greatest at anything, ever, was the most talented or gifted.
And what that means is that work is by far the biggest separator and predictor of success/greatness.

I never said they were the most talented. They were talented/gifted and had the work ethic.

 

[Remote]

I never said they were the most talented. They were talented/gifted and had the work ethic.

Ok, so let me be clearer then...

I think work comprises way, way, way more of the "recipe" of greatness than you do.
We disagree on the percentages, so to speak.

 

[Shadow King]

Ok, so let me be clearer then...

I think work comprises way, way, way more of the "recipe" of greatness than you do.
We disagree on the percentages, so to speak.

We absolutely do...it ain't 90/10. And I carry that outside of athletics. If that were the case anybody could literally be good great at anything and human individuality wouldn't exist.