Most anybody can be anything.
The only one putting brakes on your possibilities is you.
Teddy Atlas: What makes an All Time Great different than everyone else
- Thread starter UpAndComing
- Start date
The only one putting brakes on your possibilities is you.
Heavily disagree.
That is a special ability honed through practice. I’m not sure what you’re arguing against? He didn’t say Crawford had a gift.
That sounds like a special gift to me.
And I don't agree with that framing.
Maybe I'm the only one who read it that way.
I didn’t take it as him saying it was a special gift. I just took at it as is. I assumed from it that he meant Crawford worked for that skill, not that he was born with it. But I see your point; both of us are assuming either way, and just read it the opposite way.
I agree with your overall point you’re arguing in here though. Nearly anyone can be successful at anything if they dedicate themselves to it and work hard enough long enough. I don’t even think you can know you have a “talent” for something until after you already did the work.
Mushin state also known as flow stare.
Crawford is practically Neo in the ring because of that
Crawford is practically Neo in the ring because of that
Wouldn’t you assume that kids of D1 players and Olympians would most likely have done more focused training from an earlier age than their peers without parents who could literally guide them in what to do? I don’t think it’s giving you some natural genetic advantage as much as you have a guide who will allow you to work more efficiently WITH confidence (which is another thing that separates people and athletes greatly).
UpAndComing
Veteran
In a theoretical vacuum: Yes
In the real world with money involved: Hell No
If an NFL team is looking for a starting elite Quarterback, No one is paying money to someone who took 20 years to master the craft over someone who took only 3 years to master it
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Sure, but they still have the genes for it. Again every person who has it also hasn't necessarily played a sport for whatever reason. I do not believe being one the the historical greats in a field of literal lottery tickets is 90% work.
If that were the case you'd also never see people make leagues just to have stories or rumors of poor motor or work ethic while getting paid life changing money. To get to a certain level your work ethic is the multiplier for your talent which was already elite.
This applies outside of sports also to me. Anybody can't be great at anything.
I believe it was @Guess Who ...
You said as a high school/college ball player you dealt with a coach coming off an ACL injury who was at least former D1 and you couldn't hang despite the injury and age.
Do you think that was about infinite reps?
You said as a high school/college ball player you dealt with a coach coming off an ACL injury who was at least former D1 and you couldn't hang despite the injury and age.
Do you think that was about infinite reps?
IIVI
Superstar
Just like everything, from sports match-ups to dog fighting and aerial combat If you can make the person play your game or fight your fight, you're going to win. It's the person who knows how to make the other person play into their weaknesses and into their own strengths. Ring generalship in all sports basically. There are always counters to what someone is doing. It's your job to find it and exploit it, then it's their job to counter it and your job to counter their counter. It's very much like rock-paper-scissors.
Height and reach are really overrated compared to just being really good at your sport. That is of course once you're past the sport's physical threshold because you're probably not going to be playing any of the main sports if you're 5'1. From there, in all sports, it's basically knowing how to go at someone no matter if they're taller or shorter than you (play into the mismatch). That's basically most elite professional athletes: they're never the tallest nor shortest every single night but they know how to beat those who are taller and shorter. Many great shorter defensive ends have said they use their short arms and lower center of gravity to their advantage. That's how Von Miller destroys taller LT's who got a lot of arm length/reach on him. Like in basketball you don't see Luka attacking a center guarding him the same way he attacks a smaller guard guarding him. Once you're in the league it's basically about how well you can adjust and play your game vs everyone else.
Awesome point here:
It reminds me of that discussion two fighter pilots were having when they said the general public would freak out if they knew the results of dog fights during training exercises. Billions upon billions of dollars of high tech planes have been "shot down" in training vs older jets because pilot skills or somebody just having their day plays such a big part.
Height and reach are really overrated compared to just being really good at your sport. That is of course once you're past the sport's physical threshold because you're probably not going to be playing any of the main sports if you're 5'1. From there, in all sports, it's basically knowing how to go at someone no matter if they're taller or shorter than you (play into the mismatch). That's basically most elite professional athletes: they're never the tallest nor shortest every single night but they know how to beat those who are taller and shorter. Many great shorter defensive ends have said they use their short arms and lower center of gravity to their advantage. That's how Von Miller destroys taller LT's who got a lot of arm length/reach on him. Like in basketball you don't see Luka attacking a center guarding him the same way he attacks a smaller guard guarding him. Once you're in the league it's basically about how well you can adjust and play your game vs everyone else.
Awesome point here:
It reminds me of that discussion two fighter pilots were having when they said the general public would freak out if they knew the results of dog fights during training exercises. Billions upon billions of dollars of high tech planes have been "shot down" in training vs older jets because pilot skills or somebody just having their day plays such a big part.
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I agree with Atlas, but that's still not the end-all. I think it's about honing your individual special gift to said sport/industry. An all-time great had a skill outside of the sport/industry but still applied it to that to create an overwhelming advantage. Also, while applying it, they had the drive to completely step over the competition. Then of course, there's the timing aspect. And of course you also cannot forget about the witnesses.
It takes all of those factors for someone to be an all-time great. Someone could have everything but not at the right time, or the right people did not witness it. How much does that play into their greatness? We've seen it time and time again.
It takes all of those factors for someone to be an all-time great. Someone could have everything but not at the right time, or the right people did not witness it. How much does that play into their greatness? We've seen it time and time again.
murksiderock
Superstar
Major, major disagreement here. Every characteristic Atlas was describing can be applied to virtually any industry or field of life...
I work in the restaurant industry, popular national chain, most locations high volume. I can certainly state that there are people who have the reps, and have been working in this company for years, who aren't much more than average at rgeir job. Because, like most athletes, to many people this is simply a check. And to most people, they don't have unique personality traits to distinguish being "good" at your job, to being "great"...
Having the ability to slow things down is absolutely an ability some people possess, I know it because I have it. Everyone can't do it, everyone can't process multiple actions at one time, everyone can't see the bottleneck before it occurs, everyone doesn't have personnel management skills, etc. These are all translatable skills to the athletic world...
This isn't fast food, there is no drive-thru, and this also isn't some high end restaurant with super expensive meals, and the locations I touch, we're typically doing 5 to 10 million in restaurant sales annually, if you add off-premise that's another 2.5-5. I've had poor leaders, I've had solid leaders, and I've had GREAT leaders in front of me. The greatest leaders knew how to leverage their weaknesses, knew how and when to apply their strengths, and had the ability to get shyt done without breaking much of a sweat, while everyone else is getting the reps in and moving 100 miles an hour, the best leaders I've seen have an ability to manage multiple responsibilities, they have a gameplan, and are able to apply it efficiently, even when everything isn't going ideally!
There are definitely people from the world of sports and beyond, who have the capability to slow the shyt down...
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Super athletes aren't born with anything different to the average person- coli dot com