Only people to ever truly have a huge edge over everyone else in their sport? - Sporting Events and Fantasy Sports

Phelps Woods and Armstrong come to mind right now, I can't really recall anyone else who was literally unbeatable at their sport. Spitz dominated during his time so I guess he could make the list.

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08-12-2008 , 07:31 PM

CharlieDontSurf

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none of those guys besides i guess Armstrong during his 7 yr run is unbeatable.
and he nearly lost the last couple of ones

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08-12-2008 , 07:33 PM

joel2006

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Edwin Moses. 400m hurdles. Won 122 consecutive finals over a 10 year period. He was in fact literally unbeatable. Set the world record 4 times.

Last edited by joel2006; 08-12-2008 at 07:39 PM.

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08-12-2008 , 07:33 PM

beansroast01

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Yeah but Phelps and Woods clearly have a bigger edge over the rest of their field then Gretsky or Jordan did.

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08-12-2008 , 07:34 PM

Quicksilvre

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Don Bradman
Wilt Chamberlain
Red Grange
Babe Ruth

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08-12-2008 , 07:39 PM

Semtex

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eh this is so subjective. Ralph Boston was unbeatable for like a 5 year stretch in the 60s in long jump. Nadal is basically unbeatable on clay.

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08-12-2008 , 08:00 PM

SoloAJ

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Originally Posted by joel2006

Edwin Moses. 400m hurdles. Won 122 consecutive finals over a 10 year period. He was in fact literally unbeatable. Set the world record 4 times.

I don't know who this guy is, but this, if true, is obviously the winner.

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Originally Posted by Semtex

eh this is so subjective. Ralph Boston was unbeatable for like a 5 year stretch in the 60s in long jump. Nadal is basically unbeatable on clay.

Boston sure sounds like a close second to Moses. Nadal on Clay is a good answer, seemingly.

WTF to Babe Ruth. Gimme a break.

Last edited by SoloAJ; 08-12-2008 at 08:00 PM. Reason: or any baseball, basketball, football player.

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08-12-2008 , 08:02 PM

SarcasticRat

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08-12-2008 , 08:03 PM

Steroid Boy

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whats wrong w/ ruth

he was hitting more homeruns than entire teams and was an unbelievable pitcher

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08-12-2008 , 08:13 PM

#10

battschr

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Steroid Boy

whats wrong w/ ruth

he was hitting more homeruns than entire teams and was an unbelievable pitcher

Babe Ruth was the first name to pop into my head.

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08-12-2008 , 08:16 PM

#11

NameOnTheCake

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rfed imo

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08-12-2008 , 08:33 PM

#12

Wondercall

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Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Gary Kasparov?

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08-12-2008 , 08:36 PM

#13

GuyIncognito

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Alexander Karelin?

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08-12-2008 , 08:38 PM

#14

offTopic

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Originally Posted by imjoshsizemore

Yeah but Phelps and Woods clearly have a bigger edge over the rest of their field then Gretsky or Jordan did.

No matter how good an individual is at a team sport, he/she is still highly dependent on his/her teammates. Pretty tough to try to compare edges in this way.

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08-12-2008 , 08:47 PM

#15

gusmahler

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Originally Posted by Wondercall

Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Gary Kasparov?

The OP said "literally unbeatable." Schumacher and Senna both lost individual races and even championship seasons.

Woods doesn't win every tournament he plays. He doesn't even win every Player of the Year award (he didn't win it twice in his career).

Phelps won a bronze in the 04 Olympics, so his dominance is fairly recent.

Kasparov didn't lose a match for 15 years, so he counts in that sense. But the fact that chess isn't a sport counts against him.

As for Ruth, how can an individual player be "literally unbeatable?" He was clearly among the best players for a 20 year span. But that isn't even close to being "literally unbeatable."

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08-12-2008 , 08:51 PM

#16

Victor

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Originally Posted by CharlieDontSurf

none of those guys besides i guess Armstrong during his 7 yr run is unbeatable.
and he nearly lost the last couple of ones

eh, 2003 was the only year he looked vulnerable.

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08-12-2008 , 08:52 PM

#17

battschr

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Ok, then...the answer is no, nobody is or ever has been 'literally unbeatable.'

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08-12-2008 , 08:54 PM

#18

Wondercall

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Originally Posted by battschr

Ok, then...the answer is no, nobody is or ever has been 'literally unbeatable.'

Besides Phelps.

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08-12-2008 , 08:56 PM

#19

apefish

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Phelps is and has been unbeatable in the 2 IM races and the 200 fly for over 5 years. But this is like saying Armstrong also won races in velodromes during that stretch. It's pretty hard to compare the two.

Without a question Phelps is the greatest swimmer in history. Maybe that's how these things need to be talked about instead. How many other athletes lay indisputable claim to the same in their sport?

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08-12-2008 , 09:14 PM

#20

imsobroke

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Alexander Karelin and Edwin Moses are the 2 that best fit this and even they lost. As has been mentioned Moses didn't lose a race for 10 years and Karelin went 13 years before he finally lost. He went 6 years in a row without even losing a point.

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Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Karelin, or simply Alexander Karelin, (Russian: Александр Александрович Карелин; born September 19, 1967 in Novosibirsk, Russian SFSR) was a dominant Greco-Roman wrestler for the Soviet Union and later, after its dissolution, for Russia. He won gold medals at the 1988, 1992, and 1996 Olympic Games. Nicknamed the "Russian Bear", he went undefeated in international competition from 1987 until 2000, when he was upset by American Rulon Gardner in the gold-medal match at the Summer Olympics. Karelin went the last six years of his unbeaten streak without giving up a point.

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08-12-2008 , 09:19 PM

#21

Dundasdoz

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Well by 'edge' you can interpret that in many possibilities.

But to me the 'edge' would have to come from an advantage either naturally or unnaturally.
As a nonsense example...a boxer having fists the size of a soccer ball.

Hence that, the athlete that comes to mind the most is Si Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan.

He was born with a curved elbow and this allows him to 'spin' the ball with more easy than Shane Warne and company.

This has caused alot of controversy in the cricket world as it borders on cheating.

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08-12-2008 , 10:15 PM

#22

Phildo

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Steroid Boy

whats wrong w/ ruth

he was hitting more homeruns than entire teams and was an unbelievable pitcher

he was a good pitcher but calling him unbelievable is a bit of a stretch.

also it's impossible for a baseball player to be unbeatable. team sports don't really work for this.