BenchBrawl
Registered User
- Jul 26, 2010
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References like this puzzles me. Georges Mantha retired in 1940, still you claim to be able to assess his skating ability.
The reason for that is that their work was captured in a way that makes it possible. You can read the books and listen to record. Sport was not, however. You cannot campare someones skating in the 1930s with someones skating in the 2000s, simply because of the fact that you don’t have enough footage from that time. I can’t even find anything on Youtube on G. Mantha. All you have is the stories. If you tell me that you are born in 1925 and saw his career, I’d respect your position. Otherwise, I consider it some kind of bias that everything was better back in the good old days (which all reason suggests must not have been the case)Yet it is possible to assess the various abilities of pre 1940 thinkers, writers, political leaders, musicians, scientists, etc. How can that be?
”A video”? That is one video? Is that enough material for you to draw any conclusion? I can show you ten videos on Youtube that would prove that Gustav Nyquist is the best skater ever born, if I where to use the same logic. If you draw conclusions from very limited sample sizes, you tend to failThere is a video of Georges Mantha in action somewhere on this site. He's, like, faster than Morenz and clearly the fastest player on the ice, and just about everyone raved about Morenz's speed.
It wasn't quite prime Morenz, so you can't completely discredit Morenz here, but it wasn't geriatric Morenz either.
The reason for that is that their work was captured in a way that makes it possible. You can read the books and listen to record. Sport was not, however. You cannot campare someones skating in the 1930s with someones skating in the 2000s, simply because of the fact that you don’t have enough footage from that time. I can’t even find anything on Youtube on G. Mantha. All you have is the stories. If you tell me that you are born in 1925 and saw his career, I’d respect your position. Otherwise, I consider it some kind of bias that everything was better back in the good old days (which all reason suggests must not have been the case)
”A video”? That is one video? Is that enough material for you to draw any conclusion? I can show you ten videos on Youtube that would prove that Gustav Nyquist is the best skater ever born, if I where to use the same logic. If you draw conclusions from very limited sample sizes, you tend to fail
And they weren't worse than today's thinkers, political leaders, musicians, scientists, etc. I say this as someone for whom the history of mathematics is some sort of hobby.
Calculus alone is one of the greatest invention in human history—and yeah today's scientists take it for granted and have it at their disposal, but that doesn't make them "better". Would they have equaled Newton's contribution if their brain was transported in the 1660s? Not many would.
What does McDavid's age have to do with his all-time ranking as a skater?
Ask any football player: the first thing to go is the legs. Ask a soccer player: when you hit thirty, your legs are your biggest weakness.Leg strength improves with age.
Ask any football player: the first thing to go is the legs. Ask a soccer player: when you hit thirty, your legs are your biggest weakness.
Gawd, yes. Marleau, too. But you claim skating gets STRONGER with age. These comments of yours are IRRELEVANT to that claim unless you think they skated better as they hit their 30's.... H.Richard, Keon were strong skaters into their late 30s...
Gawd, yes. Marleau, too. But you claim skating gets STRONGER with age. These comments of yours are IRRELEVANT to that claim unless you think they skated better as they hit their 30's.
Mike Gartner won the fastest skater competition at the NHL all-star game at age 36, his third such victory. Does this mean he got faster with age? Uh, no.
Helmut Balderis always deserves a mention. Speed, finesse, agility... you name it, he had it.
There’s a tendency to think of superstars only but what about lesser known guys like Courtnall or Gartner and even one-dimensional guys like Grabner or Fata....
That’s what makes this so difficult.
What does McDavid's age have to do with his all-time ranking as a skater?