Most Dominant Athlete Ever

[Thockey17 1]

I would argue the level of competition in surfing was never higher than in the 90's when Slater was at his peak, and he was still untouchable over a season.  Whereas bodyboarding and bodysurfing  are two separate sports where there was a huge dropoff in talent at the top. While a bodyboarder or bodysurfer can take get much later and gnarlier drops than a stand-up surfer, and can get tubed so much deeper, IMO stand-up surfing offers just so many more possibilities in terms of tricks and style, and when it came to tricks and style Slater had it all.

No I haven't seen the TSJ article but I will look for it.  Thanks for the pointer, it is a great magazine.

The same could be said for bodyboarding in the early 90's. Thats when all the legends, if you can call them that, were in their prime(s). To say there was/is a drop off in talent is hard to swallow, but i can agree with that. Bodyboarding took a huge drop in talent during the mid 90's when all the support dropped off. Pretty sad how it went from a thriving up and coming sport to being labeled as a joke by most. I guess that what comes from having tourists riding whitewash. As far as tricks go, i think they're pretty much equal. You just dont see normal bodyboarders making cutbacks as you would see a surfer would. Once you start flying, i think the bodyboarders take the cake. Surfers have been slowly copying bodyboarders air tricks for years.

I surfed for years at home before moving here.

This is a picture of my local break in Bundoran

Ireland, eh? Heard it can get pretty heavy over in the green country. Not very consistent though, right?

Here's my local break

And pumping in March. Try paddling out in 34degree water, 10degree weather, and 18ft seas. 6/4mm hooded wetsuit, 6mm gloves and boots.

[NuggyBuggy 0]

Try paddling out in 34degree water, 10degree weather, and 18ft seas. 6/4mm hooded wetsuit, 6mm gloves and boots.

Nice pictures, where is that ? A while after I moved back to Toronto I paddled out in Lake Ontario in December when there was a huge windswell. Snow on the ground, 10-ft swells but almost no period, of course very sloppy. I don't know what the water temp was, but the air temp was way, way below freezing. I was way underdressed in a 4mm wetsuit with a vest underneath, 2mm booties and I think a light hood. I was literally convulsing when the first water hit my face, a while later of course my leash breaks and I am so cold, my body has locked up and I can barely move. One of a few times in my surfing career I was sure I was going to drown.

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

Ireland, eh? Heard it can get pretty heavy over in the green country. Not very consistent though, right?

Here's my local break

And pumping in March. Try paddling out in 34degree water, 10degree weather, and 18ft seas. 6/4mm hooded wetsuit, 6mm gloves and boots.

Where I surfed it was consistent, particularly with the el nino effect coming out of the gulf here, that really dropped the barometer and gave big solid waves for an extended period.

Bundoran has a couple of spots, there is the Peak (which was pictured) which is a really sucky hollow reef break, and then 3-D which works inside the peak, but has to be really really low tides to get going.

Then there was Tullan beach, which was a beach break, but out by the cliff you could get a decent right hander, fairly fat but not overly steep.

And there was Tullaghan Strand, that only worked when the swells were so big the beach breaks were washed out. My 2 cousins had to be rescued by the coast guard there, they went out in 4-6 foot, and then it jacked up to 12-14 foot solid, all day 4-6 wave sets, no break between sets. One of them had his board slung back in his face, broke the board, and the tide caught them. Didn't find them until 6 hours later, was nearly dark, and almost had to give up for the night, scary stuff.

Also, I am from letterkenny, so I have coasts to my west, north and north east, so have breaks for all wind directions within an hour and a half.

Places like Lahinch in Claire needs the tide and the wind to hold the waves (and its great when it does) but donegal has so much coast that it gets decent solid waves all the live long day.

And as for the cold. I have pictures of us going into the water after building a snowman on the beach. There is nothing like and ice cube headache and icy water going down the back of your suit after the first duck dive at 5am. :o

[NuggyBuggy 0]

mariano rivera is probably the best closer in mlb history. He's pretty damn dominate especially when it counts.

Dennis Eckersley was pretty damn good, and his stats are all the more amazing considering it was more than a decade before he was actually used as a closer.

[Cheesehead 0]

Reggie White, the minister of defense. great defensive lineman R.I.P.

and Bret Favre, but just not last year

and maybe John elway?

[slaw 1]

Gretzky, Roy

Lance Armstrong

Michael Jordan (come on he has his own shoe line)

the Babe

Mcgwuire may or may not have juiced up but hewas stilll a fairly dominant son of a gun I dont think ive ever watched as much baseball as i did that year every single time he got to the plate it was is it gonna be 72?

Now he brought people to the parks and the TV's so thats a different issue

[mack 44]

McGwire wasn't dominant other than the last stretch of his career and it'd be a stretch to call that dominating.

[Cheesehead 0]

in the office linbaker dept. it would have to be Terry Tate :lol:

[kosydar 0]

Yes Roy was without a doubt one of the best goalies of all time, I just can't classify him as dominant. I'd put Hasek in his prime as much more dominant than Roy. Maybe I'm having difficulty doing that because of

.

[MLSman 22]

As of right now there is no question in my mind:

2,856 points - 3,238 with playoffs

894 goals - 1,016 with playoffs

1,692 assists - 2,222 with playoffs

(12) 40+ goal seasons (that would be consecutive from (1979-80 to 1990-91)

(9) 50+ goal seasons

(5) 60+ goal seasons

(15) 100+ point seasons

(50) 3 or more goal games (that's insane)

(15) overtime assists

1.321 assists per game career average (which means on average....when a team stepped on the ice against him, they were already losing 1.5 to 0....that is sick)

This man over a five year span put up numbers that I don't see anyone repeating for a very long time:

In 1981-1982, he had 92 goals in an 80 game schedule

In 1983-1984, he had 100 goals in an 80 game schedule (87) and 19 games in the playoffs (13)

In 1981-1982 and in 1983-1984, he started both years scoring 61 goals in 50 games

In 1984-1985, he had 208 points in an 80 game schedule and 47 points in 18 playoff games for a total of 255 points (that's nuts)

In 1985-1986, he had 163 assists, 174 points including 10 playoff games, and 215 points in an 80 game schedule (that's retarded)

From Oct 5, 1983 to Jan. 28, 1984 (a total of 51 games), he was able to score 61 goals, 92 assists for a total of 153 points - the longest consecutive point scoring streak in history

I could keep going, but you get the point. 61 records.

Lance's 7 tours are amazing.....but NO one over a 12-13 year span EVER dominated any sport like Wayne. To me there is no comparison. The longevity of his domination, while being one of the smallest (weight) players in his era....I don't see how anyone could make an argument......yet

....but in 10 years Tiger might change my mind.

[hitz14 0]

Baseball:

1. Babe Ruth

2. Nolan Ryan

3. Barry Bonds

4. Lou Gehrig

5. Randy Johnson in his prime

Basketball:

1. Wilt Chamberlin

2. Shaquille O'Neal

3. Michael Jordan

Boxing:

1a. Mike Tyson (from '86-'89)

1b. Muhammad Ali

1c. Joe Louis

Football:

1. Jim Brown

2. Walter Payton

3. Dick Butkus

Hockey:

1. Bobby Orr

2. Wayne Gretzky

3. That Tretiak guy

That looks pretty right on, especially the boxing list

im going to have to disagree bigtime here on the boxing

Rocky Marciano was the most dominent boxer , hes the only boxer ever to never lose a fight in his career, how can you say anyone was more dominent then him.

[Thockey17 1]

Oh there they go. There they go, every time I start talkin 'bout boxing, a white man got to pull Rocky Marciano out their ass. That's their one, that's their one. Rocky Marciano. Rocky Marciano. Let me tell you something once and for all. Rocky Marciano was good, but compared to Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano ain't shit.

:lol:

[hitz14 0]

ok beetlejuice

[mack 44]

Vhere'sh the shpoon?

[Thockey17 1]

ok beetlejuice

Guess you've never seen Coming to America. Pity.

[Drury23 0]

Replying to the original poster,

Me Just kidding

[hip check 0]

In the WRC, Sebastian Loeb has just caught up with Carlos Sainz's record for wins... in about half the time. He is the most dominant driver in that class, and likely will remain that way for a while.

In cricket, Sir Richard Hadlee.

F1, it's got to be Michael S.

NASCAR ??? - Petty, Earnhardt,

I also like the earlier pick of Lomu for rugby. Not sure it's a lock, but it's a good pick.