Will there be another two-sport star?

[jogsxyz]

There's a small chance someone who is a top sport's star will be able to compete in golf after he retires.

[Dynasty]

There must be some MMA fighters who already qualify.

[vhawk01]

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Money or not there will likely never be a talent like Bo in two sports.

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Walter Ray Williams Jr. is a six-time World Champion in Horseshoes and a six-time PBA Player of the Year in bowling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Ray_Williams

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This is the same as being very good at chess and checkers. Nice, but we are talking about sports, not games.

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We're not just talking about "being very good." We're talking about being the very best in the world. In two different games/sports. Six times in each game/sport. Really quite an amazing accomplishment, even if you don't consider either activity to be a sport.

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Right, but there is still a HUGE difference between good enough to play two major professional sports and being able to play two games like bowling and horseshoes at a world-class level. The reason for this is that the major professional sports are far, far closer to some theoretical maximum or perfect ability level, as a whole, than games like horseshoes and bowling. The 'average professional baseball player' is way closer to the 'theoretical perfect baseball player' than the average bowler or horseshoe-player.

Our average baseball player is ALSO closer than the average baseball player from 50 (or even 15 or 20) years ago, meaning that it is less likely now (and presumably less and less likely as time goes on) that we will ever see anything like this again. Its not impossible, though, and over enough years, unless there is something that strictly prohibits it, it has a good chance of happening again. Previous posters have brought up things that might prohibit it, though, like the fact that these clubs aren't going to want to allow their guy to play other sports, and the amount of money might preclude anyone from wasting the time developing other skills.

[suzzer99]

I think the lesson from Bo and Deion, to any future multi-talented prospects, is that it's probably better to stick to one or the other. So you're going to need to have not only an incredibly talented kid, but one with enough maverick spirit to stand up to a gauntlet of handlers advising against it. Seems unlikely, but of course nothing's impossible.

[SuperUberBob]

Not a star. Maybe somebody who plays two sports full time, but not a superstar. One sport alone requires a huge commitment. It's impossible to be a superstar in two sports solely based on athletic talent.

People like Bo and Deion were able to be two sport athletes because their natural athleticism made up for their shortcomings in baseball. It's very difficult to pull off that same effect today.

Another possibility is that some sports contracts include clauses in which an athlete can only participate in specific activities. When I played basketball in high school, I was not allowed to be on any other sports team that was not associated with the school. Don't know if that's true for pro athletes, but it might be.

[vhawk01]

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Not a star. Maybe somebody who plays two sports full time, but not a superstar. One sport alone requires a huge commitment. It's impossible to be a superstar in two sports solely based on athletic talent.

People like Bo and Deion were able to be two sport athletes because their natural athleticism made up for their shortcomings in baseball. It's very difficult to pull off that same effect today.

Another possibility is that some sports contracts include clauses in which an athlete can only participate in specific activities. When I played basketball in high school, I was not allowed to be on any other sports team that was not associated with the school. Don't know if that's true for pro athletes, but it might be.

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Thats just part of the unlikelihood, not a prohibiting factor. The guy would have to be a good enough player at one sport that he could negotiate a contract that didn't forbid it. He'd also have to be willing to take the monetary hit that such a contract would probably require.

[bisonbison]

Bo was about 20 points better in EQA over his shorter career than Deion. I think if Deion had played in the 80s he would have been more valuable, and if Bo had played in the 90s he would have fit right in.

Given that Deion was a hall of fame DB and Bo had every indication of being a HOF HB, I don't think it took much away from their football careers.

[hanster]

Interesting. What do you guys think of Iverson's chance of playing both football and basketball? It was said he was one of the top prospects and might have made it big in college football had Thompson let him play.

[dlk9s]

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Interesting. What do you guys think of Iverson's chance of playing both football and basketball? It was said he was one of the top prospects and might have made it big in college football had Thompson let him play.

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I think his chances of playing football are zero. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[sixfour]

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Interesting. What do you guys think of Iverson's chance of playing both football and basketball?

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He might have been good enough to play football, but there's obv no chance that it happens now, unless he randomly gets banned or something.

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There's a small chance someone who is a top sport's star will be able to compete in golf after he retires.

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Isn't Elway a scratch golfer? I could see this happening quite easily.