Kelly Slater (OT)

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Slater

Trad climber
Central Coast
Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 21, 2010 - 10:57pm PT
Best athlete ever?
Can you think of a better one?
Read the whole article before you even try...
many obvious ones got shot down.

http://www.grindtv.com/surf/blog/20591/could+kelly+slater+be+the+best+athlete+ever+no+seriously/

Long live Kelly.
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Sep 21, 2010 - 11:02pm PT
I think that it would be absurd to even consider a surfer as the best athlete ever. It's not exactly a sport available to the masses.
John Moosie

climber
Beautiful California
Sep 21, 2010 - 11:04pm PT
They have a wave pool in Kansas now.
Roughster

Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
Sep 21, 2010 - 11:04pm PT
Big fish in a little pond. Surfing is such a small population when it comes to talent that to call him the greatest athlete of all time / ever is pretty ridiculous. Maybe most dominate in a small population niche sport, that I could agree with.
Peter Haan

Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
Sep 22, 2010 - 12:19am PT
Slater, I agree Kelly is just an enormous talent and individual. A surfer genius actually. We don't have to choose who is the greatest whatever in this life--- there are so many luminaries after all. He is my hero for sure though. He also has been an actor and a haut couture model. The first photo of him (from a distance obviously crying) was taken shortly after amazing Malik Joyeux was killed at Pipeline. These photos below are actually part of my "favorite photos" folder--- this is how seriously I take Slater.




The wave that killed Malik Joyeux:













[img]
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq81/peterhaan/kelly30.jpg{{/img}}




Dapper Dan

Trad climber
Menlo Park
Sep 22, 2010 - 12:31am PT
wow you sure have a lot of photos of him .
Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
Sep 22, 2010 - 12:51am PT
This debate is as old as sports, isn't it?

One issue to be considered is: "What is the competition?" That is, if surfing had as many competitors as, say football, would it be possible for anyone to stay on top as long as KS has? I know next to nothing about surfing, except that the film I've seen of big-wave surfing is mindblowing, so I can't say. But I'd venture a guess that Eddy Merckx, to take the obvious example, faced a lot more competition from up-and-coming young guns...
Mike Bolte

Trad climber
Planet Earth
Sep 22, 2010 - 01:17am PT
don't sell real watermen short...

hat's off to Largo for a great book - The Big Drop. Caught the scene perfectly.
enjoimx

Trad climber
SLO Cal
Sep 22, 2010 - 02:10am PT
I read the article today! The video is cool, he is a badass surfer, and once you try surfing, you will be impressed by his talent. Best athlete ever? Doubtful.
Rudder

Trad climber
Long Beach, CA
Sep 22, 2010 - 06:06am PT
Kelly, Jack Nicklaus, Ali, Magic... so many greats... but have you ever watched Lynn Hill's free climb the Nose in a day video? Maybe the greatest athletic achievement of all time... and very few people care. :/
AllezAllez510

Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
Sep 22, 2010 - 09:32am PT
First off, Slater is the best *competition* surfer of all time, but he can, and does, do it all.

I spend a disproportionate amount of time geeking out on contest footage, so here is my take.

If you look at the waves that the ASP regularly holds contests at, they are all waves that Kelly Slater has wired...Hold a contest at J-Bay and he will win 9 times out of 10. Trestles is also nearly tailor made for his style of contest surfing. He gets more turns in the "critical" part of the wave than anyone and can throw in an air at the end. Way more potential for a ten than someone who is goofyfooted.

The flip side of that is that there are waves that Kelly does not have wired. A monster wave like chopes is a little out of his league, even though he can surf it very well.

So, is KS "the best" surfer ever? Who can say? But he has to be in the top five of anyone's list.

As for surfing not being a sport...try paddle boarding from Molokai to Oahu (not that I'd ever try it...) of paddling out and competing for waves at Steamer Lane.
TwistedCrank

climber
Ideeho-dee-do-dah-day boom-chicka-boom-chicka-boom
Sep 22, 2010 - 09:55am PT
This tread takes on the apparition of being a cutout from "Men's Journal"


What next, "Outside"?



Fodder for puke.
AllezAllez510

Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
Sep 22, 2010 - 10:08am PT
Well, there's always some sort of republican-i-hate-paying-taxes-waaaahmbulance thread for you to read...
The Alpine

Big Wall climber
Sep 22, 2010 - 10:50am PT
He's a great athlete yes, but the best - I don't think so. He has 9 world titles, about to be 10, but all of those are based on JUDGES. I think all of the judges on the tour have hard-ons for Kelly.

But ya, the man is a consistently bad ass surfer.
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Sep 22, 2010 - 10:55am PT
JR, you hit the key point- dominant. There are a lot of athletes who dominate their sports, some like Slater to a great degree. A lot of these are "niche" sports available to only a small segment of the population along, largely, socio-economic parameters.
BrentA

Gym climber
Roca Rojo
Sep 22, 2010 - 12:16pm PT
"His years running around with the likes of Pamela, Gisele and Cameron earned him more mainstream press than any of his records, compounding the torture. Poor guy."

Good game, sir. Good game.
BCD

Mountain climber
Bishop, CA
Sep 22, 2010 - 12:21pm PT
And for anyone who thinks formula one drivers are not a real athletes...well, your(sic) high.

Hey,
You shouldn't talk bad about people who are "high". If race car driving is a sport, then people who sit on the couch smoking weed are surely athletes as well! They have to occasionally get up and walk to the kitchen, which is more than can be said about driving a car.

Seriously, though. considering things like golf and race car driving to be "sports" is probably one of the reasons 80% of our citizens are overweight. When the doctor tells people to get more exercise, they think "OK, I'll just drive the backroads to work from now on"
Elcapinyoazz

Social climber
Joshua Tree
Sep 22, 2010 - 12:28pm PT
Kelly Slater couldn't carry Jim Thorpe's jockstrap.
Chank

Trad climber
Sep 22, 2010 - 12:32pm PT
You might be able to put him in the running for most accomplished athlete within his given sport, but "best athlete ever"? Not even close.
pc

climber
Sep 22, 2010 - 12:58pm PT
Sport's entertainment, right? That means the best should be the most fun/most interesting to watch.

Slater's great but to me...

Ali
Gretzky
Jordan
Maradona
Montana

And a few others maybe...Pure entertainment.



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