Tywin et al.

It's all good. Just figured I'd double check.

Week 1 results: Rank Pick Set Name Total Dropped W-L 1 Sunspear Shariffs 81 0 9-6 2 Quiet Isle Septons 79 0 11-4 3 Castle Black Crows 74 0 9-6 4 Tywin 73 0 9-6 5 Bronze Stones 71 0 8-7 6 Ramsay 67 0 9-6 7 dbuntings coin flip picks 66 0 8-7 8 Saltcliffe Pyros 61 0 9-6 9 rocksniffer 59 0 6-9 10 White Harbor Bakers 57 0 6-9 11 Lumpy the Greek 56 0 8-7 Kind of wild only two teams were sub .500 given how whacky the week was. @aceluby, did you not want to play this year? You can still jump in with this week being your drop.

Maybe he's just a big fan of Maturin?

Wouldn't that be something involving the ponies or race cars?

Cooper, $4, 3 years. Everyone else walks.

Shameless excuse to play this:

You sir, are speaking my love language. Haven't watched wrestling live in ages outside of flipping through channels and stopping on something for a few minutes. But the Attitude Era was wild. How did The Hardy Boyz not die?

Not 1 for 1, but it should you some belief that it could be done. And you said it yourself in the NBA thread, you don't follow the game as much anymore. Regular season defense is overrated and it's why guys like Rudy Gobert win 3 DPOYs. LeBron almost always plays elite defense in the playoffs and has come up repeatedly in huge moments. So people say he made the best defensive play in NBA Finals history.

I guess the bet I'm making is that LeBron's legs would be a lot lighter if he was training for swimming. His legs, especially his tights, are enormous and that's a byproduct of training for basketball, where leg strength is so important.

And again, it needs to be reiterated, the number of people that watch a sport means fucking nothing about the level of athleticism of the players in it.

LeBron's weight concerns are a bit misleading because he's five inches taller than Phelps and he's always try to maintain a bulky build because it's an advantage for him. If he was set out to be an elite Swimmer don't you think he'd train to develop more lean muscle mass than bulkiness?

Both lists I looked at didn't show their math, but I find it hard to believe volleyball is more popular than basketball given the popularity of the sport in China and how much it's increased in Europe and around the world in general. There's no need to address LeBron's potential as a professional cyclist. It would never work and just be hilarious to see. That's the point, could the best athletes also be elite at other sports if that sport was the one they were focusing on since their youth. For example, Russell Westbrook would have no chance if you put him on a PL team today, but if he only trained to be a soccer player his elite athleticism alone would carry him pretty far. Or take Mbappe. If you dropped him into the NFL today he might literally die, but if he was born in the US and wanted to make it to the NFL, there's a reasonable chance he could be a star WR or DB.

And the sixth largest sport is....table tennis. Total viewership isn't the best way to measure things, especially when two countries can massively skew things.

This might be the single most shocking thing this thread has produced.

Just want to say on the front end after my last post I spent nearly half a day traveling and it ended at a big party, so... Fair point, and that plays a role in its popularity. It's the most accessible sport in the world for several reasons. Ever stood next to a male gymnast? I have and they're small too, height wise (they're insanely strong though). Track? Bolt, fastest man ever, super tall for his sport. Rugby, idk a lot about it, but I watched a match with a super jacked dude who was 6'3 and multiple guys on his team were a head taller than him. Tennis, on both the men's and women's size, keep getting bigger. There are literal 7 footers playing now. That's new. Swimming, just look at Phelps, etc. A trend towards bigger, faster, stronger doesn't make them all mutants compared to 25 years ago, but on average they're getting bigger. Golf is unique, but even one can point to Tiger and say that was a jump, even if it wasn't purely height based. Idk why he couldn't be a world class swimmer or rower if that's what he wanted to be great at. Again, I'm not saying he'd be as great at other sports as he is at basketball, but it's fairly easy to see how he could be a pro at a number of sports. There aren't a lot of athletes you can reasonably say that about. No and no. Passing at an extremely high level is a great way to evaluate hand eye coordination. And news alert, regular season defensive awards don't mean a lot. Everyone knew LeBron at his peak, and his peak was extremely long, was one of if not the best defenders in the NBA.

Normal size is less desirable. Basketball players are getting taller all the time while gymnasts are getting smaller. The all-around average athlete is a dying breed. LeBron's hand eye coordination blows Jordan out of the water if we're going for sports hot takes. And he's a lot stronger while not giving up much when it comes to speed and quickness. I don't think there's a comparable athlete to LeBron right now because he's the ultimate "can we make the perfect player in a lab" candidate.

I listen to a daily podcast about sports business somewhat religiously. A few months back the guy who helms it, someone who was the president of an MLB team for nearly 20 years, announced they were creating a new position and were looking for someone with a background in political organizing. I submitted my resume not expecting much and today I received an email requesting an interview, presumably with said former president directly. I cannot believe it and will be setting up interview times tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Apologies, I forgot to remove the spread, so if you picked against it, consider redoing them.

Well shit. At least I got a top 5 QB and WR for nothing and Thomas as a cheap wild card.

What made Jordan great at basketball doesn't exactly translate to baseball. LeBron is one of the greatest passers of all time and I think that probably translates better to hitting and pitching than Jordan just being able to out athlete everyone and wanting it more. Jordan would also probably be less impactful in the NFL than LeBron. But otoh, I feel the same about Jordan and tennis. If he could learn how to serve at an elite level, that would be wild to witness.

LeBron has elite hand-eye coordination and is the same size as Judge, if not bigger at times. It's not crazy to think that if baseball was the sport he focused on from an early age that he could have made it to the big leagues. And the argument isn't that he'd be as good as he is at basketball, just that he could play professionally.

Phrasing always can make this tricky. Greatest and best can mean different things and being the most accomplished may just mean you had great longevity and/or in team sports you likely had a lot of great teammates. Bo Jackson was just mentioned and there are a lot of NFL fans who think he may have been the greatest athlete to ever play in the league, but his career was really short. One can joke he was literally too strong for his own good. Or to use another example, MVP can mean different things to different people. Shohei Ohtani could realistically win the MVP in MLB every year so long as he continues to be elite at batting and pitching, but he probably won't win it this year because Judge is also doing something special on the greatest team in North American sports which also happens to be in the biggest media market. And unlike Ohtani, his team doesn't suck. So are we allowing for multiple GOATs in a given sport? And if so, how many? Take basketball for example. Russell could be the GOAT because he's won the most and had the most dominate run. Kareem could be the GOAT because he's a top three all-time player and they had to change the game and court because of him. And he had the most unstoppable shot the sport has ever seen. Jordan could be the GOAT because he's the best player ever in a majority of fan's eyes and he is more responsible than anyone else for growing the game internationally. LeBron could be the GOAT because he's the most gifted player ever (at least in my eyes) and his Heat teams fully cemented positionless basketball. And yet Curry, who I don't think most people would rank ahead of the aforementioned greats, will probably have a greater impact on the actual game than any of them. I lean towards the imaginary with a bit of a twist. For me, and this can be a fluid opinion, but right now the greatest of the greats should be able to do great things at multiple sports and that's why I lean towards LeBron. LeBron is either number one or two at his sport and I believe if he was groomed from birth to play other sports he could have gone professional in multiple leagues. LeBron could possibly be the greatest TE ever in the NFL and maybe he could have been an elite edge rusher as well. @DMC touched on it, hitting a baseball consistently at a high level might be the hardest thing to do in sports and I think LeBron could have a real chance to be great at that too, and he would be a crazy defender regardless of what position you wanted him to play (other than catcher) and who knows, maybe he could have pitched too. I also think LeBron could have been a great goalie at top level international football. Shit LeBron might also be awesome at tennis if that's what he had dedicated his life to. The combination of size, speed, strength, durability and commitment is pretty fucking impressive, and the cherry on top is he's got a photographic memory which is an incredibly valuable.

Likewise, it's not a big deal given it's a one year, $3 hit and I have most of my cap freed up. Just figured I'd ask. And since there's precedent let's skip a vote and just count it. So with Brown and Murray counting I believe I'm up to $32 spent.

Thinking more on it I probably should have to pay the fine for Murray. It's entirely possible he's on a team in a few weeks after inevitable injuries occur. Brown though is effectively retired. I would be shocked if he ever plays again.