Common sports narratives that aren't true (or are greatly exaggerated)

[HomeCheese]

The stats prove you wrong, idiot. Google is your friend you dunce lol. Just this season, point guards shot 35.6% from three, while centers shot 35.1%. The funniest part is that power forwards shot 35.7%. You’re so stupid, that you don’t even know what to do when presented with statistics that prove you wrong. Just accept it. Next time take the 30 seconds it takes to do a quick google search, before showing your ass in a debate that should be easily settled with stats.

Do you think maybe that has something to do with shot attempts? Like, many centers don't shoot 3 pointers ever. Many centers will have just a couple attempts all year and some won't have any.

You call me dumb and you think centers are just as good of shooters as guards.

Whenever someone needs a "source" to explain what's happening on the court I know they don't understand the game.

 

[Striderxdj]

Lebron is a top 5 NBA all time player.

Came to see someone say something stupid about LeBron, and wasn't disappointed.

Not the Goat? Sure.
Not top 3? Hater alarms going off
Not top 5? Boomer/Hater who uses stupid phrases like "Leflop", hasn't watched a full basketball game in 20 years, and believes Jordan would average 50ppg today.

 

[Area809]

Do you think maybe that has something to do with shot attempts? Like, many centers don't shoot 3 pointers ever. Many centers will have just a couple attempts all year and some won't have any.

You call me dumb and you think centers are just as good of shooters as guards.

Whenever someone needs a "source" to explain what's happening on the court I know they don't understand the game.

What a pathetic way to cope lmao.

 

[HomeCheese]

What a pathetic way to cope lmao.

Come on son, do you really think the average center can shoot as good as the average point guard or were you just pretending to be stupid?

 

[Area809]

Come on son, do you really think the average center can shoot as good as the average point guard or were you just pretending to be stupid?

Look up the stats and sit down lol

 

[HomeCheese]

Look up the stats and sit down lol

Is that a yes? You think the average center shoots just as good as your average point guard?

 

[Area809]

Is that a yes? You think the average center shoots just as good as your average point guard?

Our opinions do not matter. The stats show point guards and centers 3pt shooting % is separated by a mere .5%. The stats also show that power forwards have a slightly higher 3pt % than point guards. In fact, there are no point guards in the top 20 of 3pt % this past season, but you do have KAT and Joker in there. The facts do not care about your feelings and uninformed opinions. Wemby is the second tallest player in the league and shoots 35% from 3. So this idea that you came up with that tall people can’t shoot is simply ridiculous and wrong lol. End of this pointless debate lmao.

 

[codfather]

The relative position of most all-time great basketball players in the historical American sporting pantheon has been retconned.

If you look at the AP Athlete of the Year for males, awarded once a year from 1931 to 2024: only 5 basketball players have won, and they've only won 10 between them...

1. LeBron (2013, 2016, 2018, 2020)
2. Jordan (1991, 1992, 1993)
3. Kawhi (2019)
4. Steph (2015)
5. Bird (1986)

In terms of decades, that's:
30s: 0 wins
40s: 0 wins
50s: 0 wins
60s: 0 wins
70s: 0 wins
80s: 1 win (Bird - '86)
90s: 3 wins (Jordan - '91, '92, '93)
00s: 0 wins
10s: 5 wins (LeBron - '13, '16, '18) (Steph - '15) (Kawhi - '19)
20s: 1 win (LeBron - '20)

That means that from 1994 to 2012, no basketball player was considered the best male athlete.

Looking at the HoopsHype list of greatest ever NBA players, 9 of the top 12 were never actually considered the best male athlete by the AP:

1. Kareem
2. Magic
3. Bill Russell
4. Wilt
5. Kobe
6. Shaq
7. Tim Duncan
8. Hakeem
9. KD

 

[Madmick]

Who gives a shit about the AP award? That's a popularity award. It's meaningless. How could an award possibly be any dumber? Just look at the most recent women's winner.

Caitlin Clark.

Why? Because hype. Same reason TIME magazine called her the athlete of the year. Nobody serious would have asserted her to be the best player in the WNBA last year. Not a single soul. Literally:

2024 WNBA Awards Voting | Basketball-Reference.com

2024 WNBA Awards Voting Summary

www.basketball-reference.com

LOL at "retcon". What, are we factoring in All-Star appearances to our evaluations of abstract, imaginary narratives being "retconned", too? It's funny to see an award that has never once deemed a European basketball player to be the best male athlete suddenly presented as so majestic and authoritative by our resident American-inferiority-complex champion.

 

[fica]

What you and I think doesn’t matter. Here are the stats. Shooting has nothing to do with your height lol. Centers and point guards 3pt percentage is separated by a mere 0.5%. So I would say the average center can in fact shoot as well as the average point guard in today’s NBA. That’s not a matter of opinion, it’s fact. In fact, the stats show that power forwards shoot 3s slightly better than point guards. So at the end of the day, height has nothing to do with your ability to shoot.

NBA League Average 3 Point Percentage By Position | StatMuse

Point guards sank 35.6 percent of their threes this season.

www.statmuse.com

Lol American sports anybody can shoot anybody can throw anybody can hit it is just accuracy

 

[HomeCheese]

Our opinions do not matter. The stats show point guards and centers 3pt shooting % is separated by a mere .5%. The stats also show that power forwards have a slightly higher 3pt % than point guards. In fact, there are no point guards in the top 20 of 3pt % this past season, but you do have KAT and Joker in there. The facts do not care about your feelings and uninformed opinions. Wemby is the second tallest player in the league and shoots 35% from 3. So this idea that you came up with that tall people can’t shoot is simply ridiculous and wrong lol. End of this pointless debate lmao.

LOL! Do you think the stats are skewed maybe just a little bit by usage? To put it more simply, many centers don't shoot 3 pointers. Certainly some centers are good shooters but most are not and many don't shoot any three pointers at all. On the other hand, 3 point shooting is an expected skill for a guard.

The stats are chewed because many centers don't shoot there pointers at all. Take a look at Houston. How many 3 pointers did Adams take? How many 3 pointers did Van Fleet take/make?

The fact that you believe the average center can shoot just as good as the average guard tells me you don't know much about the game.

 

[HomeCheese]

Who gives a shit about the AP award? That's a popularity award. It's meaningless. How could an award possibly be any dumber? Just look at the most recent women's winner.

Caitlin Clark.

Why? Because hype. Same reason TIME magazine called her the athlete of the year. Nobody serious would have asserted her to be the best player in the WNBA last year. Not a single soul. Literally:

2024 WNBA Awards Voting | Basketball-Reference.com

2024 WNBA Awards Voting Summary

www.basketball-reference.com

LOL at "retcon". What, are we factoring in All-Star appearances to our evaluations of abstract, imaginary narratives being "retconned", too? It's funny to see an award that has never once deemed a European basketball player to be the best male athlete suddenly presented as so majestic and authoritative by our resident American-inferiority-complex champion.

To be fair, she did score more points than any college hooper male or female and was playing like vintage Curry all through her senior season. Plus she has lifted the entire league faster than anyone imagined.

 

[codfather]

Who gives a shit about the AP award? That's a popularity award. It's meaningless. How could an award possibly be any dumber? Just look at the most recent women's winner.

Caitlin Clark.

Why? Because hype. Same reason TIME magazine called her the athlete of the year. Nobody serious would have asserted her to be the best player in the WNBA last year. Not a single soul. Literally:

2024 WNBA Awards Voting | Basketball-Reference.com

2024 WNBA Awards Voting Summary

www.basketball-reference.com

LOL at "retcon". What, are we factoring in All-Star appearances to our evaluations of abstract, imaginary narratives being "retconned", too? It's funny to see an award that has never once deemed a European basketball player to be the best male athlete suddenly presented as so majestic and authoritative by our resident American-inferiority-complex champion.

Comparing athletes across sports is pretty fruitless, so any award that attempts to do so will ultimately resort to being a popularity contest. Also, I can't talk about the WNBA MVP award, since I don't follow the league, but historically the NBA MVP award has itself been something of a popularity contest, with guys like Derrick Rose and Allen Iverson winning, though that's less of an issue nowadays, as voters typically have more knowledge of advanced stats and their value.

My point isn't who was or wasn't the best athlete in a given year, it's about what the American sports media narrative was at the time, which is interesting to me, from a media studies perspective. My argument is that the American sports media narrative itself has been retconned. It'd be like if the media tried to convince you that a movie was considered the best during the year it came out, but another movie won way more major awards and had way better reviews from critics and the public at the time. Seeing history being rewritten before your very eyes and watching the past be storified is fascinating. Young people who don't remember the time, older people who weren't following or whose memories have faded will often just accept this new version of events. Obviously sports history isn't particularly important in the grand scheme of things, and I don't exactly lose sleep over it, but it's a curiosity, and has implications for other more important areas, which we see people debate in The War Room all the time.

Plus, I don't think a European NBA player has ever been the best European athlete, never mind the best athlete overall. Hell, I don't think any NBA player has ever been the best athlete overall.

Also, regarding the AP award: "The awards are voted on annually by a panel of AP sports editors from across the United States, covering mainly American sports."

The Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year is a better representation of the global sports media narrative, but it only goes back to 2000, and I'm obviously less familiar with the narrative around the world, so I don't know how much has been retconned, but given my limited understanding, it doesn't look anything like as brazen as the AP equivalent. It's also interesting that nobody from the top 5 highest-revenue sports leagues has ever won.

 

[Area809]

Lol American sports anybody can shoot anybody can throw anybody can hit it is just accuracy

Of course anyone can shoot if they put the time into practicing that skill. The dunce I was debating, started out by arguing that tall people can’t shoot. Then was proven wrong and changed the argument like 10Xs lol.

 

[Madmick]

My point isn't who was or wasn't the best athlete in a given year, it's about what the American sports media narrative was at the time, which is interesting to me, from a media studies perspective. My argument is that the American sports media narrative itself has been retconned. It'd be like if the media tried to convince you that a movie was considered the best during the year it came out, but another movie won way more major awards and had way better reviews from critics and the public at the time. Seeing history being rewritten before your very eyes and watching the past be storified is fascinating. Young people who don't remember the time, older people who weren't following or whose memories have faded will often just accept this new version of events. Obviously sports history isn't particularly important in the grand scheme of things, and I don't exactly lose sleep over it, but it's a curiosity, and has implications for other more important areas, which we see people debate in The War Room all the time.

You're conflating the AP Award with the "American sports media narrative". That's hilariously ignorant. That's just one award, and it doesn't necessarily reflect who the media genuinely thought was the "best male athlete" that year. It doesn't even necessarily reflect who they thought was the best in his sport.

Just look at 1995. Cal Ripken Jr won. I guarantee you not a single person at the ESPN anchor's desk thought Cal Ripken was the best player in the MLB that year. Nobody talked about him like he was the best player in baseball. That has nothing to do with why he won. If you had any clue why Cal Ripken was worshiped you'd have spotted that a mile away. But you don't because you don't know shit.

I'm sure there are all sorts of narratives that have been "retconned" by the sports media, but none of that is established here. You've latched onto that fascination, but it's only because you don't know enough about the history of who was actually revered as the best player in any given sport by the American media that you have deluded yourself into believing you can know it by Googling the fucking AP award, LOL. The only person who has been conned here is you.

 

[codfather]

You're conflating the AP Award with the "American sports media narrative". That's hilariously ignorant. That's just one award, and it doesn't necessarily reflect who the media genuinely thought was the "best male athlete" that year. It doesn't even necessarily reflect who they thought was the best in his sport.

Just look at 1995. Cal Ripken Jr won. I guarantee you not a single person at the ESPN anchor's desk thought Cal Ripken was the best player in the MLB that year. Nobody talked about him like he was the best player in baseball. That has nothing to do with why he won. If you had any clue why Cal Ripken was worshiped you'd have spotted that a mile away. But you don't because you don't know shit.

I'm sure there are all sorts of narratives that have been "retconned" by the sports media, but none of that is established here. You've latched onto that fascination, but it's only because you don't know enough about the history of who was actually revered as the best player in any given sport by the American media that you have deluded yourself into believing you can know it by Googling the fucking AP award, LOL. The only person who has been conned here is you.

I'm guessing the AP award has used more or less the same methodology forever. The 2024 AP award was based on balloting of 74 sports journalists from the AP and its members, and the AP is considered a serious, reliable, trustworthy organization, unlike ESPN, which is staffed by take merchant attention whores like Stephen A. Smith, who only have a surface level understanding of the sports they cover.

I couldn't find any other multi-sport awards that go as far back and cover both amateur and pro sports. ESPN's award only goes back to 1993, and since 2004, the nominees were chosen by ESPN, but the winner was chosen by online balloting. Plus, their award is obviously going to be biased towards the sports they have more broadcast rights to.

I'm guessing Ripken won because he broke a durability record, but I was a small child at the time and I've never been a baseball guy. The point is, the narrative in the American sports media at the time was Ripken was responsible for the greatest athletic achievement of the year. Foreman won for something similar the previous year. Only 5 basketball players in history were ever considered to have done the same.

 

[HomeCheese]

Comparing athletes across sports is pretty fruitless, so any award that attempts to do so will ultimately resort to being a popularity contest. Also, I can't talk about the WNBA MVP award, since I don't follow the league, but historically the NBA MVP award has itself been something of a popularity contest, with guys like Derrick Rose and Allen Iverson winning, though that's less of an issue nowadays, as voters typically have more knowledge of advanced stats and their value.

My point isn't who was or wasn't the best athlete in a given year, it's about what the American sports media narrative was at the time, which is interesting to me, from a media studies perspective. My argument is that the American sports media narrative itself has been retconned. It'd be like if the media tried to convince you that a movie was considered the best during the year it came out, but another movie won way more major awards and had way better reviews from critics and the public at the time. Seeing history being rewritten before your very eyes and watching the past be storified is fascinating. Young people who don't remember the time, older people who weren't following or whose memories have faded will often just accept this new version of events. Obviously sports history isn't particularly important in the grand scheme of things, and I don't exactly lose sleep over it, but it's a curiosity, and has implications for other more important areas, which we see people debate in The War Room all the time.

Plus, I don't think a European NBA player has ever been the best European athlete, never mind the best athlete overall. Hell, I don't think any NBA player has ever been the best athlete overall.

Also, regarding the AP award: "The awards are voted on annually by a panel of AP sports editors from across the United States, covering mainly American sports."

The Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year is a better representation of the global sports media narrative, but it only goes back to 2000, and I'm obviously less familiar with the narrative around the world, so I don't know how much has been retconned, but given my limited understanding, it doesn't look anything like as brazen as the AP equivalent. It's also interesting that nobody from the top 5 highest-revenue sports leagues has ever won.

I looked that award up, 17 out of 25 years it's either a tennis player or a race car driver. That's not a very diverse group.

 

[Fluffernutter]

That profesional athletes are all loaded super wealthy. Reality most of their careers are short lived. The stars score big contracts while the guy you never heard of gets 5 years of pay then is out of the sport they play. Now add taking care of their parents and siblings then divorce child support and God knows what. You realize there's a reason coach so and so is working the sidelines, he has no choice. The stars are set but remember the player from your favorite team you never heard of, well he only played in the league 2 seasons.

I think the average in the NFL is 3 years. Isn't that still a rookie contract.

However, if you play your cards right, you can save quite a bit of money.

Buddy of mine played six years on NFL practice squads. Made league minimum. Retired uninjured. Opened a small business and is doing fine.

Relative bounced back and forth from minors to NHL. Mostly making league minimum. Retired at 30. But, has had a number of surgeries on ankle and wrist. Hoping he can be a stay at home dad, while his wife makes good money. She was a math major and will probably get into banking

 

[shunyata]

The big lie that growing up in poverty makes your tougher and more likely to succeed in mma or any other sport.

Meanwhile high school sports, college sports, and combat sports are being dominated by rich and upper middle class athletes whose parents spent massive amounts of money over years on club teams, private coaching, and travel expenses for competitions from a very young age.

Example: High school Hockey is gentrified to Hell and back right now.

 

[Fluffernutter]

The big lie that growing up in poverty makes your tougher and more likely to succeed in mma or any other sport.

Meanwhile high school sports, college sports, and combat sports are being dominated by rich and upper middle class athletes whose parents spent massive amounts of money over years on club teams, private coaching, and travel expenses for competitions from a very young age.

Example: High school Hockey is gentrified to Hell and back right now.

Year round private sports clubs