You can bring back 10 retired players to the NFL...

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Does anyone else feel like the legends from the early days of just about any sport, if teleported to today with all their peak skills/training, would get completely destroyed in a modern game?

Maybe not baseball... but players in most other sports are so much bigger/stronger/better trained that I wonder if it wouldn't be a sad sight.

Not really. I think greatness is greatness. Take a Ruth, the guy was 6'2" 215 pounds. Not the fat, out of shape slob we somehow remember. The guy was strong as an ox. He'll now get to play in bandboxes of hitters parks?

The Russell clip showed how ridiculous he was. If we are going to compare stars like Jordan vs. LeBron vs. the Big O. . . sure, we can have a debate and say one guy is bigger, stronger, faster than the other one. (for the record, Jordan 6'6" 195, Bron 6'8" 240, The Big O 6'5" 210) For comparing them to the field? I'd be very happy to take Ty Cobb and put him at the top of my lineup tomorrow. (well, outside of the racist part which would destroy him in this day and age)

[Sun Tzu]

I would say Ronnie Lott, or Deacon Jones, but pretty much all of those badass old-timers would get thrown out of the league after repeatedly getting flagged for unnecessary roughness.

[nol]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Does anyone else feel like the legends from the early days of just about any sport, if teleported to today with all their peak skills/training, would get completely destroyed in a modern game?

Maybe not baseball... but players in most other sports are so much bigger/stronger/better trained that I wonder if it wouldn't be a sad sight.

The training is just too different to even warrant a comparison. Even stuff like stretching and lifting weights was thought to be insane in the late 50s and early 60s. You could throw just about anyone in there at running back if a modern All-Pro caliber offensive line is blocking against the best defensive linemen of the 60s or 70s who top out around 250 pounds. Hell, the 320+ pound linemen today are probably faster than those guys were too.

[bhlloy]

Yeah I think the most fun would be to bring a guy who was a complete freak back in the day and see if they were just as dominant for that reason. Someone like Jim Brown or the fridge - would they be all world players if they were just average sized for their position?

[RomaGoth]

1. Barry Sanders
2. Dan Marino
3. Jerry Rice
4. Joe Montana
5. Herman Moore
6. Walter Payton
7. Junior Seau
8. Brett Favre (yep!)
9. Ronnie Lott
10. Deion Sanders

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by TroyF

(well, outside of the racist part which would destroy him in this day and age)

Understatement of the week me thinks.

[Abe Sargent]

Was Ty Cobb a Thug?