Carps' Complaints

Last spring, amidst a feast of piña coladas and Doritos in my Florida hotel room, my dad and I came across the 1981 NCAA men’s basketball championship game between Indiana and UNC on ESPN Classic. I usually don’t care to watch old sports broadcasts, but my father had the remote, so I watched.

We quickly identified #11 Isiah Thomas, Sam Perkins, and coaches Bobby Knight and Dean Smith. We admired the high shorts, the distinctive late 1970s eyewear and the nostalgic appeal of the game. The uniforms had hues like maroon shag carpets and looked like cheap prizes won at a carnival booth.

The game was totally different than an NCAA game today. There was some great shooting and aggressive play yet I kept concluding that these teams could not stand up against any of today’s top-ranked teams. The physicality and athletic ability just seemed too outdated given the game today.

My dad watched entranced while I sat with a grimace. “These guys were the big players back in 1981?” I asked myself.

“I could have played for Indiana,” I said, half-joking with my dad.

Clearly, my 5-7, 140-lb. build could not compete with the likes of a sophomore Isiah Thomas. But it did raise an eternal, and almost trite, sports question —are athletes, in general, more competitive and better today than athletes of the past?

I posed this question to my dad and was verbally assaulted with a list of sports legends that would dominate any current athlete. Given my dad’s expansive sports knowledge, I did not know a handful but the few I recognized still did not sway me.

Take the Dream Team of 1992 and match them up against the Redeem Team of 2008 and I feel like the 2008 would win. Michael Jordan, the greatest player ever, would face a formidable line with Lebron James and Dwyane Wade. David Robinson would likely match up with Dwight Howard, whose shoulders alone strike fear into my tiny heart.

The same argument could be applied to almost any other sport. Could Dizzy Dean outduel Roy Halladay? Could Arnold Palmer dominate Tiger in the fourth round of the U.S. Open? Would Arthur Ashe ace Roger Federer? I would likely side with the current athletes.

Granted, there are far more advances in sports medicine and strength enhancement now than ever before that increase one’s strength and performance.

Along those lines, professional sports have become so much more competitive as recruiting now trickles down to the middle-school level. Sports equipment has also made amazing advances, which likely enhance statistics relative to those of the past. Baseball players in the 1930s held other jobs and were frequently released. Sports teams have become enterprises and the athletes are now bred differently.

Despite my bias, I can easily concede certain arguments. For example, Roberto Clemente could throw out a runner at first base; he could easily play in the M.L.B. today along with countless other players.

This debate is impossible to settle. An older generation will support the players they grew up with. A younger generation may look at ESPN Classic games and chuckle. I will likely receive retorts and arguments from former sports editors and disgruntled readers.

So even if you disagree with my loose and unsubstantiated argument, take a brief break from your grapefruit or cereal and debate.