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Modern sports barriers: How low can you go?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Twirling Time, Nov 1, 2022.

  1. Twirling Time

    Twirling Time Well-Known Member

    I got stuck in to a rabbit hole that led me to Roger Bannister breaking the 4-minute mile. Which led me to a discussion on the first sub-2-hour marathon.

    Which made me think about records outside of athletics that we currently think are unbreakable. Who's the first 800-homer hitter? Who will steal 1,409 bases in a career? Who will score 101 points in an NBA game?

    Records are made to be broken. I remember reading in SI in the 1990s that Babe Ruth's SLG% in 1927 was the most unbreakable record ever, then Barry Bonds (with assistance) shattered it like glass.
     
  2. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    Unless baseball changes A LOT from the current game, nobody's gonna steal 1000, let alone 1409, in a career again. Nobody's gotten to 90 in an NBA game since Wilt's 100, so while it certainly could be done, it sure seems hard to do.
     
  3. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    I think Wilt's 100 is actually vulnerable, when a Steph Curry type goes 30-40 on threes on some team playing some version of the Grinnell System.

    Most of the baseball records would be dependent on dramatic changes in major playing conditions and rules.

    I've read several articles to the effect that track and field records have been leveling off since about the 1980s.
     
    wicked and Spartan Squad like this.
  4. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Have you seen the new rules for next year? Stolen bases might be coming back in a big way. Nobody active is going to challenge Rickey's record — only seven players under 30 even have 150 career steals — but a generation from now someone could do it. I think 130 steals in a season is certainly in play.
     
    FileNotFound likes this.
  5. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    Kobe could've had 100. That'll be broken soon.

    800 homers? Think of it this way, you have to average 40 homers a year for 20 years. Or 50 for 16 years.

    Rickey has the SB record forevermore; but Jay Dunn STILL won't vote him in.

    I'm waiting for a 3,000-yard single season rusher, or 7,000-yard passer, just because.

    Or a pitcher who goes 30-0 with a sub-1 ERA and 475 strikeouts and like 12 walks, just because.
     
  6. Twirling Time

    Twirling Time Well-Known Member

    All it takes is a baseball organization to decide they either intend to play small ball and move the power alleys out to 390, or do the opposite and bring them in. Guess how they tend to decide?

    The HR uptick and station-to-station, 3-true-outcome philosophy have as much to do with smaller ballparks as anything. No more freaky 480-foot centerfield walls like the Polo Grounds.I think Tommy Herr's 110-RBI, 5-HR season won't be matched until ballpark design reverts back.
     
  7. Liut

    Liut Well-Known Member

    NHL goalie Glenn Hall’s 502 straight complete games.
     
    misterbc likes this.
  8. Deskgrunt50

    Deskgrunt50 Well-Known Member

    Not sure about 130, but I would love to see the return of stolen bases. And yeah, it looks likely.
     
    exmediahack likes this.
  9. Deskgrunt50

    Deskgrunt50 Well-Known Member

    I know NFL offense is down this year overall, but with rules favoring offense over defense, I'd guess Peyton Manning's single-season record of 55 TD passes eventually (if he ever fucking retires) Tom Brady's career mark of 630-whatever will be in play.
     
    playthrough likes this.
  10. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    There will never be a 3,000-yard rusher. I think the same would be true of a 7,000-yard passer. The math is just impossible. But a 6,000-yard passer, especially with now a 17- and maybe eventually an 18-game season, is certainly possible in the modern NFL.

    I'd love to see a 400-game winner in baseball. Or another 5,000-strikeout pitcher. One of the things that blows me away about Nolan Ryan's 5,714 is that No. 2 on the list, Randy Johnson, pitched for 22 years and was hardly a compiler — and he still needed another 800 and change to get to Ryan. Same with No. 3, Roger Clemens, who is more than 1,000 strikeouts — four or five really good, peak seasons — behind Ryan.
     
  11. Regan MacNeil

    Regan MacNeil Well-Known Member

    Any MLB CG or SHO mark is unbreakable. Career or single-season.
     
  12. Spartan Squad

    Spartan Squad Well-Known Member

    100 in the NBA could be done because people shoot so many 3s. But isn’t it remarkable in the explosion of perimeter shooting, no one had matched Wilt who did it with 2s?

    What may stop it is ball movement and less iso ball. Might not, but we’ll see.

    As for 800, that may never happen. Between the volume needed and longevity of the career, I doubt it will happen. Teams won’t keep guys around long enough and the high strikeouts will stop it.
     
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