Do you believe that the highest paid professionals are the best?

[Kasz216]

BoleroOfFire said:

Squilliam said:

In my mind there are two significant reasons which cause the aggregate of skill/talent for professionals to be higher than amatuers.

The average pool of talent is the same whether you're talking about an amatuer sport or a professional one, but the difference is that a profession sport can attract and retain a lot more of the talent beyond the sheer love of the game and against other considerations like education and financial obligations.  This doesn't mean that the best talent is unavailable to amatuer competitions and it doesn't mean that all the best talent is available to professional competitions, but what it does mean is that a wider pool of people are willing and able to play and the top flight sports people are selected from that larger, richer group of talent. One example is Cricket, Shane Bond is a truely awesome bowler and he retains to this day one of the best records of any bowler throughout history. Had Cricket not been a professional sport he would still be a policeman.

The second major reason is that more resources can be devoted to developing talent in professional competitions. The time and effort required to lift the performance of a major sportsperson by just 1% is staggering. Not only can the sportsperson devote more time to developing his natural talents but also more resources can be devoted to coaching and other personal development. I'll go back to Shane Bond again. When Shane Bond suffered from repeated back injuries, had he been an amatuer he would have likely quit the sport, whilst as a professional he was able to get the right coaching and medical care to allow him to return to the sport. So whilst hes no longer the best bowler in the world hes still one of the best and that talent would have been lost in an amatuer competition.

Hmm...I think there's been some miscommunication.  I wasn't solely referring to those involved in the sport/job.  My question is if the highest paid people in any field are the best at it out of the entire human population.  This includes the athletes that play professionally, the farmers in Kenya and the fishermen in Alaska etc.  Is it possible that other people around the planet possess similar or better skills than those getting paid for it?  

In the Shane Bond example you mention "the right coaching and medical care".  Do you believe that if others had the same resources, then they may be able to develop their talent and rise to become one of the greatest as he did?

@Kasz: Can't they simply be the best at what they do that we know of?

Not really no.

I mean proffesional sports are way more complex then they look. 

There isn't some guy who could come off the street and do amazing.  The closest to that to happen was Kurt Warner i believe... and it's not like the man had never thrown a football before.

These kids often are practicing with dedication from the age of 5 on.  Tiger Woods is possibly the greatest living golfer ever and it's because his dad forced a club in his hands from the minute he could stand.

Practice and dedication are what it takes to be an athelete... even with great skills.

A lot of the "better" people who don't make it don't make it because they make bad choices.  Like Michael Vick who blew it with dog fighter or Lenny Bias who overdosed on drugs.

Sure if Vick grew up in a more middle class family maybe he wouldn't of been brought into a dog fighting culture... but would he of been the same michael vick who pushed so hard?  Hard to say.

The only people who really get screwed when it comes to sports are screwed because they're mishandled.  Not because they are better.

For example most Candian greats when it comes to hockey are born in the first three months of the year.  Because Candaians scout their kids for hockey from like... gradeschool, and in the junior leagues they do it 1 year at a time by months.  So the size of the kids born early is mistaken for talent and the early born kids get all the best coaching and instruction and therefore become the best players.

Another example is women.  Women are and can be a lot close to men in atheltics then is show currently... why?  All the best trainers train men, all the best leagues are men only, men are the ones who are told to apire to a career in sports, and the most money are in mens sports.

Get some women some real training just like the men and you'd be surprised.

In the end... the best people get the job.  Some may have become the best because they were born early or with the right genitals... but they're still the best.