HappySqurriel said:
The most gifted athelete I ever met was a little white guy who was the running back in my (crappy) highschool football team and could run a 40 yards in 4.1 seconds in grade 10 in full equipment without any training. He was able to get a scholorship to a US university to play football in grade 12 (which is remarkable for a Canadian highschool student, in particular in western Canada where football isn't that popular) and all he had to do was graduate and write the SAT; unfortunately, he decided that it was cooler to get high and skip school then to go to class, and he was kicked out of school. In contrast, one of the least talented atheletes I knew growing up is now a (minor) professional primarily because he puts 10 times the effort into everything he does.
Having talent is great, but it doesn't make you the best athelete ... Hard work, determination, training and experience matter far more than raw talent; and the best atheletes (not the atheletes with the most raw talent) tend to make it to the higher levels. I do know that there are some people who do get screwed because, although they are a great athelete they do not fit the play style of a sport at a higher level (for some reason) ... but it is difficult to say whether a player that is great at a style that is (typically) unsuccessful is any better or worse than a "poor" (by league standards) player at a successful style. Doug Flutie is a good example of this because his style was (very) well suited to the Canadian game, and he had a good couple of years in the NFL, but he really was way too small to be successful how most coaches wanted a quarterback to play |
Depends on the sport.
The second most talented human ever to play american football is Deion Sanders.
The least skilled player ever to play football, is Deion Sanders.
If you ask any Pro Coach, if they could have any defensive player ever at there prime, they would all take Deion Sanders.
The reason is you could put him one-on-one with any receiver who ever played the game, and that person was no longer a factor. You could then scheme your defense like QB's are unfamiliar with. You no longer needed to worry about a safety over the top to protect the corner.
You now had far less real-estate to defend. He was a game changer, and it had nothing to do with his skill, and everything to do with his born ability.
So yes, anyone can improve there game with hard work, but talent always wins.
Oh, and to give you an idea of how good he was. One year, of all the ball thrown to receivers he was covering, he had more interceptions then they had collective receptions. (I think it was 5). Imagine a payer who for an entire season is covering the best receiver the other team has in one-on-one coverage... every time. They knew the coverage, and all of them combined could not catch 5 balls.
PS. The most talented player to ever play football, was Jim Thorpe.
