Unpopular Opinion- Four for Four

Popular things are fun to talk about but talking about unpopular things are even better. Sit down, buckle up and hold on tight as we take you on another ride down the unpopular side of sports.

 

“Simone Biles is the greatest woman athlete ever.” – Danny Thompson

When female athletes are judged on the level of greatness they have proved and accomplished, the gold standard has been Serena Williams. Now not to take away from what she has done in years on the tennis court and her astonishing accolades, but what Simone Biles has done in gymnastics has exceeded that.

In a sport where the normal athlete’s career ends right around the age of 25, Biles at 23 has accomplished more than any one of her competitors in history. She has won 35 total medals since joining the United States Senior Team in 2013, 27 of those have been gold medals. She has won either the Olympic or World Championship Gold medal in both the Women’s All-Around and Floor exercise events since 2013.

Besides being dominate, Biles has also changed the way women’s gymnastics have been scored and judged as well. Besides pulling off moves that were considered the most difficult in the sport, Biles has had four named after her (which is the most of any gymnast in history) and has completed 16 that have a difficulty level that doesn’t have a number but a letter.

By the way, during her run of greatness, she also took a year and half off (2017-2018) during the middle of this and returned to the same level as when she left.

 

“Allen Iverson handles are overrated and aren’t close to the best.” – Raphael Haynes

When we think of Allen Iverson, you think tough, electrifying, one of the best scorers and the one who made the crossover famous. Because his crossover was something most never seen and was affective, people have gave him the crown of the best handles in NBA history. Which is horribly wrong.

I get it, his crossover was sick but when you really pay attention to it, all he is doing is juking his body while he is bringing the ball over from one side to the other. That has nothing to do with handles. Tim Hardaway crossing someone over while running full speed or even Rod Strickland being able to handle the rock in traffic on a fast-break are what you call handles.

When have we seen Iverson dribble in traffic and not lose the ball? What about being able to handle the rock with both hands like a Kyrie Irving or Isiah Thomas (Detroit Piston). As matter of fact, we never seen “The Answer” have the ball on a rope like a Stephen Curry or Jamal Crawford. Iverson had style but style doesn’t equate to sick handles, it just looks good in the process.

Yes, Iverson will always be deemed the king of the crossover and I’m not saying he doesn’t have any handles at all. Still, because he’s not able to tote that thang like a magician just like Jason “White Chocolate” Williams or Chris Paul, then you can’t tell me that his handles are the best or even great. If you noticed, I just named eight players with handles that are better than his and also left some out.

 

“Dale Earnhardt Jr. is overrated.” – Eric Urbanowicz 

When a college football player doesn’t live up to expectation, he’s immediately labeled a bust. However, when a NASCAR Cup Series driver does it and is the son of arguably the greatest driver of the 80s and 90s, he’s the most popular driver in NASCAR’s top series and is praised as one of the greatest of all time. How does that work?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is so widely known that people put him conversations with Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson as one of the best drivers of 2000s, when he’s barely a top 10 driver in terms of wins since his rookie year (1998). What adds insult to injury is that only two of those drivers haven’t won at least one championship (Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin).

He was a great driver in the Xfinity Series (the series right below the Cup Series) but that’s means nothing on the highest level. He’s 30th in wins all time and he’s a likable. The problem is, popularity doesn’t put you on the same level as a seven-time champion like Jimmie Johnson or a four-time champion like Jeff Gordon, and not even a three-time champion like Tony Stewart.

 

“Charles Barkley has one of the worst post games in NBA history.” – Mike Patton

Charles Barkley is one of the greatest players of my lifetime and no one is taking that away from him at all. He was a beast on the boards and was a dynamic player for much of his career. However, when it come to posting up, Barkley was severely lacking.

If you watched his game, Barkley would continue to back you down for what seemed like the entire shot clock until he got you under the rim or forced a jump shot after dribbling the entire shot clock away. When the ball was in his hands and he wasn’t posting up, Barkley was excellent, but when the game slowed down and especially when he got older and was less in shape, he was the “Black Hole” of the NBA.

It got so bad that they even changed the rule about taking forever to back a player down on the court. If you hadn’t guessed it by now, Barkley was a big reason that rule happened. As great as a player Sir Charles was, his low post game was awful to watch.