The Outliers, and how to judge them.
At 22 years of age, who was better, Serena Williams or Erling Haaland?
Haaland, let’s face it, has been the most interesting player to pull on a Premier League jersey in quite a while. He’s ripping up the record book, looking like the biggest kid in the playground. These “outliers” that do the most amazing things in Sport are guaranteed to get people's attention, we’ve seen it through history. Babe Ruth in baseball, Michael Jordan in Basketball, Serena, Tiger, Messi and Ronaldo, it’s an exclusive list. They can transcend a love for team and country and become global icons with huge reach and influence. They announce themselves with a flourish, burn brightly and normally leave a long lasting legacy.
But who is the GOAT? How we love that question. What sets the all timers apart is the ability to skew the data that has been collected over many years, the further ahead of the mean performance of the average player or Athlete then the greater they are as a performer. But how do you calculate that metric, is it titles and goals? but then not all great players played in great teams and not all great players are forwards. So is it opinion based, the wisdom of the crowd if you like with Votes and Polls, that will of course skew to the most popular Sports and Athletes, or is it a combination of both. Ultimately it will always be difficult to have a definitive answer, the fun is in the conjecture. It’s sentiment and opinion that sparks the engagement and feeds the fire of debate. So Serena or Haaland? I'll let you decide.
Emmy Award Winning TV Producer specializing in live studio programming with an emphasis on graphics and talent relations
2 年It’s pointless to compare solo athletes to team sport athletes. Both are impossibly great at what they do. No need for an argument.
Brand Partnerships Manager - WillNE
2 年He’s doing things that are usually aspirational at his age in the biggest league in the world = Accelrated Hype It’ll be interesting to see if the hype turns into consistency; then We’re bringing in the big names
Growth and relationship specialist
2 年This might be slightly controversial, but I think we are getting ahead of ourselves a bit. Haaland will break records at Man City, but their style of football is what I believe will make that possible. If the share of goals around the team is the same as in previous seasons, and Haaland scores a ridiculous amount as well, then we can start to put him in the "Outlier" category. For example, he wasn't the top scorer in the Bundesliga last season. Illustrating that team has to be factored in when we assess how amazing he is.
Reputation, Crisis Management, Strategic Communication. Highly-experienced in sport, media and entertainment, I believe in the performance-enhancing power of clear, consistent and compelling communication.
2 年At this stage Serena for achievements and wider social impact throughout an incredible career. Frightening to think what Haaland might achieve looking forward, but that judgement is to come.
Founder CEO @ Sport Buff - Global Leader in Fan Engagement and Gamification for Broadcast Media
2 年Great article to get us thinking Jonty. Haaland is exceptional but where does he compare across sports icons? The crazy thing is he still has years to go and he is already sitting amongst the biggest names in football and sports.