Athletes

Lew Hege, Herald sports columnist

Athletes are better now, but are the games?

There's no denying that the top athletes now specialize in one sport earlier in their careers and train harder than ever.

Parents have watched stars like Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, Pete Sampras and Mia Hamm - all child prodigies - parlay those long hours of practice into fortunes. When you are an athlete and you are “incorporated,” you have made it.

But, while there are superstars, are the sports actually better now than they were 10, 20, or 40 years ago? Some are, some aren't.

We've been talking baseball for the past week and it is the sport that has regressed the most over the years. The reason baseball is no longer the sport it was 40 or 50 years ago is simple: Not as many kids play it.

Little league teams aren't nearly as good as they were a half century ago. Nor are high school or college teams as competent. And finally, it's way too easy for borderline players to get to the major leagues.

There are players now who would have been great in any era. Stars like Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson, to name just a few, would be Hall of Famers no matter when they played.

But the rise in popularity of other sports in America took young athletes away from baseball.

Basketball improved measurably sometime between 1965 and 1975. That's about when the big men quit playing like a bunch of stilted scarecrows and more like the great, fluid athletes we have now.

Among the first of the “tall but talented” generation were Julius (Dr. J) Irving and Elvin (the Big E) Hayes. After this period of transition, the sky was the limit for tall but quick and agile stars like Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan and now LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

The one downside to basketball, and the reason the U.S. no longer wins the Olympics, is the lack of fundamental team play. Too many ESPN SportsCenter slam dunk highlights have turned a team sport into a “look at me” showcase. The lack of good, playmaking point guards and individual defensive responsibility in the American game has reduced the U.S. to just another team in world play.

The sport that has improved the most is football. Bigger, stronger, faster players and more sophisticated offenses have evolved football to the sport of the 21st century. Just as there are fewer great baseball players now than 40 or 50 years ago, many of the stars from “way back when” would be just too small or too slow to play now.

A few, like Jim Brown, Paul Hornung, Johnny Unitas, Gale Sayers or Dick Butkus, could play in any era, including now, but many others just couldn't.

Tennis peaked in the mid-'70s when the game produced leagues all over the country.

Its popularity in the U.S. has leveled off, but around the world, it's still one of the top participant sports.

It takes less land to put up some tennis courts; they are cost-effective to maintain, and that accounts for the popularity in metropolitan areas.

Golf has been on the rise the last 10 years. The rise in popularity of the sport coincides with Tiger Woods' rise to the pinnacle of the game. When I landed in Buenos Aires, where soccer is king, the first advertisement I saw in the airport was with Woods. Golf is a popular worldwide sport, much like tennis.

Soccer has replaced baseball as the kids' game. It's growth in the U.S. is amazing. All you need is a ball and two nets. Newer sports like skate boarding are growing quickly across America.

PETE ROSE COMES CLEAN: Baseball's all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, who spent 15 years vehemently denying he ever bet on games his team played, has admitted he bet $2,000 a game on his team, the Cincinnati Reds, while he was its manager. Previously, the fiery Rose admitted betting $1,000 a game, so this revelation is not earth-shattering. Rose is still a pariah with MLB. Expect the same icy treatment for current villains Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. Fans simply do not like liars and cheaters.