Shiffrin

**Vt-Freeheel** · 01-09-2023, 08:25 AM

Ten second blurb on the Today show this morning. 2 or 3 minutes devoted to the Lambeau Leap later on.

Most people in 'merica dislike skiing because it's a challenging sport "enjoyed" in the cold by rich people. The majority of fans most sports enjoy sitting on their couch watching others engage in them and don't actually play or haven't since HS/college.

I hope Barilla pays her well.

**k2skier112** · 01-09-2023, 08:47 AM

After all her incredible victories at different competitions, she has a net worth of $3 million. Moreover, she earns $515,000 per year and is one of the top-paid athletes in the world. She has tied up with major companies like Adidas, Barilla, Visa, Longines, Bose, IKON Pass, and Oakley. Some of the other suppliers are Atomic, Reusch, and Leki. The talented skier is still young and has a long way to go before she retires from the slalom competition.

https://www.essentiallysports.com/tag/mikaela-shiffrin/

She doesn't have to eat PB&J's or top ramen and sleep in a van down by the river

**Supermoon** · 01-09-2023, 09:07 AM

Those numbers seem really low

**altasnob** · 01-09-2023, 09:08 AM

How many people ski race in the US? Like, maybe a couple thousand. Now how many people play soccer, tennis or basketball? Millions. Why should people care about ski racing? Ski racers are overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly wealthy, and to excel at it you need to have parents who are willing to pay for everything and move you, and probably the entire family, to Vail or Park City.

Shiffrin is a generational talent. But I often wonder what the sport would look like if poor black girls from Compton could also participate in the sport.

**powdork** · 01-09-2023, 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by altasnob

How many people ski race in the US? Like, maybe a couple thousand. Now how many people play soccer, tennis or basketball? Millions. Why should people care about ski racing? Ski racers are overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly wealthy, and to excel at it you need to have parents who are willing to pay for everything and move you, and probably the entire family, to Vail or Park City.

Shiffrin is a generational talent. But I often wonder what the sport would look like if poor black girls from Compton could also participate in the sport.

I grew up in Florida and I couldn't wait for ski racing to be featured on Wide World of Sports. Probably had something to do with the 'Agony of Defeat' even though Vinko was a jumper.

**anotherVTskibum** · 01-09-2023, 04:15 PM

Originally Posted by altasnob

How many people ski race in the US? Like, maybe a couple thousand. Now how many people play soccer, tennis or basketball? Millions. Why should people care about ski racing? Ski racers are overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly wealthy, and to excel at it you need to have parents who are willing to pay for everything and move you, and probably the entire family, to Vail or Park City.

Shiffrin is a generational talent. But I often wonder what the sport would look like if poor black girls from Compton could also participate in the sport.

Wikipedia says USSS has 30k competitors, officials and coaches. It should be possible to pull a full list of ranked competitors from the site, or to pull from the FIS site and compare to other countries if you wanted to narrow down competitors versus other categories.

And yes, drawing from a larger pool of potential competitors would be a good thing, and (almost?) everyone in the sport agrees. If you figure out how to cover that cost, please let the folks at USSS know.

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**alias_rice** · 01-09-2023, 05:28 PM

Originally Posted by anotherVTskibum

Wikipedia says USSS has 30k competitors, officials and coaches. It should be possible to pull a full list of ranked competitors from the site, or to pull from the FIS site and compare to other countries if you wanted to narrow down competitors versus other categories.

And yes, drawing from a larger pool of potential competitors would be a good thing, and (almost?) everyone in the sport agrees. If you figure out how to cover that cost, please let the folks at USSS know.

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I think his point was that as great as she is, it’s hard to put her up as one of the best individual athletes of all time simply because she competes against such a limited pool of athletes. But the fact that you can even have the conversation is a pretty good accomplishment.

**singlesline** · 01-09-2023, 06:03 PM

Originally Posted by altasnob

How many people ski race in the US? Like, maybe a couple thousand. Now how many people play soccer, tennis or basketball? Millions. Why should people care about ski racing? Ski racers are overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly wealthy, and to excel at it you need to have parents who are willing to pay for everything and move you, and probably the entire family, to Vail or Park City.

Shiffrin is a generational talent. But I often wonder what the sport would look like if poor black girls from Compton could also participate in the sport.

I mean...Vonn was pretty widely known, even without the Tiger Woods gossip and got an HBO documentary in her final season.

Just better marketing? More appearances back when prime time Olympics viewership was higher (even though she didn't deliver the hardware)?

**Danno** · 01-09-2023, 06:40 PM

Originally Posted by alias_rice

I think his point was that as great as she is, it’s hard to put her up as one of the best individual athletes of all time simply because she competes against such a limited pool of athletes. But the fact that you can even have the conversation is a pretty good accomplishment.

And that's a stupid argument. What sports qualify worldwide such that the greats of that sport can be considered greatest athlete ever? There is a long line of skiing athletes, in this country and others, and Shiffrin has dominated like no other. Sure seems to me like she shouldn't get DQd because Altasnob wants to play the race card.

**powdork** · 01-09-2023, 06:55 PM

I do think the GOAT should be someone who has been the best at more than one sport. Like if Michael Jordan had become a baseball superstar too. Does Mikaela tennis or golf?

**billyk** · 01-09-2023, 07:02 PM

Originally Posted by powdork

I do think the GOAT should be someone who has been the best at more than one sport. Like if Michael Jordan had become a baseball superstar too. Does Mikaela tennis or golf?

So, Deion Sanders, then? The only player to play in the World Series and Superbowl. Anyone else qualify for the powdork criteria?

**powdork** · 01-09-2023, 07:20 PM

Originally Posted by billyk

So, Deion Sanders, then? The only player to play in the World Series and Superbowl. Anyone else qualify for the powdork criteria?

First place, no fucking way any Florida Stae POS can qualify. Second place, he was average or less in both pro sports. Not even close.

**gaijin** · 01-09-2023, 07:23 PM

Is Shiffrin tied with Vonn right now?

When is the next race? And I hope Vonn goes to see it and gives her a giant hug when Shiffrin passes her. That would be an awesome moment in skiing.

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**Danno** · 01-09-2023, 07:41 PM

Originally Posted by powdork

First place, no fucking way any Florida Stae POS can qualify. Second place, he was average or less in both pro sports. Not even close.

He was not average at football, he's probably the best cover corner in NFL history.

But he's not the goat.

**Supermoon** · 01-09-2023, 07:45 PM

Bo Jackson is hands down the best two sport athlete

**TahoeJ** · 01-09-2023, 07:50 PM

Originally Posted by powdork

First place, no fucking way any Florida Stae POS can qualify. Second place, he was average or less in both pro sports. Not even close.

Uhhhh… Deion is one of the best defensive players in NFL history. What are you talking about?

**TahoeJ** · 01-09-2023, 07:55 PM

Originally Posted by Supermoon

Bo Jackson is hands down the best two sport athlete

Just throwing this out there but Wilt Chamberlain is in both the NBA and Volleyball HOF.

**andy m** · 01-09-2023, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by powdork

I do think the GOAT should be someone who has been the best at more than one sport. Like if Michael Jordan had become a baseball superstar too. Does Mikaela tennis or golf?

"GOAT" is traditionally used to refer to a specific sport or category. Google and Wikipedia back me up on this. You'll have to come up with another term for greatest whatever of all time. For example, no one is saying that Tom Brady is the GOAT of every sport or even every position in football -- they are saying that he is the greatest QB of all time -- and even that may change in the next few years.

Shiffrin may well be the GOAT of alpine ski racing, or at least, slalom skiing, until the next one comes along. But could she do well at another sport? Maybe, but, for example, could she beat Jessie Diggins in a skate-ski race? I don't think so.

My point is not to take away from Shiffrin's accomplishments at all -- it is that "GOAT" should only be applied to a very specific sport or discipline.

**powdork** · 01-09-2023, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by TahoeJ

Uhhhh… Deion is one of the best defensive players in NFL history. What are you talking about?

No he isn't. He was one of the better defensive players of his time. He won defensive player of the year once in the middle of a bunch of multiple year winners. He was great at covering and punt returns but sucked if he needed to tackle someone. And what I was talking about is someone that dominates like Mikaela in one sport and was as good as Deion was at hype, but in a sport.

**powdork** · 01-09-2023, 08:18 PM

Originally Posted by andy m

"GOAT" is traditionally used to refer to a specific sport or category. Google and Wikipedia back me up on this. You'll have to come up with another term for greatest whatever of all time. For example, no one is saying that Tom Brady is the GOAT of every sport or even every position in football -- they are saying that he is the greatest QB of all time -- and even that may change in the next few years.

Shiffrin may well be the GOAT of alpine ski racing, or at least, slalom skiing, until the next one comes along. But could she do well at another sport? Maybe, but, for example, could she beat Jessie Diggins in a skate-ski race? I don't think so.

My point is not to take away from Shiffrin's accomplishments at all -- it is that "GOAT" should only be applied to a very specific sport or discipline.

You'd have to go back a little farther but that's what i was saying too. Which is where I came up with a Greatest of All Athletes would have to absolutely dominate in more than one discipline to exist at all.

**andy m** · 01-09-2023, 08:34 PM

I agree with that, but I don't think any downhill ski racer would be in the discussion for "greatest athlete" of all time. Alpine ski racers have too narrow of a discipline -- they have to spend so much time training for their discipline that they aren't likely to be "great" at anything else -- and, frankly, their skill-sets are fairly narrow.

Of course, you could say that for most any sport, but I think that sports that require more endurance are more likely to produce a "greatest athlete" candidate.

**TBS** · 01-09-2023, 08:42 PM

^^^Many moons ago, ABC Sports had a series of competitions to decide on the best athlete. Football, baseball, basketball, decathletes, motocross racers, and a host of others.

Jonny Moseley smoked the field

**Danno** · 01-09-2023, 08:47 PM

The idea of greatest athlete across all sports is kind of silly. I mean, it's fun to shoot the shit over a beer, but it's even more unanswerable than the GOAT of a single sport, compared across decades.

I'd say Mikaela is the GOAT of alpine skiing, but that's the furthest I'll go.

**Danno** · 01-09-2023, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by TBS

^^^Many moons ago, ABC Sports had a series of competitions to decide on the best athlete. Football, baseball, basketball, decathletes, motocross racers, and a host of others.

Jonny Moseley smoked the field

I think you're talking about the "superstars", which had winners from many sports over the years. I don't recall Moseley ever winning, but the Herminator and Jeremy Bloom both did.