[quote]Professor X wrote:
To believe otherwise would be to believe that no regular guy on the streets of Harlem could ever play basketball as well as Michael Jordan…simply because you never heard of them.[/quote]
^^im confused by this part.
It seems like you are saying that there are regular guys on the streets of harlem that could play basketball as well as Michael Jordan?[/quote]
You think there aren’t? First, you would have to assume that every talented player gets to go to college to even start thinking like that. Statistically, there are no doubt some guys who COULD have played that well or possibly even better who never got the opportunity. They ended up in jail, dead, working at their family’s store or 5,000 other possibilities. Maybe one got shot in the ass the day before the big game during a drive by.
405 x 15 bench, 405 x 23 bench, 6 PPS on iso rows are hugely different lifts than 495 x 15 on incline bench. That is an insane difference in strength. Again, LW, I am truly amazed/impressed by your strength. Strongest guy I’ve ever encountered by ten-fold.
Holymac, and others, my point is that I don’t care enough to argue with peoples’ claims. If someone like Lew, or Austin, or X, or Steely, or you Holymac, say that they can hit a certain number on a lift, I give them the benefit of the doubt and listen to what advice they have. Like Steely said, he’s BIG, so obviously what he does is working. And hey, I got no beef with anyone on this forum!
[quote]Professor X wrote:
To believe otherwise would be to believe that no regular guy on the streets of Harlem could ever play basketball as well as Michael Jordan…simply because you never heard of them.[/quote]
^^im confused by this part.
It seems like you are saying that there are regular guys on the streets of harlem that could play basketball as well as Michael Jordan?[/quote]
I used to hang out in Harlem often and would always enjoy watching the street pickup games. There were a handful of brothers who I thought possessed immense raw talent for the game, not to mention the obvious height. Arguable if it was as good as MJ, but given some proper training and coaching, they would realize their awesome potential. I guess its hard for someone who hasn’t witnessed it to understand though…
[quote]Professor X wrote:
To believe otherwise would be to believe that no regular guy on the streets of Harlem could ever play basketball as well as Michael Jordan…simply because you never heard of them.[/quote]
^^im confused by this part.
It seems like you are saying that there are regular guys on the streets of harlem that could play basketball as well as Michael Jordan?[/quote]
You think there aren’t? [/quote]
I know for a fact that there arent. street ball players getting a tryout with NBA squads isn’t uncommon. There have been 5 that made it in the NBA that were any good (none of which were even close to Michael Jordan)
It is incredibly laughable that you think there are street players in Harlem that are as good as the greatest basketball player of all time. Come on
[quote]Professor X wrote:
To believe otherwise would be to believe that no regular guy on the streets of Harlem could ever play basketball as well as Michael Jordan…simply because you never heard of them.[/quote]
^^im confused by this part.
It seems like you are saying that there are regular guys on the streets of harlem that could play basketball as well as Michael Jordan?[/quote]
I used to hang out in Harlem often and would always enjoy watching the street pickup games. There were a handful of brothers who I thought possessed immense raw talent for the game, not to mention the obvious height. Arguable if it was as good as MJ, but given some proper training and coaching, they would realize their awesome potential. I guess its hard for someone who hasn’t witnessed it to understand though…[/quote]
read my post below.
you are absolutely crazy if you think street ballers are as good as the GOAT. LOfuckingL
5 streetballers have made it in the NBA.and were any good. No where near GOAT status just good.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
To believe otherwise would be to believe that no regular guy on the streets of Harlem could ever play basketball as well as Michael Jordan…simply because you never heard of them.[/quote]
^^im confused by this part.
It seems like you are saying that there are regular guys on the streets of harlem that could play basketball as well as Michael Jordan?[/quote]
You think there aren’t? [/quote]
I know for a fact that there arent. street ball players getting a tryout with NBA squads isn’t uncommon. There have been 5 that made it in the NBA that were any good (none of which were even close to Michael Jordan)
It is incredibly laughable that you think there are street players in Harlem that are as good as the greatest basketball player of all time. Come on[/quote]
You are assuming every skilled baller in Harlem has made the effort to try out for the NBA. For that reason you can’t know for a fact. That being said it’s highly improbable. It’s not just that MJ was GOAT, but no one else in the NBA has come CLOSE to what he has achieved. It’s hard enough to find someone in the NBA to compare to Jordan, let alone some Harlem baller.
Wait Greg, I think you’re missing the point… the qualifier in X’s original post was “COULD”.
Michael Jordan didn’t make his high school team if I recall. He practiced for years, hours a day to get good enough for college, and more to become the player he’s remembered as. A lot of factors, intangibles, would have come into play here:
His grades in school
His family’s financial situation
His family’s emotional stability
His coaching
His upbringing
etc.
All that said, to think there isn’t some guy playing street ball right now that couldn’t match his success given the right circumstance, well that wouldn’t make sense to me.
Regardless, the comparison to Lew’s case is a little different, in that he’s claiming he’s actually attained that level (powerlifting no.s aside). I personally don’t know what the fuss is about. The guy is throwing no.s out there, and says he doesn’t have proof, or could care less if he’s believed. If you don’t believe it, there’s little need to go further than expressing your skepticism. Lew’s not a powerlifter and doesn’t compete (though, with all due respect Mr. Mo Bitchez, I’d love to see you do Strongman).
[quote]Professor X wrote:
To believe otherwise would be to believe that no regular guy on the streets of Harlem could ever play basketball as well as Michael Jordan…simply because you never heard of them.[/quote]
^^im confused by this part.
It seems like you are saying that there are regular guys on the streets of harlem that could play basketball as well as Michael Jordan?[/quote]
You think there aren’t? [/quote]
I know for a fact that there arent. street ball players getting a tryout with NBA squads isn’t uncommon. There have been 5 that made it (none of which were even close to Michael Jordan)
It is incredibly laughable that you think there are street players in Harlem that are as good as the greatest basketball player of all time. Come on[/quote]
This thread - specifically this exchange - was quoted in the NBA thread. I’ve played with a handful of playground legends. I’ve also played with a handful of NBA players, and was fortunate enough to workout with one for a short period. The difference in game is night and day. The fact that someone who clearly doesn’t know much on the subject makes such a ridiculous claim is laughable. People in the NBA [or NFL, NHL, MLB, etc…] are the cream of the crop. Most of these dudes were the best in grade school, the best in high school, then the best in college. Once you get to the elite level the game those dudes have is no joke, and there are the elite within that group. Those guys are All-Stars and it’s no accident that there are only 20 or so selected each year. Then there’s an elite within that group, and those guys are MVP’s and HOF’ers. Once every generation we get ONE elite within that small group that’s game is so culturally transcendant that they have posters of themselves stapled to adobe hut walls in countries that don’t speak a common language. To think some random dude who hasn’t had the best coaching, competition or exposure to comparable talent can hang on any one of those levels is absurd.
I could become anything. Doesn’t mean I will. So I don’t see the point of saying someone “could” do something if they did X,Y and Z. They obviously didn’t and they can’t be compared to someone who did. (Specifically talking about this stupid arguement regarding MJ).
I think what PX is trying to say it that the known best isn’t necessarily THE best ever.
There can be people who have never picked up a barbell who could have the potential to be the strongest person on the planet.
Or consider this. Many weightlifters consider quite a few of the NFL talents as having gone to waste (relative term) on football rather than olympic style weightlifting because their lifts (cleans) in practice are really good and they are strong sumbiches. But the NFL pays more than being on the US Olympic Weightlifting team so they don’t even consider it. But had they considered training weightlifting could have gotten gold at the Olympics.
“There can be people who have never picked up a barbell who could have the potential to be the strongest person on the planet.”
Like I said, I am not sure what this has to do with anything. There are people who have done things and people who haven’t Just because someone has the potential, if they waste it, it doesn’t mean they were the best.
LW has stated he has inclined 495 x 6-15 and that is quite possibly the best incline to have ever been done in the history of weights. Not only are there seldom guys who can flat bench that kind of weight, to be quite honest I don’t think I’ve heard of or seen a video of someone flat benching that weight (495 x 15) and I follow powerlifting pretty closely, but LW has inclined it. He is the strongest presser to ever live!!!
[quote]jak3_dude wrote:
I think what PX is trying to say it that the known best isn’t necessarily THE best ever.
There can be people who have never picked up a barbell who could have the potential to be the strongest person on the planet.
[/quote]
There are people claiming this isn’t the case? None of you know what other people could have been capable of with the right guidance. Just like someone mentioned with Ronnie Coleman, he got into bodybuilding because of the push from others. What if he never got that? What if he grew up more interested in marine biology than weight lifting?
That is like assuming the only humans who can play pro football on an elite level already are or have…as if no one else on the planet could have given the right circumstances.
Some of the people I knew growing up with what seemed to be the greatest genetics for bodybuilding (I mean people who were huge since junior high) are the least interested in it. Just because there is a Dorian Yates doesn’t mean no one else could have come close if they were pointed in that direction.
I mean, if people are now arguing that then any chance of any serious debate is long gone as people just want to bitch about every statement made here now.
[quote]jak3_dude wrote:
I think what PX is trying to say it that the known best isn’t necessarily THE best ever.
There can be people who have never picked up a barbell who could have the potential to be the strongest person on the planet.
[/quote]
There are people claiming this isn’t the case? None of you know what other people could have been capable of with the right guidance. Just like someone mentioned with Ronnie Coleman, he got into bodybuilding because of the push from others. What if he never got that? What if he grew up more interested in marine biology than weight lifting?
That is like assuming the only humans who can play pro football on an elite level already are or have…as if no one else on the planet could have given the right circumstances.
Some of the people I knew growing up with what seemed to be the greatest genetics for bodybuilding (I mean people who were huge since junior high) are the least interested in it. Just because there is a Dorian Yates doesn’t mean no one else could have come close if they were pointed in that direction.
I mean, if people are now arguing that then any chance of any serious debate is long gone as people just want to bitch about every statement made here now.[/quote]
…and for all we know there are intelligent sponges in the deep sea who live in pineapples and work jobs cooking hamburgers.
[quote]behexen wrote:
Lew, I’m a big fan of Baltimore Ravens Fullback Le’Ron Mcclain. I think fullback is a very underrated position in football. Just curious what you thought of playing it, how big you were while playing, and what some of the training you might have done for that specific position.
[/quote]
I enjoyed myself, because, truthfully all I was interested in was hitting people, anyway. When I was in high school I played it at about 170. It sounds small, but we were a small team. We were just fast and could hit.
When I was playing semi-pro, I kept bouncing between 250 and 265. But the other fullback was 285, so i LOVED when they had both of us in the game because that means I got moved to tailback and was going to get to run with the ball. During the season, my training basically consisted of a compound lift or two about 3 days a week. It paid off, because a lot of guys stayed away from the weight room altogether during the season, so as time went on, they got weaker and more beat up; while I at least maintained my baseline strength.
[quote]gregron wrote:
Sorry for the thread derail Lew… just when it looked like things were back on track.
You said that you played lacrosse in college? Did you get a scholarship? Lacrosse was pretty big in your area?[/quote]
We actually had to form our own club team, because at that time a lacrosse team at a black college was unheard of, even though when Morgan State had a lacrosse team they won the National Championship (at least one time I can recall) and Jim Brown is considered one of the best lacrosse players of all time. We were in a unique position, because even though we were a club team, some of the scholarship teams in the area scheduled games with us.
And yes, lacrosse was definitely big in our area, since I grew up in Baltimore. That’s where the Lacrosse Hall of Fame is located. When I was in high school, my friends and I would help the equipment manager at Hopkins during the game as well as work the stands. Loyola is just up the street from Hopkins and UMBC and UM College Park were just a car ride away, so we were always hitting a game when we could.
During the season, my training basically consisted of a compound lift or two about 3 days a week. It paid off, because a lot of guys stayed away from the weight room altogether during the season, so as time went on, they got weaker and more beat up; while I at least maintained my baseline strength.