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Flo's GOAT list

dmlawdad

HR MVP
Jan 11, 2003
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Flo just completed its top 100 GOAT list. Gable was in the top 10. This fact stood out: When Gable entered the line-up as a sophomore, he did not disappoint. He won every match during his sophomore season and followed that up with arguably the greatest season in college wrestling history. Gable pinned 31 of 33 opponents and pinned his way through the Big Eight Championships and the 1969 NCAA tournament.

Wow, what a season! I wonder how many wrestlers changed weight classes to avoid him his junior year. What domination. Anyway, I thought it worth sharing as I didn't know this about his college career.
 
Flo just completed its top 100 GOAT list. Gable was in the top 10. This fact stood out: When Gable entered the line-up as a sophomore, he did not disappoint. He won every match during his sophomore season and followed that up with arguably the greatest season in college wrestling history. Gable pinned 31 of 33 opponents and pinned his way through the Big Eight Championships and the 1969 NCAA tournament.

Wow, what a season! I wonder how many wrestlers changed weight classes to avoid him his junior year. What domination. Anyway, I thought it worth sharing as I didn't know this about his college career.
Yeah, regardless of his 1 loss he's #1 with a bullet on my GOAT list in my lifetime anyway. The stuff he did at Midlands when it was THE tournament, and the guys he beat throughout his career was pretty impressive.
 
Gable could very easily be considered the GOAT. Flo seemed to lean very heavy on longevity. Guys like Smith, Burroughs, Baumgartner, who are all also very worthy of being in the conversation, Ranked higher due to this. As was pointed out by the OP, when it comes to complete domination, Gable stands out.

Just like an OW award, I think you need to set the standards that you use to make your picks. For example, at a tournament is the OW the most dominate Wrestler who pins everyone? Is it the Wrestler who goes through the toughest weight class? Or is is a Wrestler who comes out of nowhere to win? All could be the right choice.

What also gets lost here is the old time wrestlers. Wrestlers from a ways back who do not get the recognition they should. For example ROBIN REED, who I would bet most Wrestling fans never heard of! If I was to create a movie of what he did, no one would believe it to be possible!!!

I guess he is considered the GOAT before WWII, but does not get greater consideration because "that was way back before....." I would always say when someone says "well today the athletes are better, stronger, faster, better trained" all which may be true? But how come no one else was doing it? How come some one like Babe Ruth was hitting more HR then entire teams???

Also these athletes had the same training and techniques of the eras that they competed? Dan Hodge destroyed everyone in his path during his college career, why was he able to be so dominate? Maybe you can point to varies reasons, Hodge had unreal grip strength, Gable Trained like a madman ..... But they only could face the competition in front of them at the time, and they did so better then any others!!!

The folks of IOWA should also be talking about Farmer Burns and Frank Gotch. 2 more Wrestlers with unbelievable achievements!
 
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He who should not be named is the NCAA goat.

Gable is the American goat, but John Smith is right there at 1b.

Kerilyn is the over all goat.
 
Gable could very easily be considered the GOAT. Flo seemed to lean very heavy on longevity. Guys like Smith, Burroughs, Baumgartner, who are all also very worthy of being in the conversation, Ranked higher due to this. As was pointed out by the OP, when it comes to complete domination, Gable stands out.

Just like an OW award, I think you need to set the standards that you use to make your picks. For example, at a tournament is the OW the most dominate Wrestler who pins everyone? Is it the Wrestler who goes through the toughest weight class? Or is is a Wrestler who comes out of nowhere to win? All could be the right choice.

What also gets lost here is the old time wrestlers. Wrestlers from a ways back who do not get the recognition they should. For example ROBIN REED, who I would bet most Wrestling fans never heard of! If I was to create a movie of what he did, no one would believe it to be possible!!!

I guess he is considered the GOAT before WWII, but does not get greater consideration because "that was way back before....." I would always say when someone says "well today the athletes are better, stronger, faster, better trained" all which may be true? But how come no one else was doing it? How come some one like Babe Ruth was hitting more HR then entire teams???

Also these athletes had the same training and techniques of the eras that they competed? Dan Hodge destroyed everyone in his path during his college career, why was he able to be so dominate? Maybe you can point to varies reasons, Hodge had unreal grip strength, Gable Trained like a madman ..... But they only could face the competition in front of them at the time, and they did so better then any others!!!

The folks of IOWA should also be talking about Farmer Burns and Frank Gotch. 2 more Wrestlers with unbelievable achievements!
Athletes should always be compared with how they did against their own generation. The differences in training and diet alone make comparisons difficult. I would also suggest what was allowed or "untested" for should also be a factor. Having been around the mid 80's wrestlers and football players, nobody would ever say they were not, let's say, physically fit.
 
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It seems to me that there are two completely different ways of looking at this GOAT thing and because of that people often wind up arguing because they're not on the same page.

The first way might be to consider a wrestler's career as a total body of work: number of wins, losses, championships, awards, longevity, etc.

Or, you could prioritize the level of peak performance exhibited. If you had to choose one wrestler at their best to wrestle one match and your life was at stake...who would it be?

Both seem legitimate but, for what it's worth, I would favor the latter. Just my opinion. YMMV
 
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Yeah, regardless of his 1 loss he's #1 with a bullet on my GOAT list in my lifetime anyway. The stuff he did at Midlands when it was THE tournament, and the guys he beat throughout his career was pretty impressive.
This is from the Flo Article as well:
Gable showed early signs of greatness when he entered the 1966 Midlands Championships – one of the most prestigious tournaments in the country – nine months following his senior high school season where he competed at 112 pounds.

Although freshmen were ineligible to compete at the NCAA Championships at the time, the 18-year-old Gable won the 1966 Midlands by defeating an Olympic silver medalist and a 28-year-old NCAA champion.
 
You can’t compare athletes from different generations. Every sport changes and evolves to much. Its a list designed to elicit page views and arguments. Its Flo’s version of a professional troll. They know that no matter what they do someone will disagree. I, for one, don’t care.
 
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You can’t compare athletes from different generations. Every sport changes and evolves to much. Its a list designed to elicit page views and arguments. Its Flo’s version of a professional troll. They know that no matter what they do someone will disagree. I, for one, don’t care.
Disagree. You just have to do it in a way that compares them based on how dominant they were during the era in which they competed. If you took the Pittsburgh Steelers of 1978 and put them against a bad NFL team from today, the Steelers would get steamrolled. That doesn't mean they're not one of the greatest NFL teams of all time.
 
At the risk of going down the rabbit hole....the 4 different weight thing is certainly a statistical oddity and exclusively unique, but I just don't give it wrestling skill parameter status. He had losses the likes of which non of the other GOAT candidates endured.
Didn't he have like 3-4 NCAA losses? That would be on par with other GOAT candidates IMO. Considering his career internationally doesn't appear to be ending any time soon and he has taken down Burroughs on a neutral playing field, I would put Dake on path to be in the discussion.
 
Didn't he have like 3-4 NCAA losses? That would be on par with other GOAT candidates IMO. Considering his career internationally doesn't appear to be ending any time soon and he has taken down Burroughs on a neutral playing field, I would put Dake on path to be in the discussion.
137-4, and 79 in a row to end his career. Pretty good. Took out Taylor. Pretty good. Dake was a beast defensively, that's why he won at the rate he did.

But I swear I just saw him run St. John out of bounds again for the 47th time without a care in the world...............(Dake probably wins that match regardless, but it sure sucked to watch how it went down).

And last but not least, the guy that should have kept Dake from winning 4 and pissed away a golden opportunity? Yep. Iowa's own Montell Marion in Omaha 2010. IIRC there was a key scramble in that match where Marion had the clear advantage and probably should have been 2 & 2 or more, but Dake being Dake came out on top of it from the bad side of it, that's why he is who he is I guess. That was all she wrote and Montell was done.
 
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And last but not least, the guy that should have kept Dake from winning 4 and pissed away a golden opportunity? Yep. Iowa's own Montell Marion in Omaha 2010. IIRC there was a key scramble in that match where Marion had the clear advantage and probably should have been 2 & 2 or more, but Dake being Dake came out on top of it from the bad side of it, that's why he is who he is I guess. That was all she wrote and Montell was done.
Biased opinion - Marion was the 2nd best 141 on our team that year. Slaton was ineligible.
 
Biased opinion - Marion was the 2nd best 141 on our team that year. Slaton was ineligible.
Loved Joey Slaton for his one year roll, but I figured the first response I would get was that my memory was crap and none of that happened! Ha! Montell had some other big moments too, the guy was snakebit a little at NCAA'S.
 
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Loved Joey Slaton for his one year roll, but I figured the first response I would get was that my memory was crap and none of that happened! Ha! Montell had some other big moments too, the guy was snakebit a little at NCAA'S.
He was also a total ass if you knew him. Great talent but very flawed person.
 
He was also a total ass if you knew him. Great talent but very flawed person.
Didn't know either, and don't know which one you're talking about (they were both great talents so that doesn't seperate them) but met Joey Slaton once briefly at NCAA'S several years after he was done. Not long enough to form an opinion either way.
 
That's BS, Joe is a great g
Didn't know either, and don't know which one you're talking about (they were both great talents so that doesn't seperate them) but met Joey Slaton once briefly at NCAA'S several years after he was done. Not long enough to form an opinion either way.
I was referring to MM. I went to a few high school meets here in DM and one after his collegiate career where he was out of control. My statement was probably a little strong and as Wildturk said we do all have flaws.
 
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