– (altered timeline) Vulcan saying 

Today’s athlete has better training techniques, better medical advice, better nutrition, and an overall better standard of living than ever before.  We claim that steroids make this era of baseball untrustworthy but does that mean we can’t trust pitchers whose careers were rejuvenated by Tommy John surgery, we can’t trust tennis players because today’s rackets are bigger and stronger, we can’t trust golfers whose drivers have a sweet spot the size of a Buick?  Does it mean we can’t trust Babe Ruth’s numbers because so many great players were stuck in the Negro Leagues?  Every generation of athletes competes in a different universe from those before them.  But, with that in mind, are we witnessing the last of the generation of endurance athletes? 

Tonight is Kobe Bryant’s 1,120^th game in the NBA (including regular and post-season but not including the Olympics or preseason.)  If he wins a title this year, in his 1120-something game, he will have won one later than Jordan, Magic, Bird, and just about anyone else you can think of.  In fact, by my research, Shaq having won the title with the Heat in his 1170^th game was the latest anyone has ever played a major role in a Championship.  (Ron Harper won one with the Lakers in ‘01 after his 1200^th career game but he played 6 games the entire postseason averaging a total of 7 min per game- I don’t really count that one frankly.) 

The Past

Michael Jordan ended up playing 1251 career games but 142 of those were with the Wizards- his last title came in game 1109.  Magic Johnson played in 1096 games his entire career but his last title came in game 781.  Larry Bird won his last title in game 666, which is indisputable proof that the 80s Celtics made a deal with the devil (that is totally true by the way- the 666^th game part not the deal with the devil part, well maybe…)

The Present

Kevin Garnett won his title in his 1071^st game and Tim Duncan won his most recent title in ‘07 in his 884^th game- although of course Duncan played 4 years of college to KG and Kobe’s 0.  Chauncey Billups showed he could still play at a high level but he’s played 970 games and his only championship came way back in game 517. 

The Future

Also due to the lack of college, LeBron James has played 532 games (again regular season and postseason combined.)  That is after 6 seasons; will he be able to win a Championship six years from now, when he’s presumably played nearly 1100 games?  Will he be able to keep going beyond that?  He’s only 25 right now, it’s safe to assume he’ll still be playing at 31 right?  But he got in before the age-rule, he hasn’t had any major injuries to speak of- basically is he the last of his kind and will he even be able to make it?  Carmelo Anthony’s played 484, Dwayne Wade’s played 455. 

Looking at the next generation of superstars, looking at the pounding their bodies take, looking at the historical references- are we watching the last of the most durable stars ever?  These guys have done more to their bodies than Sasha Grey (FYI- you probably don’t want to Google her at work, or maybe you do, whatever- see what happens.)  But Shaq, Kobe, Garnett, and Duncan are all heading into the twilight of their careers- if LeBron can’t win a championship after his 1000^th game, will anyone be able to ever again?  

Speaking of which, Randy Johnson just won his 300^th game last week.  We’ve seen the unbreakable single-season Home Run record broken (a couple of times), we’ve seen the career Home Run record broken (although clearly steroids played a factor in that.)  Recently we’ve seen a run of 300 game winners (although that was also probably steroid-fueled)- Glavine, Maddux, Clemens, and now the Big Unit- but we might not see another 300 game winner…I personally believe that every record will eventually be broken, but some take longer than others and winning 300 games takes about as long as any of them. 

A pitcher winning a game, or 300 of them, isn’t as sexy as some of the other records (hitting streaks, hot-dog-eating contests, even consecutive save streaks are more exciting).  This is for a variety of reasons- namely it can happen only once every 5 days, it is overly-reliant of the rest of the teams performance, and the vast majority of the time the winning pitcher isn’t even in the game when the W is recorded.  It was anti-climatic, to say the least, to watch Brian Wilson be responsible for getting Randy Johnson’s 300^th, I mean how many records are broken by a guy sitting on the bench (except of course for most ‘fart jokes while sitting on the bench’- recorded by me in Little League.  FYI- 75 fart jokes in one afternoon, a record that I’m told still stands today.) 

A pitcher can get a win despite giving up 12 runs in 5 innings and he can not get one despite going 9 shutout innings- there are just so many variables to a pitcher’s win count that it’s not one that we hold in high regard, and yet it is incredibly difficult to do.  So difficult that we have no clue when we could ever even get close again.  CC Sabathia appears to be the best hope.  He currently is on pace for 15 wins, which is what he would have to average for the next 12 years (until he is 40) to hit 300- of course considering he’s got the body of Kirstie Alley, staying in the league til 40 seems like asking a lot.  Johan Santana is the best pitcher in baseball but he could average 15 wins until he is 40 and he still wouldn’t hit it.  Nobody younger than 40 even has 250 wins and nobody younger than 34 is even halfway to 300.  Again, this isn’t a ‘most-strikeouts’ or ‘most no-hitters’, this isn’t a catch-lightning-in-a-bottle kind of record, this is an endurance record and despite all the advances we may be seeing the end of the endurance athlete.  

The ultimate endurance athlete record in baseball is of course Cal Ripken’s consecutive game streak.  This record requires nothing but showing up everyday (though I guess it does require being good enough to play everyday.)  Ripken took 16 years and ended up playing 2632 consecutive games.  Since then the best streak (which surprisingly enough, like every other record, also required steroids) was by Miguel Tejada- who played everyday for 7 years before going on the DL.  Only 9 more years to go and he could have caught Ripken.  We’ll call that warning-track power.  The consecutive hit streak takes only 2 months to break, the single-season home run record takes 1 season to break; Ripken’s record would take a minimum of 16 years to break when the average career of a big leaguer is 4 seasons. (Putting on my old man hat…) For better or worse, despite all of the modern marvels, they don’t make them like that anymore. 

I don’t think that Jose Conseco or Rambo 4 is going to get us all to suckle at the teet of HGH.  I’m sorry Mr. Conseco but I think you’ll be better remembered for your muck-raking then for your medical advice-  you do know that just because it would take you 7 years to finish college doesn’t mean you’re a doctor, right?  So contrary to your recommendations I expect the next generation of athletes will be cleaner, healthier, and have shorter careers.  They’ll still (hopefully) live long and prosper, but ya know, not as long as they used to.