Era of the Alpha Athlete

In case you haven’t noticed, the current performance plateau found within the sporting world, from both a player and fans perspective, is at its highest level…ever. On Sunday, we were witnesses to three very special things: Tiger Woods winning his seventh straight PGA tournament, Roger Federer winning the 10th Major of his career (and going undefeated in the process), and those run and gun boys from the desert, taking their 17th in a row – a franchise record. During an era when practically every minute detail surrounding everything in our lives is dissected and crucially analyzed to find all the imperfections and inadequacies, we should be relishing in the fact that we truly are watching history before our eyes and get rid of the “ho-hum” attitude which has attached itself to popular public opinion.

Entering the final round of the Buick Invitational, Woods (31) was down four strokes, but that didn’t matter much. With his trademark red collar poking out from under his Nike mock, he once again showed the world why he truly is the most special golfer we have ever seen, coming back to win again, his seventh straight on the PGA Tour and 55th of his illustrious career.

Not to be outdone, Roger Federer (25) entered play at the Australian Open looking to claim his 10th Major of his young, yet ever impressive career. Playing the crowd favourite, Chilean, Fernando Gonzalez, who had an impressive win streak catapulting him to the finals (beating Hewitt, Blake, Nadal and Haas) Roger was pressed after a strong first set by the Chilean, only to have Federer win in the tiebreak 7-2. After two mirrored sets of 6-4, 6-4 we saw a sight that is getting very predictable, Federer standing at mid-court, raising another title.

To round out the trifecta of winning streaks on Sunday was a rolling Phoenix Suns team which beat LeBron and the hapless Cavs 115-100 to secure their team record and NBA’s fifth best win streak of 17 games. After a Raja Bell three ball five minutes into the second quarter, making the score 33-32 for Phoenix, the Suns never looked back, cruising to victory and holding the lead the rest of the game. Receiving even production on the offensive end – scoring contributions coming in the form of: 23 from Nash and Marion, 22 from Amare, 19 from Barbosa and 15 from Bell, they showed why they are getting compared to the best offenses of all-time and receiving remarks from players such as LBJ, who was quoted after Sunday’s loss saying, “The way they’re playing now, they’re unbeatable.”

Unbeatable.

This must be one thing that’s going through the heads of these three remarkable streak holders. If you sit back to think about it for a moment, you’ll see why this is so impressive. After entering the PGA Tour 11 years ago, Tiger has dominated the competition, living up to all the forecasted pressures built upon late night talk show appearances as a toddler, to impressive rounds against Pros as a teen, to a highly publicized collegiate career. Woods has now won 55 of 215 events on the Tour equating into a 25.6% winning percentage. He has finished in the top two spots 75 times (34.9%), the top three 92 times (42.8%), the top ten 133 times (61.9%), and the top 25 176 times (81.9%) so it’s safe to say that if Tiger is playing in a tournament, he’s always within striking distance. Federer has had an equally impressive, albeit shorter career, to that of Woods.

Federer’s rise to dominance has come just as imposingly as Woods’. Since exploding on the ATP Men’s Tennis scene in 2001, Roger has owned the competition, going 490-125 (79.7% winning percentage) after going undefeated and not losing a single set through the 2007 Australian Open. This was the 10th major title of his career, and he is now only four major’s away from Pete Sampras’ record of 14, and let’s remind ourselves again, Federer is only 25 years young. This past title was the 46th of his career. He is already a staple when the argument for greatest-player-of-all-time inevitably comes up after every passing championship. Assuming that he stays only relatively healthy over the next decade, Federer should not only surpass Sampras’ mark, but he should demolish it, like an old building strapped with hundreds of pounds of explosives. The only thing that’s missing on his astonishing resume is the Grand Slam (winning all Major titles during the ATP Men’s Season) which has only been accomplished by Don Budge in 1938 and twice by Rod Laver in 1962 and 1969. He has although, won 9 of 13 majors over the past three years including three of four twice. Now Federer is hoping to make history at Roland Garros and win the French Open for the first time in his career and keep the dream for the Grand Slam alive

Parlay these impressive stretches of greatness with what the Phoenix Suns are doing - 17th straight win Sunday and after starting the season 3-6 they have gone 33-2 since Nov.20th – and mix in a little bit of Pujols, Crosby, Manning, LDT, Nash and LeBron and you’re looking at one remarkable era to be a sports fan.

Why this is so important is because era’s such as that of the Golden Bear, Arnold Palmer, Bjorn Borg, Wilt, Kareem and the Lakers, the Oilers and Isles dynasties were all so long ago. We have been fortunate enough to watch Jordan and the Bulls teach us how the game of basketball was meant to be played. We have been treated to a new-aged Yankees dynasty (even though no one wants to admit that we need the Yankees, we really do...and I can't even believe I'm admitting that). We’ve been lucky enough to see a Patriots dynasty in the NFL, something that hasn’t happened since the Steel Curtain. Above all these great accomplishments however, we are now, once again, being treated to two of the most impressive careers anyone has amassed in a particular sport, and it’s all happening right in front of our very eyes, in dominating fashion nonetheless. There is no need to make a stop at your grand dad’s place to listen to stories of past greats, because those stories, well, they’re being etched in the history books as we sit back and take it all in from the comfort of our living rooms.

So before all the history has been made, do yourself a favour and let Tiger, Roger, the Suns and company treat you to some of the most inspiring displays of athletic ability anyone will ever get the chance to witness.

We are immersed deeply within the era of the Alpha Athlete.

- JW