Posted by Nick Beaudrot
More substantive posting is on the way, but I just wanted to pause and ask this question:
Now that he's won his seventh consecutive Tour de France, is there anyone in any sport who has been as dominant for as long as Lance Armstrong?
At a glance, the closest thing I can come up with is Garry Kasparov, who was the Undisputed World Chess Champion for eight years, and the classical world chess champion for fifteen years. Tiger Woods' two years where he won 50% of the tournaments he entered, and became the first person to hold all four majors' titles simultaneously was unprecedented... but that wasn't a particularly lengthy period of dominance. Sandy Koufax led the National League in ERA for six years in a row ... but he was helped to some extent by Dodger Stadium. Michael Jordan? Jim Brown? Wayne Gretsky? Even Gretsky had players who put up comparable numbers and would beat him for the scoring (points, not goals) title from time to time.
Put your thoughts in the comments.