When it comes to focus and the ability to perform under the most intense pressure, there's no one better than Tiger Woods. There are few athletes that dominate their sport like Woods. Roger Federer is one. Lance Armstrong is another -- no matter how hard the sore losing French try to attach doping allegations on him.
Individual sports are the hardest to flourish in; much less dominate. Can you imagine hundreds of people standing at the edge of the green as you judge a nine foot putt that goes slightly right to left dramatically uphill to win a million dollars? Can you blind the hundreds watching yards away and the millions and millions watching around the world as you line up your shot? Would the concern of missing the shot and looking embarrassed outweigh the thought of actually making the shot?
Roger Federer doesn't concern himself with pressure. He dominates the field so much that no one is close to his zip code. In the "last three-plus years, Federer has collectively compiled a 254-15 record and 35 titles in 50 tournaments". That's nuts!
You have your Peyton Mannings, LaDainian Tomlinsons, Chad Johnsons, Brian Urlachers and Champ Baileys. What you don't have in the NFL, is a player that people would agree that's "dominated" the sport for any period of time.
I believe it contemplates a debate. Can domination, from a single player, happen in team based sports? Perhaps we're spoiled watching Federer and Woods in the prime of their careers. Both are generating "best _____" of all time in their respective sports. You can easily say that LaDainian Tomlinson is the best running back today, but most dominating player? Barry Bonds could have been as close to an example as anything during his peak of suspected love of unknown creams. Even so, his namesake and image has been scarred because of the very thing he thought would help him cheat the odds of aging. But Albert Pujols was a close second -- some considered better than the cheatin' Bonds -- therefore eliminating the actual "domination" discussion.
If you can make an argument for an active player in a team-based sport dominating like Tiger Woods or Roger Federer, go for it. I'm all ears. I just don't think you can claim that someone dominates a team-based sport still playing today. Yester-years? Michael Jordan. OK, yea, I can support that. He changed the game. He created mountains of new fans that only watched because Jordan was playing -- similar to watching golf because Tiger Woods is playing. The NHL Record book is titled: Wayne Gretzky's autobiography.
But is there anyone out there that dominates team-based sports playing today?
A slight sidenote: animals do NOT count. If we included horses, we'd have to include greyhounds and weiner-dog sprints.
Ben Roethlisberger takes the lead...
Tiger's streak is something to behold [ESPN]
Woods picks up seventh consecutive PGA Tour win [ESPN]
Tiger Makes it Seven In a Row [Waggle Room]
Who is the more dominant performer? [ESPN]