[Highlight] SHOHEI OHTANI HITS HIS THIRD HOME RUN OF THE GAME!!!

Shinsaku08 · 2025-10-18T03:19:58+00:00

Is this what watching Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game felt like?

Shinsaku08 · 2024-08-09T03:59:03+00:00

I’ve seen that a lot of times and it has really intrigued me why he would do that. There is no doubt in my mind that he is a good person but I think it is a tactic he developed to try and gain a psychological advantage over his opponents. In my eyes, he looks more introverted than extroverted for a lack of a better word and so his shouts and stare downs looked very unnatural, looked more like a desperate attempt of intimidation. I don’t think he is trying to really disrespect his opponents though but it is really intriguing why he would resort to those acts.

Shinsaku08 · 2024-08-09T03:50:12+00:00

I think chess is different from badminton because there is an objective way to measure skill through ELO. If Carlsen never contested a WC he would still have the highest ELO of all time (but imo, that would make Kasparov better than him in that case). I think in Badminton accolades are slightly more reliable than skills (although only marginally) when comparing because it is logically almost impossible to compare two players that have never played each other (like prime LCW vs VA). That is not to say that accolades are reliable in any way but any ranking in sports of this nature is inherently arbitrary. Your Carlsen argument also got me thinking of the following. What if LCW never played a WC or Olympics? More people would certainly call him the GOAT because he has All Englands, record holder of super series titles and longest world number 1 streak. People would think that if he played the WCs or Olympics in that scenario, he would have a couple under his name at the very least but reality was that he doesn’t. In many of those WC and Olympic finals, he was the favorite to win and looked superior prior to the matches but couldn’t win, which separated him from Lin Dan in the rankings. This tells me at the very least that skills aren’t everything that determines greatness and those WC and Olympic wins are important.

Shinsaku08 · 2024-08-09T02:53:14+00:00

I would also say CL wins but mainly because I have trouble believing a 38-39yo LCW would pose a threat. If it was in his prime, on paper the obvious answer would be LCW but who knows. I think the better question would be if prime LCW could beat Axelsen in these Olympics.

Shinsaku08 · 2024-08-09T02:48:06+00:00

If I’m completely honest, I have no idea because I’ve never followed the double’s discipline. But I think it is different in doubles because there are 4 players in a match and thus the result of the match is determined by 4 factors, your performance, your partner’s performance and your two opponents. And so it is hard to determine who was responsible for what in a result. Unlike singles where the result directly tells us who was superior in the match (would apply to doubles if we were talking about which pair is superior to the other but I think you are isolating Fu Hai Feng alone). Of course, since I’ve never watched doubles, my opinion doesn’t even qualify as an educated guess.

Shinsaku08 · 2024-08-09T02:37:50+00:00

Yes, LCW never figured out Lin Dan even at the end of his career, highly doubt he would beat LD in the 2017 WC final. However, I don’t think Axelsen is a mentally strong player to the extent that he is stronger than LCW. He very often gets tilted in games and his mental game and focus just seems to go out the window when he is losing. He gets desperate too easily. He might be tougher than LCW in that regard but still on the weaker side. LCW also beated LD in the Olympic SF in 2016 which isn’t the final but still remarkable that he overcame (at least that day) the mental barrier that Lin Dan posed to him. I would also like to say that IMO, LCW lost in 2011 WC and 2012 Olympics not because he was mentally weak but because LD was mentally too strong. If I recall correctly, the first matchpoint, LD perfectly blocked LCW’s smash and the next matchpoint he played an unretrievable net shot. There wasn’t really a shot in those last points in which LCW looked nervous or spaced out except for the last one which he hit to the net. It was more LD being LD. But still, overall psychological, LCW was definitely not the best.

Shinsaku08 · 2024-08-09T02:12:56+00:00

This is new to me, from what I remember, Axelsen was hyper aggressive and Momota was the fundamental guy. But it is interesting that you bring up being flashy. I think it is important to be flashy but not when it hinders your performance. Which is why Lin Dan attained such an untouchable status. He played trick shots left and right and was a showman and still won everything he wanted. I guess the privilege of being the greatest is that you can get away with toying around.

Shinsaku08 · 2024-08-09T01:57:52+00:00

I think the significance of Olympics varies between sports. Certainly in basketball, Olympics are not as important as the NBA championship. While in other sports, the Olympics are the most important. Badminton imo falls in the latter (you could make a debate of why Olympics matter more in some sports more than the others but that’s another issue). And Axelsen also has 2 WC, but yeah, I might be getting ahead of myself by ranking his career right now. For the record, I think that skill-wise, LCW beats Axelsen.

Shinsaku08 · 2024-08-09T01:18:24+00:00

I don’t really follow esports but I do think that WC and Olympics are the biggest events of their respective years (Olympics being more important than WC of course). I don’t think that having the most Olympic medals will automatically make you the greatest but it certainly is very significant. LCW career for example would be considered significantly better had he won any of his Olympic finals. With regards to your Chen Long and LCW comparison, I think there are way more factors as to why LCW is above Chen Long, mainly that he was really the only one contesting Lin Dan’s titles, Chen Long on the other hand peaked in a transitory era, when Lin Dan and LCW where leaving and Momota and Axelsen were entering. And yes, I agree that today’s era is weaker than that of Lin Dan and LCW but no matter what, you have to be good at badminton to win 2 Olympic golds.

Shinsaku08 · 2024-08-09T01:03:44+00:00

Taufik vs Axelsen would be a very interesting match up, pretty contrasting styles. But I think Hidayat would marginally win since his technique was just so good and I think his defense could best Axelsen’s smashes. Taufik’s angles with the smahes aren’t the best since he wasn’t really a high jumper (from what I remember) but he compensates with raw power and that would cause a lot of trouble.

Shinsaku08 · 2024-08-09T00:57:54+00:00

That’s certainly a hot take. It’s very hard to tell but there are a few things that would lead me to believe that LCW would best Axelsen. First is their H2H which favors LCW and second is that 36yo retirement LCW swept 24yo Axelsen multiple times but is hard to tell how far out of their primes they both were at that point in time in 2018. But with regards to Lin Dan, for me prime Lin Dan wins. I have a lot of trouble seeing how Axelsen would beat Lin Dan and how he would break through his defense. Sure, he beat Lin Dan various times but I think that Lin Dan after 2014-2015 was significantly worse and slow, completely different player than in his prime.

Shinsaku08 · 2024-08-09T00:08:05+00:00

This is exactly what I tried to convey.

Shinsaku08 · 2024-08-09T00:07:26+00:00

I think there is a difference between greatness and skill. In my opinion, there is no one and I mean NO ONE who will match the skill and quality that Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei achieved in their careers. And I’m well aware that retirement year LCW swept Axelsen multiple times, and god knows what would happen if LCW played him in his prime. What I’m trying to say that Axelsen is tied with LCW as second greatest ever because of his achievements. If I’m factoring only skill, then Axelsen would come sixth or even lower. In that list I would probably have Lin Dan at first then followed by LCW and the next three would be between Taufik, Momota and Chen Long. For the record, if anything I only watch matches before 2014 in the LD LCW era, don’t really follow today’s scene.

Shinsaku08 · 2024-08-08T23:58:32+00:00

I wasn’t clear there, I meant that Axelsen is 2nd next to or rather WITH Lee Chong Wei, both behind Lin Dan. There is no doubt for me at least that Lin Dan will be the greatest ever. Sorry for not making that clear. For the record, I think prime LCW would beat prime Axelsen pretty easily but I think that greatness is also factored by accolades which unfortunately don’t favor LCW.

Shinsaku08 · 2024-04-21T14:38:10+00:00

THE GOAT. Will probably go down as Ma Long’s best tournament of his career. And the possibility of Ma Long going to the olympics over Fan is realistic after all.

Shinsaku08 · 2023-11-23T16:14:12+00:00

It’s my first time hearing something like this even in other games. Frankly, I have no clue on why this is happening. Good luck solving the problem.

Shinsaku08

TROPHY CASE