I was having an interesting conversation with a few of my friends which started after Tiger won the recent Masters. We couldn't believe the energy, support, and raw excitement from so many different groups of people about one single event. I could not find one individual who was not happy for Tiger and his family.
We then began wondering has Tiger Woods become bigger than golf. Would event 1% of that excitement come if he had not been playing? Other athletes we began discussing were Serena Williams and Michael Phelps and there vast accomplishments and domination. The discussion progressed and then Elon Musk was brought into the discussion. Does Tesla need him more than he needs them? Can people truly gain such influence and what factors allow them to surpass the platform that gave them significance?
I would love to hear your take on these individuals or anyone else who you feel has influence that rivals that of their industry.
Serena Williams, Tiger, and Trump/US president are the only 3 I can even think of that would be.
I had not even taken government figures into consideration, the thought of Trump is actually very interesting. How would you compare his support and global recognition to that of Obama?
Is that a serious question? Obama had markedly more support domestically, and internationally it isn't even close.
Also, I'd take Michael Phelps out and put Michael Jordan in. He's the standard by which greatness in basketball is measured. Maybe that becomes LeBron in a decade, but at the moment it's MJ.
Tiger is in a league of his own though.
I agree completely which is why I raised the question. I feel Lebron and Jordan have both done so much for their individual brands which have given them a great platform, but basketball will still go on once the next "king" is up. But yea Tiger sure is something else.
The only way MJ transcends basketball is through his sneakers, and even that is barely transcendent.
Lebron doesn't transcend basketball at all. I'd say Curry is a bigger global star right now or maybe even Giannis' budding superstar has a higher ceiling than Lebron's.
And Curry actually transcends a little because of his wife and their family, his parents and siblings, and all of the things that they're doing. They're like the wholesome version of the Kardashians right now.
Even Kobe is bigger than Lebron. Just the fact that Kobe means something about hardwork and commitment.
And Phelps is a great swimmer, synonymous with swimming in the US, but does he really have that large of a presence beyond swimming?
And Trump transcends because the president always transcends the White House, because it's a role designed to do that. The president's main contribution is to relate to the people, it's in the Federalist Papers.
i bet that bitch who fucked up his caddy wasn't thrilled
Yea you got me on that one haha
muhammad ali meant a lot to people who dgaf about boxing McGregor, I guess but Ali was way next level
bourdain for mofos who dont cook or travel
dick cheney was probably larger than most of the other people in his industry in terms of surface area
.
Think of "business celebrities"
Mark Cuban grew beyond early streaming tech
Bill Gates grew beyond Microsoft
Bloomberg grew beyond...Bloomberg
For non-boxing fans I feel that Mayweather is a good example. He's a household name while most casuals would struggle to name a few more top boxers outside of him, Pacquiao, and Canelo. Shaun White was (is?) larger than snowboarding. I'll catch shit for this one but the Kardashians are larger than the quasi-reality TV type industry they came from.
Arnold Schwarzenegger- Kinda unfair because he basically made bodybuilding as famous as it is. He was the top movie star for awhile, but I don't think he shook up the industry quite as much as some other actors/actresses have.
tony hawk comes to mind for sure
Richard Wagner.
Vladimir Putin.
He's the Tsar, he's the king, and he is the fucking Russian federation. It's going to be a dangerous day in Russia when he finally ends his rule, and it will be a bad day for the rest of the world, as we will have lost the one reasonable russian that ever ruled...
Martin Shkreli
Warren Buffett
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