You have provided your own answer. With modern training who knows if Jesse Owens could outrun Usain Bolt? I do believe that if players like Pettit, Bill Russell or Wilt Chamberlain had played in the modern era they would still be Hall of Famers. Maybe Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps would have split those gold medals if they had both competed in the same Olympics Maybe on day in the future some mad scientist will settle these questions by cloning a Jessie Owens and a Carl Lewis and a Usain Bolt at the same time so that they are the same ages and training them to run against some future superman who can run the 100 meters in 6 seconds
how many white power forwards are there in the NBA? how many start? how many are all stars? its rare for a white person to have the genetic predisposition to be good at that position. i dont follow the nba but i cant think of any many good ones. dirk isnt a power forward, at least not like pettit was. dirk shoots like a 3. gasol and bogut are 5s. and then there's all the other euro dudes that shoot the lights out from 20'---okur, turkoglu. and they are all taller than bob.
That's right, today's athlete is so full of growth hormone and other interesting pharmaceutical stuff they have an incredible advantage. Once these chemicals are in your system they allow you to become workout beast, warriors, fanatics. Their speed and strength, jumping ability is off the charts. Otherwise you level the playing field to the day of yesteryear in any sport and your going to see these old school guys in a lot of cases more than handle their own. Was this perhaps more than you wanted analyzed?
RE: The Pistol, what other athlete from LSU or any other school has as many instructional video's up there in their respective sports? None. For that matter, from any other school? Nada. Why did Red Auerbach appear with Pete on those instructional videos; answer, because Pete was unmatched in his skill with the basketball. I have a BLAST watching his dribbling and passing and quickness skills. Spend some time watching them, they're truly amazing!!! Red Auerbach YouTube - Red on Roundball: Dribbling Drills - Pete Maravich
Well I always appreciate input from a gump. Even StOOpid input, because for you to suggest Shaq's dominance is due to drugs is idiotic.