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Looking back on Flash's career in sc, I feel that there's a really compelling comparison to be made with Michael Jordan, the GOAT of basketball, and I thought I'd share that thought.
Jordan retired near peak performance, switching to baseball. After playing professionally, but lacking the same level of success, Jordan left baseball and eventually returned to basketball. After his return, though he was said to have developed significantly personally (and as a teammate), his gameplay was tepid, and didn't have the same spark that made him so dominant.
Now, let's look at Flash, who retired near his peak performance in BW. The winstreak he had right before he lost to Grape is a pretty good example of how strong he was before Kespa started looking at SC2. Of course, Flash was far more successful in sc2 than jordan was in baseball, but he certainly lacked the dominance that he had in BW.
Hopefully, when he returns to Afreeca, his experience will be far better than Jordan's upon his return to the NBA. Bisu and Sea have done extremely well, showing that successful players can return to the stage. But far more mediocre players are also doing great. Larva, Hero, Mong, HiyA, Last, and Killer have shown that you don't necessarily have to be one of the Kespa greats.
Heck, Jordan even owns (the worst team in the league), Charlotte. Flash will likely go this route eventually, joining the coaching/managing staff of KT (as he said in one of his retirement interviews).
Whether he succeeds or not, viewing Flash's experience in SC2 as just one period of his time in esports has eased the discomfort I initially felt upon learning of the retirement of someone who I've looked up to for his hard work and dedication for many years.
 
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Flash was a great player & i know people even jokingly call him God. And i recognize this post's main goal is to simply restate once again how good Flash was. But Jordan, if you were lucky enough to be old enough to watch him, was far & away a more dominant player. Jordan's apm was off the charts, as he had to use his whole body & not just his fingers. MJ's later years were plagued with knee issues, otherwise he probably wouldve played longer.
Flash was a great SC player.
MJ not only revolutionized & helped grow the sport of basketball, not only in the US, but around the world, but he also became a marketing juggernaut & changed the way business interacts with athletes. His impact & accomplishments are too great to sum up.
But yeah, Flash's vultures & SC achievements were pretty great.
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Michael Jordan was also in Space Jam; I'm still waiting for the Dreamworks/Flash cross-over.
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On December 03 2015 05:28 billynasty wrote:
Flash was a great player & i know people even jokingly call him God. And i recognize this post's main goal is to simply restate once again how good Flash was. But Jordan, if you were lucky enough to be old enough to watch him, was far & away a more dominant player. Jordan's apm was off the charts, as he had to use his whole body & not just his fingers. MJ's later years were plagued with knee issues, otherwise he probably wouldve played longer.
Flash was a great SC player.
MJ not only revolutionized & helped grow the sport of basketball, not only in the US, but around the world, but he also became a marketing juggernaut & changed the way business interacts with athletes. His impact & accomplishments are too great to sum up.
But yeah, Flash's vultures & SC achievements were pretty great.
Sounds like Boxer is a better comparison for poster boy who worked to bring esports up and was a star player in his day.
But you know what, neither Boxer nor Flash betrayed us all after the chaos click. Fuck MJ.
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MJ won three rings after his first comeback. He might not have been as spectacular as he'd been during the 80s, but he still was scoring like a madman while playing for the Bulls. (around 30 PPG both in the regular seasons and the playoffs)
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No. Just no.
Comparing a team sport where SC2 is played 1v1, even during team vs. team
and Flash is playing Terran, the already most dominant and statistically least disadvantaged race. Maybe if you were only comparing his TvT and a sport like Tennis (1v1 sport) then we can make some of a comparison but you're reaching.
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On December 04 2015 04:08 parkufarku wrote:
No. Just no.
Comparing a team sport where SC2 is played 1v1, even during team vs. team
and Flash is playing Terran, the already most dominant and statistically least disadvantaged race. Maybe if you were only comparing his TvT and a sport like Tennis (1v1 sport) then we can make some of a comparison but you're reaching.
If you don't like the team comparison that's fine. I can somewhat understand that.
But what I bolded is nonsense, at least in BW. There was the general trend for BW that goes T>Z>P>T, but it was very minor, and Flash was just as good in the "hard" T matchup as he was in the "easy T matchup of TvZ.
If you want 1:1 comparisions Flash was every bit the equal of a Federer, Woods, or Bekele.
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On December 04 2015 14:49 L_Master wrote:Show nested quote +On December 04 2015 04:08 parkufarku wrote:
No. Just no.
Comparing a team sport where SC2 is played 1v1, even during team vs. team
and Flash is playing Terran, the already most dominant and statistically least disadvantaged race. Maybe if you were only comparing his TvT and a sport like Tennis (1v1 sport) then we can make some of a comparison but you're reaching.
If you don't like the team comparison that's fine. I can somewhat understand that. But what I bolded is nonsense, at least in BW. There was the general trend for BW that goes T>Z>P>T, but it was very minor, and Flash was just as good in the "hard" T matchup as he was in the "easy T matchup of TvZ. If you want 1:1 comparisions Flash was every bit the equal of a Federer, Woods, or Bekele.
Federer of BW is Nada, not Flash.
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On December 04 2015 14:49 L_Master wrote:Show nested quote +On December 04 2015 04:08 parkufarku wrote:
No. Just no.
Comparing a team sport where SC2 is played 1v1, even during team vs. team
and Flash is playing Terran, the already most dominant and statistically least disadvantaged race. Maybe if you were only comparing his TvT and a sport like Tennis (1v1 sport) then we can make some of a comparison but you're reaching.
If you don't like the team comparison that's fine. I can somewhat understand that. But what I bolded is nonsense, at least in BW. There was the general trend for BW that goes T>Z>P>T, but it was very minor, and Flash was just as good in the "hard" T matchup as he was in the "easy T matchup of TvZ. If you want 1:1 comparisions Flash was every bit the equal of a Federer, Woods, or Bekele.
Someone made a thread on BW long ago that compiled all the OSL, MSL, Proleague matches and concluded that, although the T>Z>P>T does exist, the P>T part is the most 'balanced' out of the disadvantageous matchups.
This isn't even mentioning 4 out of 5 bonjwas were Terran, T won the most number of OSL / MSLs, and had the highest success at high levels.
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but what do you have to say to Kobe and Flash announcing their retirements in the same week??
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Jordan was technically slightly less individually dominant after he returned from baseball, but during his 3 full seasons with the Bulls after his return from baseball, he won 3 straight championships, 2 MVPs (1 runner up that was probably more voter fatigue than him being less deserving, considering the Bulls went 69-13 that season), led the NBA in scoring all 3 years, and set a record for the best winning % by a team in NBA history. He also had arguably his two greatest moments of his career in the championship winning shot in 1998 and the Flu Game in 1997. Hard to say "let's hope Flash's experience will be better" than that....
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a more apt comparison imo would be :
Tiger woods before and after people found out what he was doing with his 2nd phone and Flash BW/SC2 career.
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On December 05 2015 09:57 parkufarku wrote:Show nested quote +On December 04 2015 14:49 L_Master wrote:On December 04 2015 04:08 parkufarku wrote:
No. Just no.
Comparing a team sport where SC2 is played 1v1, even during team vs. team
and Flash is playing Terran, the already most dominant and statistically least disadvantaged race. Maybe if you were only comparing his TvT and a sport like Tennis (1v1 sport) then we can make some of a comparison but you're reaching.
If you don't like the team comparison that's fine. I can somewhat understand that. But what I bolded is nonsense, at least in BW. There was the general trend for BW that goes T>Z>P>T, but it was very minor, and Flash was just as good in the "hard" T matchup as he was in the "easy T matchup of TvZ. If you want 1:1 comparisions Flash was every bit the equal of a Federer, Woods, or Bekele. Someone made a thread on BW long ago that compiled all the OSL, MSL, Proleague matches and concluded that, although the T>Z>P>T does exist, the P>T part is the most 'balanced' out of the disadvantageous matchups. This isn't even mentioning 4 out of 5 bonjwas were Terran, T won the most number of OSL / MSLs, and had the highest success at high levels.
And yet Flash played in all the finals he reached non-Terran players...
You cannot compare BW in 2003 with BW in 2010. The more meaningful statistics are year-by-year statistics. Since evolution of strategy and maps played an important role.
Moreover, the truth was that Flash was often the only Terran that would have deep runs into individual leagues in his time. The only other Terran who would make some noise then was occasionally Fantasy. Also before Flash dominance it was Bisu and Jaedong who were considered best players. So I fail to see how being a Terran player diminshes Flash's achievements which were the greatest in BW history
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EPT
