The Kids Are All Right?
Posted by This_Committee_6231@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 7 comments
So I am watching both the NBA Finals and The French Open and both sports (one team/one individual) are being dominated by young ones.
The San Antonio Spurs core starting five has a median age of 24. They are led by Victor Wembanyama who is 22, (if you do not know who he is, you will very soon after these playoffs), Dylan Harper (19) and Stephon Castle (21).
Right now at Roland Garros, Raphael Jodar (19) is just tearing up #2 ranked Alexander Zverev (29). He's having an historic run.
I feel like I am watching evolution occur right before my eyes. When I was that age, there was just no way I could have been mature enough to accomplish what these kids are doing! It was different in the 70's!
FormerCollegeDJ@reddit
On the basketball side, so many of the guys from our youth (Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley) left college early and were quickly very good players in the NBA. Johnson helped the Lakers win the NBA title before he turned 21 years old.
On the tennis side, Michael Chang won the French Open at 17 years old in 1989. Boris Becker (in 1985) and Pete Sampras (in 1990), among others, won their first Grand Slam titles as teenagers. And with the women, young players were even more dominant. Steffi Graf won the calendar year Golden Grand Slam as an 18/19 year old in 1988 and Monica Seles, who is a year to the day younger than me, won 8 Grand Slam titles as a teenager (and before she was stabbed).
Thirty_Helens_Agree@reddit
Jackson Chourio was a literal teenager when he joined Brewers spring training in 2024.
LayerNo3634@reddit
I somewhat follow the Spurs because I'm from San Antonio. It's neat to watch the local news and see the mentorship from the our older championship players. David Robertson, Manu, Pop, and many others are in the background and on the practice court helping these kids. Pop has chewed them out a few times and lit a fire to get them going.
SamHandwich0@reddit
We got old brother- its hard to wrap your mind around it, but dont be a boomer. Step aside and let these kids take over.
Lets sit on our collective front porches drinking Deep Eddies Sweet Tea Vodka mixed with sun tea and remember when it was us.
Im good with getting old. We all should be.
Sintered_Monkey@reddit
I don't follow basketball or tennis, but in track and field, there is a 17 year old (18 now?) kid from New Zealand named Sam Ruthe who ran 3:48.88 for the indoor mile. When I was a kid, I remember the first man, Eamon Coghlan, breaking 3:50 indoors. It was a huge deal at the time, and now a high school kid has done it.
This_Committee_6231@reddit (OP)
It feels like that a lot.
-Granby-@reddit
My girl Amit Elor won her first world championship in freestyle wrestling when she was 19 and the next year won the Olympic gold. She is 4 months post having a baby and just qualified for the world team and if she can avoid an injury is pretty much a lock to snag Olympic gold again in 2028.