There is no doubt he is the best rider today by a very long way. The trouble is with all these polls is that you never get to compare like with like. Different era's, different machinery, different degrees of professionalism, so it's impossible to say who is the best of all time.
The only problem that I have with anybody who is totally dominant in their chosen field is that it makes the sport, overall, less exciting. the same goes for any sport. There are individuals or teams who totally dominate for a particular spell of time and make the outcome a bit too predictable to be entertaining.
I mean, we can all remember sporting events when all you were really doing was turning up to see Australia win at cricket, England win the 6 nations, Manchester United win the premiership, Tiger Woods win the open, Federer win Wimbledon, Schumacher lead the F1 procession home, Rossi win another MotoGP. Fine if you are a rabid fan of any of the teams or individuals but not if you want close, nail biting competition.
And isn't it good when the tide turns and somebody starts to beat the favourites? Would the whole nation have gone crazy unless we were in with a good shout of beating the Aussies? Isn't it refreshing to see Arsenal and Chelsea putting the boot in? Isn't even F1 a little less predictable now that the Scumacher/Ferrari stranglehold has been broken?
My preference is for a scenario like WSB in 2004 where any one of four people could've won right down to the wire.
Jools
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