Opinion: Young guys dominating their leagues

By Travis Norris | gargoyle@flagler.edu

In every sport there is always a superstar who outshines other players. Whether it’s shooting 40 points in a game or taking a team to the Super Bowl, these star players make big things happen. Usually we hear about the same athletes such as Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant or Jeff Gordon.

But all of this seems to be changing right in front of our eyes. A new breed of talent has stepped into the sports world’s highlights, and none of them can be stopped. The funny thing about this new talent is they are are young and all under the age of 25. It seems to me that the older guys are falling off and this young and new generation of athletes is moving in.

Just this past weekend a rookie NASCAR racer named Trevor Bayne was the youngest person to ever win the Daytona 500. It was only his second race in NASCAR and he beat star race car drivers such as Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Bobby Labonte. The Daytona 500 is known as one of the most challenging races in all of NASCAR. Dale Earnhardt, the father of Dale Earnhardt Jr., died on the track racing years ago due to its grueling and challenging conditions. This young racer proved to these older guys that it’s time to step their game up.

Blake Griffin, who is a rookie star power forward for the Los Angeles Clippers is taking the NBA by storm. Griffin, 21 years old, has been crushing the competition up against some of the most feared players in the NBA. He’s been running circles around guys such as Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Paul Pierce.  He’s an all-around dynamic player whose career is only going to get better. He won the NBA Slam-Dunk Competition, was in the All-Star game, and will most likely receive rookie of the year.

Rory Mcllroy, 21, is a professional golfer who is on his way to becoming one of the best golfers. He’s won the Well’s Fargo Championship, and tied for third in the British Open Championship and The PGA Championship. This is a pretty remarkable stat for your first year on tour. He outplayed Tiger and many other veteran golfers in 2010 to gain his respect. Tiger Woods even put him on the front cover of his own video game, so you know this kid is something special to the league.

I’m really not sure why all of these young athletes are competing at such high levels these days. Could it be because of how our technology has become so advanced, and made it better for  training and equipment? Could it be that this is the explosion generation where all the young take over the old? Who really knows.

All I’m saying is these guys are making history and these older guys better watch out. You might get a call tomorrow morning saying  that you just lost your job. It’s time for the old guys to step their game up or step down, because these young guns aren’t stopping anytime soon.