[d4cohn]

Trying to think of some modern equivalents.

Steph Curry is widely considered a nice guy.  There is, perhaps, no dominant player in the NBA now akin to Tiger Woods in his prime, but Curry can be argued to be the best player of the last decade (yeah, there are others in contention).

In tennis, both Raphael Nadal and Roger Federer have reputations as being nice guys off the court.  Although they split up dominance of tennis, the two of them, plus Novak Djocovic (who is a bit polarizing, but is also considered a nice guy) have more or less monopolized mens tennis for the last two decades.

Lionel Messi was (along with Christian’s Ronaldo) the most dominant soccer player of his generation.  Also, a kind, humble, and decent person.

You probably do enrich for prickly personalities at the highest levels, because it is probably harder to confront a-holes if they are the best in the world at what they do.  But being an a-hole is neither necessary nor sufficient for success.

BC

I think Steph is great (and seems like a nice guy), but Lebron has unequivocally been the best player of the last decade (which includes all four of his rings covering his Miami, second Cleveland stint, and Lakers runs). Lebron, IMO, is the closest comparison in terms of individual performance along with impact on his sport (in terms of raising salaries, global prominence etc.) and sports culture to Tiger of the names you mentioned. Lebron has been charitable with his I Promise Schools, but he has been polarizing (with people liking and disliking him) similar to Tiger. Lebron, like Tiger, regardless of how you feel about him, is definitely talked about (and talking about him has essentially allowed people like Skip Bayless to achieve prominence of their own).

[d4cohn]

Trying to think of some modern equivalents.

Steph Curry is widely considered a nice guy.  There is, perhaps, no dominant player in the NBA now akin to Tiger Woods in his prime, but Curry can be argued to be the best player of the last decade (yeah, there are others in contention).

In tennis, both Raphael Nadal and Roger Federer have reputations as being nice guys off the court.  Although they split up dominance of tennis, the two of them, plus Novak Djocovic (who is a bit polarizing, but is also considered a nice guy) have more or less monopolized mens tennis for the last two decades.

Lionel Messi was (along with Christian’s Ronaldo) the most dominant soccer player of his generation.  Also, a kind, humble, and decent person.

You probably do enrich for prickly personalities at the highest levels, because it is probably harder to confront a-holes if they are the best in the world at what they do.  But being an a-hole is neither necessary nor sufficient for success.

BC

I think Steph is great (and seems like a nice guy), but Lebron has unequivocally been the best player of the last decade (which includes all four of his rings covering his Miami, second Cleveland stint, and Lakers runs). Lebron, IMO, is the closest comparison in terms of individual performance along with impact on his sport (in terms of raising salaries, global prominence etc.) and sports culture to Tiger of the names you mentioned. Lebron has been charitable with his I Promise Schools, but he has been polarizing (with people liking and disliking him) similar to Tiger. Lebron, like Tiger, regardless of how you feel about him, is definitely talked about (and talking about him has essentially allowed people like Skip Bayless to achieve prominence of their own).