What is up, guys? Welcome back to Softcore History. Happy New Year. It is me, Rob, and I wanted to give you one last Christmas present before we kick off 2025, and that is two original sketches from our Patreon, Whole Ball, and the Diary of Helen Slegerman Chapter one. Please listen and enjoy,

and I can't wait to give you more content in the new year.

Welcome to another episode of Forgotten Heroes of Sport on NPR. In the world of athletics, few debates are more heroes. are.

In the world of athletics, few debates are more heated than those over the goat.

Whether it's a sport with a relatively short, albeit rich history, like football or basketball, or games whose histories span a century or more, such as soccer,

tennis, golf, and baseball.

Which player is the quote, greatest of all time?

The goat is a debate that seems to both rage endlessly and expand as new combatants

enter first the arena of their sport, and then,

should the fans find them worthy, the arena of the goat debates themselves.

Within these debates, perhaps no subject is more contentious than era.

Do Babe Ruth's 714 home runs, the last one hit a mere two years into Adolf Hitler's still

then promising administration in Germany, really measure up to the likes of Hank Aaron's

755 or Albert Poolehol's even more recent 703.

In these debates, the old are informed confidently by the young that the heroes of the former's youth do not measure up to the modern elite athlete.

Reminiscent fathers are told by impatient sons,

shut up, you old bitch, no one asked you shit.

Now give me your credit card.

Me and the boys are taking some sluts to the mall.

Even more confoundingly,

a star of yesteryear's utter dominance of their sport,

such as Jim Thorpe or Wilk Chamberlain or Babe Ruth,

...