Stab Podcast: Kelly’s Got Nothing On Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor

Have you ever pondered the extremely arbitrary yet all-too-common question: who is the greatest athlete of all time?

In surfing, we hear it quite a lot. Mainly because of one man, who’s got a legitimate shot at the crown.

Robert Kelly Slater — 11x World Champ, 6x Pipe Master, and nearly-50-year-old man still on Tour — is part of a conversation that includes Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, and Lionel Messi in a recent piece on Stab Premium about the greatest sportsmen of the modern era.

What that article fails to mention, but is brought up in the comments by an extremely astute sports journalist and occasional Stab Premium author, Paul Evans, is that Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, of darts fame, and George Digweed, The Godfather of clay pigeon shooting both have records that far surpass the achievements of every so-called “athlete” listed above, Kelly included.

In a recent episode of The Drop (see above), our Australian co-host Danny Johnson references the gross negligence of this piece and proceeds to rattle off Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor stats that blow Slater out of the water: 204 event wins, 16 world titles (8 of those consecutive), and 12 straight years without a bullseye missed*.

The GOAT looks a bit sheepish in comparison: 55 event wins, 11 world titles (5 of those consecutive), and a little-known personal record of 12 carving-3s completed on one wave.

Which is impressive, but not when compared to George Digweed’s 26 World Titles (and counting).

Also on this week’s pod, Danny and Buck discuss:

Kolohe Andino’s new deal, who won Stab in the Dark with Jack Robbo, a supertyphoon that flattened Siargao Island (home of Cloud 9), their Vans Triple Crown of Surfing picks, and a very special surf sin.

Toward the end of the episode, you’ll also get to hear a raw snippet of the Stab Interview with Jeremy Flores, which our editor in chief Big Power Surfer said was, “The most anyone has ever opened up to me.”

Find ‘The Drop’ on Soundcloud, Spotify, or Apple Pods under ‘Stab Podcasts’.

*I think Danny made this one up.