Journalist David Epstein takes down the self congratulatory attitude behind goal shattering success in high level sport. Epstein explores all the ways that athletes have improved over the past decades in his eye opening Ted Talk by using comparison, logos and pathos, and significant figures.
Comparison plays a massive role in Epstein’s talk; he mindfully uses wonderful examples to portray his knowledge and ideas in accessible ways. He compares two very different cyclist records to enlighten the audience of what really happens where new technology is involved. Comparing 1972 to 1996, the two times were separated by five miles and two thousand two hundred and thirty four feet, but when the same equipment was used the difference became eight hundred and eighty three feet…show more content… The assessment of the two distances effectively establishes a well depicted comparison, as the audience was shown a very real display of the effects of new technology on sport; not just the athletes getting “stronger, faster, bolder and better than ever” (Epstein, 2014, 14:16). Breaking down “The Big Bang of Body Types” (Epstein, 2014, 7:02), Epstein discusses the change of height and weight ideals in all types of sports. To emphasize this intense switch in body types, he digs in to show us a comparison of the “Vitruvian Man”, basically the ideal body type. Producing a successful display to the audience of the height and length these abnormally tall athletes possess, Epstein shows the “Vitruvian Man” of an NBA player, which stretches all the shapes and measurements behind the original diagram (Epstein, 2014, 7:02). The use of comparison provided by
