So, you’re 18 years old, and you free a genie from a lamp. The genie will grant you one wish, and it’s a very limited wish… it will cause you to become the greatest competitor ever in some event or competition which is clearly and directly competitive. That is, you can be a football quarterback, or a golfer, or a chess player, but not something like a surgeon, or a singer, or a politician. You will be 2 or 3 percent better at this than the previous greatest ever, so freakishly good but not people-will-suspect-the-supernatural good.
There are two versions of the wish:
(1) In one version, the past is rewritten completely. So if you choose “golfer” in this version, then suddenly everyone will remember you having won the junior championships at age 14, what golf schools you went to, etc. So presumably people who are coaches or whatever will already have heard of you.
(2) In the other version, 18-year-old you will just suddenly become talented, and will have to go out and prove it as a total unknown.
In both cases you will have a grace period of about 6 months during which your talents will maintain themselves magically. After that you will have to practice and keep in shape and so forth just like any other top-level competitor.
What would you pick, and why?
3% will be too big at the top level. People will suspect something is up.
Running: Mile 3:43 down to 3:37. Marathon 2:03:36 down to 1:59:54
100m 9.58 down to 9.29
Baseball 105 mph fastball to 109 mph fastball
A 399 foot fly ball will go 12 feet farther, the difference between a flyout and a home run in many parks.
I’d say Starcraft II, I was going to say DOTA 2 or LOL because of their bonkers prize values for tournaments, but I ultimately discarded them due to their team nature which makes my 6-month no-practice window more dire (and my 3% advantage may not be enough to compensate for a mediocre team). I figure I’d use that 3% better to win (or at least place in) a few tournaments, then go back to doing non pro-gaming and fade into obscurity. I’d use version 2 because being an “unknown” isn’t really a huge hurdle in esports due to them being so young.
Though there is a caveat that I’d like present me to get the skill, 18 year old me wouldn’t be worth much with the skill decay clause, because those games didn’t exist when I was 18. Version 1 wouldn’t really mean anything since, again, these games didn’t exist until recently, so maybe only the last year or three of my life would be rewritten anyway.
My only other thought is Go, but I’ll exclude it because I don’t want to understand Go so I can compete, but rather so I have the ability to analyze the game at a deep level for AI purposes.
If I had been the greatest chess player in the world when I was 18, I would have beaten Boris Spasky. Assuming I could keep my edge for a few years I would have gone on to beat Fisher, Kasparov and Karpov. Pretty sweet!
Of course, I probably also would have magically gained the world chess champion’s tendency to be mentally unhinged and would forfeit the title when I couldn’t get out of the asylum long enough to play in a tournament.
Poker lets you win a lot of money reasonably anonymously. Take a few years, win a bunch of money, invest wisely and spend the rest of your life doing what you love.
Golf also lets you win a lot of money, but not anonymously… so win a bunch of money, get some sponsorships, and then spend the rest of your life using your fame and fortune to do good. I don’t actually LIKE Golf but I think golfing professionally would be a lot less likely to end up with me paralyzed or contused than a lot of other sports, not to mention the contractual time obligations that come with being on a team, etc.
Tennis is similar to Golf but I suspect less lucrative and probably requires a stricter fitness regimen.
Baseball batter (I’m including decent fielding skills as part of the package). If I’ve got the skills, I’m pretty much guaranteed a job - no need to worry about being stuck in a weak team or sitting on a bench. Baseball’s a popular sport and I’d make a lot of money (A-Rod makes over $150,000 per game). And baseball players are much less likely to have career-ending injuries.
But could you get there in 6 months? Remember the OP said you’ve only got the magic touch for 6 months, after that you go back to your own ability level.
I read it to be that you could maintain your high-level skills magically for the first six months and then maintain them at a high-level afterwards through a normal training regime.
Wrong; He said you’ve got six months “for free” where you basically don’t even have to pay attention; You could go on all night benders and still be the best in the morning.
AFTER six months, you need to maintain a regular training regimen like everyone else who plays your game at top level.
Can’t fuck me or anyone else up. So no football: I don’t want a lot of money along with my brain damage. And no gladiatorial combat.
Makes me a lot of money.
Ideally has a good effect on the world.
Is competing for something like the Archon Genomics XPrize an option? $10 million to sequence 100 centenarians’ genetic codes. I figure that a 3% edge might put me beyond current researchers; if I can use this to draw enough people to my team, I stand a pretty good chance of winning the prize.
I’d go with golf. Very good earning potential. Long career path. Low risk of catastrophic injury. It clearly takes work to maintain a high level of skill, but I imagine that one can be competitive without the insane work ethic required of a pro footballer. I don’t need to be the greatest of all time, I’m sure I can still be a solid competitor and earn good money with a lifestyle that I can enjoy.
I would stick with my current sport archery flight shooting, I formerly held the world record and was beaten by 10". I have exceeded the record by 20 yards in practice shots so would just like to have my best practice shots happen durring a competition.
I agree with notfrommensa and others upthread, professional golf is a very obvious choice. And I happen to actually enjoy the sport even though I am a bit of a duffer.
What was really odd was that my first thought was FOOTBALL, but then my older and somewhat wiser self reminded me about concussions and destroyed knees.
That brings up a point here. Does the OP posit some magical anti-aging ray that turns my body into an enhanced 18-year-old version, or am I transported back into the time when I was 18 with an enhanced 18-year-old body? Do I retain my current set of memories?
I’ve no interest in being the best in a competitive activity. So, whatever will allow me to win in the quickest way the largest amount of money, so that I can get rid of the competition stuff ASAP and enjoy the winfall.
Better if it’s something obscure so that people won’t recognize me later in life.