I dunno what was going on with that - read something briefly about it a while ago, though don't know enough details to comment.

btc and eth are so popular if they’re so slow relative to our underdog coins

I'd probably say, first-mover advantage.

Bitcoin was the first, and has had the most time to grow its community of supporters, thus gaining the most traction, adoption, and momentum.

Ethereum... well, it was the first of its kind as a smart-contract based platform, decentralized world-computer. And, they got their marketing right.

Since, there's been a ton of projects - though so many quick to just jump on the trend, with not alot of substance to back them up or the communities and entrepreneurial acumen to achieve what BTC and ETH did.

And yeah... give EOS time. It's still very early. And as we can see with Dan's approach to Bitshares and Steemit - it may be more a marathon than a sprint, and the foundation of performance and fundamentals may prove the tortoise vs. the hare metaphor correct, in the midst of countless other projects who are putting hyped, sensationalistic marketing as their priority before the technology itself...