The Whole Wide World

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I suppose that we all have the urge to call something the absolute worst or the greatest ever.

People do it all the time.

Kids say G.O.A.T.

The Greatest of All Time.

I hear it about Michael Jordan and it makes my skin crawl a little.

I say it to my dogs all the time:

"Who's the greatest dog in the whole wide world?

You have to emphasize 'whole wide' to make it even more effective.

Order a pizza sometime...the box that it comes in will proclaim it...the 'best pizza in town'.

So I don't throw around the labels lightly.

My dogs are the greatest in the 'whole wide' world.

Mariano Rivera was the G.O.A.T. of relief pitchers.

Springsteen is the greatest entertainer in the history of the world.

Chamberlin was the greatest basketball player ever.

So...

...I rarely do it.

"This is the worst winter I've ever been a part of," I said to my beautiful wife.

"Pretty bad," she said.

She wasn't quite yet ready to proclaim it.

"85 inches of snow in November. We haven't seen temperatures over 30 all month. Every other day we are under an advisory of sorts. Cold, blowing, freezing, sliding off the road, slipping on the ice."

"We're just getting older. Seems worse."

Perhaps.

Maybe it is just like Jordan.

Maybe we're saying it enough and people are just repeating it.

Like replaying his game-winning shot to win the title against the Jazz. A play he pushed off on.

He was about 8 for 40 in the game.

Yet I look out the window.

Blowing snow.

Freezing temps.

Yep.

I'm saying it.

It's been the worst winter in the whole wide world.

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