The Greatest

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A hockey analyst was talking about the Oilers superstar Connor McDavid being the greatest hockey player of all time.

Come on now.

McDavid certainly is a terrific player but there was a hockey player who they called, “The Great One.”

I saw Gretzky play live a few times. Once I watched from standing room only and being way up there I was able to see how great he was. He looked like man playing against children.

My Greatest?

Baseball:

Greatest hitter I ever saw was Henry Aaron. Check his numbers. He didn’t cheat either.  

Greatest pitcher was Mariano Rivera - doesn’t matter that he wasn’t a starter. He was the huge advantage all those great Yankees teams had. If I had to choose a starting pitcher for one year - it’s Ron Guidry - 25-3 with 1.78 ERA and 10 shutouts. He was perfect.

Basketball:

I wasn’t a Michael Jordan fan when he played. I would argue that Bird was a better shooter (he was), was a better passer (he was), and was a better rebounder, (he was).

Then I saw that Jordan documentary and I got it.

Floppy James is going to have all the records when it’s all said and done and will have the greatest resume of any player ever in any team sport, but the eye test is off. He’s gotta settle for top 5.

And I don’t care for the Jordan is greatest statement of fact because there are a ton of great players. Bird, Jabbar, Wilt (whose records don’t count for some reason), Curry, Joker. Great, great players.

Football:

There’s no argument anymore against Tom Brady. I once asked Jim Kelly what he thought and he told me a great story about a skills competition between him, Marino, Elway, Steve Young and Joe Montana. Joe Cool won that little competition, but when I asked Kelly for clarification he said:

“It’s Brady. Drives me crazy, but it’s him.”

Hockey:

We already covered it. Gretzky was insane. His records won’t ever be broken. I was at the game at the aud when he scored 50 goals in 50 games.

Golf:

These guys are crazy great, but when Tiger was Tiger he just flat out dominated. You could take Tiger against the field and win most of the bets.

I thought he’d destroy all records but his career was ruined by bad choices and horrible injuries.

Boxing:

I wasn’t an Ali fan when he was in his prime. I rooted for Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and George Foreman when he fought them. 

When his career was all said and done, and when I was able to decipher his political stances…

…he was the greatest I ever saw.

The thing about the conversations about the greatest is that it all depends on your bias and preconceived notions, but some of the arguments are just silly.

Wilt’s records should count!

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