The Great Debate

How many times have you been in a sports bar and argued who held the honor of the greatest running back, baseball pitcher, or hockey player of all-time?

I, myself, have been in that situation many times and your opposition will eventually tell you that it boils down to opinion. I don't think so. Those particular questions really shouldn't. A running back is defined by his yards, a pitcher is defined by his wins, and a hockey player is defined by the amount of goals scored.

So, the answer to the above questions should be Emmitt Smith, Cy Young, and Wayne Gretzky.

Most sport debaters will want to throw in a lot more factors than statistics to declare who the greatest player of all-time, in a particular sport, would be. That's cool, but statistics do not lie and are not a matter of opinion.

Let's analyze ESPN's top-10 choices for the greatest debates of all-time, which can be easily answered, save for one.

10. Instant Replay

Answer: Referees make mistakes. Cameras can't be fallible. Yet, the camera still isn't the final authority, because a human referee makes the final decision. The Ref's word is bond, not Polaroid's, so what's the difference?

9. Should college athletes be paid?

Answer: I'm glad ESPN answered that question before I wrote this article. College athletes are already paid. Make no mistake, folks. The Average Joe goes to Michigan State University and he's stuck with $40,000 in student loans. Mateen Cleaves, Steve Smith, or Magic Johnson attend and earn a free ride to play with a ball. Sounds like getting paid to me.

8. The Designated Hitter

Answer: Honestly, if a pitcher hits or not, does it matter? Purists can argue all they want, but fans like offense, which is why they aren't raising the pitcher's mound. Pitcher duels are booooring. DH equals offense. Give the people what they want, I always say.

7. Who's better? Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams?

Answer: DiMaggio. Why? Because he got to do the Horizontal Hustle with Marilyn Monroe. That has to count for something.

6. Who's better? Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, or Duke Snider?

Answer: The theme here is the best player in New York at the time. Well, I have to go with Willie Mays for this one. You have to admire, not only the accomplishments of Mays, but his courage, which goes a long way to giving credit to his statistics and his character.

Racial tension was exceedingly high during his time and he overcame that pressure to become one of the best players to ever don a glove.

If we were to ask that same question for the New York teams of today, one thing is for sure ... it won't be a Met.

5. Should Pete Rose be in the Hall of Fame?

Answer: Yes. How can you leave a career .303 batter with 4,256 hits out of the Hall of Fame? Oh, he gambled on baseball? Is it wrong? Of course. Did gambling have anything to with his stats? No.

Apparently, only "nice" people get into Cooperstown. Well, Barry Bonds will be there, but I always wondered how he got so bulked up playing for San Francisco when he was a string bean for his tenure with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Things that make you go "hmmmmm."

4. Should there be fighting in hockey?

Answer: Yes. Hockey is boring enough as it is. We watch NASCAR for car crashes, football for devastating hits, and hockey for fisticuffs. If the NHL lockout ever ends, then we need something to look forward to, other than torturing myself through another horrendous Chicago Blackhawks' season.

Throw down the gloves, boys. It's the only thing that keeps me interested.

3. Who's better? Larry Bird or Magic Johnson?

Answer: Michael Jordan

2. College Football System

Answer: The BCS is a horrible system. For lack of a better word, it sucks. The BCS has proved its "suckiness" ever since it's inception. Yo, NCAA, how about a playoff system? Thanks.

1. Who's the greatest athlete of all-time?

How can you possibly answer that and what criteria would you base it on? Do you base it on championships won? Do you base it on statistics? Do you base it on the difficulty of the sport? Is basketball more demanding than tennis? Do more passing yards make you a better athlete than more knockouts?

Who can say?

It is simply an impossible question to answer.

It's almost as impossible to answer as the question of whether or not God exists. You can have all the faith in the world and you will not truly know, for sure, until you die. Simple as that.

There isn't much point in continuing this argument much further, except to say, there are some very good candidates. I already mentioned Smith, Young, and Gretzky. Surely, Jordan, Bonds, the Williams sisters, Tiger Woods, Jim Thorpe, Bo Jackson, Jim Brown, Joe Montana, and Muhammad Ali deserve a nod.

I can go on and on.

The only answer to that question is that they are all the greatest athletes of all-time.

Anything less dishonors, disrespects, and dismisses the achievements of all these athletes, who excelled in whatever sport they played.

As much as it would be nice to declare the all-time greatest athlete, it cannot happen. Simply put, we will all be forced to ponder that mystery, just as much as we wonder what the hell we're doing on this planet.

Comments and Conversation

December 12, 2004

justin hicks:

I don’t know about not being able to pick the greatest athlete of all time I mean look at the people who have played professional in two sports Like Deon Sanders or Like Players Like Allen Iverson or Randy Moss who could of played pro in to different sports I mean of course the best athlete can’t be determined by judging them in there sport, athlete is how a player can dominate one sport and then be like okay time to move on and play another I mean I would have to say deon sanders is up there this guy hit a homerun and scored a touchdown in the same week thats and athlete.

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