Here are some great matchups and potential discussions: Muhammad Ali vs. Mike Tyson, Henry Aaron vs. Barry Bonds, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar vs. Shaquille O'Neal, Richard Petty vs. Jeff Gordon, Bobby Orr vs. Wayne Gretzky, Joe Montana vs. Tom Brady, Coke vs. Pepsi, MASH vs. Seinfeld, Superman vs. Batman, South Park vs. Simpsons, Carmen Electra vs. Megan Fox, and Viagra vs. Cialis.
Take it from one who knows.
Whether it's experts debating on Stone Cold Sports.com, a group of people discussing last night's game while eating lunch at a neighborhood diner, or a gaggle of six year olds pondering their true calling in life while deciding who gets to pet the puppy first, nothing captures our attention, creates a dialogue, or brings warring factions together only to split them apart, than the debate about who or what is “the greatest of all time.”
In each discussion, there are so many variables to be considered: the benefits of modern equipment, better physical conditioning, schedule changes, night games vs. day games, and more powerful and game-altering drugs.
Also, these others variables can enter the discussion, such as the invasive and often times moronic questions posed by a sensationalistic media corps, the difference between team and individual efforts, players arrest records, and so forth. You get the idea.
Rare indeed and, perhaps, impossible at one time, to even remotely consider we would be able to put our finger squarely on the mark of just one athlete, call that person the best ever, and do so without a single doubt.
It is unlikely to be able, and some might even say foolish, to mark that athlete as the best of an entire generation.
Those who cry sacrilege are those who either cannot or refuse to see the overall scope of one athlete’s athletic achievements when compared to every other sport, every other discipline, and every other sporting condition.
However, it would be foolish to not acknowledge what we are witnessing.
Excellence. Grit. History. Greatness.
Tiger Woods is, without a doubt, the greatest athlete of this generation. With performances—such as his victory on the 72nd hole at Bay Hill—he sets a new standard for generations of athletes, in every sport, to follow.
There is, at this moment, no other athlete who so owns their sporting vocation. The PGA Tour was a mere shell of a mere shell, while Woods was absent.
No disrespect meant towards any of the other golfers on Tour, such as, well, they know who they are, but Xbox golf loyalist would get more attention paid to it, if Tiger wasn’t there.
Seek and ye shall not find another athlete at any level who maintains such a stunning level of play.
Taking 2009 out of the mix, for obvious reasons, Tiger has been a top four money winner for 12 straight years—eight of those as the one to beat. That’s 12 years of competing directly against and smiting every single “next great challenger.”
Woods was fourth in 1998, when he played in three fewer events than No. 1 David Duval. Even the great ones find themselves needing to step up or out from those they rely on for advice, and while a great in his own right, swing coach, Butch Harmon, may have tinkered a bit too much with young Tiger’s game.
After all, Woods had already become the world’s No. 1 player in a record-setting, 42-week stretch.
He gets a mulligan for being, perhaps, the fastest growing star in the sports firmament since Bobby Fischer. He certainly had a better set of mental marbles to deal with it.
He was second, in 2003, playing in fewer tournaments than all but two of the top 20. Ernie Els and Nick Price were those other two, and they were way back in the weeds.
Tiger also wound up second, playing in nine fewer stops than top cash dog, Vijay Singh. That earlier rift with Harmon had grown to a full-blown canyon.
Plus, when a global superstar marries a stunning woman and finds something a bit more important than driving off the tee, he is allowed a career sidestep.
Two-hundred sixty-four consecutive weeks as the world’s top-ranked player buys you another well-earned understanding.
He slipped to fourth again in 2004, the year Singh was able to actually strike that deal with the devil and blow away the field with over $10M in earnings.
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