The All-Time Greats

I know this is one heck of a large open topic, so I'm sure to get a lot of grief for each of my picks from most of you. So, as difficult as it may be to select just one player from each of the major sports, let's take a crack at it.

Dig back to any era, compare and contrast as you wish, and use your own criteria to select who is THE guy from the following sports:

National Basketball Association

I really don't think this selection is much of a surprise to anyone.

Granted, I was never a fan of Michael Jordan, it is quite difficult to put him anywhere but the top spot.

Jordan is tied with Wilt for the all time PPG average, and this is including his two subpar seasons with the Wizards scoring an average of 22.9 and 20.

He put together five MVP seasons, 10 first team All NBA years, six titles in which all of them he was named finals MVP, a record nine times first team all defensive, led the league in scoring a record 10 times....and the list goes on and on.

But the most telling part of all is that sure, Magic, Russell, Bird, Wilt and Jabbar were all great; but if you had one guy in NBA history to build a team around you are nuts not to go with 23.

Major League Baseball

If you think anybody but George deserves to be the king of this sport you must check yourself in to get a psych evaluation.

The Babe was the most feared slugger of all time (don't get me wrong, Aaron's longevity is not overlooked) and truly is the all time home run king.

So let's go straight to the part that blows everybody else in baseball history right out of the water: his pitching ability. Many don't realize the fact that he was a two-time 20+ game winner.

He also finished two other times in double digit wins, with a career ERA of 2.28, He also never finished with a W/L% of less than .643; in comparison, Bob Gibson had only a career .591 percent, Drysdale with a .557.

Also, don't throw out his career .1 Homers given up per nine innings. In 1930, nine years from his last previous start, he came in to throw a complete game, three run win. Impressive to say the least.

National Football League

This is probably the toughest pick here. I don't think there is any sport where it is so hard to select one guy from any team (let alone a season or all time) that you can say is the greatest ever.

I get your argument for Jim Brown.

I see it for Walter Payton. I can accept Lawrence Taylor or Dick Butkus. Jerry Rice has a right to be spoken of, along with many others...but what do we all hear and say is the most important position on the field?

Of course the QB. "Joe Cool" or "Golden Joe" was THE man. Fourteen years in San Fransisco. Four trips to the big dance, four times the winner. He and Terry Bradshaw are the only starting QBs to win the Lombardi trophy that many times, and no disrespect to FOX's nutjob analyst, but his mighty D won those Super Bowls.

Funny thing is that while he has fantastic stats, it is the intangibles that set him apart from the pack. He was one of those guys that if you gave him an opportunity you just knew that you were going to pay.

He had his big time highlight plays like the catch, he still holds playoff stat records, he is the only player to be the Super Bowl MVP three times and also has amazing SB stats: he completed 83 of 122 passes for 1,142 yards and 11 touchdowns with no interceptions, earning him a passer rating of 127.8...talk about making plays under the biggest spotlight.

National Hockey League

I think his name says it all. The Great One. Few players in any sport have dominated the field quite like Wayne Gretzky did.

All Wayne did by the time he retired was hold 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records and six all star game records (for those of you who count them).

He is the only player in league history to top 200 points in a season...and he did it four times. He scored over 100 points in 15 NHL seasons, with 13 of them consecutive.

He was a 10-time Art Ross trophy winner (scoring champ), five-time Lady Byng winner (sportsmanship/performance), nine Hart trophies (MVP) and five Pearson/two Conn Smyth trophies (playoff MVP).

When joining the LA Kings in 89 they went from a 68 point team up to 91, with 11 more wins; immediately making them legit contenders year in and year out. All of those big seasons of stats, but he only twice spent 50+ minutes in the sin bin (penalty minutes).

One more stat for you: Gretzky has more career assists than the second overall guy has in total points...in 269 less games. All of those records and only being 15th in all time games logged.