I want to look at why only Champions and winners are considered to be legends—do you really have to win everything available in your respective sport to be classed as a legend? In fact, do you have to win anything at all?
For me, legends come in many different forms. I don't believe that you have to be a champion to become a legend.
The word legend has been used all too often to describe champions and winners. There are examples of people who I think are legends in their own right who have'nt won a thing. Then there are people who have won things that I consider a legend but person x wouldn't.
Jenson Button—the Legend Who Never Won a Title
I look upon Button as a legend. I may get some stick for this one, but here goes.
When Jenson entered the Formula One circus in the year 2000, everyone was prepared to see the best British F1 driver since Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell. That, however, never materialised, and Button still only has that one career win at the rain-soaked hungarian GP 2006 under his belt after eight years of racing
He has 1 career win.
15 podium finishes.
Three pole positions.
No fastest laps.
And a not-all-that-impressive 232 career points all from 148 F1 races.
That surely is enough to deem him not a legend, right? Wrong!
Button, for me, is a legend because if it would have been me, I'd probably have retired by now and hung my head in shame. But he still turns up, week-in and week-out in a happy, optimistic frame of mind, and is dedicated to taking the Honda F1 team back to the top end of the field where they were two years ago .
We regularly see him in an upbeat mood talking to Louise Goodman after some failure or another thats occured to his car—he is never in a negative frame of mind.
He had offers to drive for other teams that may have given him a chance of a title fight. Rumour had it that it was Mclaren-Mercedes who wanted him before signing Heikki Kovalainen, but he stayed put and is hell-bent on making Honda a force to be reckoned with again .
He could have jumped ship and gone straight to a better performing car and team. Some will wonder why he is so dedicated to his team, because Honda seem to be underachieving massivley. By the time they are back up the top end again, it will be not far off retirement time for Button and his dream of being Formula 1 WDC could all be over.
Some thought that when Traction Control was removed from the cars for the 2008 season that we would see Button shine, that he may have an advantage over other drivers as his right foot is like traction control in itself—he is so smooth on the throttle when exiting corners. That has'nt realy happened either, so it's just a poor car that he has to contend with.
Many people would say that his playboy lifestyle has affected his on-track performances. That cant be true because the "playboy" lifestyle would surely make a human more confident and more eager to impress—I think the case is more a mixture of rotten luck and poor performing cars .
So for his grit , determination, and will to fight even when he knows he probably won't win another race again—let alone a title—is why I consider Jenson Button to be a legend. It can't be easy to accept the position he is in.
The same goes for the rest of the guys at the back of the field. They are legendary the way they turn up and plug away at it, but drivers like Sutil are still young—they have a chance of a move to a bigger team in the future. Button, however, unfortunatly doesn't have a lot of time left.
Maybe I'm crazy and the only one who considers Button to be legendary. In terms of winning, he is NOT legendary, but as I have said already, I don't think you have to be a champion to go down as a living legend. The man has a big heart and he wears it on the bonnet of his Honda all the time.
It would be such a shame to see such a talent disappear into the mire of forgotten drivers, the nearly-but-not-quite-there club, and believe me he is talented—he just never had the cars or opportunities to show us what he is really made of.
Britain's only hope of a WDC now lie solely on the shoulders of Lewis Hamilton. Now don't get me wrong, I like Heikki Kovalainen, but it would have been nice if Button and Hamilton were fighting for the title, both in a Mclaren, two British drivers in the team I support would have been a dream. It's a shame that move didn't happen.
So, Bleacher Creatures, I pose this question to you all: Do you think one has to be a winner and champion to be seen in this light?
What do you all think of Jenson Button's will, grit, and determination? Is he a legend for that? Or is he a Formula 1 flop?
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