Are We Seeing the Greatest of All Time? Consider it.

Last week, Kobe Brant and the Las Angeles Lakers won the NBA Championship. For me, this win helped solidify his place as one of the greatest players in NBA

Last week, Kobe Brant and the Las Angeles Lakers won the NBA Championship. For me, this win helped solidify his place as one of the greatest players in NBA history.

 

But in sports, too often we have a hard time claiming or at least comparing today’s athletes to the greats of years past.

 

On television, sports radio, print and office chats, I’ve heard “how can you even compare Bryant to Jordan?” Or “He’s not even in the same breath and Michael.”

 

For the life of me, I can’t figure out why.

 

Are we scared? Is there something wrong with a new greatest player coming along that makes us think history will be forgotten?

 

Inevitably, the evolution of man will show, today’s athletes are faster, stronger and generally more in shape. With the advancements in technology in workouts an emphasis on training regiments and the numbers of athletes working to become professionals, each era is on a whole better than the one that preceded it. 

 

So how can you compare it? 

 

How would Wayne Gretzky, “The Great One’s”, game translate into the NHL today in 2009? Most would tend to agree. Sure, while obviously he’s stand out, and still be considered a great player, but he probably wouldn’t even come close to the gaudy numbers he put up in the 80’s and early 90’s. 

 

Does this diminish his place in history? Absolutely not. For my money he was and still is the “The Great One.” But we have to watch out. Because there will be, in hockey and other sports, athletes that come along and dominate their sports in ways Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Jack Nicholas, John Elway, Lou Gehrig, and Carl Lewis did in their lifetimes.

 

To not compare or even reclaim the athletes we see today as just as great if not greater than our past would be a shame. An injustice. Competition levels far exceed those that came before it. To win in today’s game is considerably harder than it was 50 years ago.

 

Coming full circle, Bryant is better than Jordan in most categories. He’s a better shooter, defender, ball handler and passer. Where Jordan keeps his lead, is winning. He was a winner. Whether he was down 15 or up 20 you knew he was going to win. Do what ever it took to keep or get a lead and not look back. Bring his team up to levels not even they thought they could achieve. 

 

But the debate will continue, and should continue. If not for Kobe Bryant, than for Albert Pulos, Derek Jeter, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, Alex Ovechkin, LeBron James and others. 

 

Don’t give me the argument that their not even in the same breath as those that came before. While the aforementioned have a long ways to go before I crown them as the greatest of all times, they’re all well on their ways for consideration. A few may even make the case sooner than later and will be placed on that pedestal waiting for the next wave of athletes to knock them off. 

 

 

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