Like other sports fanatics, I can’t wait for the safe
resumption of games. Until actual
competition returns media sports programming is trying to fill the void. Yuck!
Have you noticed when broadcast sports can’t report on live events
they gravitate to the “greatest of all time” debate? Personally, I find these arguments contrived.
In my opinion, opinions about greatness in sports (or any
other field for that matter) don’t matter. What matters are results. Today’s talking heads pontificate about why
this person or that is the GOAT while making excuses why their particular GOAT
doesn’t hold actual, individual records; or the most team championships; or blah,
blah, blah. Their GOAT just passes their
“eye test.”
I know all about the eye test. I played basketball at a small college a
long, long time ago. My freshman year
coach was also an assistant varsity football coach:
On the first day of practice I
was warming up under the watchful eye of Coach Bill Foss. He noticed I had a small, jingle-bell
attached to my shoelace. My teammates and
I enjoyed this unusual idea - back in high school! Bells on shoes in college? Not a good eye test. Coach Foss pulled out a linebacker, blocking
pad from his football gear; his eye test for me.
To his surprise, I reached down
into my sock and pulled out a mouthpiece.
He was quite familiar with mouthpieces on the football field; he wasn’t
as accustomed to anyone using one on his basketball teams back in the day. I competed in his rebounding drill and in
real life games, too. Results over jingle-bells?
Whoda thought!
Now I’m no GOAT.
Every record I set in college has been broken. My lack of an eye test probably gave me an
advantage.
In my best year I played low post. At 6’3” and 205 pounds, I was the smallest
center in every game. But I had a
record-setting year. Of course, I had
the mouthpiece LoL! Even so, my teammate
Kjeld Sorensen was the toughest competitor on the team that year – and on any
team, any year I ever played. Even
without a mouthpiece.
The problem with eye test debates is physical appearances don’t
tell the full story. Annuls of greatness
are packed with competitors who didn’t look the part. The mental and emotional sides to competition
are often the difference makers.
Babe Ruth was pudgy; Walter Payton was undersized; no one
saw Jesse Owens on cable TV; Bob Beamon’s 1968 Olympic record still stands today
– do you even know who Bob Beamon is?
Show me the eye test player who scored 100 points in a
single game or grabbed 55 rebounds in another and then I’ll accept that player
as the NBA GOAT vs. Wilt Chamberlain.
Show me the player who won 18 major championships using a persimmon wood
driver; with a steel shaft; a golf ball made with 30 year old technology; and
never had a hint of steroid use; and then I’ll accept that player as the PGA
GOAT vs. Jack Nicklaus.
They even argue about GOATs in horse racing. This coming Tuesday marks the 47th
year of a never-seen-before and never-seen-since race won by Secretariat. The Triple Crown winner won the Belmont
Stakes by 31 lengths! (Link) I call THAT results!
Yes, I’m looking forward to the resumption of actual
competition in sports. Others will
continue to debate their GOATs. For me,
I’m looking past their eye tests.
GAP
When
life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and
share the power of a positive perspective.
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