There are so many times that I turn on Sportscenter for the purpose of watching spectacular highlights by world-class athletes and after less than five minutes of watching I am sorely disappointed of what they are talking about. They show 30 seconds of highlights and then break down and discuss the game or play for the next 5 minutes. A lot of the time the discussion and breakdown involves more than one player. Who's the greatest of all time? MJ vs Kobe. Kobe vs Lebron. MJ vs Kobe vs Lebron. Instead of asking who's the greatest of all time shouldn't we be asking, Does it really matter?
I do love watching games that pits player against player and rivalry games. Watching a game where Lebron and Durant just go back and forth is quite exciting. But why do we care who is better? They're both really great basketball players and in my opinion are the #1 and #2 best players in the world right now (I'll leave it to you to decide who is #1 and who is #2).
Many people consider Michael Jordan the greatest basketball player of all time. I myself, only being 24 years old don't remember watching a lot of MJ's games. The first time I really remember watching Michael Jordan, and all other sports for that matter was in 1997, when the Jazz and Bulls played in the finals. I was 8 years old at that time. I remember him being a really good player and my dad talking about him but being so young I wasn't able to fully appreciate how good he was. When I look back at games that he played in I understand why people consider him the greatest basketball player of all time.
There are several groups of basketball fans: The first are the old timers. Old timers idealize players such as Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, and all these young players now a days are just a bunch of baggy short wearing selfish players. As Uncle Drew would say, "It's all about the buckets, youngbloods." The next group of basketball fans are the middle age, glory day era fan. These fans still talk about their own glory days playing high school ball and lived during the 80's and 90's when basketball started to really take fame thanks to Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan. The next group, I'll call the Kobe and Lebron Era fans. They know a little bit of the glory day era but they hold close to their assertion that Kobe or Lebron is the greatest of all the time. This era claims that championship rings define how great a player is. In their mind the order of greatness goes, 1. Michael Jordan (6 rings), 2. Kobe Bryant (5 rings), 2. Lebron James (2 rings, and counting). These people seem to forget about Bill Russell who has 11 rings or the fact that Robert Horry has 7 rings with 3 different teams. The last group is the bandwagon fan. They don't really know much about the game but they just follow around the teams that are good at the present moment.
All these different groups argue back and forth with each other relentlessly. I'm here to tell you it doesn't matter. The game of basketball is not a competition to find out who is the greatest of all time, that's why they crown a champion every single year. The only thing that really matters is that we enjoy the game. Looking back I think about the 1997 and 1998 NBA finals. Thinking about who was playing, I should have relished the moment even more. Stockton and Malone going against Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. What a series? And the fact that they played two years in a row is a privilege. I still am bitter that Michael Jordan beat the Jazz two years in a row. Michael Jordan may have saved earth and the looney tunes form an evil alien race but he made an 8 year old cry twice. Oh and by the way he pushed him, we all know he pushed him.
Sports fans everywhere need to just stop arguing and enjoy the game. If we think about where the sports world is at right now we are so privileged. We get to experience players like Lebron, Durant, Kobe, Chris Paul, and Blake Griffin play. Nobody is arguing when Lebron James gets an alley-oop from D-Wade and jumps so high it seems he his going to hit his head on the rim or backboard. At that moment we don't care who is the greatest, we are enjoying the moment. In 20 years when we get to tell the next generation of sports fans who we got to watch play, they will marvel and excited to ask us what it was like to watch them play.
Enjoy the game. Love the game.
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