The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

For as much as I'd like to do so, it's incredibly difficult to come up with any kind of rational argument that Michael Jordan wasn't the greatest player in the history of the NBA. The player which generates the most comparisons is LeBron James. Where James comes up short in the minds of most analysts is his Finals record. While Jordan was a perfect 6-0 in the NBA Finals, James is only 3-6. If we stand back and look at the bigger picture, however, what does James's Finals record truly say about him and is there a legitimate argument to be made that he is Jordan's equal or even superior to the former Chicago Bulls legend? While I don't like playing the what-ifs hypothetical card, I do think it's important to look at the full context of situations. In Michael Jordan's six trips to the NBA Finals, his teams were favored to win each and every one. So, in the eyes of oddsmakers, his teams equaled their expectations. In LeBron James's nine trips to the Fi...

As I mentioned previously, I got into a rather heated exchange (well, I was on the receiving end of his "heat". I was rather cool and collected) about Carolina Panthers' quarterback Cam Newton last weekend. The person whom was speaking to me made the claim that Newton is already great and has nothing more to prove to illustrate this, as he saw it, fact. I, on the other hand, said that while Newton has gotten off to a solid start in what will hopefully be a lengthy NFL career, I'm not going to judge the guy based on 5 (4 at the time) games. So, how do we define greatness in terms of athletes? Is there one clear definition? As usual, I think there are a variant of answers to the question of defining athletic greatness. There is such a thing as short-term greatness and while Cam Newton hasn't illustrated even short-term greatness yet, I could understand the other's (the guy at the bar) standpoint a bit better if he had alluded to this as opposed to declaring Ne...