鈥淟eBron James will never be Michael Jordan.鈥 Period. End of discussion.
That has stood for years now as the intractable, hardened opinion of many basketball fans in what probably is the ultimate modern example of sports鈥 culture of argument and debate.
Logic and statistics, the tangible stuff, hardly matters. LeBron, a continuing phenomenon at age 40, could keep growing his all-time scoring record another couple of years, maybe add another NBA championship, and it wouldn鈥檛 matter to most. Because Jordan only gets better and better in memory and myth. He hasn鈥檛 missed a shot in 22 years.
Legends age well, get bigger.
Alex Ovechkin (8) of the Washington Capitals celebrates after scoring his 895th career goal during the second period against the New York Islanders to become the NHL all-time goals leader at UBS Arena on April 6, in Elmont, New York.
Babe Ruth will always be a magical name, even though the image of him is a fading daguerreotype and a dwindling few are still alive who recall actually seeing him play.
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Sports has a new version of LeBron or Michael now, and the sense is it will play out the same way, with the past 鈥 what we鈥檝e come to know 鈥 standing firm against what is happening in the present. So ...
鈥淎lex Ovechkin will never be Wayne Gretzky.鈥 Period. End of discussion.
Right?
Ovechkin scored his 895th NHL regular-season goal on April 6 to surpass Gretzky鈥檚 record of 894 that had stood 31 years. The Washington Capitals star did it in his 1,487th game 鈥 the exact number of games Gretzky played in his career. Ovechkin is 39, his beard mostly gray. He has 42 goals despite missing a chunk of this season injured. Like LeBron, he is defying time. With a year left on his contract, his all-time record will continue to grow.
Will it matter, though, in the 鈥渨ho鈥檚 the greatest鈥 debate that is inevitable and somehow seen as necessary in sports?
Alex Ovechkin (8) of the Washington Capitals speaks during the celebration of his 895th career goal, which passed Wayne Gretzky's 894 goals to become the NHL all-time goal-scoring leader.
Ovechkin scored on a power play in the second period of a 4-1 loss and flopped onto the ice in celebration as the New York Islanders home crowd cheered and chanted 鈥淥vi, Ovi!鈥 as teammates poured from the bench to share the moment.
鈥淚鈥檓 probably gonna need a couple more days or maybe a couple weeks to realize what does it mean to be No. 1,鈥 Ovechkin said afterward. 鈥淚鈥檓 really proud for myself. I鈥檓 really proud for my family, for all my teammates that help me to reach that milestone. It鈥檚 huge. It鈥檚 unbelievable moment, and I鈥檓 happy.鈥
A fellow Russian, Ilya Sorokin, became the 183rd different goaltender to see (or not see) an Ovechkin shot whiz past for a goal. Ovechkin asked the goalie for his stick. Sorokin wrote 鈥895!鈥 and signed it.
The fact that Ovechkin is Russian may be reason enough for those thinking politics to stick with Gretzky, 鈥淭he Great One,鈥 as the greatest ever. Ovechkin is easy to like, though, by all accounts a terrific teammate. He has spent his entire NHL career with the same team, almost unheard of now. He said he would refuse to score his record 895th goal on an empty net, which I loved.
Gretzky attended Sunday鈥檚 game.
Wayne Gretzky (99) and teammate Luc Robitaille, on ice, of the Los Angeles Kings celebrate after Gretzky's record-setting career goal No. 802 against the Vancouver Canucks goalie Kirk McLean during the second period of an NHL hockey game on March 23, 1994. Gordie Howe held the previous record of 801.
鈥淲ayne, you鈥檒l always be 鈥楾he Great One鈥 and you had a record that nobody ever thought would be broken,鈥 commissioner Gary Bettman said in a postgame ceremony. 鈥淏ut Alex, you did it.鈥
Gretzky has been nothing but magnanimous over losing his record.
鈥淭his is what the game is all about. Alex has been great for the game, great for Washington. It鈥檚 wonderful. I鈥檓 very proud of him,鈥 Gretzky said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what makes our game so wonderful, the great athletes that we have and the wonderful people they are. You know, when [Mark] Messier retired and Gordie Howe retired and [Mario] Lemieux retired and Bobby Orr retired, we thought, 鈥極K, what鈥檚 going to happen to our game now?鈥 And then along came Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, and now we鈥檝e got [Connor] McDavid, [Nathan] MacKinnon, Matthew [Tkachuk]. Our game just gets better all the time.鈥
Michael Jordan, center, smiles as he holds the NBA trophy following on June 20, 1993, after the Chicago Bulls won their third straight NBA title. Behind Jordan is Scottie Pippen.
Gretzky鈥檚 larger message is one that might serve as a lesson to sports fans (and media) obsessed with the debate and argument culture 鈥 with pointlessly comparing generations of greatness to anoint only one person as the greatest.
The G.O.A.T. pen needn鈥檛 be that confined. More than one person fits on a mountaintop.
Thankfully in sports we see greatness, talent and accomplishment in rich abundance across the generations, yet we continue needing to compare and rate and ultimately judge who鈥檚 best though we can鈥檛 even agree on the parameters.
As surely as there are two sports fans on barstools and Stephen A. Smith is honking into a mic, there will be a debate whether Shohei Ohtani will go down as the greatest baseball player ever.
Debate culture may not be unique to sports, but sports dominates the field.
They give out best actor awards in the movies, but I don鈥檛 hear a lot of fans of cinema debating Laurence Oliver vs. Marlon Brando vs. Robert DeNiro.
You love Frank Sinatra, I鈥檓 a Ray Charles guy. Who鈥檚 greater? Aren鈥檛 they both? When was the last time you overheard a barroom argument whether da Vinci or Monet was the greatest painter?
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James has scored more points than any other player in NBA history.
The LeBron-or-Michael argument doesn鈥檛 diminish Kobe Bryant or make Bill Russell鈥檚 career less epic, just as Ovechkin-or-Gretzky doesn鈥檛 lessen what Howe did, or Maurice 鈥淩ocket鈥 Richard before him 鈥 or what Crosby (622 career goals and counting) is doing.
Twenty years ago it was Joe Montana or Dan Marino. Neither became less great because Peyton Manning and Tom Brady came along.
Muhammad Ali is a mythic figure in boxing to many of my generation; for my father it was 鈥淭he Brown Bomber,鈥 Joe Louis, punching through opponents and prejudice in a segregated America.
Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron, Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus, Caitlin Clark or A鈥檍a Wilson, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo ... must we exhaust ourselves obsessing over who鈥檚 greater instead of just appreciating greatness in all its forms?
LeBron is great now. Michael was great first.
Gretzky was great first. Ovechkin is great now.
Why in sports are we always insisting we must choose between filet mignon and lobster when we love both and they鈥檙e all right on the plate in front of us to enjoy?
