Championship Rings Not Always Automatic Way to Define Player Legacy

Rings. Women and men wear then when getting married. People also get one when they graduate from high school or college.

Athletes get them when they are part of a championship team. One of the more frequently used types of ammunition we use when engaging in sports arguments regarding which player is better is, "but he has more championship rings" or "he's got no championship rings." As if solving the debate were that simple. Well, sometimes it is but sometimes it is not.

Players undeniably talk about how important it is to win the coveted championship. Three recent Hall-of-Famers (present or future) ended their careers on top, meaning their team winning the championship was that player's last game. John Elway in 1998. David Robinson in 2003 and Jerome Bettis in 2006. All three players were the symbol for their cities. Elway for Denver. Robinson for San Antonio. Bettis for Pittsburgh.

Quarterbacks such as Peyton Manning, Steve Young and Elway were labeled as "yeah but" players for the longest time until leading their teams to the promised land. Meaning "he's had a great career but -- no championships." You see, when a very good to great player finally gets to be part of a team that wins a world championship, fans develop acute amnesia to the previous years when he came up short.

Notice how no one talks about the Michael Jordan era Chicago Bulls that lost to the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics. No one talks about the Elway led Broncos that got their doors blown off by the New York Giants, Washington Redskins and San Francisco 49ers.

Several other present or future Hall-of-Famers, never did get the championship victory shower of champagne such as Dan Marino, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and Ernie Banks. Barry Bonds certainly won't get one if he remains a San Francisco Giant.

The truth of the matter is that there's no hard and fast answer of how much a championship ring validates a career. Simply having a championship ring does not automatically make a player great. Quarterbacks like Phil Simms, Jeff Hostetler, Mark Rypien, Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer own Super Bowl rings but are not likely to be enshrined in Canton, Ohio, anytime soon.

Chauncey Billups and BJ Armstrong own championship rungs but aren't likely to have a plaque in Springfield, Mass., anytime soon. Scott Brosius and Luis Sojo own World Series rings but aren't likely to be in Cooperstown, NY, either.

When assessing how great a player is, you have to evaluate his performance in big games. Meaning, did he do everything he could to put his team in a position to win a title? Malone was a great player but mostly came up small against Jordan's Bulls twice in the NBA Finals. Barkley's Phoenix Suns came up short in his only appearance in the Finals against Jordan's Bulls but not because of him. Plus, Barkley scored 44 points and grabbed 24 rebounds in a Game 7 win in the Western Conference Finals against Seattle. So one could argue that the Suns don't even get there without Barkley.

One also has to trade places. For example, if you put Joe Montana on the Dolphins and Marino on the 49ers what happens? Does Montana win one Super Bowl? Well, maybe yes but it's not a two-inch putt. Other than center Dwight Stevenson, Marino was not surrounded by Hall-of-Fame talent.

The argument that Montana was surrounded by better players than Marino, however, is not necessarily true because wide receiver Jerry Rice was the only offensive teammate of Montana that was a Hall-of-Famer. Keep in mind, Montana won two Super Bowls before rice even became a 49er. Though it's definitely fair to say that Montana's 49ers had much better defenses than Marino's Dolphins.

So does Marino get an elusive Super bowl ring if you put him on the 49ers? My feeling is that he wins two (1984 vs. Miami and 1989 against Denver) but not the four Montana won.