Greatest Athlete of All-Time: A Magic Choice

I've got to convince myself on my greatest athlete choice, like the Seussian character says,

"I said I do not fear those pants with nobody inside them. I said, and said, and said those words. I said them. But I lied them."

Michael Jordan is not he greatest athlete of all-time. I said, and said, and said those words. I said them. But I lied them.

Or, did I lie them? Let me think about it.

First of all, there is a difference between the greatest athlete and the most dominant athlete. Some athletes are like baby lion cubs, toying with their first mouse. Babe Ruth, George Mikan, and Lew Alcindor at UCLA fall into that category. It was embarrassing to see how outmatched their opponents were. Wilt Chamberlain was like that the night he scored 100 points.

To be considered the very best athlete, you have to sustain the highest level of performance in challenging competition, demonstrating agility, strength, speed, and teamwork. Right off the bat, some sports are eliminated.

Hitting a baseball is perhaps the single most challenging skill in sports, but we really don't see too much speed and agility more than the occasional burst of speed going from first to third or snagging a flyball in the gap. Besides, as George Carlin said, "Baseball is played in a park. The object is to run home and be safe. I'm safe at home."

Football, on the other hand, is played "in an enclosed gridiron. The field general marches his team downfield, into enemy territory and scores a goal." Fine, but again, we don't see incredible athleticism. Some big guys push each around so that occasionally a smaller guy scoots around them and runs 25 yards. Sorry, folks, that just doesn't cut it. So, it's not Jim Brown or Joe Montana.

Maybe Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus or Arnie Palmer? Golf can be played in slacks. Need I say more?

Also, out are jockeys and race car drivers for obvious reasons. The horse and the car do all the movement. The driver is just sitting there. You might as well be talking on Bluetooth, enjoying a latte and listening to drive time radio in the diamond lane in your SUV.

I can see an argument for Olympic athletes. They are the ultra elite: the fastest sprinters on the planet, most incredible marathoners, best decathloninators, mega strong barbell lifting guys, super sassy gymnasts. Olga Korbut, Mary Lou Retton and those folks do incredible things on those freaky bars that make you say "Whoa, how did they do that?" But, you're on once every four years for about 3 minutes! I want to see sustained athleticism with your opponent in your face, not Bela Karolyi in your face.

Which brings us back to the NBA: 48 grueling minutes of speed, strength, and agility repeated 80 times a year, plus about 8 months of playoffs.

When Earvin "Magic" Johnson ran the Showtime Lakers in the 80's, I would say, "Whoa, how does he do that?" just about every time he touched the rock, 48 minutes a night over 80 contests, year after year. He was not so much an athlete as an artist.

Here comes this 6 foot, 9 inch point guard, dribbling the ball about to the height of his shoulder, racing down on the break, now you see it, now you don't, flipping, tossing, threading, zipping, floating the ball to Worthy or Byron or Kareem. It was exhilarating to watch a guy do the extraordinary with every pass. Oh, he could shoot, rebound, and play defense too. Triple double was tattooed on his forehead, and that's before anyone in the NBA not named Rodman had a tattoo.

The Lakers won a ton of championships in the 80's because Magic was a true team player. He was the engine that made it happen. If he wanted to, he could sit out there and shoot all day, but that was not his brilliance. He used his exceptional agility, speed, strength, and grace as the world's greatest athlete to work in concert with his teammates as no one before or since has done. This is why I rate him above Julius Erving and Michael Jordan, who both were incredible show stopping pure athletes.

Magic Johnson is the greatest athlete of all time. Gulp. There, I said it and I meant it.

Sources:

Dr. Seuss, "What was I Scared Of?" in The Sneetches and Other Stories, Random House, 1961.

George Carlin, "Baseball or Football," Youtube.com.

"Magic Johnson Basketball Statistics," Basketballreference.com.