What Is Legacy, Who Is The Greatest, Who Cares?- Randy Routier
To be honest I was waiting for some of my fellow friends on SportsNetUSA.net to blog first. I was hoping that someone would write in and smash Brett Favre and then I could respond. So far it has not happened. The week after the NFL championships is usually a slow sports week. This week has been no exception and already I want to scream. It has me thinking I want to find a classical music station and stop listening to so much sports talk. I would like to take a look back and a quick look forward to the Super Bowl. Somewhere another tradition has bit the dust with the Super Bowl now in February instead of January. Just think if they go to an eighteen game schedule maybe we can get the Super Bowl pushed to March and keep the draft in April and cut down the months in which there is no NFL.
Did you ever really worry when the Colts fell behind the Jets? I never once believed in that game that the Jets were going to win. The Jets are what they are, an up and coming team. The Colts are already there. The Colts have become the model organization in football. It helps when you have guys like Dungy, Manning and Polian. I am happy they are in and I believe they will beat the Saints. I just want to see a good game because like last week I have no hatred for either team. Normally I like to be really for or really against a team but not in this one.
I was very happy for the Saints and the city of New Orleans to beat the Vikings. It is nice to see long suffering franchises win sometimes. The Saints defense was something to watch and what a whipping they put on Favre. Turnovers were the difference. I do not see them getting to Peyton like they did Brett. If the Saints win the Super Bowl that would be fine with me too.
I have no interest in the Pro Bowl at all. Do not care when they play it or where they play it. It is a useless exhibition and a waste of time. Of course I believe every professional All Star game in any sport is a waste. I have some ideas on what would make the game more interesting but don’t want to go into that now.
This brings me to the past week and all of the nonsense about legacy and who is the greatest. I must learn to change the channel when this kind of talk comes up. Where does Peyton Manning rank with the all time greatest quarterbacks? What will Peyton’s legacy be if he wins or if he loses? Brett Favre has all kinds of records but he is not among the all time quarterbacks because he has only one ring and he always throws an interception in the crucial moment of a game. Give me some Bach or Beethoven right about now.
Remember when the standard was if you won a Super Bowl? Well now a quarterback or coach has to win more than one or they cannot be called great. That is garbage. Where did all of this legacy stuff come from? The greatest of all time talk is comparable to me to which came first the chicken or the egg? It is useless and yet I cannot stop listening or getting ticked off. Peyton Manning will, if he stays healthy, pass most of Favre’s records. He is and has been a great quarterback for some time now. He will be a great quarterback if the Colts lose. Favre is a great quarterback despite the interception and the Vikings loss. Did I mention the greatest back in the league kept putting the ball on the carpet in that game? Remember in the NBA playoffs last year and I railed against the “what is Kobe’s legacy if he loses?” Kobe haters were chomping at the bit to say, see he never won one without Shaq. I heard a guy say that he was not sure how to rate Montana because Joe had Jerry Rice and great players around him! What! Shut off your mike since I can’t seem to change the station.
That is what we have to look forward to now. Grainy films of Joe in the Super Bowl and HD pictures of the current greatest of all time, Manning. You know if Peyton wasn’t tall, athletic, blessed with a strong throwing arm, a dad named Archie, football smart, had great coaching, have a great offensive line, have a great game plan, play in today’s pass happy game, never have a major injury, get to run the no-huddle, play in an indoor stadium and have great receivers….if he didn’t have all of that, I am not sure I could call him great. I know this is not grammatically correct but I hope the point is made. Chicken or the egg, Manning or Montana, enough, stop it. Now, how about some music!
Tags: Brett Favre, Joe Montana, Kobe Bryant, Payton Manning, Super Bowl
February 1st, 2010 at 11:42 am
SUNRISE, Fla. — New York Jets coach Rex Ryan apologized Sunday for making an obscene gesture at a mixed martial arts event.
Jets coach Rex Ryan issued an apology Sunday for making an obscene gesture at an event the previous night.
Ryan was booed Saturday night while doing a television interview at the MMA event at Bank Atlantic Center, home to the NHL’s Florida Panthers. Ryan was smiling when a cell-phone camera captured him making the gesture.
February 1st, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Randy
If you are going to use the word “great ” with Mr. Manning and “if” you believe that the ring or two should not be a requirement, then you will have to start dividing qb’s into different offensive era’s: Running era, Passing Era, Balanced Era, If you had qb’s from the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s who came from balanced teams …who played less games because of schedules, who played less playoff games ..but have more rings( all championships not just Super Bowls), higher winning percentage. WHERE then do you rank Mr. Manning? or like many seem to think (modern day announcers) that football did not start until 1970, do we discount those who put up great numbers in earlier years, Baugh, Graham, Starr, Unitas, Moon, …… what is great?
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:57 pm
Mark,
For me greatness is defined by an athlete that I think would be above his or her fellow athletes in any era. I think Manning is great and would have been so in the 1960’s. I think Starr and Unitas would be great in today’s game. I do not understand this need to compare the current with the past and come up with an arbitrary label of ” The Greatest” whoever played the game. What is the point? It cannot be proved. Now if someone says, for me so and so is the greatest, well that is just a person giving their opinion knowing there is no “proof”. I prefer to just take each athlete where they are and enjoy their amazing skill for what it is. I simply do not understand the need people have to define something that cannot be defined. Thanks for your comment Mark. I go crazy when sportscasters present a list as if it is the gospel. The latest is who is the greatest Laker of all time.
February 3rd, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Randy,
You think you get bothered by the question of “the greatest Laker of all time.”
My broadcast partner for VANGUARD UNIV BASKETBALL Mr. Neyland has the hardest of time with that question and the answers that are given by a variety of people …especially if they do not list his choice as number 1