Basketball

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. This was what you heard about Joe Louis, and surely people have said things about modern boxers that they couldn’t hold Ali, etc.

Of course, sports are a business, and while winning is a factor into who the greatest was, I don’t know of anybody that uses winning alone to determine someone’s greatness without measuring individual stats. Beliveau was undoubtedly one of hockey’s absolute greatest, but the only argument one could truly make to place him above the Gretzkys, the Howes, Lemieux’s would be if they placed such a premium on winning, combined with sentimental value.

Someone’s always going to be better than you, more talented than you, no matter who you are. I’ll always appreciate the names from my childhood, some who will forever have their place on history, but it doesn’t mean they’ll never be surpassed.