EPIPHANY

Does the name Napoleon McCallum mean anything to you?  Well in 1994 he was injured in the first Monday Night Football game of the season (Raiders vs. 49ers).  That injury will forever live in infamy in my head, as I remember my friends and I being floored while watching the instant replay over and over again.  If you haven’t guessed by now, JerzeeChick loves sports!  Treacherous injuries, great feats of scoring, stupendous dunks, and Cinderella teams MAKE MY DAY!  I participate in no less than three fantasy football leagues a year.  I do fantasy basketball, and I am ashamed to say how many brackets I have floating around during March Madness.  I live for playoff games (NBA and NFL), I love college basketball *go Terps*, and I’ve been known to follow soccer every now and then (Manchester United all day every day)!  Because I’m an avid sports fan, this week was particularly hard for me.  The NBA finals ended, Tiger is on “injured reserve”, and baseball just doesn’t excite like other sports.  I root for the Yankee’s. I boo the Braves, but other than that I am not interested J   

I am not a real fan of golf, but who doesn’t root for Tiger Woods?  Before he stepped on the scene, people weren’t really checking for golf.  Now he has spawned a generation of golfers and golf fans.  No one can touch him, but pound for pound is Tiger simply the best athlete to ever play ANY GAME?  When we look at his career in its entirety, and all that he has accomplished in such a short time, is there any athlete out there as good?  I guess I will give Tiger the golf crown hands down, and look at other sports individually.

Peyton Manning and Michael Vick broke records, but are they better than Joe Montana?  Bill Russell has won more NBA championship rings than any other player, and I doubt if we’ll see that record broken in our lifetime.  Some say Jordan is the best to ever play the game of basketball, but others say Kobe Bryant or maybe LeBron James will eventually surpass him.  Muhammad Ali was the greatest, but before Mike Tyson went crazy, was he on par to surpass Ali?  Venus and Serena brought those beads to the Grand Slam tournaments and upset a lot of folks!  When they are at the top of their game, they are unstoppable, but are they the best?

When it comes to teams, I think those 1990 Running Rebels from UNLV played some of the most exciting NCAA basketball I’ve ever seen in my life.  Of course nothing is more exciting than the last quarter of this year’s super bowl!  Did I mention I hate the New England Patriots?  All year we heard how the Patriots were the best team to ever play the game of football……but when it was all on the line they couldn’t beat Big Blue *go Giants* .  If you almost make it to the mountaintop, are you still the best?  If Kobe never wins a ring without Shaq, does that mean he’ll never truly be the best?  The “simply the best” statement is very relative!  I think Serena is better than Venus.  Walter Payton will always be my favorite back, and yes I chose Kobe over Shaq!

As I twiddle my thumbs and research the hottest rookie’s drafted by the NFL this year (never too soon to start scouting picks for the fantasy drafts), I’d like you to complete this sentence for me: (BLANK) is simply the best to ever play the game of (BLANK)!