In baseball... you have both offense and defense... and hitters usually get all the glory.
In football... offense gets all the glory.
In basketball... it's about points scored especially in clutch moments.
In hockey... no contest, Wayne Gretzky. And it's not even close.
These arguments are pointless... because as much as we don't want to admit it... the change of rules changes each era of play. And I was so blessed to have live through so many eras.
For basketball... I grew up loving Larry Bird. His tenacity. His defense. His three-point contest prowess, "Who's coming in 2nd?" And yet... in all honesty... the greatest player of that era has to be Magic. A 6'10 point guard. His sky hook when Kareem went down. Redefining basketball as we know it. And of course... that smile. But as I grew older.... here comes a boy from Chapel Hill. He wins a college championship. Then after several rounds of getting knocked out... he puts his stamp on the NBA with the slamdunk contest... followed by his own shoe brand that lives on 35 years later... to 6 titles... to the lore of betting on which luggage comes out from the conveyer belt first, only to find out later that he paid off the airport workers to throw his bag out before anyone else's. #23.... his Air Ness himself. But that was the 90's. In the late 90's and early 2000's... there wasn't a player I feared more than Kobe Bryant. Kobe somehow always sank that shot that stuck a knife in my gut. Against my Warriors. Against the Kings. Against any non-Laker team. And then... we yield the court for Lebron. 18 years old out of Akron. Didn't even play in college. And in his 20+ year career... he's played more postseason games than any of his peers. "The Decision" taints it a little... but he had "The Block" against Iggy in 2016.... and then last night... he broke one of the most unbreakable records in sports history. You simply can't wipe that off his resume... despite his previous NBA finals losses... or how he switched teams just to make it interesting.
Who's the GOAT??? I don't know....but I know that it can't be defined by any one era.
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