Heroes and GOATS

Wow. What a day of sports. We got to watch three of the all-time greats pull off victories and demonstrate their greatness. And this certainly isn't the first time that I've written about Federer, Tiger, and Kobe.

The day started in Paris, with Fed doing what Fed does. Roger Federer cemented his status as one of the top-3 players of all time (Federer's tied w/ Sampras at 14; Rod Laver won 11 grand slam titles, but played his prime in an era where pros didn't play in the grand slams - Laver won the grand slam in 1962 as an amateur, turned pro in 1963, won another 11 "majors" at the professional level between 1963 and 1967, and then won a few more slams after the majors started allowing professionals again, and capped things off with a grand slam in 1969. You could argue that Laver has 22 major singles titles). Federer got a little bit of help when his finals opponent, Soderling, took out Rafael Nadal earlier in the tourney. Federer had lost 4 consecutive French Open finals to Nadal, and was looking shaky earlier in the season. But he put together a nice tourney win on the clay in Madrid (taking out Nadal in the finals), and then put together a run in Paris, where he won in 5 sets (he was down 2-0 and 2-1 in those matches). And Fed put together a solid match against an overmatched opponent (he's beaten Soderling all 10 times they have met).

From the looks of it, Federer will be the favorite at Wimbelon, and if he ends up winning 3 slams this year, he'll be at 16, and have clearly passed Sampras, with maybe 2 more legit years left. Everyone forgets about Rod Laver when they talk about the best player ever, and there's no guarantee that Laver would have won 11 slams had he stayed an amateur, though there's a real shot that he may have won 15 out of the 20 slams in those 5 years from 1963 to 1967. I don't know if an honest, clear view of tennis history puts Federer at #1 quite yet, though the folks at ESPN are ready to crown him. But if Federer gets up to 19 or 20 slams, I think that you have to crown him as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time, if you're confused).

Similar to Fed, Tiger's chasing another legend, Jack Nicklaus. Tiger came from 4 strokes back to win Jack's tourney, The Memorial. Tiger did what Tiger does. Holing out chips, sticking the ball when mortals would have it fly by the hole, and getting it to within 2 feet, when most folks would be happy with getting it on the green. Moving forward, I think that Tiger will the favorite at the U.S. Open this weekend, held at Bethpage Black. The other time the U.S. Open was held at Bethpage was in 2002, and it was won by Tiger in a rout, as he beat Phil Mickelson by 3 strokes, despite playing a 2-over 72 on the final round.

The Memorial wasn't a major, but it was one more important non-major tourneys, since it was Jack's tourney on Jack's course. Right now Tiger is tied with Fed at 14 majors, and he's chasing Jack Nicklaus' 18. Most folks think that it's a given that Tiger will get to 18, and well beyond. Tiger is 33 this season. When Jack was being interviewed by the commentators on TV, he mentioned that he was in his prime when he was from 33 to 36. Plus, Jack won 7 out of his 18 majors after the age of 33 (including the Masters in 1986 at the age of 46). Given the improvements in medicine and fitness, plus the dominance of Tiger, it's not unreasonable to say that Tiger could win 8 more majors by the time he's 40. That would be 1 major per year, including this year. And if Tiger can get hot like he did in 2000, the notion of 25 majors isn't out of the question. If Tiger were to quit right now, there would be a lot of discussion as to whether or not he was the GOAT. But in a few years, it will be moot, unlike Fed's place in history, which you can't really adequately place, given the different landscapes in which he and Laver played.

And finally, we're on to Kobe. Kobe did what Kobe does. Just his usual 29 points, 8 assists, which followed his Game 1, 40 points, 8 assists, 8 boards. The Lakers shot poorly from the field early in the game, and didn't really assert themselves. But Kobe didn't really force the issue, only shooting 6 shots in the first half, and tried to get everyone else involved. It wasn't until the Magic made a run in the 3rd when Kobe tried to take control on offense, and kept the Lakers in the game. And then the Lakers got the game into OT, and then took control, and are up 2-0. Who here thinks that the Magic are going to go 3-0 in the next 3 games? And if the Magic don't, they're done. The aren't winning 2 games in a row in LA, barring a Kobe injury.

I've always been a Kobe guy. Always thought that he was going to go down as being better than MJ. Now MJ has 6 rings. He won 3 when he was 27, 28, and 29, the left for a couple years, and then won 3 more at the ages of 33, 34, and 35. Right now, Kobe's 30. He's got 3 rings, and looks pretty good for #4 this year. Now, what if, the Lakers re-sign Odom, and put together a 3-peat? That would put Kobe at 6 titles, at the age of 32. He'd definitely have some milage on him, but seems to be dedicated enough to stay in top condition. You figure that LeBron will get his ring at some point. But what if Kobe came back for one more legit run, and actually won a 7th title at 34 or 35? Or, heaven forbid, an 8th, if the Lakers luck into another star to put next to Kobe? The numbers say MJ. And they should. MJ played in an era with much higher scoring, and no defense, until you got late into the playoffs. MJ's #2 was another wing player who took pressure off of him by handling the ball, and he never had a legit post option clogging up his lane. And right now, it's not a discussion, even with Kobe getting #4. Now, if Kobe gets to #5 and #6, the discussion heats up. And if Kobe can get to #7 somehow, then I think that you really have to re-evaluate who is the GOAT.

-Chairman