Greatness in Sports: Stop the Era Comparisons

Appreciate the Now: Why Cross-Generational Debates are Killing Our View of Greatness

Michael Jordan is the best player to ever touch a basketball. No questions asked. Tom Brady is the best guy to ever throw a pigskin around. Hammerin’ Hank Aaron is the most legendary man to use a stick of wood. Alex Ovechkin may officially be the best player to ever play on skates. Caitlin Clark will forever be the best female athlete of all time.

We are addicted to these debates. Jordan vs LeBron. Brady vs Elway. Hank vs Ohtani. They are all over social media. Talk shows love them. Sports fans feed on them. And for some reason, we all feel (myself included) that greatness has to be ranked to be recognized.

But in all reality, comparing athletes across generational eras is not only pointless, it is also toxic. It’s like a barbershop argument that has no end until you get up and leave. It has this ability to cloud and dictate your judgement for appreciation of how great today’s game and today’s superstars really are.

So why shouldn’t you compare?

Because the games evolve. The rules shift. Culture changes. That’s not a bad thing. It’s the natural growth of sports. I’ve been vocal about my issues with LeBron James—I even think he’s had a hand in ruining the modern NBA. But the idea that he’s “too soft” to have survived in Jordan’s era is laughable. Frankly, it’s an uneducated take.

LeBron is one of the greatest athletes to ever walk the planet. Not only would he have played back then, he probably would’ve been a bruiser. He would’ve made Bill Laimbeer look like a choir boy.

Basketball in the 90s was a different time… slower pace, less spacing, pretty much MMA on the hardwood.. In 1995-1996, NBA teams averaged 99.5 possessions per game. In 2023-2024, teams averaged 100.7. Three point field goals account for nearly 40% of shots today vs 16% in 1995.

Since the days of Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, and even Mark McGwire, MLB has implemented a pitch clock, banned the shift, and even forced Angel Hernández into retirement. Ohtani is a unicorn, no doubt. But would a player like him even have been allowed to pitch and hit in Hank’s era? No DH. No analytics pushing two-way versatility. Different training, travel, and technology. We love to romanticize the past, but Ohtani is doing something unprecedented. Hank swung a hammer. Ohtani swings a sword. Magic happens for both at the crack of the bat. Appreciate both.

Quarterbacks are practically untouchable now. Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes have benefitted from rules that treat QBs like fragile eggs. Elway and Montana? They were getting folded in half by defensive ends and still standing tall. Would Elway have put up even bigger numbers today? Probably. Would Mahomes still dominate if he played back then? Probably. But the environments are fundamentally different—and so are the expectations.

Greatness isn’t built in a vacuum. It’s molded by the moment that each person is given.

Analytics don’t lie, but they don’t settle debates either. Michael Jordan’s career Player Efficiency Rating (PER) was 27.91. LeBron has a career 27.13 PER. Ohtani’s 2023 WAR was 10.0 and led the MLB. Hank Aaron’s WAR in 1961 was 9.5.

Was Hank able to have trained with modern facilities and flown private across the country? No. Would he have put up even better numbers if he did? Maybe. But that’s a hypothetical game that gets us nowhere.

Tom Brady has 35 playoff wins. John Elway played in 21 playoff games total. Would Elway have won more under today’s systems and protections? Possibly. But greatness isn’t always about numbers. It’s about dominance within your era.

When we force comparisons like these, we rob the athletes (and fans) of true authentic appreciation. Fans of today should be able to watch someone like Steph Curry or Lamar Jackson and just enjoy it. Relish the moment. Be able to appreciate greatness without having to say, “He’s good, but he’s not as good as ….”

Every generation deserves their own heroes, their greats. Those athletes deserve their spotlight, their time. Give it to them.

Greatness doesn’t need to be ranked to be real. It doesn’t have to be Jordan or LeBron. Brady or Elway. Aaron or Ohtani. It can be all of them.

Great players don’t pick their eras. They adapt. They evolve. They redefine.They carve their place in history by owning the moment they were given. And that’s enough.

Because if you spend all your time comparing today’s greatness to yesterday’s ghosts, you’ll miss what’s right in front of you. And then, a decade from now, you’ll be doing it all over again…arguing about why the next GOAT isn’t as good as the ones you refused to appreciate.