Legends of the Past II

As the good creator of this blog said, we were involved in a long discussion last night regarding the comparison of legends of the football world. As we discussed Ronaldo (not the soft one that plays for Man Utd.) and Henry I asserted that there is a microscopically slim line that separates the two, but this leaves Ronaldo at #1 and Henry behind him. But these two names are only on the list as the great out and out strikers (# 9s if you will) that we have seen play. This is a very important factor. We have been able to witness these players play, and while I could make a case for Samuel Eto'o who I think is the world's best #9 right now and has been consistently for the past 4 or 5 years he does not possess the same phenomenal skill set as the same two. This man, much like Van Nistelrooy or Raul is deadly in front of goal but is very hard pressed to create something for himself, magically out of nothing.

For this I brought up one Marco Van Basten. The man is a true legend but had his career cut short at age 27 from knee injuries when us in our early 20s were only 4 or 5 years old. I would advise those of you who have not seen this man to go to youtube right now and prepare for a feast. As Aaron did point out the basketball argument can be used when we compare the greatness of all these legends over time (from Di Stefano, Puskas, Pele, Cruyff, Gullitt, Maradona, Baggio, Batistuta, etc.). But where as the basketball base has a much narrower base of reference (there is only 1 legit league and 1 legit basketballing country that produces stars) the base for football is much wider. Because of this, while the younger generation may not have seen Michael play as we did, there is still the myth of Michael that surrounds him and will always surround him. This myth is powerful and while Lebron and Kobe are great themselves, the Myth of Michael will always place him above them in the pecking order.

In terms of football, this is not true. A new star pops up every day such as your Lavezzis, Hamsiks etc. and no country (except maybe Brazil) or club can claim to have a dominant stranglehold on the international scene and producing stars. Because of this it is easy for us to forget the great ones of the 50s and 60s such as Mr. George Best, Garrincha and Eusebio, etc. But that does not make them any less great. With the wide base it is much harder for us to rank players, even by position and this is what we will take into consideration as we move forward with this debate. Your go Mr. West.