Remember the Sesame Street song, "One of these things is not like the other?"
OK, relax a little, eh? Yeah, we are using a Sesame Street song to make a point here. This is sports we're typing about, man, not astrophysics.
Anyway, Harris, the company behind all those polls, just released a list of the "Greatest Sports Stars of All Time."
Frankly, I have no real issues with nine out of the top 11. These things are subjective, but most of the important names are on there starting with Michael Jordan at No. 1.
His Airness is followed by Tiger Woods, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Brett Favre, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, Peyton Manning, Ted Williams, and Hank Aaron and LeBron James, who tied for 10th.
Go ahead read over that again. -- Jordan, Woods, Ruth, Ali...Favre...
I know! Favre?! FAVRE?! Big Bird just passed out.
Again...Jordan, Woods, Ruth, Ali...Favre?! What are you frickin' kidding me?! This would be like rating the greatest presidents Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Jefferson, W. Bush, Adams, Truman...
This falls somewhere in the territory between sad and pathetic to me, because it speaks to the intelligence of the 2,293 dolts that participated in this online poll. Americans might be political neanderthals, and are not the sharpest blades in the box when it comes to all things outside the scope of their porch, but they generally are on top of it when it comes to sports.
How in the world is Brett Favre the fifth greatest at anything?! He's not even the fifth greatest football player of all time, much less all-time sports star, for crying out loud!
This survey, conducted over the course of one week in early October, also breaks down the greatest players in each individual sport.
Favre is the No. 1 football player followed by Jim Brown, Joe Montana, Walter Payton and Jerry Rice. Again, no arguing with the other four, though how Johnny Unitas didn't crack the top 5 is beyond me. It's also pretty bizarre that no defensive players rate top-5 status. Was there ever a better football player than Lawrence Taylor?
But back to our dull point...
Brett Favre is a talented, entertaining player, no doubt. Frankly, the guy has made some of the greatest plays I have ever seen on the football field, but he has also made some incredibly boneheaded plays, mostly because he too often throws into coverage.
He also has exactly one Super Bowl victory to his credit, so it's not as if these voters were able to make the case that he was a great winner in casting their ridiculous vote.
Montana, Unitas, Manning, and Dan Marino were/are hands down better quarterbacks than Favre ever was. I'd also gladly make the case for Tom Brady and Dan Fouts.
Further, Brett Favre has arguably never even been the greatest current quarterback at any point of his career. John Elway, and Steve Young were also chucking the ball during the height of Favre's NFL powers. You'd get no argument from me if you made the case that either of those guys were better than Favre.
No, any way you cut it, this one is a real head-scratcher.
It is clear that Favre's on-again, off-again retirement plans have not affected his legacy in a negative fashion, which is a surprise unto itself.
What's that saying about bad publicity being better than no publicity at all?
Who knows, maybe there's hope for W. yet? Nah...
