How does one determine who the greatest sportsman is? It’s a question that no sports fan could ever escape. You may ignore it or get involved in it completely but there’s no solution to it. If you choose to take sports seriously, it’s a problem that will remain with you long after you first encounter it. You’ll fight with friends and argue passionately to make a strong case for your views. Yet, all of you will just recognise the futility of this task.
Perhaps, therein lies the joy of this problem. It’s the problem of determining who the greatest sportsman is in any sporting discipline. The cricket fanatic will endlessly obsess over the Sachin Tendulkar-Don Bradman debate while the football buffs can’t establish the supremacy of Diego Maradona, Pele or Lionel Messi.
As mentioned earlier, it’s futile. This writer would argue that it also hampers our appreciation of sport. To seek to put one sportsperson above his teammates, the opponents and past heroes is not a clever idea. While some players may outlive memory due to their stunning exploits, never can a great from one era compare with another.
If we were to consider any sport’s timeline of development, the quality of equipment and sometimes, even rules change considerably over a decade. Hence, one great player has to face a different nature of odds from the ones that existed earlier. And it’s not always the case that alterations in rules or experiments produce players of better quality. Cricket is a good case in point.
Despite this rational approach to appreciation of sport, we are often drawn into discussions that seek to prove that one sportsperson is greater or not. Why do we do it?
It’s essentially a consequence of sport being drenched in nostalgia. Any sports fan draws great joy from imagined contests that will pit the best against the best. It’s part of being a fan. It’s what gives them delirium, joy and a meaning to their existence. For someone who has dedicated his or her life to the appreciation of sport, such activities provide relief and excitement.
So, when somebody asks you to name the greatest cricketer of all time, don’t shy away from the exercise. It’s a discussion that will illuminate and amuse you.
