How Do You Define Greatness?

Every year when championships are won in the major sports we hear talk about how certain players, teams, and coaches are among the greatest ever. This year is no different; people are talking about if a tenth NBA Finals ring will make Phil Jackson the greatest coach ever and also about where Kobe Bryant ranks among the all time greats. The terms great and greatness are constantly mentioned, but do we truly know what it means to be the greatest ever? How is this "greatness" defined?

When talking about a player's greatness, fans and media tend to focus on an athlete's personal records and accolades. We tend to focus on the amount of MVP awards that they have and we also point out records that they hold for points, home runs, assists, batting average, touchdowns, and earned run average. Personal accomplishments are nice and are definatly things that deserve to be recognized and talked about, but when discussing a player's overall greatness we must not only consider what they accomplished on the field, but also what they do off the field and in the locker room. There are plenty of players that put up good numbers on the court, but there are a lot fewer players that have an impact in their community and in their locker room. Great players are not only great on the court when everyone is watching, but they are also great in the locker room. True greatness means not standing above everyone, but rather standing beside everyone; therefore great players need not only to perform on the field, but to also be able to mentor the younger players and help their teammates play to full potential.

Shortly after the personal statistics are discussed, critics decide if a player is great by asking the following question: "How many rings does he have?" Championships are nice and every coach and player works hard and strives to collect championships, but we often judge a people solely on championships and that just is not fair. A championship is a hard thing to come by, which is what makes them so special. Being that they are hard to come by, not every great player can get championships. It is unreasonable to assume that a player is not great unless he gets rings and that the more rings a player has means the player is better. There are many undeserving players without rings and there are many deserving players that never got the highly coveted piece of jewelry.

What about the person that does less with more? This can talk about coaches who have teams that do not appear to be great on paper, but play well beyond expectations, or it can be talking about players who seem to have no talent around them but have a way of bringing out the best in every teammate and helping them reach their potential. I believe that this is one of the best ways of measuring a player's greatness because it shows the ability of the player or the coach to bring out the best in those around them. While this may be an effective way to measure an athlete's greatness, it only measures some of it and there is neither a perfect method nor one single way to measure the greatness of an athlete comparative to the greatness of another. Who is the greatest of all time, will continue to be a fascinating debate and in conclusion, I ask you, how do you define greatness?