LeBron may be king, but never Jordan
I've lost track of how many times I've walked 18 holes with Tiger Woods.
Couple dozen, I suppose.
Why so many rounds? Because when he was at his best, each time there was a chance to see something I had never seen before, and there was the fear that once he was gone — or no longer at his best — there may never be another like him.
It's the same reason I studied every Muhammad Ali fight, and why I never missed a Michael Jordan game if given the opportunity.
In my book, they are the best I've ever seen in sports and I feel fortunate that I had the chance to see Jordan and Woods at their very best.
Sports fans are drawn to greatness. If you love sports, I don't know how you can't be drawn to them — or the athletes you place in that once-in-a-lifetime category.
It's why I've never hated LeBron James. Not before his foolish “decision” and not since.
If anything, I've been aggravated that James hasn't gotten better, that he doesn't live to be greater.
I root for greatness, hope for that next megastar, dream of seeing something performed better than ever.
And it was my hope some years back that James would be the next guy.
But never in James have I seen that gene, not even a hint of that DNA that made those mentioned above the best of all time.
That is disappointing, but one gets the feeling that James is not as disappointed as those who wish for more from him.
Maybe that's on those of us who project upon him, rather than on James himself.
He may be the best basketball player on the planet today, but when he didn't want the basketball at the end of games against Boston — in his final games in Cleveland — it was clear that he would never be that next guy.
It's why he went to Miami. He didn't want to be the guy. He wanted to be one of the guys.
It was a shocking confession and a staggering concession.
At that moment he forfeited the chance to be considered in the same sentence as Michael Jordan.
Combined with incredible athletic ability, basketball skill, the absolute need to win and the desire to destroy the opponent, Jordan is the greatest of all time.
Jordan is the everlasting definition of the guy who wants the ball when it matters most.
James has the ability and the skill, but he possesses none of the rest, and that's why the comparisons to Jordan are laughable to the point of madness. No less a player than Scottie Pippen made a fool of himself a few weeks ago when he said, “LeBron James may be the greatest player to ever play the game.”
I'm not here to pick on James, because I understand not everyone can be like Jordan.
Not everyone has that sick Jordan gene, and that's OK. That's not James' fault. He doesn't want the proverbial game in his hands. Not everyone is made that way.
But it says a lot about Pippen's ignorance that even after all those years playing with Jordan, and pocketing six rings because of Jordan, that Pippen still can't see it.
That's because Pippen wasn't one of those guys, either. And that's also OK because not everyone can be that guy or handle the pressure.
But after watching James shrink before the challenge, cower at crunchtime, and disappear in the fourth quarter of the biggest games of his life, there should never be anyone again foolish enough to compare LeBron James to Michael Jordan.
Seriously, can you ever imagine a situation in which Jordan didn't want the ball? Can you imagine Jordan afraid? Or invisible?
He was the antithesis. Jordan existed for that moment. He drew breath only for that opportunity. He was a machine built for that purpose. And now he can barely function in a world where that thrill is no longer possible.
LeBron James? He looked like a guy who wanted it to be over Sunday night.
The best ever, Scottie? Was that jealousy or lunacy?
Jordan always — always — wanted the ball when it mattered most, just like Ali insisted on fighting through the pain and fatigue, had to reach down at the most crucial time to find something even when the tank read empty.
It's how Woods was able to stand on the 18th tee box with a major sitting on the tee before him, able to come up with that one last drive to split the fairway when so many others would have crumbled under the weight of a watching world.
In my book, they are the greatest of all time, and even among them Jordan will always be No. 1.
As for LeBron James, he probably slept fine Sunday night after losing in Miami, because it's just not all that clear that winning is everything to him.
He is still a great player and he will win a title in his career, or even two, but it's hard to imagine a moment when anyone will again see James and be reminded of Jordan.
Never again should Scottie Pippen or anyone else make such a ridiculous mistake.
There is only one Michael Jordan.
Period.
brozner@dailyherald.com
ŸListen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's “Hit and Run” show at WSCR 670-AM.