[myronbolitar]

He's the greatest basketball player ever. He's the most competitive athlete I know of. He's an athletic genius.

Similar to the stories of Steve Jobs berating colleagues, employees, rivals, etc. there are anecdotes about Jordan doing the same in his field.

He's not known as the Greatest Human Of All Time...he's the Greatest Basketball Player Of All Time.

[practicalpants]

It's not unanimously accepted that he's the greatest basketball player of all time. You have to take into account things like the illegal defense era (his era), which made it easy for superstars to shine. Tracy McGrady, for example, admitted his points per game average went from 32 to 22 overnight because of the introduction of zone defense.

Likewise, the NBA has become vastly more competitive and international since Jordan's prime, i.e. greater demographics competing to enter, overall raising the mean athletic ability.

Jordan is clearly a great, but one among others, like Kobe and LeBron, neither of whom are actually A-holes like Jordan.

[irishcoffee]

Jordan is the best. There really isn't a debate. Kobe and Lebron would tell you this without batting an eye.

Kobe and Lebron are both giant assholes. I'm not sure how you don't agree with this. Do you not follow sports news? Jordan is also a giant asshole. He is just far enough removed from playing the game that people forget about how he redefined/saved the NBA, they only judge him on the past 5 years.

[practicalpants]

I strongly disagree with your characterization. MJ has even said he wasn't sure who'd win him vs. Kobe.

There is plenty of debate. Don't forget the league-wide diluting effects of the '89 and '95 expansion drafts, something I neglected to mention. People really do underestimate how less competitive Jordan's era was than today (but many fans do get it).

I'm a longtime NBA fan, and I follow basketball news regularly + compete in bball fantasy leagues.

And no, Kobe and LBJ are not assholes on Jordan's level. Jordan is notorious for being an asshole, unlike the former two.

[myronbolitar]

What makes you think Kobe and LeBron aren't a-holes?

Also, I've thought for years that LeBron not being more of an a-hole is why he doesn't win more often. He loves to win. Jordan hated to lose. That's the difference.

PS - Tracy McGrady's scoring didn't dip from 32 to 22 overnight, and when it did dip, it had more to do with his lack of conditioning and his body breaking down than it did with any rule changes.

[philwelch]

There were teams that played zone defense in the 90's, like George Karl's Sonics did at times. They just had to be sneaky about it.

[imjk]

PG should write a corollary to the Ronco essay about how the greatest individuals in highly competitive skill-based fields are all aholes.

[adventured]

I haven't seen any evidence that's true.

Magic Johnson and Larry Bird weren't. Kareem Abdul Jabbar wasn't. Hakeem Olajuwon wasn't. Brady and Manning aren't. Jerry Rice wasn't. Emmitt Smith wasn't. Tim Duncan isn't. Derek Jeter wasn't. Greg Maddux wasn't. Hank Aaron wasn't. Tony Gwynn wasn't. Ken Griffey Jr wasn't. Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson aren't.

I'd argue that the radical majority of elite athletes are not.

Even Tiger Woods, who is famous for being chilly in public, isn't known to be a big ahole despite whatever his personal life failings are/were.

[philwelch]

I think that, while elite athletes all have a competitive streak, there's a lot of natural variation in personality as well. Larry Bird may not have been an asshole off the court, but if you were guarding him it was a different story.

The other thing to note is that, as long as you avoid doing something stupid like throwing people through plate glass windows, it's easy for PR to do a lot of magic. Most people never realized what MJ was really like while he was still playing. Brett Favre was kind of a dick, but it took most of his career until that was found out. Ultimately we don't know what these people are really like. Who knows what lies behind Tim Duncan's placid exterior?

[ninkendo]

Wayne Gretzky wasn't!

(Come on!)

[defen]

Federer seems like a decent enough guy...

[towski]

I've learned that Greatest X of all time usually just means, greatest A-hole of all time.

Because they absorb so much energy from the universe in order to fulfill their self serving destiny that they cannot help but be viewed as selfish. They quite literally demand the respect that they receive.

Call it the theory of conservation of human energy.

[prawn]

Obviously it's not universal (Federer in tennis, Gaze in AU basketball, etc) but I wonder if it's more common?

And whether it's that attitude that helps them achieve, or more that the success enables poor behaviour.

[courtf]

There's no doubt that Federer and other great sports figures are well mannered and handle their success with extraordinary grace. However, if your definition of a-hole includes 1) being ruthlessly competitive and/or 2) believing you are better than your competition (even if that hasn't been convincingly demonstrated), I'd wager many of these figures would fit the bill, Federer included.

Personally, I find 2) unbearably obnoxious, but it's something I'm willing to forgive if they provide evidence in the affirmative, as Federer certainly has. I think we have to permit a certain amount of elitism, because it would be dishonest to expect that these players refrain from acknowledging their positions within the respective pantheons of their sports.