There is no chance you’re a sports fan without them. The Greats of their respective games have all given us a reason to rejoice, to celebrate the beauty that is sports and in return we fans offer our unconditional adulation—well, as long as their name isn’t A-Rod.
Seriously, though, when you were a kid who was your all-time favorite player?
DiMaggio? Unitas? Howe? Russell?
Gretzky?
Ruth (for you older folks)?
For me, it was a fourth-grade-roller-hockey-playin’ alignment with Raymond Jean Bourque, the most prolific offensive defensemen ever to play the game of hockey, not to mention one of the most defensively talented defensemen of all time. His demeanor on and off the ice, his uncanny prowess to always be in the right place, his humility, and his toughness made for the total package. I was immediately a fan. And even though by that time he had already been in the NHL for 14 seasons, I knew my choice was as solid as his play. I was following a living legend. He would play for another 8 seasons after that, finishing an illustrious 22 year NHL career winning a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche.
So who’s yours?
Your personal sports idol not only embodies the qualities you wish to see in star athletes, they embody qualities many of us find or want to find in ourselves—a professionally athletic projection of our own values. You can find examples of this all over the map. Take Pittsburgh, for instance. Their fans, since the team's inception, have been enamored with their hometown Steelers because the team has always embodied the work ethic
Joe Namath was the perfect Quarterback for the Jets in 1969. Who else emanated “cool” like he did? Who else was the perfect NY pretty boy to lead them? I contend that no one else was. That’s the point.
The point is, while we re-witness these perfectly aligned moments over and over in our heads, a new generation of stars is rewriting those record books that were rewritten by your heroes, your idols. They will say that records were made to be broken, that walls were made to crumble, that it is time for the past to move over for the future. Yea, that’s fine. That doesn’t mean I can’t still be biased toward a nostalgically perfect rendition of my sports idols, does it (See Ruth, home run records, et al)? Can’t I aggrandize the past when some star athlete who’s not even old enough to drink legally yet does something great(See Crosby, Lebron, et al)? No, you say? Fine.
What’s that, you say I sound like a bitter old man reminiscing? Ugh. Fine. I’ll stop.
The other night I watched a marvelous record fall. Mike Green, defenseman for the Washington Capitals, scored a goal in his eighth consecutive game, breaking the all-time mark for goals in consecutive games by a defenseman. The previous record, held by retired Boston Bruins defenseman, Mike O’Connell, was seven consecutive games. Even though this mark was not held by one of my all-time favorites, this defensive goal-scoring profundity leaves me a bit wistful. I remember the day, my man, Ray Bourque, was leaving the NHL record book in shreds as if the cat had gotten to it. Now the record books are being rewritten by a pantheon of up-and-coming, awe-striking talent in every sport.
The way it’s supposed to be, I suppose.
Sports are always for the young.
I guess in a way, even though the past is somewhat being erased by today’s bigger, stronger, faster athletes, when a record falls, it is as if an homage is being paid to their respective predecessors.
Would Mike Green have that record if Paul Coffey, Ray Bourque, Bobby Orr, even Mike Freakin’ O’Connell hadn’t skated before him? I doubt it.
Seeing idols of your past fall can be a tough thing to watch, but remember why you watch in the first place. That ephemeral glimpse of greatness that we so often associate with those prodigious figures in our past will undoubtedly be associated with many of the high-flying athletes by young and incredulous fans everywhere presently and in the future.
If you’re a sports fan, I doubt you’ll want to miss it.
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