One of the most enjoyable things about being a sports fan is the bestowing of the title of GOAT – Greatest Of All Time. Begun in boxing when fighters were called the “best pound for pound,” which I think began with Sugar Ray Robinson, before that the heavyweight champion was assumed to be the toughest man on the planet. Then of course came Ali, whose boasts took the term GOAT and lifted it to stratospheric heights. Soon, every other sport took up the challenge. Wo’s the GOAT in Basketball? Jordan? LeBron? Kareem? Magic? In hockey? Gretzky? Orr? Gordie Howe?
In team sport, it is that much harder to call one player the all time best, but if tennis, where the spotlight is primarily on the solo player, The argument gages in the women’s side – is it obviously Serena? Graf? Navratilova? On the men’s side, there have been lots to choose from: Borg? McEnroe? Connors? Sampras? In the late 20rth and early 21st Centuries, three men have dominated tennis: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. These three have taken turns winning all of the majors, beating each other with each one taking the lead in all time men’s singles Grand Slams. If this is the only criteria, then Djokovic is the GOAT. Winning the French Open a few weeks ago gives him 23 Slams, one more that Nadal and 3 more than Federer. Djokovic should keep this record for quite awhile: Federer is retired and Nadal has announced that this will be his last season, but he has been hobbled by injury and age.
Djokovic is by no means a warm and cuddly champion. His style of play is fairly generic, doing things in all areas tremendously well, but which can make his matches dull. Plus, he was never known as a particularly friendly personage on the Tour. The cherry on top of his reputation was his absolute refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine, which prevented from playing in the Australian, and US Opens in 2021. He showed himself to be a petulant crybaby, alienating some fans that liked him before.
I have held out for a long time that the true GOAT is Rod Laver. Laver led everyone in Slams, and remains the only player to win the calendar Slam twice. Laver won all four majors in 1962, then turned pro which meant that he could not play the Slams, but when the Open Era began in 1968, Laver won Wimbledon, then won all four in 1969. Of course, today’s players are much bigger and stronger, and the racket technology is vastly superior. Still, I held on to Laver (I even mentioned this to him at a book signing and he said that even in his prime, he wouldn’t have been able to keep up with today’s players), but I have to admit that I was starting to lean toward Federer. I think that there’s no doubt that Nadal is the greatest ever n clay (14 French Open Titles will do that). Now, its Djokovic and he has a valid claim on the title; maybe more that anyone in many years. That’s not to say that all GOATS have to be loved: lots of people (myself included) are not big fans of Tom Brady, but he’s won more Super Bowls than anyone. Personally, I think that Bobby Orr is the GOAT of hockey: he completely changed the game and how the defenseman position has been played ever since. Gretzky was a point machine, certainly in the top 2 or 3 of all time.
Surprisingly, it was Djokovic himself that said something profound. He said that he thinks there are different GOATS for different time periods. Laver was GOAT in the 1960s, someone else in the 1970s and 80’s (Connors, Borg, McEnroe). He holds the title now. That is a very good concept, but that won’t answer the all-time GOAT question in every bar in the world.

Continuing the discussion from the former post, many, myself included, believe that Michael Jordan is the GOAT of basketball. Not LeBron, slightly eclipsing Kareem, or Magic or Bird. He definitely used his charisma, talent and business acumen to remain one of the most recognizable people on Earth. Naturally, he wanted to take his wealth and succeed on the other side of basketball – ownership. He tool a role with the Wizards including playing at the end of his career, but his managerial decisions did not pan out. He left the Wizards but soon, the ownership group in Charlotte decided to sell, and Jordan, basketball legend in North Carolina, bought the team becoming the onle Black majority owner in the NBA.
Jordan’s magic did not translate to his own team. The Hornet have posted a 423-600 record during Jordan’s tenure, making the playoffs only twice in his 13-years of ownership, losing in the first round both times. It announced that Jordan would be selling his majority ownership stake in the team, but he would remain a limited shareholder. The sale is estimated to be worth $2 billion. I have always said that it is difficult for superstars to be owners or coaches. The thing that makes superstars more than even talent, is the hunger to win every game, every championship. I believe that in evaluating and motivating players, they aren’t good at it because they have that that killer instinct naturally and can’t understand people who don’t have that drive.
I am certain that it hits Jordan hard that he dd not succeed at ownership . After watching “The Last Dance,” I felt sorry for Jordan, looking like Charles Foster Kane, alone, with no real friends that can be guaranteed to be more than hired sycophants. Yes, some people would say that being lonely with several billion dollars is not a hardship, but money can’t bring you happiness. Jordan’s older kids are grown and from what we know, their relationships to their father are.. complicated. Jordan and his current wife have, I believe, twins, and one hopes that Jordan has a better relationship with his wife and kids.
And a few billion dollars don’t hurt…

First, let me say that I have no interest in golf. I agree with the old Mark Twain saying “golf is a good walk spoiled.” However, even a non-golf fan like myself couldn’t ignore the battle between the Saudi Arabian LIV, DP World Tour and the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf League, which have been embroiled in a bitter legal battle for more than a year, which has included players jumping leagues and being banished from the PGA Tour. Players loyal to the PGA have foregone millions of dollars in guaranteed money (LIV players get substantial salaries as compared to the PGA Tour who only get winnings and appearance fees.)
It has been a nasty fight: Phil Mickelson and Greg Norman among many others were banished from the PGA; then lawsuits and money permitted the LIV players to compete in the majors. Meanwhile, the LIV and it’s financial backers, the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), was rightfully criticized for the monarchy’s abuse of women, ethnic groups, the death of journalists among other accusations. The PGA Tour has even brought 9/11 victims’ family members to tie LIV to terrorism
Today’s it was announced that the three tours would be merging. What was interesting is that none of the players of any league knew what was going on. Everyone was shocked when the announcement was made this afternoon. Having seen the merger of the NFL and AFL, and the NBA and ABA, I had no doubt that this would happen eventually. Just not this fast. All of these mergers were about money, despite genuine antipathy between the leagues beforehand.
The sides have agreed to unify and move forward in a larger commercial business, the circuits announced Tuesday. The stunning development was called “a landmark agreement … on a global basis.”
ESPN.com reported “(t)here’s been a lot of tension in our sport over the last couple years,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan told CNBC on Tuesday. “What we’re talking about today is coming together to unify the game of golf, and to do so under one umbrella. We’ve recognized that together, we can have a far greater impact on this game than we can working apart. … The game of golf is better for what we’ve done here today.”
In a memo to PGA Tour players, Monahan wrote that in addition to making a financial investment in the new entity, PIF would become a premier corporate sponsor of the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and other international tours. Monahan wrote that PIF will make investments to “build an even stronger and more robust commercial business, together” and was committed to “significant financial support toward causes that positively impact the game on a global basis.” Monahan wrote that the PGA Tour would evaluate how “best to integrate team golf into the professional game.” He said LIV Golf would complete its 2023 schedule, which resumes later this month in Spain.
The circuits said the parties have signed an agreement that “combines PIF’s golf-related commercial businesses and rights (including LIV Golf) with the commercial businesses and rights of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour into a new, collectively owned, for-profit entity to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game’s best players.” The circuits said the agreement ends all pending litigation between the parties.
I have seen reports for years that interest and participation in golf has been falling for years, to the point of increasing the size of holes and other changes designed to capture young people. While I cannot see that this will help with that issue, but it doesn’t hurt to have billions in oil money supporting the sport. The people behind the game are wallowing in baskets of money while Saudi Arabia attempts to cover it’s deeds in money. Just as Russia and China have spent billions to buy Olympic Games and build fabulous structures to try and use it as propaganda.
The people who aren’t happy are the PGA players who declined the guaranteed millions of dollars by staying loyal to the PGA. The ones who were the highest supporters for the PGA have been Tiger Woods and especially Rory McIllroy. Other players have been quoted as being shocked and stunned and angry at PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan. I would think that a lot of players are going to demand lost earnings that had been promised by LIV but stayed with the PGA. In the case of Woods and McIllroy, that could be millions, not to mention the betrayal he feels for being a very public supporter of the PGA tour.
Again, I don’t much care about golf. To me, it’s boring, but there’s a lot of money and where there’s money, there’s going to be people jumping in the pile of dough. While a lot of the litigation and ill will may be over between the three tours, I have a feeling there is going to be more litigation and there may be some anger between players that will take some time to heal, if it does at all.

Since October, 2022, Arizona, San Jose, Anaheim, Columbus and the Blackhawks all tanked like they were in the film “The Hunt for Red October.” There was some awful hockey played by these teams. Why? The chance to draft Connor Bedard, a s17-year-old scoring machine who has been the number one prospect for a couple of years now. The term “generational talent” isn’t tossed around lightly. He’s been compared to Sidney Crosby and others. He’s the most hyped player since another Connor, McDavid came into the league.
From the start of the season, it was a not-secret surreptitious story that the Blackhawks were going after Bedard. They played horribly in long streaks then had sudden bouts of solid play, even beating Boston and Toronto late in the season. While happy to beat those powerhouses, fans were asking themselves if they couldn’t even tank well. Every win was with a grimace; reverse scoreboard watching for what did Anaheim and Columbus do that day. The Hawks finished with the third position, with an 11.6% chance of winning the number 1 pick.
Last night’s broadcast of the Draft Lottery was unusual. In the past, sports lotteries showed a drum full of ping pong balls, and the machine kicks out the ball with that team’s logo on it to determine who would draft and when. Last night, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly came out with a stack of signs with a number on one side and the team result on the other. For 20 minutes, teams were announced, and there was very little change from the positions coming into the lottery. Then, ESPN and Daly was going to a commercial break with the remaining three teams left: Anaheim, Columbus and Chicago. However, ESPN hockey analyst Kevin Weeks, known for announcing trades before officially made said before the That’s when the conspiracy theorists among hockey fans will be discussing for years. Before Daly could fully turn over announcer Kevin Weekes announced that Columbus had fallen to number 3. Columbus has been snakebit in the Draft lottery in the past, never getting the number 1 overall pick in the franchise’s history.
Again, in broadcast history, the team with the number 2 pick would be announced allowing the number 1 pick obvious. Instead Daly turned over the number 1 sign and the Blackhawks had jumped Anaheim, which had a 16% chance to get number 1. Back in the Chicago Bulls’ championship years, we fans in Chicago believed that referee calls would go against e Bulls to extend a series; opponent fans felt that the Bulls got all of the calls. While fire has never been proven, there was lots of smoke. It would be better for the NHL and its broadcast partners and sponsors to have Bedard come here. Columbus is a small market with a limited fan base; Anaheim of course is the land of Disneyland, but the powers that be would probably be happier if the next great player wasn’t in the west. McDavid already plays in Edmonton and late games do not generate the same ratings as East/Midwest games. History from 2010-2015 Stanley Cup years were dominated by the Hawks and big ratings followed. The league is more prosperous when Original Six teams are good.
Honestly, I don’t believe anything happened just because there are too many eyes on the lottery (and I don’t think most sports’ corporate offices could walk and chew gum at the same time). So, I was very happy, leaping off my easy chair yelling when the pick was announced. Reportedly, the Blackhawks sold approximately $4 million in season ticket orders last night. (I renewed this morning.) Are the Blackhawks contenders? Not yet, but they have lots more draft picks this year and next. More important in the short term, the Hawks will be relevant and interesting to watch for the first time in years.

Last night, the believed impossible happened. The Boston Bruins, who set an NHL record of 65 regular season wins and 135 points were unstoppable favorites. A total of 35.9% of the 1 million entrants in the 2023 Stanley Cup Bracket Challenge picked the Bruin to win the Stanley Cup. The Bruins staked a 3-1 series lead over the Florida Panthers who barely eeked their way into the playoffs, 43 points behind the Bruins. The Panthers were undeterred, and last night beat the Bruins 4-3 in overtime in a terrific game 7 of their first round series. Boston fans were stunned; this wasn’t supposed to be a series, it was supposed to be the first step in an inevitable coronation. Instead, the Bruins join the NBA 2016 Golden State Warriors (73-9 but didn’t win the championship), the 2001 Seattle Mariners who won 116 games and didn’t get out of the first round of the playoffs, and the 2007 New England Patriots whose loss in the Super Bowl prevented an undefeated season.
For 36 seasons, the NHL has awarded the President’s Cup to the team that earns the most points in the regular season. (For those who don’t know, each team gets 2 points for a regulation, overtime or shootout win; and teams get one point for an overtime or shootout loss.) Of those 36 teams, 8 have gone on the hoist the ultimate prize – Lord Stanley’s Cup – a 22.2% win rate. The last team to do it were my beloved 2013 Chicago Blackhawks, but it almost shouldn’t count since the NHL locked out the players reducing the number of regular season games and the season didn’t start until January 19, 2013.
The Bruin loss isn’t even rare. The 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning earned 128 points but they lost in the first round to Columbus. Lost time readers know that I was upset with then Hawks Head Coach Joel Quenneville in 2010 when he listed the goals for the team: win the division, the President’s Cup, and then the Stanley Cup. I said then that I wanted nothing to do with the President’s Cup. It just paints a bigger bullseye on your back and every team you play consider that series their Stanley Cup. With a 22-0-2 start to the 2013 season, I didn’t have much
Hockey has perhaps more superstitions than any other sports. For example, it is normal for teams who win the conference championship trophy not to touch it – like touching it would mean that the team is satisfied with winning the conference. I can’t find any similar convention for the President’s Cup. All I’m able to find are articles saying that there is no curse. Yes, at 22%, the percentage of teams that have won the Cup is higher than any other seed (2, 3 and 6 seeds have percentages over 10%), but it seems like President’s Cup teams losses are more ignominious, especially first round losses which are against the lowest seeded teams. That’s what makes the Stanley Cup Playoffs so electrifying.
If I were the Bruins however, or the 2021-22 Panthers, or the 2020-21 Colorado Avalanche (who, despite being the defending Stanley Cup Champion, also lost a game 7 yesterday to expansion Seattle), and all of the other failed PC winners, I would want to take the President’s Cup, melt it down and throw it into the Yukon river.

Chicago Bear fans have been generally happy since January 8 of this year, when their former coach Lovey Smith led the Houston Texans to a shocking 32-31 win over the Indianapolis Colts in Indiana, leading to a 3-13-1 record for the season. The Bears lost to the Minnesota Vikings 29-13, posting a 3-14 record. The Texas’ unexpected win gave the Bears the overall number 1 pick in tonight’s NFL Draft. Suddenly, fans, pundits and privately, the Bears’ front office suddenly had an additional pep in their step.
Justin Fields showed a great deal as a second-year quarterback, and probably would have done even better is he had a better offensive line and receivers. While an argument could be made for keeping the pick and getting another QB or a stud like edge rusher like Will Anderson Jr. from Alabama. It was obvious that the Bears have many more holes than just one pick, even the very first one could fill. There is no group of people who second guess more than Bear fans. First came the Fields supporters and the Fields’ critics questioned whether Alabama’s undersized QB Bryce Young or Fields’ successor at Ohio State C.J. Stroud. This puts the QB under the same learning curve that Fields has already been through. Ryan Poles did the smart thing, trading the number 1 pick to Carolina for the number 9 pick in the first round, a second rounder this year and a first rounder in 2024. Most important, the Bears got wide receiver D.J. Moore, who has caught for over 5,000 yards in his first five years in the league. The trade got more picks and filled a desperate need for a number 1 receiver.
The trade was the earliest a number 1 pick has ever been traded, which led the naysayers to ask whether the Bears should have held on for a better deal. This is ludicrous; for once the Bears have been proactive in building draft capital rather than overpaying for a move-up in the draft.
Well, tonight is draft night. The Bears may not be on the clock first, but the draft will be interesting and entertaining. I’ll certainly be watching…

Ever since the NFL season ended, it has been clear that future Hall of Fame Quarterback Aaron Rodgers would not return to the Green Bay Packers, despite a $50 million payday for the season. Rodgers’ idiosyncratic behavior ever since the Packers drafted Jordan Love in the first round in 2020 out of Utah State. Despite the fact that the Packers drafted him while having future Hall of Famer (and embezzling scumbag) Brett Favre, Rodgers has had hissy-fit after hissy fit, threatened to hold out, negotiated a gargantuan contract. He got engaged, then they broke up. He spent time in a darkened cave/room, and eventually said that he wanted to play for the New York Jets.
For weeks, the sports networks, newspapers have been reporting that negotiations were continuing, until finally, this week, the Jets and Packers agreed on sending Rodgers to NYC in return to draft picks. Here in Chicago, there was great rejoicing – the man who right yelled to fans that “I f$%^ing own you (the Bears)” won’t be leading 4th quarter comebacks twice per year against the Bears. However, I have a different take on this.
I was born in Chicago and my grandfather had Bears season tickets for decades. I can remember Gaye Sayers and Dick Butkus as rookies, and therefore I have hated the Green Bay Packers for nearly my entire life. While the losses on the field were bad and upset me, watching the annual soap opera between the Packers and Aaron Rodgers was consistent fun. Rodgers is to me, one of the best QBs to ever play the game, but the California native has always been eclectic to say the least. Relationships with Olivia Munn, Danica Patrick and a short-lived engagement to actress Shailene Woodley cave made headlines; a stilted relationship with his parents, his belief in alternative medicine including saying that he has been immunized against Covid-19 when he wasn’t, and a need for attention by only speaking through Pat McAfee’s podcast.
You could almost see the entire State of Wisconsin cringe at each Rodgers’ incident or comment. Yes, I know wins and losses on the football field are the ultimate goal, but when wins weren’t coming, the unease of Packer fans, especially when the Packers would fail in the playoffs, was worth it all. As much as Bear fans are happy to see Rodgers leave, Packer fans are just as happy. It may be the first time Bear and Packer fans are in complete agreement.
Now, he is off to NYC, a place the entire rest of the country hates. It’s going to be fun to watch, but for me, not as much fun as Rodgers tormenting the Packer fans and front office.