Comments on: The Most Valuable Greatest of All Time

By: Dockside Courtesies

Dockside Courtesies — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:04:28 +0000

That collage is awesome. Rauschenberg & Basquiat got nothing on Satchmo.

By: hoppystone

hoppystone — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:21:42 +0000

Re Satch and the toilet, there’s a great story; not sure I have it completely right, but this is the gist. If anyone can corroborate or correct it, great.

Satch was staying in a rundown hotel on a really hot, sticky night, and the place was overrun with flies everywhere. Somebody knocked on his door during the night, and oddly found him sitting in his room very content, seemingly making no effort to beat the heat or the flies. And oddly, there were no flies present in his room, but there was a really foul stench.
They opened up a closet door, and found a hot, steaming turd in the closet covered with flies. And Satch said something to the effect of,’”well, at least there ain’t no flies on me!”.

Personally, I don’t think there’s any comparison for what any modern athlete has done with what Satch did for not only jazz, but popular music as well. He was more gigantic than anyone. Maybe the Babe compares.
And, as evidenced by the above story, he had an uncommon ingenuity for solving mundane problems as well. Let’s see AI or MJ come up with THAT solution!

By: Raf

Raf — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:51:35 +0000

And I am watching him play his off to keep Detroit within sniffing distance of the Cavs.

It’s things like that, that make me enjoy watching Iverson. While I don’t like the antics sometimes, I can’t doubt that he comes to play.

By: Rich

Rich — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 02:22:54 +0000

If LeBron is “twenty someodd pounds shy of 300″ he could pay LB or DE.

He could own this town as a Knick.

By: Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO

Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 01:05:29 +0000

[0] Oh..is it jus me or on a quick first look, doesn’t that photo of Louis with the joint make you think “Fela Kuti”??

By: Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO

Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:54:55 +0000

Love the Armstong article, thanks for that.

Not so sure of other art forms but for jazz at least, it’s probably a dead heat between Pops Armstong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis MVGOAT..

Alex, you’re a film guy, who is in your Mt. Olympus of cinema? Welles, Eisenstein, Godard, Ozu, Kurosawa…too many to choose, really. At elast in baseball you can go by position..

By: Horace Clarke Era

Horace Clarke Era — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 22:07:07 +0000

I’ll read the si piece. Alex, there was an extremely interesting long article on LeBron in Esquire’s year end issue (I am pretty sure it was that one … also had a terrific profile of Steve Jobs). I can’t say I came away impressed with the man off-court, as described, but then you remember ’23 years old’ and start to cut slack. Add (as for so many of these guys) the almost unimaginable degree of wealth and fame, and it gets awfully hard to be ‘a good person’ as well as a superb gladiator for our entertainment. Is this a reason we like it so much when it DOES appear that some superstar phenom IS a fine human being? A gentleman?

Iverson’s a good example of the opposite jonnystrong … he almost visibly (actually it IS visible!) rejects the ‘good guy’ look and image. But he’s a basketball warrior, and incredibly tough.

By: Diane Firstman

Diane Firstman — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:47:10 +0000

When I see LeBron in action … I see a true athlete …. someone I think could perform well in a multitude of sports. You are right Alex, he COULD play strong safety …. or maybe tight end ….

I wonder if he has any acumen for baseball.

I still posit that Bo Jackson is, pound for pound, the best *athlete* I’ve witnessed.

LeBron is a close 2nd.

By: jonnystrongleg

jonnystrongleg — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:46:59 +0000

The guys at Free Darko call the Post-Jordan era the “Iverson Era.” Not because he superseded Jordan on the court, that was beyond Iverson’s immense, though not Jordan-esque, capabilities. But because Iverson heralded the corn-rows and tats and legitimized the hip-hop culture in the NBA. Jordan could never have done that – he had corporate interests. Iverson, as a matter of loyalty to his roots and to his sense of self, crossed over (pun intended) without ever giving up his identity. I think that Iverson’s multi-cultural, multi-generational appeal is at least the reverse negative of Jordan’s.

And I am watching him play his off to keep Detroit within sniffing distance of the Cavs. Curry kept AI on the bench for the first 5 minutes of the 4th and watched an 8 point lead turn into a 4 point deficit.