For the longest while, I hadn’t clued in to the GOAT’s meaning. Until my son, then all of 14, spelled it out for me — Greatest Of All Time.
How could I not know that?
Anyway, there was plenty of discussion these past couple of weeks during the NBA playoffs surrounding LeBron James, and whether he’s wrestled the GOAT label away from Michael Jordan.
I believe he has, after James took an otherwise rag-tag Cleveland Cavaliers team as far as he did in the post-season this year.
I don’t think even Jordan could have accomplished that feat.
But that’s not my point here.
When the discussion arises about who belongs in the all-time greats category, one of the criteria that’s almost always used is the number of championships the athlete has won.
Which is fine if you’re a golfer or tennis player.
But it’s an unfair argument to make when speaking of team sports.
Jordan supporters will note his 6-0 record in championship appearances, and James falls to 3-8.
Of course, Jordan had Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc, Dennis Rodman and Ron Harper to lean on.
James could only wish to be so lucky.
Can Charles Barkley or John Stockton be penalized because they didn’t win championships? Is it Pete Maravich’s fault he played on lousy teams?
Marcel Dionne was one of the greatest to lace up a pair of skates, but he never won a Stanley Cup. How would that be his fault if Dionne was in the discussion for the GOAT (though he’s not)?
Wayne Gretzky had a better L.A. Kings team surrounding him than Dionne, and even 99 couldn’t bring a Cup to Los Angeles.
To discount Ted Williams from the baseball GOAT debate would be ridiculous.
Joe DiMaggio won nine World Series championships, and Mickey Mantle got seven rings, but the talent that surrounded those two in New York compared to the supporting cast Williams had in Boston is enormous.
To punish an athlete because he could not single-handedly lead his team to a championship is as unreasonable as it is unfair.
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We’ve touched on this topic before, but here’s one more point regarding analytics, which seem to be superseding the human touch when it comes to running pro sports teams these days.
Analytics won’t tell you about the internal makeup of a player. They won’t tell you if a minor pro hockey player, playing the third game of a three-in-three weekend, elects to mail it in during the third game, doing so when he’s only a step away from the NHL and a six-figure salary vs the 70 grand he’s making in the minors.
Analytics won’t tell you that he’s not the kind of player you want on your roster in the playoffs.
This is 2018, and there’s a place for analytics, regardless the sport. But there will always be a need, as well, for the scout’s human eye.
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Very surprised Alex Newhook has elected to stay the college route and attend Boston College on a full athletic scholarship beginning in 2019-20.
Surprised because the Halifax Mooseheads, who own his Quebec Major Junior Hockey League rights, are staging the Memorial Cup next season.
If Newhook was your better-than-average hockey player, an NCAA scholarship at a D1 program like BC would seem the better option than major junior.
But Newhook isn’t your run of the mill athlete. He’s a special talent, someone who’s mentioned as a top 10 pick in the 2019 NHL draft.
If Newhook is among the top picks (The Hockey News has speculated he could go as high as No. 2), he won’t be playing four years of college. He’ll probably turn pro after two, maybe three.
In Halifax, the rigors of a major junior schedule would probably better prepare him for pro, not to mention the experience gained playing in a Memorial Cup.
And you can be sure the Mooseheads offered him a package that included a college education.
Halifax has developed a very good reputation of producing quality NHLers, from Nico Hischier right on down the the line to Timo Meier, Jonathan Drouin, Nathan MacKinnon and Jakub Voracek. Filip Zadina, from this year’s squad, will be a high pick in the June NHL draft.
Then again, I suppose, the college game didn’t hurt Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Johnny Gaudreau, Jack Eichel and a host of others.
But the majority of North American NHL stars have come out of the Canadian Hockey League.
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A production error this week in a story I wrote on Grand Falls hockey star Tony White and his tenure with the Washington Capitals omitted a portion of the story, which explains why readers might have been a bit puzzled with what seemed like missing information (it was all good on The Telegram’s website).
Interestingly, White started and ended his junior/pro career with a Herder Memorial Trophy championship.
He was just 17 when he made the 1971-72 powerhouse Grand Falls Cataracts of the Newfoundland Senior Hockey League, a squad that featured Hall of Famers Al Bargery, Jimmy Dawe, Al Dwyer, Frank Finlayson, Harry Katrynuk, Leo Murphy, Harold Stanley, Jim Temple, import goalie Jean-Guy Morissette and import coach Marc Pichette.
Dawe centred White on the left side with another youngster from Grand Falls, Jim Munch, on the right side.
Two other highly-touted young stars from the Paper Town — Don Howse and Terry French — also played on that Herder-winning squad. White, Munch, Howse, French and Terry Ryan, who by then was playing for the Hamilton Red Wings junior squad, represented the finest crop of minor hockey players to come up together this province has ever seen.
Like White, Howse played in the NHL, Ryan in the old World Hockey Association, French was a junior star with the Ottawa 67s and second-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens, and Munch played professionally in Germany.
When his pro career was done, White returned to Newfoundland, and played three years of senior hockey, beginning in 1982-83 with the Cataracts.
After one season, he played two years in Corner Brook, winning a Herder with the Royals in 1985. He played part of the Allan Cup playoffs that spring with the Royals before leaving for Vancouver to start a new career as a firefighter.
Robin Short is The Telegram’s Sports Editor. He can be reached by email [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @telyrobinshort
