The Greatest of All Time is a label that has been given to quite a few figures across multiple sports.  Is there really such a thing as a greatest of all time, or is there just a greatest of now and a greatest of then?  I offer up proof that the greatest of all time is a hard, hard title to prove and bestow upon any one person in a sport.  Is Michael Jordon the greatest basketball player of all time or is Kobe Bryant going to surpass him?  Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus?  Wayne Gretzky or Gordie Howe?  There is no way to tell in my opinion.  How do you decide who should be the greatest off all time?  Stats, championships, grit, determination, effect on others around them, clutch performance, equipment, rules of the times, teams or opposites to compete against?  What are the defining characteristics?  Read on!

     Stats?  Brett Favre holds a majority of passing records for quarterbacks in the NFL but that in no way makes him the greatest of all time.  Championships?  Dan Marino is one of the five best QBs ever and he never once won a Super Bowl.  Determination and grit?  Cal Ripken Jr. played 2,632 games in a row, never missing a start.  16 years without a day off and yet Ripken is far from the best baseball player ever.  Effect on teammates?  Joe Dumars made everyone around him better and he is not the greatest.  Equipment is shown false by people like Greg Norman who managed to compete against the best players with the best equipment of today, after  playing with wooden drivers and wound string balls to start.  Showing he can compete today just as well as in his prime shows there is more to it than the equipment but Norman isn't the greatest golfer of all time.  Rules of the times?  Lance Alworth was a superstar in the 1960s, amassing a huge amount of yards, touchdowns, and Pro-Bowl appearances but he is not considered the best ever over WRs like Jerry Rice even though he played in a time that the rules were not slanted to protect the wide receiver and give them the advantage.  These things go to show that there is not a G.O.A.T., but a G.O.N.A.G.O.T. (greatest of now and greatest of then, remember).  I admit G.O.N.A.A.G.O.T.  doesn't have the same flair as G.O.A.T. but it more fairly covers the players of today and yesterday.

     So let me compare and contrast a few greatest of all time candidates and see if there is one true greatest, or a few people who should share the honor equally.

His Airness or Kobe?

To some people comparing Bryant to Jordan is comparing apples to oranges.  To me it's like comparing apples to grapples, they both look the same inside and out, they just taste different.  I grew up watching Jordan fly around the court and making shots that seemed impossible until the ball left his fingers.  Jordan won 3 championships, decided to go play baseball and then came back and won three more.   He was and is one of the most marketable sports figures ever.  Jordan was a personality and someone everyone wanted to look up to.  Kobe now makes those shots and invents some of his own.  He has 3 championship rings of his own and is only 30, with years left to go before he retires.  Bryant may not be as marketable as Jordan but he does have multiple endorsement deals.  Kobe may not be as well admired or well loved outside of the Laker fanbase but the people who love him do it with gusto.  So does all this make Jordan the greatest basketball player of all time?  No.  It makes him the greatest basketball player of the 1990s just as Kobe Bryant will be remembered as the best player of the 2000s.  Every decade has that one player that defined the era, that everyone looked up to and wanted to be. 

Tom Brady vs Joe Montana vs Everybody Else

    Joe Montana is at the top of almost every greatest quarterbacks list since the mid 1980s but you have to admit he was a lucky man who had some great targets to go along with his helping of skill.  Montana won 4 Super Bowls but stat wise is light years behind Dan Marino.  John Elway and Marino both had 9 Pro Bowl appearances where Montana has 8.  So going by stats Marino is best ever, going by Super Bowl wins Montana is best ever and going by Pro Bowl appearances both Elway and Marino are tied.  Tom Brady is behind everyone in the stats department except for regular season touchdown passes.  He has won three Super Bowls which puts him ahead of Marino and Elway, but only 4 Pro Bowl visits which is behind all three.  I feel Brady is a decent quarterback and certainly one of the best of this era of football, but after the amazing season he and the Patriots has last year a large amount of people were calling for him to be labeled the best ever which is ludicrous.  One season of above average football doesn't mean you get to rocket to the top of the chart.  If Brady continues to play like he has in the past, and I mean every season not just 2007, then he will likely be remembered as the best of this era, over people such as Favre and Peyton Manning.  The only hard thing to do is pick out who would be the greatest of the last era out of Montana, Marino and Elway.  I think that Marino wins for all of his accomplishments and the fact that he had next to no offensive weapons to help him out.  Marino was amazing and if you take away the Super Bowl wins from Elway and Montana he wins hands down.  So, in conclusion Marino is the best QB of the 80s and 90s and Brady has a chance to be the best of this generation.

Sitting here I just figured out I could go on and on like this for every sport there is.  Tiget Woods vs Jack Nicklaus.  Ali vs Tyson in his prime.  Barry Sanders vs Emmit Smith vs Walter Payton vs Jim Brown.  Magic vs Bird.  On and on the list goes and over and over all you can definitively say is that one was the best in their time but not the best ever.  Invent a time machine that will allow us to put MJ from the early 90s vs Kobe of today and then there is a different argument but until then lets all agree to disagree and love who we feel is the G.O.A.T.  Or G.O.N.A.G.O.T. if you will.  Peace!

So here I sit watching the Lions get stomped by the Bears (Kyle Orton is my awesome QB pick of the week for fantasy by the way) and I wonder if the Lions have any hope to improve in the next few years.  The Lions play with no passion, no drive, and hardly look like they are interested in the game.  Rod Marinelli just finally benched Kitna, only to play Dan Orlovski.  Roy Williams is blaming everything but his hands for why he isn't catching the ball.  This is sad.  I say it's time to trim some fat and let the new guys play.

First things first, fire Marinelli.  The man is lost, and has no hope of fixing this team.  At halftime Rod said "We know what we need to do we just need to start doing it".  Duh.  Even assuming the Lions as a team know what to do, there is no reason to believe they can do it.  Marinelli came in to Detroit preaching fundamentals, defense, and dedication and this team has no idea about any of them.  The tackling is the worst in the league, the defense is pathetic and the only dedication I see in Detroit is William Clay Fords dedication to Rod Marinelli.  Rod Marinelli has been hindered by Matt Millen, but the choices for offensive and defensive COs came from Marinelli and are just wrong.  Son in law can't lead a pee wee football teams defense to victory and Jim Coletto just is not O-line coordinator quality. 

Does firing Marinelli make the Lions better?  No not at all.  In fact finding an interm or even new head coach at this point in the season would be very hard.  But it again pacifies the fans, and WCF needs to do as much of that as possible.  The Lions need a GM and a new head coach.  A quaterback a new offensive line, some DBs that can tackle, I mean the list goes on.  Here is my solution.

Hire Floyd Reese as GM.  This is the guy that made the Tennesee Titans the team they are today.  He can evaluate talent, he has some kind of draft crystal ball, and he is not Matt Millen.  This man is asking for the job.  He wants to come to Detroit, and I can't imagine he is just looking for Millen like job security.  Reese must see something here in Detroit that he can work with.  I say hire him, give him 3 years and see what happens.

Find Bill Cowher and pay him whatever he asks.  Marty Shottinheimer is another option.  The guy took his last team to a 14-2 record before getting fired.  Either way you are getting a quality head coach with a proven track record.  Personally I think Cowher would be a better fit here, he is a take no #### kind of guy and that is what the Lions need.  Rod Marinelli is supposed to be that guy now, but he hasn't lived up to the hype.  Cowher will come in here, clean house and smack some heads until this team listens.  I will give WCF some credit, he sticks with a head coach until they have proven they can not get the job done, unlike Al Davis.  So give Cowher the reins, 4 years, and a GM he can work with and turn him loose.

Next on the agenda, clean house.  Kitna is worthless as the Lions quarterback, the guy is not the future here.  Trade him now while he still has some value to a team that has a shot.  The Patriots need a quarterback so let's make a deal.  Kitna has enough skill to lead a team like the Patriots into the playoffs, easily.  So get a 3rd round draft pick for him.  Hell float the conditional draft pick idea like Green Bay did with Favre.  Detroit gets a 3rd round, a 2nd round if the Pats make the playoffs, and a 1st round if they win the Super Bowl.  Even going 4th, 3rd, 2nd makes sense.  It is time for Drew Stanton to get his shot as the starter, so the team can see if he is the answer for the future.  I doubt it myself.  Stanton in the second round was one of the worst reaches I've seen in the draft in years, but the guy deserves a chance to prove himself.

Next up on the chopping block, Rudi Johnson.  Send him to Pittsburgh for a 4th or 5th round pick.  He isn't worth that much sitting on the Detroit sidelines so get what you can for him.  The Steelers are hurting for a decent RB and Johnson can fill in until FWP is healthy.

This one makes me happy inside.  Let's ship Roy Williams to Dallas for a 2nd round pick.  The Lions are going nowhere this year so why keep all this dead weight around?  Roy Williams doesn't want to stay here in Detroit, is gone in 3 months anyways, why not try to get something of value for him?  Jerry Jones would love to see Williams line up across from T.O.  Another good place for Williams is Cleveland.  The Browns are going to stick with Anderson because they spent so much money on him, so why not try to pry Brady Quinn off the bench and into the silver and blue?  Of course it's gonna cost Detroit more than Williams to get Quinn, but I think adding a late round pick would be worth it.

Those three players are the only ones on the Detroit roster that any other team is going to show interest in besides Ernie Sims, and to give him up would be insanity.  Sims is going to be the cornerstone of the Lions new defense, and I hope he is ready for that.  Personally I would like to see the Lions cut everyone but Sims, Kevin Smith, Stanton, Calvin Johnson, and maybe Gosder, and sign jobbers for the league minimum and play this year and the next.  Detroit is so #### up when it comes to the salary cap that they need two years of a 20 million dollar roster to make room to rebuild. 

This is my way of making the Lions better, even though it may take two to three years to pay off.  We need draft picks, and lots of them to make a difference.  Lemmie know what you think, any better ideas or trades out there?