ESPN has catalogued Walter Payton at No. 39 among the greatest athletes of the century, a purely subjective opinion that has also placed, so far, two racehorses in the top 100.
Now I wouldn’t take Payton in many foot races against most running backs, never mind Man O’ War or Citation, and neither of them needed any blockers.
But if I had to have 4 yards for a first down, anything inside 5 for a touchdown or simply wanted to see the football run with power, passion and savvy, I’d give the ball to Payton every time.
And if a bit of self-serving cable TV programming that dares to set the order of greatness does nothing more than to remind us of Payton’s specialness, then it is harmless enough, not to mention fairly thorough.
It takes more than arrogance to imagine yourself the final authority on a whole century full of North American athletes. It takes a big film library and a research budget, but I guess if Bert Sugar can do it, so can ESPN.
My first instinct on seeing Payton at No. 39 was that it was a bit high. We are talking about 100 years of jocks, in all sports and, apparently, among all species. Dennis Rodman might, of course, be a double qualifier.
Now I wonder if Payton wasn’t rated too low. Are there 38 better athletes in this century than Payton, several of whom will surely be golfers?
Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Ben Hogan, maybe Tom Watson, Nancy Lopez and Kathy Whitworth, have yet to be mentioned, but unless someone is allowed to tackle them while they are putting . . . the word “great” may be appropriate, though I don’t believe “athlete” applies.
How many football players are left? ESPN dribbles these things out as programming teases, and it’s their gimmick, so they can do what they want to with it.
On the ESPN top 100-list so far there have been 13 football players, including Deion Sanders at No. 74 and Bo Jackson at 72, who also qualify as baseball players. I am assuming that Jim Thorpe is somewhere ahead, and he will qualify in track as well.
These are the football players whom Payton is deemed thus far to be better than: Sanders and Jackson, Lawrence Taylor (40), O.J. Simpson (49), Sammy Baugh (64), Dick Butkus (70), Dan Marino (75), Barry Sanders (76), Gale Sayers (79), Otto Graham (86), Joe Namath (88), Don Hutson (93) and George Blanda (95).
Whatever the order (I would put Graham in front of Baugh, for example), no one can make an unarguable case for any of these being better than Payton, so let’s try to figure who is left who might be better. John Elway? Joe Montana? John Unitas? They all have to be ahead. Montana, maybe, on titles alone. Otherwise, Payton is better.
Jerry Rice, the greatest pass catcher, will have to be included. But he is no Payton. If this were my list, I would have to include Bruce Smith, the greatest defensive lineman ever, and Jim Parker, the greatest offensive lineman.
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Whether Anthony Munoz or John Hannah or Reggie White or Bob Lilly represent the two lines, I would take Payton over any of them.
Are Taylor and Butkus to be the only linebackers? I think so. No Ted Hendricks, no Willie Lanier, no Ray Nitschke. And there will be no defensive backs, no Ronnie Lott, no Night Train Lane, no Ken Houston.
I can think of only two other football players likely to be listed: Red Grange and Jim Brown. For his time, Grange was greater than Payton, and for all time, Brown certainly was better than any other football player who ever played.
So where are we? Three football players at the most are better than Payton–Brown, Montana and Grange–and we haven’t even considered how Payton ranks against jockeys and race car drivers and tennis players and golfers, except in front of all of them.
I have no idea where ESPN is going from here, but eventually it’s going to get past Secretariat to either Babe Ruth or Michael Jordan as the No. 1 athlete of the 20th Century.
The more notable choices whom I have not already mentioned and are yet to be ranked would have to include Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis, Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe, Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis, Babe Didrikson and Jackie Joyner Kersee.
There have to be at least 10 more baseball players, a list that can’t overlook Ernie Banks and Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays and Henry Aaron and Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams.
Only four basketball players are among the top 100 so far: Bob Cousy, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Julius Erving. That leaves at least another eight to go, from Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain to Oscar Robertson to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Larry Bird to Magic Johnson to Karl Malone to Bill Russell.
By my best guess, Payton should be 10 places higher than he is. But if nothing else, this does affirm what we have known all along: Sweetness is the greatest Bear of all. This is something worth being, even these days.