Greatest Individual Seasons In Like 4-Eva

ESPN.com has a Page 2 section up (so you know it's on the second tier of credibility) that lists the overall 25 greatest individual seasons across a fairly arbitrary list of sports, then breaks down the top 10 from each sport. Instead of getting a coronary by being up in arms about the rankings and snubs, I'll just offer some comments. I definitely encourage you to check it out and come back and submit your own comments.

Here is the link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=080109/seasons

• First off, I wouldn't blame anyone that started hating Tom Brady today simply because he inspired this entire fiasco.

• Second, if you look at the reasons in each of the sports, they all use statistics heavily, how much they revolutionized the game, and actual context of the era they played in with the rules, fitness training advantages, etc. Of course none of them weighs this criteria with any kind of consistency and only cites the non-statistics to make their point. So right away you can see why this is a Page 2 special section.

• Football: Marino is ahead of Manning who is ahead of Brady. The ONLY reason Chadiha gives for putting him over those two is that the rules were different, and whoah, imagine what he could do today! It's not that the rules argument is invalid that gets me, but that it's the ONLY reason he gives.

• Manning's 2004 season is ahead of Brady's 2007 season because Manning threw 4 TD's in 4 straight games and he sat in most of the 4th quarters and most of the last game. So you know that he would have put up even more awe-inspiring numbers if he played 60 minutes each week (thanks Stupid Flanders). If you compare the numbers, Brady beats Manning on basically every meaningful stat except passer rating. How could that be, you ask, if Brady had more TD's, Passing Yards, Yards per attempt, and fewer interceptions? It's because Brady threw about 80 more passes. Since he threw 80 more passes, that makes Manning more efficient. Yes it's exactly as dumb as it sounds and why fewer and fewer people cite QB rating as an argument winner anymore.

• One more thing on the Manning - Brady seasons. Chadiha cites Brady as the best big-game QB of his generation before this year and cemented it with this season. He also gives him props for the 16-0 but for this particular discussion it apparently doesn't matter. If you're sitting in the 4th quarter of most of your games and almost the entire final game, how much pressure are you under? Brady spent half the season coasting, then the expectations of 16-0 and the number of 4th quarter comebacks should have made a bigger difference.

• Ok this is really the last point on that topic. Manning had his leading running back rush 334 times for 1548 yards that season which is fantastic. Brady had his leading rusher carry 185 times for 835 yards. Not quite as much pressure on you when you have the #2 rushing attack in the NFL. Of course, maybe if you're a Colts fan, you'll have some insight into other unseen factors in 2004 that put Manning ahead of Brady. But if you're Chadiha you didn't write them down.

• Since all positions are apparently created equal in this list, shouldn't Devin Hester's 2007 season be on there? What other player dominated at his position in a single season more than Hester did this year with 4 TD on punt returns and 2 TD on kick returns?
  

• Switching to baseball, Rob Neyer immediately changes the direction of criteria and discounts the kind of rules you saw in the NFL argument, to put Bonds in #1 and #3. I don't know how you put Bonds' 2001 season ahead of Babe's 1921 season in which he dominated his peers like no one ever has. There is ZERO accounting for the era that each played in and how their performance compared with the rest of the league....which brings me to....

• #8 Pedro Martinez 1999. Wait...Neyer's first sentence in his Pedro argument is: "In a year in which American League pitchers combined for a 4.86 ERA, Martinez posted a 2.07 ERA that was nearly a run-and-a-half lower than the No. 2 man on the list." But, how could that be when he just completely dismissed this angle in putting Bonds ahead of Babe? What's the deal Rob? Is it this bizarre "ill pick the winner then find stats to support it" angle that helped you stick a fork in Jim Rice? On a side note, 1999 is still the greatest Red Sox season of my life time. 2004 and 2007 don't come even remotely close (because both regular season's were kind of boring). 1999 had everyone changing their plans to watch every Pedro start, in the same way my parents never went out in the early 70's (pre-bratty children) when Bobby Orr was playing. It also had his 1-hitter 17k performance in Yankee stadium, which is still the best pitching performance I have ever seen on TV, and of course the Cleveland series, which was just incredible and a solid #2 behind the 2004 ALCS.

• By the way, Pedro at #8 was only one of two pitchers in the top 10 (Lefty Grove at #10). It's nice to see this list is consistent with how MVP voting in baseball goes.

• Phil Esposito at #9 in hockey? That was unexpected and probably unwarranted. But my only personal memories of Esposito are at his number retirement (where Bourque gave him his jersey and took 77 instead) so I'm probably wrong here.

• Hey, there's Bobby Orr at #2. And wow, how about that glowing argument - for revolutionizing the position and being the first ever defenseman to win a scoring title amid a season that has never been matched.

• And yet here is Gretzky the net loiterer at #1. I don't actually have any problem with Gretzky at #1 in itself. But ESPN.com's David Amber says that there is no wrong answer in choosing which is his best season. So why is his next best season at #5 and not #2? Is Gretzky here because he's the greatest ever or because that season was better than anyone elses? or is it because as Amber puts it, "...it was Gretzky's ability with grace and style to bring the game of hockey to the masses that stands out from the 1981-82 season"? Yup, no one dominated the Lady Bing in the 80's quite like Gretzky. Don't get me wrong, I know Gretzky dominated his peers that year by setting the points record and completing dominating the scoring title. I guess I've been away too long from Hockey to know that grace and style matter more.
  

• TANGENT ALERT: The Hockey section just made me depressed that the Bruins are going into their 19th year of unwatchability so here is a clip of the Hanson brothers debut in Slapshot that always make me feel better after a 1-0 shutout loss to a team steeped in hockey tradition like the Carolina Hurricanes (they were the Hartford Whalers the last time I really followed hockey).

• By the way, this clip contains adult language and may not be suitable for all corporate locations..especially if you work for me and you're spending company time reading this...for shame:
  

• My biggest grievance is with the NBA. Of course when the byline lists ESPN.com as the writer, you wonder if the person who compiled it preferred to remain nameless because of how they mailed it in completely. This list goes almost exclusively based on statistics and also the very popular and accurate "player efficiency rating." (see MJ at #3). Shaq's 1999 season at #9 is beyond ridiculous.

• I'm not even bothered by the complete exclusion of Celtics' players on this list because of the obvious lack of thought that went into it. If it were more well thought out and took into consideration several factors beyond pts/assts/rb/efficiency rating then you'd see Larry Bird's 1986 season might make it. But the supporting cast and selective memory of the nameless contributor to this section probably keeps him off it. Which is fine, 16 championships is a good look at the bright side.

• And then there's College Basketball and you can smile now because Bird is included. But where is he included? Since his name is Bird he's listed second to Lew Alcindor in a bullet-list rather than a ranking. Here's to you Page 2 Editor, you really know how to put a top notch section together that will reflect well on the sports leader!

• A couple of other notes on the College Basketball list. Apparently, they deviate from the others as well to make arguments about how well they did in the tournament. Of course the lists are for Greatest Individual Seasons, not Greatest Individual Regular Seasons, which of course now just pisses me off more about Marino at #1. Since Brady's season is still ongoing, I wonder if that means winning a Superbowl would propel him to #2 or possibly even #1? That's just silly, but maybe #2 though!

• Golf. yeesh. Annika Sorenstam at #5. It's the freakin LPGA for chrissakes. She doesn't even make the cut when she plays PGA events. How is she ahead of anyone here? Why not do a separate LPGA list? Or why not just combine the NCAA Basketball list with the NBA list? Of course now something else is really bothering me....

• What about Josh Gibson?!?! Why not include the greatest season in the history of the Negro Baseball League? Gibson hit .467 with 53 home runs in 1933 against all levels of competition (unless Wikipedia is lying to me). If you're going to include Annika Sorenstam in Golf, why would you completely disregard the Negro League for baseball? Of course Gibson's numbers are somewhat suspect because "all levels of competition" includes the Negro League and the independent league. But it was a 137 game regular season in which he dominated more than anyone other than Babe Ruth's 1921 season. The point isn't whether the stats are completely accurate or not (they're the accepted stats which is important), but that he, and anyone else I might forget from the Negro League, were not even considered. How do I know that? Because he hit .467 with 53 homeruns. I'm thinking that trumps at least Mr. Freeze Ted Williams' 1941 season with a .406 average and some eye-popping walk totals.
  

• Since I completely loathe college football, I'm not going to bother to comment.

• Ok I lied. I had to see if and where Flutie ranked. #8. Why? "He helped put Boston College on the map as a national university. Applications for admission soared after he rose to fame at BC." I'm not even kidding. That's what it really says. I'm super stoked for the Dean of Admissions, but come on. Of course the Hail Mary was great, but the actual game in which it happened was just phenomenal. Well admissions soared which is the true mark of a champion.

• I'm seriously proud of myself for recognizing 6 of the 10 NASCAR drivers listed.

• If you're a woman that was offended at my earlier Annika Sorenstam complaint you'll be very happy with the lesbian...err...woman-dominated Tennis list. Why Steffi Graff at #1 you might ask? Well it was an Olympic year and she won a gold, which means that in order for the other 9 tennis players to have a chance at #1, they needed the stars to align so that their best year fell in an Olympic year, so that they could compete and win a gold. Of course the Olympics presents tennis competition that is much higher than a WTA tournament. Before beating Gabriela Sabbatini in the finals, Steffi disposed of mixed-doubles ace Zina Garrison and Manuela Maleeva, Bulgaria's greatest Tennis player ever!
  

• Considering all of the various inconsistencies and playing loose with who qualifies for inclusion, I want to submit my 1985 Babe Ruth Baseball season where I turned a winless Almeida & Carlson Insurance team around for a trip to the Championship. I batted over .500 that year, would have had 15 home runs if there was a fence and I wasn't David Ortiz-slow, and struck fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers so much that when facing the most dominant pitcher in the league, I still became the first player in the history of the Plymouth Babe Ruth League to be intentionally walked. I also hit a triple off my friend Jeff Brown after he threw at my head. Suck it Jeff. I figured I should come in just ahead of Pedro at #8.
  

• All things considered, it was an entertaining Page 2 section that made up for the lackluster TMQB, and the complete lack of Sportsguy columns (that book better be good). I just hope I didn't steal Scoop Jackson's thunder by being the first to complain about the lack of Negro League baseball player inclusions. Stay strong Scoop...I know it's been a tough week for you since Clemens didn't get any benefits of the doubt from anyone, in turn killing your chance at writing a Roger Clemens racial injustice column. There's still time to write about David Garrard being underrated because of stereotypes and not being given a fair shake column before he sets for his off-season vacation home on Sunday.