Next into the Pantheon

Ted Williams. Larry Bird. Ray Borque. And, who? Who will join the New England patheon of all time great athletes? The quarterback who is one of only 4 to have two Superbowl MVP trohpies? Or the kicker to come through with two last second game winning kicks? I'm no expert, but I think the smart money is on Vinatieri, who, because of the lack of reasonable ways to measure kickers, can be described with a straight face as the greatest kicker of all time, much like Bird and Williams can be described as the greatest basketball and baseball players of all time. As here:

It's just unbelievable what he's done. The guy is so deserving of whatever comes his way. He is the best clutch kicker ever, in the history of this league. When he was lining up for that kick, I couldn't even see the goal post, there were so many flashbulbs going off. I would have needed a visor to kick it.

New Englanders like that kind of talk in their sports (even when it's wrong - everyone knows who the greatest basketball player ever is). Move over, Pedro. There's a new hero in town.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:14 AM