Monday.....Miscellaneous.....Who Was The Best, Ruth or Aaron?

I'm not a follower of professional golf but I am a follower of human interest stories and this year's British Open was one. Tom Watson is 59 years old, a very fine age to be by the way, and was inches away from a major tournament win. From what I have heard it could not have happened to a nicer gentleman. Studies have shown that people who went to kindergarten in 1956 today tend to be the most articulate, clear thinking, doggedly persistent, defenders of what if right and true. They also tend to be quite handsome, but I digress from the issue at hand. Who was the greatest boxer, Ali or Maricano? Would Bill Russell be as dominant in the NBA today? Could Derek Jeter hit off of Bob Gibson or Sandy Koufax? Who had the greater lust for power, Hillary Clinton or Idi Amin? Who was the greatest, Caruso or Pavarotti? By the way the answers are, Maricano, yes, no and Hillary and 'who cares'. It's not often that we get hard evidence on questions like this but this years British Open provided some clues. The old man Tom Watson beat them all, except the bald guy in the green Polo shirt, in what is real golf, British golf with wind, chill and rough higher than the hem on Hillary's Mao pants. I really got to get help with this! In the year that Watson started his PGA career, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Gene Littler, Gardner Dickinson and Miller Barber were winners on the tour and Tom wasn't a winner for three more years. Arnold Palmer won his first tournament in 1955. So without too much imagination we have a generational tie of sorts for the last 54 years. Taking new technologies into consideration, the clue given supports equal talent for the last half century. To continue the point but change the venue, what about the acting profession? This isn't even close. I like a Tom Cruise movie but Spencer Tracy or James Cagney he ain't. There is no news anchor today that could compare to any of the top 20 of yesterday, and I am totaly convinced that there is no grade school whiffle ball player that could carry Curtis Butterfield's Pro Keds. This was supposed to be a serious blog but Hillary can creep into just about anything....except Barack Obama's national security meetings that is. I had a profound point but its gone. It had something to do with this , in some way we seem to think that we are smarter today than those of yesterday, we are wiser, more discerning on the limits of what truth is. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, we are not. The gray matter is exactly the same but Jerry, Kramer and George have to be in the equation somewhere. The Germans have a word for it, bildung, no one knows what it means. Now that's profound! There was intellectual prowess in Descartes' I think therefore I am. United States Senator Al Franken, member of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee now questioning a United States Supreme Court nominee that might adjudicate the most important issues in our future might come up with I think, therefore I thought...I think. No, a dose of humility might be a good prescription for anyone giving opinions on things that will directly affect our lives and that of our children. Well that's the blog. What do you expect from someone who has seen every episode of Everybody Loves Raymond...three or four times!