Watching Greatness

Tiger Woods has now won four tournaments in a row, including two majors. It is hard, as a sports fan, to not watch. There is an aura that surrounds him, one that capivates you and makes you sit and think, "I am watching greatness." You turn on the television just knowing you might see something amazing. How many current athletes can make you feel that way? Off the top of my head, here is the top "aura" player in the sports in which I feel I can make a judgment. At some point later, I will do a more comprehensive list of players who would, or should, make you put down the remote.

Baseball - Pedro Martinez
Roger Clemens is still the greatest active pitcher based on his career, but no pitcher has Hall of Fame credential and the ability to not only overpower but baffle hitters like Pedro. Johan Santana may pass him at some point, or it could be someone like Francisco Liriano, but they have not yet.

Basketball - Kobe Bryant
I am not a big fan of Kobe, and I doubt I ever will be. He is, however, the closest thing to Michael Jordan we will ever see. LeBron James is a better player, but Kobe does the impossible sometimes. 60 points in three quarters to outscore the opposing team in one game, 81 points in another. No more needs to be said.

Football - Brett Favre
There may be better quarterbacks, but I would never want to be in the way of a Brett Favre pass on a potential game-winning drive. It might go right through me. Peyton Manning may be a close second. It would be hard for a running back to hold the top spot. I can only think of Barry Sanders as a back that would make me stop and watch.

Do any of these three come close to Tiger right now, as far as the "aura" factor goes? It is hard to say. Tiger's advantage: He plays an individual sport, rather than a team sport, so the focus when he is playing is solely on him. He controls his game, and no one in any sport is better at that.