In a September 2007 regular season game vs. the Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre completed a 16-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Greg Jennings in the first quarter; with that touchdown pass, Favre broke Dan Marino’s then-record of 420 career passing touchdowns to sit atop the NFL record books. Though they have both since been surpassed by Drew Brees, Tom Brady, and Peyton Manning, Favre and Marino remain near the top of most career passing records, including yardage and touchdowns. As two of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, with numerous passing records and MVP awards between them, let us pose the question:
After Pete Rose (4,256) and Ty Cobb (4,191), no players in MLB history have more career hits than Hank Aaron at #3 (3,771) and Stan Musial at #4 (3,630). With careers spanning well over 20 seasons apiece, Aaron and Musial accomplished it all during their playing days – 20+ All-Star selections each, MVP awards, batting titles, World Series championships, and a plethora of career hitting records. Interestingly, the younger Aaron viewed Musial as one of his baseball idols and the two later became lifelong friends; given their similar career statistics and accomplishments (with the exception of Aaron’s clear superiority in hitting home runs), it is a natural comparison to ask:
Everyone knows that Wayne Gretzky is the NHL’s all-time leading scorer with 2,857 career points; almost 1,000 career points behind him at #2 and #3 overall are Jaromir Jagr (1,921) and Mark Messier (1,887), respectively. Both played alongside transcendent players during the first halves of their careers and were arguably Robin rather than Batman (Jagr with Mario Lemieux in Pittsburgh, Messier with Gretzky in Edmonton), but are nevertheless all-time legends in their own right – between the 1,800+ career points each, Ross Trophies, Hart Trophies, Pearson Awards, captaincies, and Stanley Cup titles, etc., the question is:
During the 1980s, the NBA was dominated by the fierce rivalry between cornerstone franchises the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, who combined for eight titles during the decade. Each team was loaded with stars and Hall of Famers – on the Lakers side, there was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Michael Cooper, etc. Meanwhile, for the Celtics, Larry Bird was the clear alpha, but also formed one of the original “Big Threes” and a dominant frontcourt alongside Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. Between the tough-nosed and versatile McHale and the durable and consistent Parish, each player was an All-Star and Hall of Famer in his own right, thus bringing up the question:
Any discussion of the greatest running backs in NFL history usually centers around a couple of names, in particular Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns and Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears. Though Emmitt Smith has held the league’s career rushing yards record since 2002, that distinction had previously belonged to Payton since 1984, who in turn had broken Brown’s record. With both legendary running backs recently being selected to the NFL 100 All-Time Team, it naturally begs the question:
