Walking with giants

By: Cory Smith

Posted: 11/6/09

"Rivera gets him out, and the Yankees win it!"

How many times have we heard Joe Buck call this phrase in the last decade? Well, we all heard it yet again Wednesday night as the New York Yankees/galactic empire wrapped up their record-setting 27th world championship, and I sat in my room with a frown and a sick stomach.

Obviously I am not a Yankees fan. However, I could not help but contemplate the tremendous feat Mariano Rivera had just accomplished. He won his fifth world title with the Yanks, and his performances were the lynchpins for all five of them. He is second all-time on the saves list, and he is the most feared closer, if not pitcher, in the game today. Most consider him to be the greatest postseason closer of all time, and some would call him the greatest closer of all time period.

My feelings of nausea were quickly replaced with those of respect. I felt honored to be watching history take place.

This immediately brought me back to my childhood when I sat for hours and listened to my father, grandfather and uncles sit around and talk about the sports giants of their days. I was told about how Hank Aaron broke a huge glass ceiling by simply breaking a home run record. I was captivated by stories of football heroes such as Joe Namath, Vince Lombardi and Gale Sayers.

I was told about the greatness of basketball players such as Kareem, Bill Russell and Wilt the Stilt. I even heard about the famed Olympic performances of Mary Lou Rhetton and Mark Spitz and the charismatic and tactical knockouts delivered by Muhammad Ali. The conversations always ended with the same phrase, "Too bad our kids will never see heroes like those."
I always assumed they were correct.

Mariano Rivera's historic final out Wednesday made me start thinking differently. It made me start thinking perhaps our generation has heroes that could rival if not match the heroes of their days. Brett Favre is the only quarterback to defeat every NFL team, and he has made 10 pro bowls, won three MVPs and the Super Bowl. Albert Pujols has won two MVP awards, made 10 all-star games and won the World Series.

Kobe Bryant is an 11-time all-star, NBA MVP, NBA finals MVP and four-time world champ. Lebron James has made all five all-star games and won the NBA MVP in just five years. Shaquille O'Neal is a 15-time all star who has won three NBA MVP awards and four world championships, as well as made a few terrible rap albums.

Michael Phelps won 14 gold medals in the last two Olympics with a record-breaking eight at the 2008 games, and who could forget, the fastest man in history, Usain Bolt's performance at those same games.

I realized that none of these are giants today, but perhaps we will one day be able to tell our children we watched these greats while their legends were being built.

It reminded me of one of my favorite movies, "Troy." Brad Pitt and Eric Bana deliver uber-manly performances as Achilles and Hector of Troy, and their battle is one of my favorite fight scenes ever. The movie ends with Odysseus's words, "If they ever tell my story, let them say that I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say that I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles."

Our forefathers can say that they lived in the time of the giants of Aaron and Ali, Namath and Sayers and Kareem and Wilt. Perhaps one day we will be able to awe our children and grandchildren the same way, and let them say we lived in the time of Phelps and Lebron, Kobe and Mariano, and Favre and Bolt. Let them say we walked with giants.