What is the true measure of a great quarterback? Honestly, can anyone give one definitive answer? Obviously, statistics must be used to determine such a title. But what statistics are the most important? Is it winning percentage? Or how about touchdowns? What about completion percentage, total yards and interceptions?
Quarterback rating is a stat that takes many of these into account and comes out with a number to gauge a QB’s performance for a game, a month, a season or even a career. However, this stat can be misleading. A quarterback can throw for 500 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. Depending on his completion percentage, he will have an extremely high rating. The two interceptions will lower the rating, but always count the same even if they cost his team the game. So is that really a true measure of a great QB?
Many NFL analysts will say it is all about the championships a quarterback leads his team to, but this is also very debatable. If it is a true gauge, Dan Marino was a horrible quarterback. That is not the case; though, as Marino is a guaranteed hall of fame quarterback. He holds the record in just about every meaningful quarterback statistic. Any person who watched his career unfold knows Marino was a great field general, if not the best.
Certainly, winning percentage would seem to be a good stat to measure a good quarterback. Good QB’s win, flat out. However, can a quarterback put up mediocre stats and be considered one of the all-time greats. Analysts will disagree over this for eternity.
In every statistical category, there is a different quarterback who stands out above the rest. There are many great QB’s, but to determine the greatest is nearly impossible due to the fact there are arguments for too many great signal callers to determine just one.
-Now that Barry Bonds has hit his 700th home run, he has entered an elite club with Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. He has also reached the point in his career in which he is either loved or hated. So which Bonds will people remember: The hall of fame outfielder or the locker room cancer that despised anything related to the media? Depending on your perspective, he is either a hero or a villain.
-Now Hockey Leaves, otherwise known as the NHL, has found itself in a lockout after the players association and owners could not settle their pay dispute. Before the disagreement, the NHL was already suffering terrible TV ratings and even far worse fan attendance in the states. The question now is will we ever see professional hockey again? There is plenty of fan support north of the border, but can Canada alone save a league ignored by the majority of Americans? More importantly, will we miss this game we have treated like the ugly step child?
-With three games to go, the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry is in full swing. For fans in the northeast, nothing is better this time of year than the playoff baseball atmosphere that surrounds these two rivals. But what about fans outside of New England and the Tri-State area? While both teams have large fan bases that stretch across the states, there are also 28 other teams with loyal followers. For any baseball fan who does not follow these two teams, the media scrutiny is too much. Do people in the Midwest care about the Sox and Yanks? No, they want to hear about the Cubbies and the Cards. Out west, fans want to know about Oakland, Anaheim, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. In case you have not noticed due to a lack of media coverage, all five California teams are in the playoff hunt for the first time since San Diego joined the league. Basically, the Sox/Yanks rivalry is good for its fans, but is over hyped and exaggerated for fans of every other franchise.
