The passing of the torch from the Great One to the Great 8. Alex Ovechkin, captain of the Washington Capitals, became the new record holder for most goals scored in the NHL over the weekend, beating Wayne Gretzky's long-held record of 894. The feat was once thought impossible.
No amount of workouts, protein shakes, pre-game videos, and opposition scouting can make up for the sheer, God-given talent that only the few greats truly possess.
We watch sports for the magical individual plays, and unique brilliance of the great players. Over-coaching across all sports has diminished those qualities in younger players. The creative instinct has been coached out of them. This is most true in soccer. But it applies across all team sports. And the introduction of analytics over the last decade has tilted the pendulum completely the other way. Dry numbers have replaced passion and the natural reading of the game.
Most sports today is unwatchable. In basketball every game has a bunch of guys shooting 3s and doing cardio for two hours on live television. There isn't any depth to the games, or variability. It's not interesting at all, not even for casual viewing. And hockey games aren't that much better. They have very little hitting or animosity anymore. The lack of physicality means you're just watching a bunch of guys figure skating.
Baseball was never my cup of tea so I don't know how badly it's fallen. In soccer the managers are more well known than the superstars, which tells you all you need to know. The art of dribbling is dead, so what once made the sport fun to watch is totally absent from it now.
The only time when sports is must-see viewing are national team events like the World Cup, or the playoffs of any major league. That's the time when the passion rises to the surface, and every minute of every game counts.
But back to Ovechkin. He's one of the few athletes of any major sport who plays every game like it's his last. He's not just going through the motions out there. He's still a kid in a man's body. And that's what makes him great. The love for the game doesn't leave the great ones. And those are the players we should idolize and remember. It's important to praise them while they're still playing. They're the reason why we watch sports.
We put aside our precious time to watch amazing individual performances, not to watch coaches put on masterclasses in game management or implement the latest analytical wizardry to eke out a victory by the slimmest of margins. To hell with all that. Just give the puck, or the ball, to the best guy, and get out of his way. The great ones lead. They set the standard, and keep the flame burning. They light the way forward for future generations of athletes and competitors.