Monday, July 28, 2008

Cotto down but not out


The stars were all lined up for Miguel Angel Cotto. Beat Antonio Margarito and earn a megabucks battle with Oscar De La Hoya.

Considering Margarito had lost to Paul Williams and Cotto had spent the past two years building the reputation as the next big thing and it didn't seem too tall of an order.

Except Margarito was too tall and took it to Cotto from the opening bell until Cotto's trainers called things off in the 11th.

The loss was quite a tumble for Cotto but, thanks to an already long history as an alphabet soup champion, he remains in the top 100.

Margarito, thanks to some losses back in his teens before he knew what he was doing, still is still a long ways from the top 100 -- No. 161 -- but he has a chance to unify the welterweight title and if he can do that he'll zoom up the charts quickly.

As for Cotto, the future is unclear. He didn't really hurt Margarito so moving up in weight isn't really in the cards. He didn't do well enough to demand a rematch. Perhaps De La Hoya will fight him anyway, seeing an easier target than Margarito. In any case, he has to go back and prove himself again before he is considered an elite fighter.

Here's the new No. 60 to No. 100 in my system.

60. Emile Griffith, 1958-77, U.S., 49.298
61. Stanley Ketchel, 1904-10, U.S., 49.188
62. Vicente Saldivar, 1961-73, Mexico, 49.180
63. Kostya Tszyu, 1992-05, Australia, 49.095
64. Benny Leonard, 1911-32, U.S., 49.003
65. Dariusz Michalczewski, 1991-05, Poland, 48.180
66. Naseem Hamed, 1992-02, United Kingdom, 48.120
67. Nino Benvenuti, 1961-71, Italy, 48.115
68. Erik Morales, 1993-07, Mexico, 47.965
69. Sam Langford, 1902-26, U.S., 47.957
70. Jackie "Kid" Berg, 1924-45, U.S., 47.913
71. Ike Williams, 1940-55, U.S., 47.728
72. Michael Carbajal, 1989-99, Canada, 47.705
73. Chiquita Gonzalez, 1984-95, Mexico, 47.555
74. Pernell Whitaker, 1984-01, U.S., 47.483
75. Hector Camacho, 1980-05, Puerto Rico, 47.446
76. Marcel Cerdan, 1934-49, France, 47.282
77. John Henry Lewis, 1928-39, U.S., 47.103
78. Panama Al Brown, 1922-42, Panama, 47.096
79. James Toney, 1988-07, U.S., 47.000
80. Maxie Rosenbloom, 1923-39, U.S., 46.836
81. Myung Woo Yuh, 1982-93, South Korea, 46.653
82. Sugar Shane Mosley, 1993-07, U.S., 46.650
83. Jack Dempsey, 1914-27, U.S., 46.639
84. Ratanapol Sor Vorapin, 1990-08, Thailand, 46.551
85. Juan Carlos Gomez, 1995-07, Cuba, 46.546
86. Marco Antonio Barrera, 1989-07, Mexico, 46.502
87. Freddie Welsh, 1905-22, United Kingdom, 46.370
88. Sven Ottke, 1997-04, Germany, 46.315
89. Wilfredo Benitez, 1973-90, Puerto Rico, 46.195
90. Miguel Angel Cotto, 2001-08, Puerto Rico, 46.156
91. Jorge Arce, 1996-07, Mexico, 46.003
92. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, 1994-07, Thailand, 45.983
93. Lou Ambers, 1932-41, U.S., 45.975
94. Fabrice Tiozzo, 1988-06, France, 45.857
95. Bob Montgomery, 1938-50, U.S., 45.701
96. Arthur Abraham, 2003-08, Germany, 45.627
97. Victor Galindez, 1969-80, Argentina, 45.531
98. Mickey Walker, 1919-35, U.S., 45.531
99. Johnny Kilbane, 1907-23, U.S., 45.464
100. Miguel Canto, 1969-82, Mexico, 45.406

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Is Roger really the greatest?


Back when Pete Sampras was king I'd occasionally find someone to argue about whether or not he was the greatest player in the open era.

My argument was it depended on where the mythical greatest match was played. If Pete played Andre Agassi at Wimbledon, well Pete is going to win that match. But if they play at the French Open, well Sampras was clueless on clay. The one thing Agassi has going for him in the all-time best player argument was that he was one of the rare players to win all four majors.

So I set up a round robin to see if we matched up the 11 greatest men's players -- that's the number of that have really set themselves ahead of the crowd -- and the 12 greatest women's players at each of the four venues what would their overall records be.

Some of the greatest men and women players have been overwhelmingly good at one tournament and not very competitive at another. How would they fare overall?

Here are the top 11 men's tennis players according to the system I've written about before. They are in the order I have them ranked in my all-time system.

Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Mats Wilander, Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Rafael Nadal.

For the women, the field was:

Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Chris Evert-Lloyd, Monica Seles, Margaret Smith-Court, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Serena Williams, Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Martina Hingis, Venus Williams and Justine Henin.

Determining who won was easy. The player with the most career points at a particular tournament. In some cases it was close. Ivan Lendl earned 56 points at the French Open in my system and Mats Wilander earned 55. When I matched those two, Lendl earned the Win for the French because of the one point.

So how did it turn out? There were some surprises on the men's side.

Sampras, 25-15
Federer, 25-15
Lendl, 24-16
Agassi, 23-17
Borg, 22-18
Connors, 21-19
McEnroe, 18-22
Wilander, 17-23
Edberg, 17-23
Becker, 15-25
Nadal, 14-26

Going in I thought Federer would have the edge because he's reached three French finals and dominated in Australia, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. But Federer lost two matches to Agassi, two to Sampras, two to Borg, two to Connors and two to Wilander and one each to the rest.

Of course, Federer has a few years left to add points so perhaps he'll gain enough at Wimbledon to turn around mythical losses to Borg at Wimbeldon or Agassi in Australia. Barring some sudden loss of form he'll most likely overtake Sampras in this ranking as well. Still, I was somewhat surprised.

The other major surprise. Agassi at No. 4. His career grand slam was important as was the emphasis he put on the Australian Open. Played in January, it's a grinder's tournament. Borg and McEnroe put no emphasis on the tournament and Sampras and McEnroe skipped it several times.

Not Agassi. He won it four times, including recording his lone grand slam final win over Sampras in Australia in 1995. So 10 of his 23 wins come from his dominance there.

On the women's side, it was the same top 3 dominating, but Billie Jean King moved up a bit:

Navratilova, 40-4
Graf, 37-7
Evert, 33-11
King, 23-21
Goolagong, 21-23
Smith-Court, 20-24
Seles, 19-25
S. Williams, 16-28
Sanchez-Vicario, 8-20
Henin, 7-21
V. Williams, 6-22
Hingis, 5-23

In the cases of Navratilova and Graf, we can list all of their losses.

First off, Navratilova won 3 of 4 against Steffi, losing only at the French. Graff's other four losses were to Chris Evert at the French and U.S. Open, Margaret Smith-Court at the Australian Open and Evonne Goolagong at the Australian.

Navratilova's other three losses were to Evert and Sanchez-Vicario at the French and Goolagong at the Australian.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

All hail Harrington


When looking for the next great European, most people didn't look at Padraig Harrington.

Instead, talk centered around Sergio Garcia and perhaps Lee Westwood, with Colin Montgomerie's star-crossed career tossed in.

Well, with today's grind-it-out win in the British Open -- his second straight -- Harrington has entered my all-time golf playday.

My list includes the 72 greatest men's golfers and Harrington's moving in moved Jerry Pate out of the playday.

I have to admit though, I was rooting for Greg Norman. The final round of the 1996 Masters was perhaps the most painful thing I ever watched on television. It was like a slow-motion car accident. Eventually, I had to turn it off, only occasionally watching again to see if Norman could right the ship.

Today, he could have written a better ending to his career. It wasn't to be, like so many other near misses. Still, he gathered enough points to move up one spot in the rankings.

Here are the updated rankings:

1. Tiger Woods, United States, 1994-2008, 182.01
2. Jack Nicklaus, United States, 1959-1998, 178.61
3. Ben Hogan, United States, 1939-1967, 145.30
4. Arnold Palmer, United States, 1954-1977, 127.39
5. Bobby Jones, United States, 1919-1930, 122.57
6. Tom Watson, United States, 1974-2000, 118.94
7. Walter Hagen, United States, 1913-1940, 118.49
8. Gene Sarazen, United States, 1921-1956, 108.67
9. Gary Player, South Africa, 1956-1984, 108.41
10. Sam Snead, United States, 1937-1974, 103.41
11. Nick Faldo, England, 1978-2003, 101.33
12. Byron Nelson, United States, 1935-1955, 90.94
13. Lee Trevino, United States, 1967-1986, 82.67
14. J.H. Taylor, England, 1893-1925, 81.90
15. Harry Vardon, England, 1894-1922, 81.47
16. Seve Ballesteros, Spain, 1976-1991, 79.46
17. Phil Mickelson, United States, 1990-2008, 79.35
18. Greg Norman, Australia, 1979-2008, 77.48
19. Jim Barnes, Eng/U.S., 1913-1930, 77.25
20. Raymond Floyd, United States, 1965-1994, 75.77
21. Ernie Els, South Africa, 1992-2008, 72.96
22. James Braid, Scotland, 1894-1914, 71.88
23. Nick Price, Zimbabwe, 1982-2005, 69.27
24. Peter Thomson, Australia, 1951-1971, 67.91
25. Jimmy Demaret, United States, 1938-1962, 66.93
26. Cary Middlecoff, United States, 1948-1959, 66.40
27. Ralph Guldahl, United States, 1933-1941, 65.57
28. Bobby Locke, South Africa, 1936-1957, 65.24
29. Craig Wood, United States, 1929-1944, 64.70
30. Hale Irwin, United States, 1973-1993, 63.05
31. Julius Boros, United States, 1950-1973, 62.58
32. Billy Casper, United States, 1958-1976, 60.90
33. Leo Diegel, United States, 1920-1933, 60.81
34. Johnny Miller, United States, 1966-1985, 58.53
35. Ben Crenshaw, United States, 1972-1995, 58.13
36. Harold Hilton, England, 1892-1913, 57.08
36. Paul Runyan, United States, 1931-1951, 57.08
38. Vijay Singh, Fiji, 1993-2006, 56.74
39. Tom Weiskopf, United States, 1969-1982, 55.53
40. Henry Cotton, England, 1927-1958, 55.48
41. Denny Shute, United States, 1928-1950, 55.30
42. Payne Stewart, United States, 1985-1999, 55.07
43. Jock Hutchison, Scot/U.S., 1908-1928, 54.47
44. Bernhard Langer, Germany, 1981-2005, 54.19
45. Ted Ray, England, 1902-1925, 53.91
46. Lloyd Mangrum, United States, 1940-1956, 53.05
47. Horton Smith, United States, 1928-1954, 51.87
48. Henry Picard, United States, 1932-1950, 51.85
49. Hubert Green, United States, 1974-1989, 51.18
50. Lawson Little, United States, 1934-1951, 50.84
51. Mark O'Meara, United States, 1979-2003, 48.08
52. Alex Smith, Scot/US, 1898-1921, 48.03
53. Jim Furyk, United States, 1996-2008, 47.76
54. Larry Nelson, United States, 1979-1991, 47.75
55. Jose Maria Olazabul, Spain, 1984-2006, 47.67
56. Padraig Harrington, Ireland, 1997-2008, 46.29
57. Fred Couples, United States, 1980-2006, 45.63
58. Doug Ford, United States, 1955-1962, 44.72
59. Davis Love III, United States, 1995-2005, 44.67
60. Gene Littler, United States, 1953-1979, 44.65
61. Retief Goosen, South Africa, 1997-2007, 44.48
62. Tony Jacklin, England, 1967-1972, 44.42
63. Lanny Wadkins, United States, 1970-1993, 44.35
64. Curtis Strange, United States, 1980-1995, 44.32
65. Jim Ferrier, Aus/U.S., 1936-1964, 43.97
66. Johnny Farrell, United States, 1922-1937, 43.71
67. Harry Cooper, Eng/U.S., 1923-1942, 43.71
68. Jack Burke Jr., United States, 1951-1965, 43.34
69. Tommy Bolt, United States, 1952-1971, 42.83
70. Tom Kite, United States, 1970-2001, 42.83
71. David Graham, Australia, 1975-1990, 42.66
72. Charles Evans Jr., United States, 1909-1927, 42.13

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Nadal climbing fast ... and a revision


I was unable to watch all of today's Wimbledon men's tennis finals. I saw a lot of the third and fourth sets and very little of the fifth.

So I missed out on what many are saying is the best match perhaps ever. I saw enough to know a lot of people underestimated the potential of Rafael Nadal.

That won't happen again. He now has five major titles, four on his favored clay, and now this win over a player who is among the three best grass court players ever -- with Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg.

Because my system is weighted toward dominance, and Federer has three of the six greatest years ever already on his record, Roger already is the greatest men's player ever in the open era. Nadal, though, has made a remarkable climb and has now moved into the top 10.

Here are the 32 greatest men's players of the open era:

Rank, Player, Country, Years, Total
1. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2003-2008, 106.50
2. Pete Sampras, United States, 1990-2002, 92.63
3. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1974-1981, 90.42
4. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1981-1991, 86.07
5. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1973-1991, 85.57
6. John McEnroe, United States, 1979-1992, 81.72
7. Mats Wilander, Sweden, 1982-1988, 68.92
8. Andre Agassi, United States, 1988-2005, 65.32
9. Boris Becker, Germany, 1985-1996, 62.07
10. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 2005-2008, 61.33
11. Stefan Edberg, Sweden, 1985-1993, 59.37
12. Jim Courier, United States, 1991-1995, 52.67
13. Rod Laver, Australia, 1968-1971, 50.00
14. John Newcombe, Australia, 1968-1976, 48.60
15. Ken Rosewall, Australia, 1968-1974, 39.33
16. Guillermo Vilas, Argentina, 1975-1982, 36.12
17. Jan Kodes, Czechoslovakia, 1970-1973, 35.00
18. Arthur Ashe, United States, 1968-1977, 32.58
19. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 2000-2005, 30.17
20. Marat Safin, Russia, 2000-2008, 29.00
21. Illie Nastase, Romania, 1971-1976, 28.83
22. Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil, 1997-2001, 25.33
23. Pat Rafter, Australia, 1997-2001, 24.50
24. Stan Smith, United States, 1968-1980, 23.50
25. Yevgeny Kafelinikov, Russia, 1996-2000, 23.00
26. Pat Cash, Australia, 1984-1988, 22.00
27. Michael Chang, United States, 1989-1996, 21.67
28. Andy Roddick, United States, 2003-2007, 20.67
29. Sergei Bruguera, Spain, 1993-1997, 20.33
30. Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia, 1990-2001, 19.83
31. Michael Stich, Germany, 1991-1996, 18.83
32. Johan Kriek, South Africa, 1981-1982, 18.00

Now, yesterday I published my updated list of the 32 greatest women's players. I was working on a different way to rank players -- which I'll put out later this week -- when I discovered some of my career totals were off.

Last year I added points for semifinals and inserted some rows on my spreadsheet. That altered the totals on several players. After fixing the mistake I found Venus Williams is still just outside the all-time top 10. I think she'll manage to make at least one more final and move back in to the 10 best. But for now here are the corrected standings:

Rank, Player, Country, Years, Points
1. Martina Navratilova, Czechoslovakia, 1974-2006, 165.63
2. Steffi Graf, Germany, 1985-1999, 154.13
3. Chris Evert, United States, 1971-1989, 113.40
4. Margaret Smith-Court, Australia, 1968-1975, 96.75
5. Monica Seles, Yugoslavia, 1989-2002, 92.85
6. Billie Jean King, United States, 1968-1983, 88.14
7. Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Australia, 1971-1980, 83.35
8. Serena Williams, United States, 1998-2008, 71.00
9. Martina Hingis, Switzerland, 1996-2006, 65.47
10. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Spain, 1989-2000, 64.35
11. Venus Williams, United States, 1997-2008, 63.77
12. Justine Henin, Belgium, 2001-2007, 62.14
13. Hana Mandlikova, Czechoslovakia, 1980-1987, 47.65
14. Lindsay Davenport, United States, 1996-2005, 47.40
15. Maria Sharapova, Russia, 2004-2007, 31.97
16. Jennifer Capriati, United States, 2001-2002, 29.93
17. Virginia Wade, England, 1968-1977, 28.92
18. Tracy Austin, United States, 1979-1981, 28.55
19. Mary Pierce, France, 1994-2005, 27.15
20. Gabriela Sabatini, Argentina, 1988-1991, 27.03
21. Amelie Mauresmo, France, 1999-2006, 25.00
22. Kim Clijsters, Belgium, 2001-2005, 23.76
23. Conchita Martinez, Spain, 1994-2000, 22.69
24. Jana Novotna, Czechoslovakia, 1991-1998, 21.55
25. Ann Haydon-Jones, England, 1968-1969, 20.17
26. Kerry Melville-Reid, Australia, 1970-1977, 15.61
27. Virginia Ruzici, Romania, 1978-1980, 15.40
28. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, 2004-2007, 15.22
29. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia, 2007-2008, 14.76
30. Helena Sukova, Czechoslovakia, 1984-1993, 14.74
31. Mimi Jausovec, Yugoslavia, 1977-1983, 14.41
32. Mary-Joe Fernandez, United States, 1989-1997, 13.33

Saturday, July 05, 2008

All time greats? The Williams sisters already are


TV announcer Mary Carillo said a curious thing in this morning's Serena-Venus Wimbledon final.

She said she thought both would be all-time greats by now.

I understand her point. She thought both Serena and Venus Williams would have collected more than the 15 major titles they have between them.

Their careers have been derailed a few times by outside interests and injuries.

Still, each of them have either made a Grand Slam final or won a Grand Slam doubles title in 10 different years since 1998. Only Serena had a Navratilova or Graf type run where she won everything in sight.

In my point system, thanks to Venus' win this morning, now both of them are among the 10 greatest womens players in the open era. And Venus needs just one more title to move up to No. 9. Just think where Venus would be if Serena had not taken up tennis. She is now just 2-5 against Serena in Grand Slam finals and 5-1 against everyone else.

People for years have been writing the two off and they keep coming back. I still see 10 individual titles as possibilities for both.

Here's my updated list of the 32 greatest women's tennis players:

Rank, Player, Country, Years, Points
1. Martina Navratilova, Czechoslovakia, 1974-2006, 165.63
2. Steffi Graf, Germany, 1985-1999, 154.13
3. Chris Evert-Lloyd, United States, 1971-1989, 113.40
4. Margaret Smith-Court, Australia, 1968-1975, 96.75
5. Monica Seles, Yugoslavia, 1989-2002, 92.85
6. Billie Jean King, United States, 1968-1983, 88.14
7. Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Australia, 1971-1980, 80.35
8. Serena Williams, United States, 1998-2008, 70.93
9. Martina Hingis, Switzerland, 1996-2006, 65.47
10. Venus Williams, United States, 1997-2008, 63.47
11. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Spain, 1989-2000, 63.14
12. Justine Henin, Belgium, 2001-2007, 62.14
13. Hana Mandlikova, Czechoslovakia, 1980-1987, 47.65
14. Lindsay Davenport, United States, 1996-2005, 47.40
15. Maria Sharapova, Russia, 2004-2007, 31.97
16. Jennifer Capriati, United States, 2001-2002, 29.93
17. Virginia Wade, England, 1968-1977, 28.92
18. Tracy Austin, United States, 1979-1981, 28.55
19. Mary Pierce, France, 1994-2005, 27.15
20. Gabriela Sabatini, Argentina, 1988-1991, 27.03
21. Amelie Mauresmo, France, 1999-2006, 25.00
22. Kim Clijsters, Belgium, 2001-2005, 23.76
23. Conchita Martinez, Spain, 1994-2000, 22.69
24. Jana Novotna, Czechoslovakia, 1991-1998, 21.55
25. Ann Haydon-Jones, England, 1968-1969, 20.17
26. Kerry Melville-Reid, Australia, 1970-1977, 15.61
27. Virginia Ruzici, Romania, 1978-1980, 15.40
28. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, 2004-2007, 15.22
29. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia, 2007-2008, 14.76
30. Helena Sukova, Czechoslovakia, 1984-1993, 14.74
31. Mimi Jausovec, Yugoslavia, 1977-1983, 14.41
32. Mary-Joe Fernandez, United States, 1989-1997, 13.33

Thursday, July 03, 2008

NBA's top 100 -- debating Duncan


If you've read my earlier posts with the top 20 players at each position, you may have already tried to figure out my top 100 men's pro basketball players.

But when compiling my top 100, I adjust the list by position. Many of the things statistically tracked are just easier for centers or power forwards. They play down low and get more rebounds. They naturally block more shots and, being closer to the rim, shoot a higher percentage.

But a team with five centers is not going to win against a balanced squad. Sure, Shaq, Wilt, Kareem, Hakeem and Bill Russell will pound you down low. But who would bring the ball up the floor? Who would hit the outside jumpers to free up the lane?

To even out statistical biases, I have a position adjustment that takes the top point totals from the five greatest players at each position and averages them out.

Centers had the highest total and receive no position points. Power forwards had the second highest and received 380.4 points. The next highest was small forward, then point guards and finally shooting guards.

The NBA of the past 10 years has been filled with great power forwards, point guards and shooting guards. Centers and small forwards have been rare. So the position points for power forwards, point guards and shooting guards have gotten smaller.

That means players long since retired can switch places in the standings, which is what happened to Bill Russell and Karl Malone. The continued greatness of Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan have cut down on the power forward bonus points, knocking him below Bill Russell. Considering Russell's teams won 11 NBA titles and Malone's won none, this didn't keep me up at night.

Remember, with players such as Russell and Chamberlain, the NBA didn't keep steals and blocked shots until the end or after their careers. I estimated those stats for old-time stars based on All-Pro and MVP votes versus blocks and steals totals for stars in the past 30 years. This likely vastly underestimated their totals, but it's the best I can do without actual statistics.

Speaking of Duncan, who is in the title. As you'll see below, I have him passing Larry Bird for No. 5 player all-time. I know that'll rankle Celtics fans. But Duncan's teams have won four titles without a player -- other than the fading David Robinson -- likely to make the basketball hall of fame. He has had very, very good teammates in Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli and Robert Horry. But these players are not Dennis Johnson, Kevin McHale and even Bill Walton.

Without further discussion, here are the 100 greatest pro men's basketball players:

Rank, player, years, points
1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1969-1989, 22675.9
2. Wilt Chamberlain, 1959-1973, 21728.5
3. Michael Jordan, 1984-2003, 21397.6
4. Julius Erving, 1971-1987, 20665.5
5. Tim Duncan, 1997-2008, 19828.1
6. Larry Bird, 1979-1992, 19823.6
7. Hakeem Olajuwon, 1984-2002, 19820.9
8. Bill Russell, 1956-1969, 19741.4
9. Karl Malone 1985-2004, 19731.4
10. Oscar Robertson, 1960-1974, 19288.4
11. Magic Johnson, 1979-1996, 19183.0
12. Bob Cousy, 1950-1970, 19057.0
13. Kevin Garnett, 1996-2008, 19037.7
14. Shaquille O'Neal, 1992-2008, 18894.9
15. Bob Pettit, 1954-1965, 18627.9
16. Jerry West, 1960-1974, 18477.6
17. David Robinson, 1989-2003, 18417.4
18. Moses Malone, 1974-1995, 18098.5
19. George Mikan, 1948-1956, 18049.0
20. Dolph Schayes, 1949-1964, 18028.8
21. Elgin Baylor, 1958-1972, 17985.5
22. Kobe Bryant, 1996-2008, 17933.1
23. Elvin Hayes, 1968-1984, 17608.3
24. John Stockton, 1984-2003, 17474.0
25. Charles Barkley, 1984-2000, 17363.2
26. Gary Payton, 1990-2007, 17353.0
27. Artis Gilmore, 1971-1988, 17249.4
28. Rick Barry, 1965-1980, 17091.2
29. Scottie Pippen, 1987-2004, 17017.7
30. Jason Kidd, 1994-2008, 16876.6
31. George Gervin, 1972-1986, 16842.6
32. John Havlicek, 1962-1978, 16821.9
33. Pat Ewing, 1985-2002, 16568.1
34. Allen Iverson, 1996-2008, 16481.4
35. Dirk Nowitzki, 1998-2008, 16281.9
36. Isiah Thomas, 1981-1993, 16267.8
37. Clyde Drexler, 1983-1998, 16123.7
38. George McGinnis, 1971-1982, 15878.9
39. Walt Frazier, 1967-1980, 15677.9
40. Tracey McGrady, 1997-2008, 15567.4
41. Steve Nash, 1996-2008, 15404.1
42. Paul Arizin, 1950-1962, 15296.5
43. Bob McAdoo, 1972-1986, 15283.7
44. Connie Hawkins, 1967-1976, 15268.0
45. Billy Cunningham, 1965-1976, 15220.8
46. Dave Cowens, 1970-1983, 15084.4
47. Dominique Wilkins, 1982-1999, 14992.9
48. Alex English, 1976-1991, 14918.0
49. Dan Issel, 1970-1985, 14668.7
50. Chris Webber, 1993-2008, 14613.4
51. Bob Lanier, 1970-1984, 14551.1
52. Mo Cheeks, 1978-1993, 14376.2
53. Mel Daniels, 1967-1977, 14369.7
54. Tim Hardaway, 1989-2003, 14350.3
55. Bill Sharman, 1950-1961, 14349.0
56. Hal Greer, 1958-1973, 14305.9
57. Dennis Johnson, 1976-1990, 14304.3
58. Robert Parish, 1976-1997, 14289.3
59. Willis Reed, 1964-1974, 14256.7
60. Gus Williams, 1975-1987, 14189.3
61. Kevin Johnson, 1987-2000, 14085.2
62. Vince Carter, 1998-2008, 13933.2
63. Jerry Lucas, 1963-1974, 13907.4
64. LeBron James, 2003-2008, 13859.0
65. Grant Hill, 1994-2008, 13858.4
66. Kevin McHale, 1980-1993, 13749.9
67. Cliff Hagan, 1956-1970, 13735.1
68. Alonzo Mourning, 1992-2008, 13702.7
69. Dave Bing, 1966-1978, 13700.1
70. Walter Davis, 1977-1992, 13665.8
71. Tiny Archibald, 1970-1984, 13576.5
72. Shawn Marion, 1999-2008, 13566.5
73. Ray Allen, 1996-2008, 13558.4
74. Nate Thurmond, 1963-1977, 13536.0
75. Lenny Wilkens, 1960-1975, 13514.3
76. Bobby Jones, 1974-1986, 13496.5
77. Sydney Moncrief, 1979-1991, 13473.1
78. Terry Cummings, 1982-2000, 13387.5
79. Bob Dandridge, 1969-1982, 13377.1
80. Norm Nixon, 1977-1989, 13372.3
81. James Worthy, 1982-1994, 13356.6
82. David Thompson, 1975-1984, 13279.6
83. Wes Unseld, 1968-1981, 13209.0
84. Marques Johnson, 1977-1990, 13195.5
85. Spencer Haywood, 1969-1983, 13131.2
86. Reggie Miller, 1987-2005, 13094.2
87. Dave DeBusschere, 1962-1974, 13025.8
88. Adrian Dantley, 1976-1991, 13007.4
89. Gail Goodrich, 1965-1979, 13001.2
90. Elton Brand, 1999-2008, 12988.9
91. Dikembe Mutombo, 1991-2008, 12983.7
92. Lou Dampier, 1967-1979, 12901.0
93. Maurice Lucas, 1974-1988, 12898.2
94. Sam Jones, 1957-1969, 12868.2
95. Buck Williams, 1981-1998, 12837.0
96. Walt Bellamy, 1961-1975, 12718.2
97. Chris Mullin, 1985-2001, 12703.0
98. Latrell Sprewell, 1992-2005, 12699.8
99. Bernard King, 1977-1993, 12641.3
100. Alvin Robertson, 1984-1996, 12632.2

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

A mid-year boxing revision


Many people believe Manny Pacquiao is the best pound-for-pound fighter today. If you look at his last seven fights, he's fought Erik Morales (twice), Oscar Larios, Jorge Solis, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez and David Diaz.

Those fighters had a combined record of 282-17. And now he reportedly is set to take on Edwin Valero in November. Valero is a perfect 24-0 all by knockouts.

Pacquiao doesn't need to fight Valero. He could wait until the other lightweight champions fight mandatories and then clean up the division. But Manny has shown he doesn't duck anyone.

Still, in my scoring system Pacquiao isn't among the 100 greatest fighters of all time will contemporaries such as Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Angel Cotto and Arthur Abraham are.

I started looking at the system to see if it needed to be tweaked and discovered a flaw. I was overvaluing knockouts in non-title fights compared to title fights.

It was a small screwup easily rectified. It didn't change Pacquiao's standing much. I'll get back to him in a little while. But it did affect quite a few fighters, especially ones that wracked up a lot of KOs in non-title bouts, like an Edwin Valero, who was a top 100 fighter before but now will have to beat Pacquiao to climb into the ranking again.

So now that it's halfway through 2008 and with several important fights coming up in the summer and fall, here's my adjusted top 100 boxers:

Rank, fighter, years, country, points
1. Muhammad Ali, 1960-81, U.S., 83.984
2. Joe Louis, 1934-51, U.S., 83.331
3. Henry Armstrong, 1931-45, U.S., 79.020
4. Sugar Ray Robinson, 1940-65, U.S., 74.970
5. Rocky Marciano, 1947-55, U.S., 62.826
6. Wilfredo Gomez, 1974-89, Puerto Rico, 61.101
7. Carlos Monzon, 1963-77, Argentina, 60.772
8. Joe Gans, 1891-09, U.S., 59.866
9. Archie Moore, 1936-63, U.S., 59.182
10. Larry Holmes, 1973-02, U.S., 59.142
11. Alexis Arguello, 1968-95, Nicaragua, 58.787
12. Roy Jones Jr., 1989-08, U.S., 58.588
13. Manuel Ortiz, 1938-55, U.S., 58.499
14. Carlos Ortiz, 1955-72, Puerto Rico, 58.440
15. Ezzard Charles, 1940-59, U.S., 58.417
16. Marvin Hagler, 1973-87, U.S., 58.112
17. Aaron Pryor, 1976-90, U.S., 57.740
18. Barney Ross, 1929-38, U.S., 57.323
19. Willie Pep, 1940-66, U.S., 56.766
20. Michael Spinks, 1977-88, U.S., 56.058
21. Jose Napoles, 1958-75, Cuba, 55.117
22. Ricardo Lopez, 1985-01, Mexico, 54.701
23. Salvador Sanchez, 1975-82, Mexico, 54.474
24. Eder Jofre, 1957-76, Brazil, 54.147
25. Bernard Hopkins, 1988-08, U.S., 53.439
26. Julio Cesar Chavez, 1980-05, Mexico, 53.310
27. Roberto Duran, 1968-01, Panama, 53.256
28. Thomas Hearns, 1977-06, U.S., 52.447
29. Antonio Cervantes, 1964-83, Colombia, 52.372
29. Felix Trinidad, 1990-08, Puerto Rico, 52.372
31. Abe Attell, 1900-17, U.S., 52.353
32. Sandy Saddler, 1944-56, U.S., 51.878
33. Sugar Ray Leonard, 1977-97, U.S., 51.697
34. Azumah Nelson, 1979-98, Ghana, 51.619
35. Khaosai Galaxy, 1980-91, Thailand, 51.594
36. Tommy Ryan, 1887-07, U.S., 51.296
37. Eusebio Pedroza, 1973-92, Panama, 51.207
38. Evander Holyfield, 1984-07, U.S., 51.167
39. George Foreman, 1969-97, U.S., 51.096
40. Yoko Gushiken, 1974-81, Japan, 51.083
41. Terry McGovern, 1897-08, U.S., 51.046
42. Flash Elorde, 1951-71, Phillippines, 51.030
43. Gene Tunney, 1915-28, U.S., 51.018
44. Mike Tyson, 1985-05, U.S., 50.988
45. James Jeffries, 1896-10, U.S., 50.908
46. Floyd Mayweather Jr., 1996-07, U.S., 50.886
47. Jimmy McLarnin, 1923-36, U.S., 50.762
48. Carlos Zarate, 1970-88, Mexico, 50.760
49. Joe Frazier, 1965-81, U.S., 50.686
50. Jack Johnson, 1897-28, U.S., 50.238
51. Tony Canzoneri, 1925-39, U.S., 50.202
52. Joe Calzaghe, 1993-08, United Kingdom, 50.039
53. Oscar De La Hoya, 1992-07, U.S., 49.648
54. Pascual Perez, 1952-64, Argentina, 49.632
55. Duilio Loi, 1948-62, Italy, 49.558
56. Harry Greb, 1913-26, U.S., 49.539
57. Floyd Patterson, 1952-72, U.S., 49.437
58. Bob Foster, 1961-78, U.S., 49.435
59. Lennox Lewis, 1989-03, United Kingdom, 49.294
60. Emile Griffith, 1958-77, U.S., 49.282
61. Stanley Ketchel, 1904-10, U.S., 49.188
62. Vicente Saldivar, 1961-73, Mexico, 49.180
63. Kostya Tszyu, 1992-05, Australia, 49.095
64. Benny Leonard, 1911-32, U.S., 49.003
65. Dariusz Michalczewski, 1991-05, Poland, 48.180
66. Naseem Hamed, 1992-02, United Kingdom, 48.120
67. Nino Benvenuti, 1961-71, Italy, 48.115
68. Erik Morales, 1993-07, Mexico, 47.965
69. Sam Langford, 1902-26, U.S., 47.957
70. Jackie "Kid" Berg, 1924-45, U.S., 47.913
71. Miguel Angel Cotto, 2001-07, Puerto Rico, 47.870
72. Ike Williams, 1940-55, U.S., 47.728
73. Michael Carbajal, 1989-99, Canada, 47.688
74. Chiquita Gonzalez, 1984-95, Mexico, 47.555
75. Pernell Whitaker, 1984-01, U.S., 47.483
76. Hector Camacho, 1980-05, Puerto Rico, 47.429
77. Marcel Cerdan, 1934-49, France, 47.282
78. Panama Al Brown, 1922-42, Panama, 47.096
79. John Henry Lewis, 1928-39, U.S., 47.086
80. James Toney, 1988-07, U.S., 46.984
81. Maxie Rosenbloom, 1923-39, U.S., 46.836
82. Sugar Shane Mosley, 1993-07, U.S., 46.683
83. Myung Woo Yuh, 1982-93, South Korea, 46.653
84. Jack Dempsey, 1914-27, U.S., 46.639
85. Juan Carlos Gomez, 1995-07, Cuba, 46.546
86. Marco Antonio Barrera, 1989-07, Mexico, 46.502
87. Freddie Welsh, 1905-22, United Kingdom, 46.370
88. Sven Ottke, 1997-04, Germany, 46.315
89. Wilfredo Benitez, 1973-90, Puerto Rico, 46.195
90. Jorge Arce, 1996-07, Mexico, 46.061
91. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, 1994-07, Thailand, 45.983
92. Lou Ambers, 1932-41, U.S., 45.975
93. Ratanapol Sor Vorapin, 1990-07, Thailand, 45.875
94. Fabrice Tiozzo, 1988-06, France, 45.857
95. Bob Montgomery, 1938-50, U.S., 45.701
96. Arthur Abraham, 2003-08, Germany, 45.627
97. Victor Galindez, 1969-80, Argentina, 45.515
98. Mickey Walker, 1919-35, U.S., 45.515
99. Johnny Kilbane, 1907-23, U.S., 45.464
100. Miguel Canto, 1969-82, Mexico, 45.406

Now, where is Pacquiao. I have him at No. 120, just below Jose Torres and just above Ruben Olivares. The main reason is that Pacquiao has spent much of his career fighting for lesser belts. He held something called the WBC International Super Bantamweight Title from 1999 through 2001 and then the WBC International Super Featherweight Title from 2003 until this March when he beat Juan Manuel Marquez for the WBC Super Featherweight Title.

In fact, he's fought just 10 fights for full world titles versus 15 fights for lesser or stepping stone titles. The lesser title fights aren't worth as much in my system.

For a comparison, Cotto already has 12 full title fights (WBO, IBF, WBA, WBC) out of his 32 fights.

But Pacquiao, if he never fights again, eventually will move way up.

Here's how. As I wrote earlier, he's fought an impressive array of fighters. Morales and Barrera are locks for the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Marquez has a very good chance and even Larios may get in.

Right now, in my system, Pacquiao has collected 123.75 points against those four fighters (he is 6-1-1 against them). That's worth 2.06 of his total score. If all four eventually make the IBHoF then his point totals increase to 527.5, which would boost his score by 6.7 points or up to the 50.9 range. That puts him up with James Jeffries and Floyd Mayweather Jr. -- who is going to move up over time -- in the No. 45 to No. 46 range.

And Pacquiao looks like he has several good years left and unlike Mayweather, no problem with his motivation.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Next generation taking over women's golf


With Annika Sorenstam heading for retirement and Lorena Ochoa already making hints about how long she wants to play, women's golf will need new stars.

How about Inbee Park? The 19-year-old became the youngest winner of the U.S. Open. This follows the LPGA win of Yani Tseng, who had been the first rookie to win a women's major since Se Ri Pak 10 years ago.

Of course, American fans will bemoan the fact that the U.S. stars continue to come up short. Angela Park and Stacy Lewis were right there and didn't get it done. Michelle Wie was not a factor and Paula Creamer wasn't really a contender.

These players are going to get better. When they do they'll have some talented stars to overcome.

With neither Sorenstam or Ochoa in the top 10, there wasn't much movement in my 54 best women's golfers:

Rank, player, years, points
1. Mickey Wright, 1958-1973, 150.19
2. Annika Sorenstam, 1995-2008, 143.42
3. Karrie Webb, 1996-2007, 128.43
4. Pat Bradley, 1977-1996, 118.66
5. Kathy Whitworth, 1963-1984, 117.39
6. Patty Berg, 1937-1965, 112.83
7. Julie Inkster, 1984-2006, 107.39
8. Patty Sheehan, 1981-1997, 99.77
9. Louise Suggs, 1946-1969, 97.69
10. Amy Alcott, 1976-1994, 94.56
11. Sandra Haynie, 1963-1983, 92.15
12. Babe Didrikson Zaharias, 1940-1954, 91.11
13. Meg Mallon, 1990-2004, 86.76
14. Betsy Rawls, 1951-1969, 83.66
15. Laura Davies, 1987-2005, 81.77
16. Se Ri Pak, 1998-2008, 81.28
17. JoAnne Carner, 1970-1992, 80.33
18. Nancy Lopez, 1975-1997, 79.58
19. Donna Caponi, 1969-1982, 69.94
20. Beth Daniel, 1980-2006, 68.88
21. Susan Maxwell Berning, 1965-1979, 67.02
22. Lorena Ochoa, 2002-2008, 65.36
23. Mary Mills, 1963-1974, 65.27
24. Sandra Palmer, 1967-1986, 61.52
25. Dottie Pepper, 1988-2001, 60.04
26. Carol Mann, 1963-1975, 59.63
27. Marilyn Smith, 1963-1972, 59.60
28. Jan Stephenson, 1976-2000, 59.47
29. Hollis Stacy, 1976-1996, 56.85
30. Sally Little, 1975-1988, 56.17
31. Ayako Okamoto, 1983-1993, 56.00
32. Liselotte Neumann, 1988-2005, 52.38
33. Rosie Jones, 1983-2005, 50.75
34. Jane Geddes, 1985-1996, 50.01
35. Tammie Green, 1989-1998, 48.13
36. Clifford-Ann Creed, 1963-1976, 43.90
37. Kelly Robbins, 1994-2004, 43.85
38. Brandie Burton, 1991-2001, 42.54
39. Cristie Kerr, 1999-2008, 40.98
40. Jane Blalock, 1971-1980, 39.45
41. Beverly Hanson, 1955-1958, 39.33
41. Betty Jameson, 1942-1954, 39.33
43. Marlene Hagge, 1956-1972, 39.17
44. Sherri Steinhauer, 1992-2006, 38.63
45. Judy Kimball-Simon, 1962-1967, 38.56
46. Grace Park, 1999-2005, 38.55
47. Helen Alfreddson, 1992-2008, 35.87
48. Shirley Englehorn, 1963-1970, 35.14
49. Donna Andrews, 1992-1998, 35.02
50. Judy Rankin, 1964-1979, 34.07
51. Colleen Walker, 1987-1997, 33.23
52. Pat Hurst, 1996-2006, 32.84
53. Chris Johnson, 1983-2000, 32.79
54. Nancy Scranton, 1986-2000, 32.67