Greatness has been on my mind in recent weeks.
Sporting greatness. As in, what or who qualifies as "great" or the "greatest"?
Are the words over-used? Is my generation of butterfly-brained Twitter addicts to blame? Does it even matter?
While I agree the words "great" and "greatest" tend to be over-used, particularly in sport, there are occasions when they are entirely appropriate.
In many sports in this country, the "greatest" is subjective. Netball, league and now even rugby (Meads or McCaw?) do not have an obvious "greatest" player.
Golf (Sir Bob) is nearly there, but you could argue that Cambo, while he is now comically awful, should be given equal ranking for his remarkable US Open win.
By my reckoning, at least six New Zealand sports have a player universally recognised as the greatest. There is no need for "arguably".
Richard Hadlee is New Zealand's greatest cricketer. No disrespect to Bert Sutcliffe, Glenn Turner, John Reid, Daniel Vettori or Murphy Su'a, but this one isn't even close.
Susan Devoy is New Zealand's greatest squash player. Ditto.
Danyon Loader is New Zealand's greatest swimmer. Ditto.
Anthony Wilding is New Zealand's greatest tennis player. Ditto.
Annelise Coberger is New Zealand's greatest skier. With the rise of winter sport, it is hard to see another Kiwi winning a Winter Olympic medal.
Wynton Rufer is New Zealand's greatest footballer. At the moment. But Ryan Nelsen is breathing hard down his neck.
• ...in various codes
But what about Peter Snell, you ask? Many consider him New Zealand's greatest sportsman in any code.
But in the athletics category, I would only have him marginally ahead of Jack Lovelock (one of my great sporting heroes) and Yvette Williams and John Walker and Murray Halberg and Valerie Adams. And what if Adams wins three more Olympic gold medals?
League is a real open book (Mark Graham, Kurt Sorenson, Stacey Jones, Hugh McGahan, Des White, Kevin Tamati or Dean Bell?), as is netball (Sandra Edge, Bernice Mene, Tracey Fear, Lyn Parker, Joan Harnett or Irene van Dyk?).
Do you consider Denny Hulme, Bruce McLaren or Chris Amon our greatest motor racing driver? Bob Fitzsimmons or David Tua our greatest boxer? Peter Blake or Russell Coutts our greatest yachtie? The Evers-Swindells or Rob Waddell or Mahe Drysdale our greatest rower(s)?
Basketball is another interesting case. Old-timers will go for Stan Hill, newer hoops junkies will plump for Kirk Penney. Personally, Sean Marks' NBA record makes him my No 1.
At least every name I have been mentioned can be considered a genuine New Zealand sporting great.
Too many modern sports stars - Ross Taylor, Scott Dixon, Shane Smeltz, Paige Hareb et al - are acclaimed as deities before their achievements can be put in perspective.
• "Dr" Russell Watt
A belated clarification to a feature we ran before Christmas on the "Medical XV", a hypothetical team consisting of All Black doctors.
It seems both the project's authors and myself failed to double-check the inclusion of Otago winger Russell Watt (All Black 1957-62).
A reader brought my attention to the fact Watt was actually a banker.
It became clear the authors must have confused Otago winger James Russell (Russell) Watt with Otago winger James Michael (Jim) Watt, an All Black in 1937 who was the inaugural professor of paediatrics and child health in Otago.
"Russell would have been chuffed to have been included with the doctors," the reader said.
Look at these bright young faces, the home-styled hair and the magnificent orange-black colour combination.
This is the Weston Pirates under-8 rugby team from either 1984 or, more likely, 1985.
The strapping young bloke kneeling on the left of the front row is the hooker and future ODT sports editor, while beside him is future long-serving North Otago halfback Justin Rawcliffe.
The front row is rounded out by Carl Carlson and Jason Mavor, who is still playing for Valley (formed when Weston merged with Enfield and Union in 1988) a quarter of a century later.
The back row chaps are Kelly Gillan (I think), Jason Wilde, Damon/Damian somebody (sorry, brother), future New Zealand welterweight boxing champion Emmett Gradwell, Daniel Isbister, Grant Manson (I think), Nathan Mavor, Jono Brent, David Ferris, Craig Wilson and Shane Rawson. Pretty sure the coach is Brian Gillan.
I revisited the glorious rugby days of my youth after receiving a letter from Pirates, later Valley, stalwart Allan Paterson during the holidays.
He'd been going through some old records and found a certificate, in pristine condition, proving one Hayden Meikle did indeed play the national game before he discovered ping pong and video games.
"No All Blacks emerged, but I guess in 1984 you all played like All Blacks," Allan wrote without a hint of jest.
• The spirit of golf
There have been some weird goings-on in golf recently.
For a sport that prides itself on its self-officiating, it has been strange to have had TWO prominent examples of belated dobbing-in by members of the public.
Both Padraig Harrington and Camilo Villegas were disqualified from tournaments for rules violations spotted by television viewers.
Harrington was canned from the Abu Dhabi Championship for accidentally moving his ball on a green, while Villegas was booted from the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii for flicking away a divot while his ball was trickling back towards him down a slope.
Both players signed their scorecards before the infractions were reported the next day, resulting in instant disqualification.
This is a bizarre concept to get your head around. People watching at home report a rule being broken. Golfer gets disqualified.
No wonder American golf boss Tim Finchem has asked the game's rulemakers for some clarification.
• Football fan fired
They take their sport very seriously in the United States.
Associated Press reports a car salesman in suburban Chicago was fired for refusing to remove a Green Bay Packers tie that he wore to work the day after the Packers beat the Chicago Bears to advance to the Super Bowl.
John Stone said he wore the Packers tie to Webb Chevrolet in Oak Lawn to honour his late grandmother, who was a big Green Bay fan.
The sentimental gesture did not impress his boss, Jerry Roberts.
Roberts said the dealership had done promotions involving the Bears and he was afraid the tie could alienate the team's fans and make it harder to sell cars. He claimed Stone was offered five chances to take off the tie but he refused.
