Quietly Flows the Don Some thoughts that reinforce the uniqueness of the Don. When I survey great players at other sports I do not see the gulf that exists between Bradman and all other cricketers, including Sobers. Right now the Master's is on and almost all of the pundits are back on the Tiger bandwagon. Irrespective of whether he wins this week or if he supasses Nicklaus he 's not that much better than Nicklaus or Palmer, Player, Snead, Hogan, Nelson, Hagen, Jones etc.. (For what it's worth I'm taking Lee Westwood; I saw some of the Bay Hill & Doral tourneys and whereas Woods' 10 and 20 footers all seemed to go in Westwood's just stayed out - time for statistics to take over). Jordan was probably the best to play basketball but, from what I've heard, he wasn't head and shoulders above, inter alia, Russell, Chamberlin, Johnson and the current Bryant or James. Similarly, I get no sense of consensus over greatest quarterbacks. As I watch today's best footballers it seems to me that here's another case where there's a group of players for whom a case can be made but no-one inarguably better. Paranthetically, football is becoming somwhat captive to spurious statistics. I just heard someone on the radio waxing eloquent about Xavi, in today's 1-1 game vs PSG, completing 94 of 94 passes. Sure completing passes is important but it's not the only thing. It's easy to complete 10 yard sideways passes; not so easy to thread the ball between the centre-backs. I think Xavi is a great player but no better than players who would not have such a high completion percentage had that stat been kept in their era. I'm thinking of Liam Brady or Pat Crerand or Ryan Giggs. Brady might only complete one pass in some games (I exaggerate) but that pass would change the game. Exhibit A - the 1979 Cup Final.