Before we set in to consider who the greats are,
I think it is important to ask whether there are
any greats to consider.
I'm looking over stats
of tournament past. At JCV4, the top end was 83ppg.
At JCV5, the top was 62ppg. At JCV6, the top end was
81ppg. At JCV7, the top end was 84ppg.
I'm not
entirely sure what this means, except that on average, the
top player, in terms of tossups at least, is going
8-0 and has been for a long time. Even the people we
call legendary don't, by themselves, top 12-0 with any
regularity.
What would a great be? A great would have to be a
person who, on their own, has a power equal to a great
team -- that is to say, one who, were they to compete
on any format with any regular team, would at worst
have a fifty-fifty shot of winning. Show me a single
person who can meet whoever wins ACF or NAQT or Terrapin
or Penn Bowl or TRASH and come out of it with a
score near-tied, and a comparable bonus conversion, and
then you'll have shown me a great.
Until then,
it's just a bunch of Ostrogoths claiming they're the
Emperor.
Edmund