Kobe in a class with Jordan is just a myth

In classical mythology there exists a hero so bold and daring, so mighty and courageous that he is known and revered to this day as the greatest of all mythological mortals.

Half man, half deity, he bested giants, rescued fair maidens and defied the gods.

His name still inspires visions of physical perfection.

The Greeks called him Herakles, the Romans Hercules. We know him today as Kobe.

You see, from a fan's perspective basketball is not unlike ancient mythology. We worship our gods, admire our heroes, and tell wildly exaggerated tales of events that may or may not have happened.

Recently, there has been a growing murmur from the sports media and groundling fans alike promoting Kobe Bryant as the next basketball divinity.

They rush to place him on a pedestal and cram him into the ranks of players with whom we are all familiar by their first names or nicknames: Magic, Bird, Oscar, Wilt, Pistol, and the rest.

Kobe is almost there, but not quite. He is half man, half god, yet, some are intent on making him out to be better than he is.

The most common and most ludicrous comparison of late has been to his Airness, Michael Jordan.

They say, "Of course Kobe is in the same class as Jordan, he has three rings at 25. How many did Jordan have?"

The answer of course is one (remember North Carolina, 1984), but that isn't the point.

First of all, Jordan is his own class. No one will ever again be what he was.

The easiest argument to make is always in the numbers. Look at the stats.

Through their first eight years in the league Jordan's numbers dwarf Kobe's in almost every category.

Of course Jordan could score (man could he score), but what was amazing were the other numbers. People forget that the supposedly selfish Jordan was dropping eight assists a game in 1988.

Over one five year span ('87-'91) MJ never shot less than 52% from the field, and he was the best defensive player in the league averaging 2.7 steals a game.

However, if statistics were used to measure greatness, there would be no need to write and debate about these issues. We could simply create a mathematical equation to determine who should be considered the best of all time. Bernard King might be the greatest player ever.

Numbers make payers great, but greatness is a whole other level defined by one thing ... and as soon as someone figures out what IT is, please let me know.

Like the Supreme Court and pornography, I can't define IT , but I know IT when I see IT. I know what its byproducts are: a glare, a fiery will, and a slight grin that says, "I know something that you don't."

These are the qualities that Jordan and only a few others possessed. They are what separate the heroes from the gods.

Obviously Kobe is a great talent, and no one can dispute his ability to come up with clutch shots and wildly acrobatic, did-he-just-do that plays, but that's where it ends for me.

He's Hercules, not Zeus. He is some strange hybrid of man and god.

I can see how easily some are swayed. It's easy to put Bryant on that highest of pedestals.

He's the most talented, most charismatic player on the most visible team in the NBA. Why wouldn't you want to make this guy into someone he's not? (Especially if you're David Stern.)

Mostly I think these assessments are coming from those who are either too young or too old to remember the details of Jordan's career: the shrug, Craig Ehlo, the "flu game."

However, I also get the sense that we just miss Mike.

As a collective nation of hoops fans we're like the guy who just broke up with our supermodel girlfriend and we spend the next few years eagerly trying to find her replacement.

We are Billy Joel.

In the end we shouldn't be looking for the next Jordan or Bird. We should be admiring and respecting Kobe and other young players for what they are: talented, exciting, hard-working athletes who are still striving to take their place atop basketball's Mount Olympus.