For those who appreciate greatness, there's no time like the present.  Great times come and go in sports, but we're in the midst of a "greatness" era.

There can be argument about how great the Phil-Shaq-Kobe Lakers are, but there can't be serious disagreement that they are great.  Are they as talented as some of the great teams of yore?  Of course not, expansion has made it nearly impossible to have more than two elite players at a time.

But when making a list of the game's all-time great players, Shaquille O'Neal comes up pretty soon, and it doesn't take much longer to pencil in Kobe Bryant.  The same holds true when ranking the coaches.  Is Phil Jackson the best ever?  Maybe not ? but his name isn't far down the list.

Greatness is generally a bottom line thing.  Teams get labeled "great" by winning.  Whatever folks want to say about the Lakers, they have won the last three championships.  That means they're dominating their contemporaries as well as any team in league history.

But the Lakers aren't even the tip of the greatness iceberg.  At the top of the greatness ladder is Tiger Woods.  Is anyone going to argue that Tiger isn't the greatest player in golf history?

Others have had better careers, but Tiger's not finished yet.  He has eight majors at 26 years old, and is just now entering what should be his prime years.  And unlike Jack Nicklaus, Tiger has no weakness in his game.  Nicklaus admitted there were some things ? such as save shots ? he chose not to work on.  Tiger practices everything, which allows him to hit any shot required.

While major tournaments provide the stiffest test of golfing skills, they're actually easier for Tiger to win than regular tournaments.  Because the courses are so difficult, most of the field is eliminated from contention before the tournament begins.  That leaves a handful of contenders, all of which Tiger has whipped so habitually, attorney generals are considering filing abuse charges.

Tournament honchos have gone about Tiger-proofing their courses the wrong way.  At Augusta, they added rough and made the course longer.  The U.S. Open was played at the longest course in tournament history this year.  But the more difficult the course and the conditions, the greater the advantage for Tiger.  If they want to bring Tiger back to the rest of the field, they should make the course ridiculously easy.  Then his skills advantage means less.

But the current "greatness" era doesn't stop there.  The Detroit Red Wings are a hockey dynasty.  The New York Yankees have dominated baseball.  Balls are flying out of ballparks at record numbers, yet guys like Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux, and others have pitched as well as anyone in history.

There are no NFL dynasties at the moment.  Instead, true parity has arrived, meaning that every team not in Cincinnati can believe that with a few breaks, they could be playing in the Super Bowl.

Heck, times are so good, the U.S. has made the quarterfinals in the World Cup soccer tournament.

Unfortunately, aspects of this special time are lost on some fans. You know the ones, the people who complain that Tiger wins everything, that the Lakers get all the calls, who refuse to watch because "everyone knows what's going to happen."

I watch anyway because I know that I'm seeing something special.  To some degree, I've played all of these sports. I was even pretty good in some of them.  But the best players do things I haven't even dreamed about.  I know how hard it is to dunk with my steps right in an empty gym.  Vince Carter jumped over a seven-footer and threw one down.

This is a golden age for sports.  Fifty years from now, some kid will be driving the golf ball 400 yards, or dunking from the three-point line.  My grandchildren will be raving about some Martian big man who'll revolutionize the game.  And I'll sit back and tell them about the good old days.

Unforgettable Moments

- 62
- 73
- Tiger Woods ? 206-yard six iron out of the sand, over water, onto the green to within two feet to win the 2000 Canadian Open.
- Vince Carter's Olympic dunk over Frederic Weis
- Cal Ripken breaks Gehrig's record
- Cal Ripken's All-Star Game homerun
- Cal Ripken's Farewell Tour
- Cal Ripken sits to end his streak (replaced by Ryan Minor)
- Derek Jeter's cutoff
- Four homers in a game, twice (Shawn Green and Mike Cameron)
- Horry's game four buzzer beater to defeat Sacramento
- Tiger Woods wins 1997 Masters
- Yankees-Diamondbacks World Series
- Rams Super Bowl win
- Michael Jordan's title winner vs. Utah in 1998
- MJ's "sick" game
- Magic Johnson's 1992 All-Star Game performanc
- Jordan's two-handed block on Ron Mercer
- Jordan going for six points, followed by 51 and 45
- Bryce Drew's NCAA tournament buzzer beater on the Hail Mary pass to beat Alabama

Dazzling Duos

- McGwire and Sosa
- Jordan and Pippen
- Shaq and Kobe
- Venus and Serena
- Stockton and Malone
- Young to Rice

Great Comebacks

- Michael Jordan (twice)
- Mario Lemieux
- Jennifer Capriati ? appeared to be utterly finished, yet returned to win the Australian Open in 2001 and 2002, as well as the French Open in 2001.
- John Smoltz ? blew out his elbow as a starter, now after surgery he's the dominating closer Atlanta has needed for so long.
- 1999 Ryder Cup ? Justin Leonard made a 45-foot uphill birdie putt to cap the U.S. rally from four points down after two days of competition.
- Duke over Maryland
- Celtics over Nets
- Lakers over Kings
- Tiger Woods coming from eight down to beat Ernie Els in the 1998 Johnny Walker Classic.
- Tiger Woods coming from seven down with five to play to win at Pebble Beach.
- Lakers over Trailblazers
- Greg Lemond ? got hit with a shotgun blast, but returned to win multiple Tour de France races
- Lance Armstrong ? overcame testicular cancer to win the Tour de France

Clutch Performers

- Michael Jordan
- Kobe Bryant
- Robert Horry
- Cal Ripken
- Emmitt Smith
- John Elway
- Derek Jeter
- Randy Johnson
- Curt Schilling
- Mariano Rivera
- Reggie Miller
- Mike Bibby
- Kurt Warner
- Marshall Faulk
- Allen Iverson
- Juan Dixon

Great Chokes

- Sacramento Kings ? 16-31 from the free throw line in game seven against the Lakers.
- Portland Trailblazers ? come from ahead loss to the LA Lakers
- David Robinson ? at crunch time, no one disappears like the Admiral
- Nick Anderson ? missed four straight free throws to cost Orlando game one of the 1995 NBA Finals
- Chris Webber's timeout
- 2000 Redskins ? an 8-8 finish with that kind of payroll can't be considered anything but a choke.
- Greg Norman's Master's collapse

Active Player Who Will Probably Be In The Hall Of Fame

- Michael Jordan
- Shaquille O'Neal
- Kobe Bryant
- Bruce Smith
- Emmitt Smith
- Greg Maddux
- Randy Johnson
- Vince Carter
- Jason Kidd
- Derek Jeter
- Tim Duncan
- Mario Lemieux
- Roger Clemens
- Hakeem Olajuwan
- Jerry Rice
- Randy Moss
- Marshall Faulk
- Patrick Ewing
- Paul Pierce
- Darrell Green
- Alonzo Mourning
- Tracy McGrady
- Allen Iverson
- Dikembe Mutombo
- Dirk Nowitzki
- Ray Lewis
- Steve Francis
- Kevin Garnett
- Rod Woodson
- Jonathan Ogden
- David Robinson
- Brett Favre
- LeRoy Butler
- John Stockton
- Karl Malone
- Reggie Miller
- Ray Allen
- Jerome Bettis
- Randy Moss
- Peyton Manning
- Edgerrin James
- Marvin Harrison
- Elton Brand
- Chris Webber
- Mike Bibby
- Manny Ramirez
- Gary Payton
- Pedro Martinez
- Mariano Rivera
- Eddie George
- Bruce Matthews
- Nomar Garciaparra
- Alex Rodriguez
- Barry Bonds
- Sammy Sosa
- Brian Mitchell
- Todd Helton
- Jeff Bagwell
- Kurt Warner
- Marshall Faulk
- Orlando Pace
- Isaac Bruce
- Rafael Palmeiro
- Donovan McNabb
- Roberto Alomar
- Morten Andersen
- Tiger Woods
- Vijay Singh
- Nick Faldo
- Michael Strahan
- Charles Woodson
- Champ Bailey
- Lavar Arrington
- Aeneas Williams
- Brian Urlacher
- Larry Walker
- Vladimir Guerrero
- Tom Glavine
- Scottie Pippen

Jason Rosenthal, Jon Hamm and Christopher Broom contributed to this article.