Mario Lemieux is an inspiration. This post doesn't talk about the back injury, but I believe as soon as 1990 he couldn't even tie his own skates, his back was so bad.
Keep in mind this was a player drafted in 1984, meaning that for all intents and purposes his career should've been over for injury reasons before we even got to this point. It really wasn't in the cards for Mario to be a Hall of Fame player, or a career leader in anything. The plan fate had for Mario Lemieux was to end a career with about 600 GP, no championships, and have his career remembered as the world's biggest 'what-if.' That's what fate had in mind for Mario Lemieux, but through his immense grit and determination, he bought himself 300 more NHL GP, this and two other scoring championships, and status as one of my personal heroes.
Even if he could come back from the bad back. He should've stunk, and nobody would've blamed him for playing poorly. Even if he could've come back from cancer, he should've stunk, and nobody would've blamed him for that either. The entire NHL career of Mario Lemieux after about 1990 serves as a reminder to us all that you don't have to play the hand you're dealt all the time. In this case, fate dealt one of the worst hands any hockey career had ever been dealt to poor Mario, and he became one of the best of all time anyway.
Legend.
Despite all of this, his career is still remembered as something of a what-if anyway. If not for all this adversity, could he have been the GOAT? It's an interesting question, but I couldn't imagine in any alternate universe his play being handicapped any more than it was in real life, so yeah. I think there's a real chance of that answer being yes, which makes Mario Lemieux a one-of-a-kind sports story. What other player in what other sport had GOAT level skill, but just never got a chance to fully show it, not based on personal mistakes but based on fate dealing them a bad hand?
Maybe Ted Williams? Losing years of a prime to war service is an entirely different scenario than this, but may fit my criteria if I squint hard enough, and other than that who is there? Mario Lemieux is one of one (one of two if you squint), and deserves to be celebrated like the legend that he is.
Mario Lemieux is an inspiration. This post doesn't talk about the back injury, but I believe as soon as 1990 he couldn't even tie his own skates, his back was so bad.
Keep in mind this was a player drafted in 1984, meaning that for all intents and purposes his career should've been over for injury reasons before we even got to this point. It really wasn't in the cards for Mario to be a Hall of Fame player, or a career leader in anything. The plan fate had for Mario Lemieux was to end a career with about 600 GP, no championships, and have his career remembered as the world's biggest 'what-if.' That's what fate had in mind for Mario Lemieux, but through his immense grit and determination, he bought himself 300 more NHL GP, this and two other scoring championships, and status as one of my personal heroes.
Even if he could come back from the bad back. He should've stunk, and nobody would've blamed him for playing poorly. Even if he could've come back from cancer, he should've stunk, and nobody would've blamed him for that either. The entire NHL career of Mario Lemieux after about 1990 serves as a reminder to us all that you don't have to play the hand you're dealt all the time. In this case, fate dealt one of the worst hands any hockey career had ever been dealt to poor Mario, and he became one of the best of all time anyway.
Legend.
Despite all of this, his career is still remembered as something of a what-if anyway. If not for all this adversity, could he have been the GOAT? It's an interesting question, but I couldn't imagine in any alternate universe his play being handicapped any more than it was in real life, so yeah. I think there's a real chance of that answer being yes, which makes Mario Lemieux a one-of-a-kind sports story. What other player in what other sport had GOAT level skill, but just never got a chance to fully show it, not based on personal mistakes but based on fate dealing them a bad hand?
Maybe Ted Williams? Losing years of a prime to war service is an entirely different scenario than this, but may fit my criteria if I squint hard enough, and other than that who is there? Mario Lemieux is one of one (one of two if you squint), and deserves to be celebrated like the legend that he is.