Not-So-Legendary

Thursday, September 2, 2010
I have to say - it drives me crazy when people say this person or that accomplishment is LEGENDARY.

Legendary. Really? Some overpaid high school graduate runs around a basketball court throwing a ball into a little hoop and he's legendary?

I don't think so.

Jonas Salk was legendary. Stephen Hawking is legendary. William Shakespeare was legendary. LeBron James? Not-so-legendary.

Which is not to say that sports figures can't achieve that status. But in my mind, their athletic prowess on its own isn't enough to grant them such accolades.

In order for someone to be considered legendary, I think they have to accomplish one of two things: Either fundamentally change the way we look at the world, or fundamentally change the way we live in the world. So while there is no question that Mr. James is an extremely gifted athlete who works his butt off to achieve a truly impressive skill set, he's not legendary. Jackie Robinson - he was legendary. Muhammad Ali - again, legendary. In my opinion, Mr. James just doesn't make the cut.


Who do you admire that fundamentally changed the way we look at the world, or fundamentally changed the way we live in the world?

5 comments:

vince said...

Albert Einstein
Louis Pasteur
Euclid
Heron
Leonard Euler
Paul Dirac
Sir Isaac Newton
Margaret Sanger
Marie Curie
Erna Schneider Hoover (created the first computerized telephone switching system)
Ada Lovelace
Amalie Emmy Noether - called by Albert Einstein "the most important woman in mathematical history, since the higher education of women began"
Catherine the Great

And that's just off the top of my head.

WendyB_09 said...

Well, if you want to do media & literary & entertainment types who impacted their field in some way,I'd go with -
-Helen Hayes
-Jimmy Stuart
-Sir Patrick Stuart (see '10's Hamlet)
-Elvis Presley
-The Beatles
-Ayn Rand (don't knock it, like her or not, we're still arguing her views today)
-Carl Sagan
-H.G. Wells
-Walter Cronkite
-David Brinkley
-Chet Huntley
-Edward R. Morrow
-Margaret Mitchell (had to get in an Atlanta connection)
-Beethoven
-Bach
-Shakespeare

That's all I can think of on short notice at lunch today.

Juan Federico said...

You....sometimes. :)

Thordr said...

Einstien (seconded Vince)
Adm Grace Hopper
Gen George Patton
Wilbur and Orville Wright
Edward Teller
J. Oppenheimer
Richard Feynman (personal hero)
Henry Ford
George Lucas
James Cameron
Stanley Kubric
Werner Von Braun
John F Kennedy (not sure on this one, whether it was his life or his death that changed the world)
Kelly Johnson
Eli Whitney
et al



I may or may not actaully like them or what they acomplished, but they all meet your reqirements I believe.

Shawn Powers said...

I'm not a sports fan, but I think Michael Jordan was legendary in the way that he was not only awesome, but made others around him awesome as well.

My others were mostly covered by the other fine commenters. :)