LeBron James may never win the eight championships he promised Miami Heat fans two summers ago, but at least for his sake, it's good that he's got No. 1.
Maybe it's just sports culture, but we all kind of assume there's a lot of pressure on the multi-multi-multi-million dollar athlete who may be one of the best at his respective position, but has yet to lead his team to a title. It's that monkey on their back, we say.
Because of the microscope surround LBJ, he was the classic case of this until Thursday night. Whether it's fair or not in a sport that has 22 starters as opposed to five, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is held to the same standard. Until he wins a Super Bowl, there will always be the "Yeah, but . . . " hanging over his head.
Romo knows this. It comes with the territory. Not only is the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, but he happens to be pretty good. No one ever had a "Yeah, but . . . " with Quincy Carter.
At the adults table that is NFL.com, the panel of 10 instant debaters have reached a something of a consensus in declaring Romo the one player with the most pressure to win a Super Bowl.
Six of the nine contributors polled say Romo is the guy who most needs a world title as validation of his greatness.
Others answered Brian Urlacher, Joe Flacco and Philip Rivers, but those responses just seem like reaches for originality.
Romo is the face of the Cowboys. The Cowboys are America's Team. America's Team hasn't won a Super Bowl in 16 years and counting. It doesn't matter than Romo rose from undrafted obscurity, far and exceeding any scout's expectations for him.
LeBron, meanwhile, was heralded as "The Chosen One" before he was even a senior in high school.
Is it really fair to compare the two?
