Given our druthers, we would all love to be great at everything we do, particularly our chosen vocation. For some, greatness at his or her job is measured, not by how hard you work or merely showing up every day, but by conquering your peers. The curse of greatness in that realm is that, the closer you get to the top of the mountain, the more the pressure mounts, to the point where second place is viewed as a bigger failure than 22nd place.
The great ones know this. It took Michael Jordan, after multiple tries, finally breaking through against the Detroit Pistons in 1991 to be stamped valid as an all time great. John Elway lost three Super Bowls, all of them in very lopsided fashion, before winning two rings in his final two seasons.
The most recent example of an all time great finally breaking through the glass ceiling came this past weekend, as golfer Rory McIlroy, after nearly two decades of attempts, and numerous collapses in big moments, finally won the Masters, securing the career grand slam, golf speak for attaining wins in all four major tournaments. Only five others have done this in the history of the sport:
The weight off of McIlroy’s shoulders was obvious, as he collapsed to his knees after finally sinking a Masters-clinching putt, in a sudden death playoff with Justin Rose, a moment whose poignancy was probably exacerbated by his missing a similar putt just moments before on the final hole in regulation. All in all, it was a somewhat ugly round for McIlroy that is now a footnote in his making history.
So with McIlroy off the hook, which athletes have the biggest monkey on their backs in their respective sports? Here are my choices for each of the three major sports:
Major League Baseball — AARON JUDGE, OF, Yankees
The defending American League MVP, Judge is an undeniably great player. If you look at his Baseball Reference page, his MVP seasons of 2022 and 2024 are slathered in bold font, which means he led the American League (or all of baseball, if it’s in bold and italics) in those various categories. Those two seasons are sandwiched around a season where he only played 106 games, but hit 37 home runs. Judge seems to be getting better with age, and he’s older than people think at 33 years old. The problem for Judge is that he’s batting .205 with a .768 OPS in seven unsuccessful postseasons. For some context, that .768 OPS is 246 points off of his career OPS in the regular season. The monkey on Judge’s back mirrors the one on the Yankees as an organization, as they’ve won one World Series (2009) since 2000.
National Football League — JOSH ALLEN, QB, Bills
This is a dead heat between Allen and Lamar Jackson, who are co-founders of the “MVPs Who Can’t Break Through Patrick Mahomes’ Forcefield” Club. Jackson has won two MVPs and lost to Mahomes in the AFC Title Game in 2023, so there is some history there. However, Allen has lost to Mahomes multiple times in the postseason, a few of which came in excruciating fashion. There was the “13 seconds left” game in the 2021 divisional round. There was the Tyler Bass missed field goal in 2023. Finally, there was last year’s AFC title game that ended under a sea of Buffalo miscues in short yardage situations. When you get a close to knocking off the kings as Allen has, then the monkey gets bigger and bigger on your back. That’s why he’s the choice over Jackson.
National Basketball Association — JAMES HARDEN, G, Los Angeles Clippers
This one hits a little close to home, I know, but there is no player in the NBA right now who has accomplished more and not won a ring. Maybe Chris Paul, which I know ALSO hits close to home. I know Harden is a very polarizing figure here in Houston, as he was unquestionably great on the aggregate in his eight-plus seasons here, but he also shrunk in the biggest of moments. The fact that Harden himself has forced his way out of multiple situations in recent years to try to position himself better to win a title shows that he knows about the monkey on his back. The Clippers are back in the playoffs, as a 5-seed, so we will see if Harden has any magic left.
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