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Sports fans can be very opinionated at times. Log on to any social media platform and you’ll see some pretty heated discussions under any sports-related post whether it’s something as trivial as a team revealing a new logo or something more substantial, like college football expanding their playoffs.

However, the most heated debates on social media and sports talk shows almost always find themselves discussing one particular topic no matter the sport; who’s the greatest?

LeBron James or Michael Jordan? Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt or Jimmie Johnson? Tom Brady or Peyton Manning? You probably have an opinion on all of these questions and even though I’m willing to hear your case on why each of them are the greatest in their respective sport, I’m also here to tell you that it’s also pretty stupid and pointless to debate it.

Let’s start with that first question, which is probably the most debated one of all. Michael Jordan is considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all time. During his career peak in the 1990’s, he won six championships with the Chicago Bulls in an eight season span, and helped the NBA to become a worldwide phenomenon.

In 2003, LeBron James was drafted into the NBA out of high school. In his first eight years, his team made the NBA Finals twice, but failed to win. However, in his last 13 seasons, LeBron James has made the NBA finals eight times, winning four titles with three different teams and is still considered to be the face of the current NBA more than 20 years after his debut.

When comparing stats, Jordan outduels James in career points per game at 30.1 compared to James’ 27.1, however, James averaged more rebounds and assists per game over his career.

You could make your own case for who is better, but each of them played in a different era. How do we know how James would have performed in the 90’s when defense was stronger? How do we know how Jordan would stack up against today’s modern athletes and their talents? We don’t and we never will, which is why this debate is nonsense.

Speaking of different eras, there’s probably no sports league that has changed as much as NASCAR.

There are three drivers in NASCAR that lay claim to the most championships, as Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson each have seven titles to their name. If you’re going to pick the greatest in NASCAR, you have to start at these three, but they each raced in wildly different eras.

Petty’s dominance started in the 1960’s, where the series ran 40-50 races a year and the points system was inconsistent from race to race. In the 1970’s, the schedule was reduced to around 30 races and the points became the same for every race, ushering in NASCAR’s “modern era” of the Winston Cup, which Petty continued to dominate until the end of the decade.

Earnhardt’s championships were all won in the Winston Cup era during the 80’s and 90’s, where he had to battle against drivers like Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace to name a few. Johnson’s seven titles have all come in the current “post-modern era”, aka the playoff era, where the points are reset with 10 races to go in the season, and the championship is decided in those final 10 races.

Just like the MJ-LeBron debate, it’s pointless to debate who was better because Petty, Earnhardt and Johnson all raced in different eras.

Finally, let’s look at football. Debating the greatest in a sport like that is even more pointless because of the numerous positions on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.

You could debate all you want on who’s the best at their position, but even if you’re debating whether Tom Brady or Peyton Manning was a better quarterback, the debate will always land on who has more championship rings. This argument might hold some weight in a sport where an individual controls their own destiny like golf, tennis or boxing, but in a sport like football, a championship ring is a ‘team’ accomplishment, and there’s only so much one player can do; just ask Dan Marino.

Am I saying that you shouldn’t have fun debating with other sports fans? Absolutely not. If you have a genuine opinion on who the greatest player of any sport is, then you’re entitled to it, but don’t get mad when someone disagrees with you. After all, sports are supposed to be fun and at the end of the day, it really is just a silly game.