Unless you’re a sports fan hiding under a rock, you can’t help but be inundated  — and perhaps taken with — story after story about Caitlin Clark’s career and accomplishments in women’s basketball at the University of Iowa. Then again, if you were a fan of Pete Maravich back in the day, you probably saw stories of his accomplishments in newspapers since we didn’t have the 24/7 news cycle and social media insanity of today. But for back then, it was a lot, I assure young readers.

But we sure do love the whole who’s the greatest of all time question as humans, don’t we? We just go about getting our fuel for the fire in different ways. Usually it’s simply cherry picking some statistic or anecdote or personal preference or bias or whatever backs our argument because, after all, we’re all the greatest of all time at picking the greatest of all time. Right?

But honestly, what does any of that matter? And yes, I know I’ve been in several battles of wits related to who’s the greatest NFL quarterback of all time. I’m sad when I think about it because we all know it’s Tom Brady. Truth be told, I only do that because I’m a Michigan fan and it’s a lot of fun to debate with Peyton Manning fans here in Colorado. I do it with other sports icons as well, but just for fun. All I know is the folks I defend when pursuing these odd conversations all had pretty good careers, including Tom.

But with so much information available today, even about the stars of old, these conversations can certainly take a turn for the worse. If we could all admit it, we tend to attach some political or social agenda to our arguments. Or at the very least, have them attached for us by someone attaching theirs. And all we’re doing is talking about a couple of great athletes who had or have great careers, usually in different times or eras of their chosen sports.

In my experience, Pete’s story came with a lot of wonder and Caitlin’s with tons of publicity. And for this columnist, that’s just another difference in each of these athletes’ accomplishments — which in the sports world are pretty much all incredible.

I don’t know if I can say I ever saw Pete Maravich play basketball in college and, at best, very little of his pro career — maybe a game here or there late in his career. I have no direct connection in seeing how great he was at the college game. Pete also played in a time where freshmen couldn’t play varsity and there was no three-point line for more points.

While some might say that’s a reason Caitlin’s accomplishments aren’t as great — it’s coming, don’t worry — it doesn’t take away from Pete’s greatness. He was good, so much so some argue he was the greatest ever. Fair enough. Honest truth, I have no idea. All I know is he changed the game and scored a boatload of points and played with flair from the highlight reels and stats I’ve seen.

As for Caitlin, I’ve seen her play. My first experience watching her was during a Michigan and Iowa game  — you know I’ll watch any University of Michigan sport —  in which a higher-ranked, better Michigan team was dominating a younger Caitlin’s Hawkeyes team. Iowa was down by nearly 20 points late when Caitlin began raining threes from all over the court — one from inside the circle M logo at half court to bring Iowa all the way back to almost win. It was a magnificent performance in putting the team on her back, and I was happy Michigan escaped with a win. I’ve been a fan of Caitlin ever since. And, yes, my Wolverines are now lower ranked and losing to her twice a year.

As many of you know, Caitlin just eclipsed Pete for the most basketball points in NCAA history. She also holds many other records for women’s basketball. And here, I guess, is the point of this whole column. Everything Caitlin has done in her great career does one thing. It makes her great at what she does. So why does she need to be declared the greatest women’s player of all time. Or in today’s world, the greatest player — man or woman — of all time? Why do her accomplishments need to be compared to Pete’s, or for that matter, any other woman? Why are folks holding signs she made “her-story” instead of history? Why is eclipsing the men’s scoring record somehow greater than eclipsing the women’s? And why are some women from previous basketball eras having so much to say about it? And it can’t go without mention. Why is gender, race and so many other biases or social issues being thrust into what should just be enjoyed and recognized?

Why can’t we just say Pete and Caitlin were great in their day? Because someone will come along and eclipse Caitlin as well. We all know it. Frankly, I’m a little sad I never got to see them both play like I did Tom and Peyton.

And Tom was way better. Yeah, I can’t help it at times either.