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In years past, a serious physical disability meant unemployment, isolation, and inactivity for many thousands of people.

No longer. While the Americans with Disabilities Act has opened up the workplace and public facilities to people with disabilities, many organizations around the country have sprung up, offering access to sports programs both for wheelchair-bound individuals and amputees with artificial prosthetic devices. Disabled people are experiencing the joy of participating in Alpine and cross-country skiing, all kinds of water sports from swimming to sailing to scuba diving, and even more extreme sports such as mountain climbing and sky diving.

The importance of both competitive and recreational sports for individuals with disabilities can't be overestimated. Particularly for formerly able-bodied people who find themselves disabled, sports can serve as a tremendous motivation in the rehabilitation process and can help alleviate the depression, confusion, and loss of self-esteem that often accompanies a debilitating injury. For those born with a serious disability, sports can serve as an important way of connecting to the "abled" world.

Competitive sports for the disabled are experiencing phenomenal success. The world-wide organization now known as the Paralympic Games was founded in Rome, Italy, in 1960, inspired by a 1948 competition organized in England for disabled World War II veterans. According to the Paralympic Games website, participating athletes compete in a variety of sports based on one of six disability-based classifications: amputee, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, visual impairment, intellectual disability, and a general group including individual disabilities which do not fit into one of the other five categories.

Both summer and winter sports competitions give disabled athletes the change to compete in a variety of sports; the list of summer sports includes 21 different competitive sports, ranging from archery and cycling to equestrian, powerlifting and judo. Five competitions designed specifically for wheelchair-bound athletes include basketball, dancing, fencing, rugby, and tennis. The list of winter sports is smaller, but no less challenging: athletes can compete in either Alpine or Nordic skiing, ice sledge hockey, and wheelchair curling.

Children with physical disabilities have special challenges; they're dealing with sometimes substantial limitations at the same time that they are meeting all the other demands of becoming competent, balanced, emotionally and mentally healthy human beings. The National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) offers opportunities for children to take part in a wide range of sports activities, from skiing, ski racing, snowboarding and snowshoeing in the winter to rafting, horseback riding, and in-line skating in the summer.

The Paralympics and NSCD are only two of many organizations founded to involve disabled individuals in sports. It's evident, from the success and increasing popularity of these organizations, that both adults and children with disabilities benefit greatly from participating in adaptive sports activities, and that the benefit extends to all aspects of their lives.

Sports fans love to debate. This is part of the excitement of sports, arguing about what players are best at their respective game or position. One that has become surprisingly popular pits second-year star LeBron James against various other greats, such as Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, and others. It's surprising not only because LeBron is so young, so most people would exclude him but also because it really shouldn't be an argument at all.

That's right. This one is a no-brainer. Stop all the arguments, the debates and the loosely-constructed ideas that other players in the National Basketball Association are better than LeBron. I'm here to tell you today that there is no reasonable debate -- LeBron James is without a doubt the best basketball player on the planet Earth!

Okay, before you blow your stack about his age, lack of experience and the fact that he has yet to win a title, like Kobe and others, let's consider the best barometer of a great basketball player.

Truly great players possess all of the fundamental skills: shooting, passing, ball handling, rebounding, shot blocking and defending. Now, players like Kobe, McGrady and Kevin Garnett certainly have these skills. But to truly separate players, we need to go beyond these skills. Consider two more factors: the ability to dominate at any position and to make all players around you better. This is the true test of greatness.

Larry Bird had it, Magic Johnson had it, and Michael Jordan certainly had it. Does Kobe? I say no. Does McGrady? Definitely not. Garnett may, but he still has too many nights of 14 points and 9 rebounds in a losing effort to say he definitely has it.

Now, consider LeBron. The skills are unquestionable. He averages 25 points, nearly 8 rebounds and just under 8 assists per game, in only his second year in the league, at the tender age of 20. Hes the youngest to score 40, to get a triple double, to start in an All Star game, and the list grows every night he plays. Further ponder the fact that at 6-8 and a muscular 240 pounds and with uncanny speed, quickness and leaping ability, LeBron can handle the ball like a point guard, shoot like most decent (not great, yet) off guards, and post up with the best forwards and centers in the NBA. He blocks shots like a center, can shut down anyone, with his size and quickness, and he gets to the basket and draws fouls better than anyone. He creates a mismatch every night, because he is completely unguardable.

Finally, in just his second year, hes taken a team that won 17 games prior to his arrival to a 50-win pace. And for the first time since the early 1990s, the Cavaliers are now a legitimate playoff contender. I doubt any coach in the league wants to face the Cavaliers and LeBron in a seven-game series.

So, when people want to discuss the greatest players in the game, tell them to forget any argument that doesnt start and end with the name LeBron James.