Seeing is believing after LeBron James made history… so put your phones DOWN! 

• LeBron James made history when he became the NBA’s top points scorer
• But the picture of the moment was filled with fans recording on their phones
• Sport is great for great moments – real memories are much more satisfying

It was the shot that breathed new life into an old debate while giving the elders a reason to yell at newer clouds.

You’ll probably have seen the pictures by now – they were side by side on these pages and elsewhere on Thursday.

One shows Michael Jordan’s last dance with the Chicago Bulls 25 years ago and the jump shot that included a remarkable body of work. The other is by Lebron James, in a similar pose for the same score and more points than any basketball bouncer in history.

The difference between these players, and indeed their respective sizes, is better discussed by the better informed.

But the difference in their shots is easier to convey, as the earlier of these images captured what it once meant to watch a sports prodigy do wondrous things, and the latter is a modern image of countless faces crammed into their Camera phones blink.

Scanning this James image for fans living in a big sporting moment means seeing just 20 or so out of hundreds with their eyes on the flesh and a clutter-free, unfiltered experience of history.

Aside from Phil Knight, the white-haired man in the front row and also known as the founder of Nike, those without a phone in their hand are awfully hard to spot. It’s a bit like a game of Where’s Wally were it not for the overwhelming temptation to suggest that the Wallys are in the majority.

Obviously that’s a touch of grumpiness. A little blind to things. And besides, camera phones are brilliant. But so is sport.

Not always—too many plans for superleagues in soccer, too many with a penchant for cartel bosses in boxing, too many chemicals in track and field and cycling and down the line, too many blind eyes from beheadings and bone saws, too many muppets in suits.

But we endure all of that, and all of the less sinister mundanities, because the sport becomes great in its greatest moments, and of those it’s the rarity that rises. That feeling that you’re seeing something today that will be repeated tomorrow, next month, or maybe not at all.

It’s Bolt running 9.58 seconds. Nadal beats Federer by five points in the dark on center court in 2008. Messi holds the World Cup. Chloe Kelly jabs after loose ball. Bubba Watson from the trees in Augusta in 2012, Seve from the parking lot, Ali from the ropes, Emma Raducanu from nowhere, Aguero. A jump shot from a living legend.

Storage space on a cell phone is fine for everyday things. Memories burned into the brain by seeing a specific fraction of time will always feel much better and offer a more satisfying picture.