Well This Seems Rather Harsh

The "greater than" meme; so overworked and cliched that Combudsman Iracane banned it from this site more than a month ago. But over at ESPN, it's cutting edge. The Leader decided to use it in a hard-hitting feature about how Eli Manning has surpassed his brother as the more highly-regarded quarterback. As if that wasn't evident previously when, oh, just thinking out loud here, Eli won the Super Bowl. Questions here. Are ESPN readers going to know what the symbol means? It's a given that the blog crowd will get it, but the typical WWL reader — especially those who avoided any classes higher than pre-algebra — may be confused. And why is this story relevant, pray tell? Should we also compare Venus to Serena? Hank to Hal Steinbrenner? Which Menendez brother is more insane? Rather pointless. And besides, shouldn't it more accurately read (Eli Manning) > (Peyton Manning) > (Cooper Manning)? Could Eli Manning Be Better Than His Big Bro? Yes [ESPN]