It was Jimmy Cannon who wrote that it all comes down to man being great at something. He was referring specifically to Joe Namath, but the words are inclusive in sports, and the idea must be expanded to include women.

In the end, after the scandals and the embarrassments, the games and those who play them at the highest levels are what keep us from turning away, from giving up. We’re stubborn and maybe stupid. We’re also dreamers.

You appreciate sports, or you don’t. There’s no ambiguity. For those who do, those who have put up with the lockouts, steroids and the rest, Monday night was all about people being great.

About Novak Djokovic winning that U.S. Open singles championship against Rafael Nadal. About Tom Brady of the Patriots passing for 517 yards against Miami. About Sebastian Janikowski of the Raiders kicking a record-tying 63-yard field against Denver.

All in a few hours. All on a Monday night, which was anything but a blue Monday. Alone each performance was special. Together the three were remarkable.

The longest field goal in the NFL in 13 years? The most yards passing in the Patriots history? The third Grand Slam victory of what might be the most impressive year ever in tennis? Hollywood stuff, exciting stuff.

Almost too much stuff to absorb. Too much for television to cover. Too much for newspapers to wedge onto the opening page of a sports section.

What a year for Djokovic, a 64-2 record, 6-0 against Nadal, who 12 months ago we believed would take over tennis. What a night for Brady, who already had some fantastic nights and days if nothing of this magnitude. What a kick for the guy nicknamed “Seabass,’’ who struggled early on after he was Oakland’s questionable first-round pick in the 2000 draft.

You finished watching Djokovic joyfully tumble to the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium, and there was Brady finding receivers every time he looked. You finished watching Brady establish the fifth-highest single game total for passing yards, and there was Janikowski lining up to make history by making a 3-pointer out of the hold of Shane Lechler.

Maybe it didn’t register to some of the new breed of sporting journalists, those who would rather sort through the garbage than sail through the skies, who are infatuated with “I’’ when the emphasis should be on “We," who dwell on the negative – and there’s plenty of negative to dwell on, right Manny Ramirez? – instead of focusing on the positive.

We know what’s out there, drugs and cheats, liars and thugs, high-priced seats and low-class incivility. We can’t escape reality. But the reality of what happened Monday night, greatness on display, there, there and there, shouldn’t escape anyone either.

Sport is a landscape where you’re taught never to say “Never,’’ such as “The combination of what happened Monday never will happen again.’’ But it’s unlikely it will happen. And unlikely even if it does we will be witnesses.

The late Supreme Court chief justice and onetime governor of California, Earl Warren, had an old-fashioned, some would say Pollyannaish view of sports. “I always turn to the sports pages first,’’ he said, “which record people’s accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man’s failures.’’

That was in the see-no-evil world before TMZ and YouTube, because we’ve had our share of failure in sports, and it has nothing to do with striking out with the bases loaded. Some days it’s hard to find a result of a game among the results of the court cases.

Monday was a night Earl Warren would have loved, and a great many others did love. Monday, people’s accomplishments were piled one on top of each other in a can-you-top-this “Now what?’’ sequence.

The tennis open should have been finished a day earlier, Sunday, but for a fourth straight year rain during the second of the two weeks pushed the men’s final to Monday. Kismet. Fate. The start of a fantastic few hours.

Twelve months ago Djokovic, the Serb, was what the Brits call a "nearly man," a notch below Nadal, a notch below Roger Federer. Now he’s king of his sport. Two losses in 66 matches, and one of those when he retired because of a sore shoulder.

Brady has been one of the princes of his. Four Super Bowls, three victories. “He’s no one-man band out there,’’ Patriots coach Bill Belichick properly said, reminding football is a team game. Yet Brady is the one man who leads the band.

Janikowski, part of a team, the Raiders, apart as kickers always are, said he dreamed of breaking the field goal record. The dream missed a bit. Seabass didn’t miss, tying the record, being great at something.

On Monday night, he wasn’t alone.