I've read some articles and watched some pundits now talking about Brady in transcendent ways. Not only are they conceding that he is the greatest QB of all time (man it took some of them a LONG time to get there and I'm sure this has been a very painful process for them), but that he may be the greatest football player of all time.
But I watched Cris Carter and Nick Wright on Fox Sports talk about whether Brady is in the Pantheon of greatest athletes ever - regardless of sports.
Carter made the actually pretty astute point that you have to separate *athleticism* with being an all time great athlete. Nobody would say that Brady is as athletic as Jordan or Ali or Jim Brown (doesn't run as fast, jump as high, isn't nearly as strong, etc.), but he is still an all-time great athlete.
So maybe this should be in a different forum, but it was sparked by the conversation about Brady. What would be your Mount Rushmore of all-time athletes, regardless of sport? I'd suggest that some criteria would have to be: (1) Peak performance, (2) Longevity, (3) Career success, and maybe even (4) Larger, transcendent impact on their sport and maybe even beyond.
Those criteria may work against each other, because I don't think, honestly, that Ali was necessarily the greatest boxer of all time (I think an argument could be made for Marciano or Louis or even some others), but nobody transcended their sport like Ali did. I'd put (4) as the last criteria, but maybe as a tiebreaker. And of course I can totally respect an opinion that Ali *was* the greatest boxer of all time. I'm not knowledgeable enough in the sport to say with any real authority.
Anyway, when you expand it beyond their own sport to all sports, it's SO hard to really think about who the top 4 athletes of all time would be. Here are some nominations I can put on the short list:
Muhammad Ali
Michael Jordan
Bill Russell
LeBron James
Eric Heiden
Bobby Orr
Wayne Gretzky
Usain Bolt
Jackie Joyner Kersee
Jim Thorpe
Jim Brown
Edwin Moses
Carl Lewis
Jerry Rice
Babe Ruth
Barry Bonds
Roger Federer
Serena Williams
Jack Nicklaus
Tiger Woods
Michael Phelps
Pele
Lionel Messi
Cristiano Ronaldo
Jesse Owens
Tom Brady
Lawrence Taylor
I'm sure there are all kinds of other athletes that you guys would nominate. Just coming up with a short list is almost impossible, never mind actually nailing down a Mount Rushmore.
But I watched Cris Carter and Nick Wright on Fox Sports talk about whether Brady is in the Pantheon of greatest athletes ever - regardless of sports.
Carter made the actually pretty astute point that you have to separate *athleticism* with being an all time great athlete. Nobody would say that Brady is as athletic as Jordan or Ali or Jim Brown (doesn't run as fast, jump as high, isn't nearly as strong, etc.), but he is still an all-time great athlete.
So maybe this should be in a different forum, but it was sparked by the conversation about Brady. What would be your Mount Rushmore of all-time athletes, regardless of sport? I'd suggest that some criteria would have to be: (1) Peak performance, (2) Longevity, (3) Career success, and maybe even (4) Larger, transcendent impact on their sport and maybe even beyond.
Those criteria may work against each other, because I don't think, honestly, that Ali was necessarily the greatest boxer of all time (I think an argument could be made for Marciano or Louis or even some others), but nobody transcended their sport like Ali did. I'd put (4) as the last criteria, but maybe as a tiebreaker. And of course I can totally respect an opinion that Ali *was* the greatest boxer of all time. I'm not knowledgeable enough in the sport to say with any real authority.
Anyway, when you expand it beyond their own sport to all sports, it's SO hard to really think about who the top 4 athletes of all time would be. Here are some nominations I can put on the short list:
Muhammad Ali
Michael Jordan
Bill Russell
LeBron James
Eric Heiden
Bobby Orr
Wayne Gretzky
Usain Bolt
Jackie Joyner Kersee
Jim Thorpe
Jim Brown
Edwin Moses
Carl Lewis
Jerry Rice
Babe Ruth
Barry Bonds
Roger Federer
Serena Williams
Jack Nicklaus
Tiger Woods
Michael Phelps
Pele
Lionel Messi
Cristiano Ronaldo
Jesse Owens
Tom Brady
Lawrence Taylor
I'm sure there are all kinds of other athletes that you guys would nominate. Just coming up with a short list is almost impossible, never mind actually nailing down a Mount Rushmore.