Brady ranked 4th Top Athlete of 1995 - 2015 by ESPN

A list without Adam Seward has lost all credibility.

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

A list without Adam Seward has lost all credibility.

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I just assumed that he was taken as a given at #1 overall.

Jeter was a great player and icon of the game, but there is absolutely no way he belongs on this list over numerous baseball players. Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Mariano Rivera, Albert Pujols. I love Jeter as a baseball player, but his overall talent level was never among baseball's very best. When you factor in the hitter's era and that Pedro pitched in the AL, he may have been the greatest pitcher ever. No one can honestly say Jeter was the greatest ever at anything, or even close to the greatest ever, except at being well respected and consistent in a huge media market.

Most won't agree with me, but I'd take Kurt Warner over Favre.

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

Jeter was a great player and icon of the game, but there is absolutely no way he belongs on this list over numerous baseball players. Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Mariano Rivera, Albert Pujols. I love Jeter as a baseball player, but his overall talent level was never among baseball's very best. When you factor in the hitter's era and that Pedro pitched in the AL, he may have been the greatest pitcher ever. No one can honestly say Jeter was the greatest ever at, or even close to the greatest ever, except at being well respected and consistent.

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Does Ortiz make the Top 20 in your opinion?

Chiuba E. Obele said:

Does Ortiz make the Top 20 in your opinion?

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No. This is a really exclusive list that spans all sports. Need to be one of THE best in your sport during this era.

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

Jeter was a great player and icon of the game, but there is absolutely no way he belongs on this list over numerous baseball players. Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Mariano Rivera, Albert Pujols. I love Jeter as a baseball player, but his overall talent level was never among baseball's very best. When you factor in the hitter's era and that Pedro pitched in the AL, he may have been the greatest pitcher ever. No one can honestly say Jeter was the greatest ever at anything, or even close to the greatest ever, except at being well respected and consistent in a huge media market.

Most won't agree with me, but I'd take Kurt Warner over Favre.

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Jeter might be the greatest ever with lady friends. Even Brady can't touch him.

They got the top 4 right. I don't necessarily agree with the order though. 1.MJ. 2.Tiger. 3. Brady. 4. Lebron

I'm just loving the general consensus nationally now is Brady>Manning finally.

BTW nothing against Crosby, he is the best NHL player of this generation, but the fact ESPN puts any player from a sport they generally ignored for a decade on a list is crap.

Messi should be higher, while Cristiano Ronaldo and Zidane should have made their way on the list. As should have Rafa Nadal and even an MMA fighter like a Georges St. Pierre or Jon Jones.

Do not have a problem with the top 4, maybe Phelps should be in that list somehow, but who would he replace??

As far as golf goes, at one time would agree, but modern golfers are workout warriors who take their craft very seriously.. most of what happens in the golf course happens between the ears.. being an avid golfer, but not a great athlete, I have somewhat of an understanding of how difficult that game is.

I figured Jordan would be above Brady (as he should), but Lebron -- the dude who had to run away from home and team up with other superstars just to get his rings? That guy? As oppose to a 6th round drafted QB who rarely gets Calvin Johnsons and Randy Mosses and stickum wearing Jerry Rices and is still winning?

Deus Irae said:

Those of you pimping Jordan need to take a look at the involved timeline.

1995-2005

There's no way in Hell Jordan deserves to be on top of the list.

Brady
Armstrong
Phelps
Tiger

All clearly above the Jordan/LeBron duo, given the time frame, IMO.

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Armstrong. Are you kidding me?

I never had a doubt he would be one of the greatest athletes in the world.



Okay, maybe a SMALL doubt...

You're the GOAT, Tom Brady.

OhExaulted1 said:

Tiger Woods, Golf and athlete should never be used in the same sentence.

Golf is a game, like pool or darts. Rafeal Nadal and Roger Federer would smack him into next year. Say what you want about Tennis, but you ain't winning anything if your a fat old John Daly or a 46 year old like Nicklaus was in '86.

Sorry, but golf is lame and takes up to much real estate for wanna-be rich people to go pretend they have athletic ability.

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I'm an avid golfer and have been for about 30 years now. I enjoy it when people ask me if it's a sport because they usually expect me to answer that it is. I think it's clearly a game. You can play a match with a group made up of a 12 year old boy, a 40 year old woman and two men, older and younger, and still have a great time and even a friendly competition. I like it.

As for awards like the one we're talking about, I call them Yaz Awards. They're based on longevity and totals. How else would P6 Manning and Brint Favre be ranked so high. They might be the last two QBs I'd want leading my team in crunch time.

Career wise Jordan is ahead but didn't he really just have two great seasons in this time frame? From what I remember his return with the Wizards wasnothing special.

I also agree Lebron is not there yet. IF anyone in the four major sports is ahead of Brady in the given time frame its Tim Duncan and that's a big IF. (Edit... Totally forgot Shaq and Kobe)

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

Jeter was a great player and icon of the game, but there is absolutely no way he belongs on this list over numerous baseball players. Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Mariano Rivera, Albert Pujols. I love Jeter as a baseball player, but his overall talent level was never among baseball's very best. When you factor in the hitter's era and that Pedro pitched in the AL, he may have been the greatest pitcher ever. No one can honestly say Jeter was the greatest ever at anything, or even close to the greatest ever, except at being well respected and consistent in a huge media market.

Most won't agree with me, but I'd take Kurt Warner over Favre.

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IMHO Pedro Martinez is the best pitcher I've ever seen, and I go back to the late 50's. When you look at the top ten pitching stats in the history of MLB, most top pitchers are at or near the top of less than half of those stats. Pedro is at or near the top of most of them.

In a few years there will be six more QBs that I'd take over Favre, maybe more. Any top tier QB playing in the NFL today would be a better choice.

AzorianPats said:

They got the top 4 right. I don't necessarily agree with the order though. 1.MJ. 2.Tiger. 3. Brady. 4. Lebron

I'm just loving the general consensus nationally now is Brady>Manning finally.

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There will still be some mediots that will start the "Is the Manning vs Brady debate really over yet" stories for next season. It's kind of comical really.

Ross12 said:

I'm fine with MJ ahead of Brady and MAYBE Tiger, but LeBron?? He's not there yet.

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MJ ahead of Brady? 4 SB rings >>>>>> 6 NBA rings. ( This is the tie since both are the best athletes in their respective sports.)

For me golf is as sporty as Poker. Of course you have to be precise , have talent. But athlete on word of literalness they are not.

I love the major American sporting leagues but this top 10 is so biased it's ridiculous.

The rest of the world would not acknowledge Manning, Jeter or even Brady as top 10 athletes of the past 20 years. Is the rest of the world correct? Maybe not but it speaks to the fact that these sports are team sports AND are played predominately at a competitive level in only one country. I think Brady is the GOAT but the level of competition in say swimming or tennis is exponentially higher around the world combined with the fact that the onus to perform is solely on the individual athlete, say Federer or Phelps.

American football is my favourite sport and I consider Brady the best ever to play it, I'm just giving a perspective as an outsider looking in (Brady is in my top 10 FWIW but not Jeter or Manning).

Also Manning shouldn't be in the top 50.

patsbrasilpatriotas said:

MJ ahead of Brady? 4 SB rings >>>>>> 6 NBA rings. ( This is the tie since both are the best athletes in their respective sports.)

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Technically, it would be three NBA rings won in 96', 97', and 98', followed by career-prime retirement, and a brief bid at a comeback with the Washington Wizards between 2001 and 2003. It all depends on how you interpret the criteria of the "pinnacle of success" In the late 90s, Jordan had arguably greater stardom and was more of a globally-recognized athlete than Brady was in the 2000s and 2010s.

But I agree, that as impressive as the second-half of his career was, it doesn't exactly rise to the same level as Brady's 14-year tenure with the most successful franchise in America's most popular sport (including 4 Super Bowl Championships, 3 Super Bowl MVPs, multiple division and conference titles, numerous endorsements and celebrity status, and the only 16-0 regular season record in NFL history). But it's a debatable topic. Jordan's legend is unassailable, so placing him at #1 isn't all that controversial. But I'd rather put Brady as the #1 or #2 (behind Tiger) athlete of 1995-2015, and have Jordan either be #2 or #3.

You said ESPN and I knew the rest was ignorable, whether good or bad.

One bad decision from 2006, I think, was trying to name the #1 athlete. Definitions of "athlete" varied and discussions of definitions were the point. It was a march madness style bracket of 64. The result? Tiger Woods. Voting closed to only ESPN personalities.

I **** you not. He beat out Shaq (it was 2006, or 2004, back when Shaq was a Laker) Brady, Favre, and two others.

That was when I stopped taking anything from E!SPN even remotely seriously.