OT Where do you rate Brady against other great athletes of other sports?

[yukon cornelius]

rings in a team sport only tell a small part of the picture.......marino was also a lousy leader, that's a bigger knock than his team not winning a ring imho

williams was the single greatest hitter of all time, and it's hard to judge his career and championships with two wars interrupting his career, and the league....take away the wars, and conservatively he'd be 7th all time in hits, 5th all time in HRs and 1st in RBIs......and those are probably low ball....not even going to get into things like OBP and SLG or OPS - he would shoot up the all time ranks in all of those, too.......as to world titles? who knows......but the guy won a triple crown (in one of baseball's golden ages) WHILE acting as a navy instructor at night during an active world war lol.....

 

[oldrover]

I know this sounds like Boston homerism...

 

[yukon cornelius]

It’s hard to argue championships for basketball or hockey players who played in 6 team or 8 team leagues without salary caps. You put together a great team it can stay together for a decade and there’s only a handful of other teams.

To me what Brady did last night puts him at number 1 ahead of Michael Jordan.

and brady never had to enter a team hotel through the back door, nor was his team capped at "3 coloreds" on the roster, either........if you want to compare eras, then do it across the board........what would bobby orr or mickey mantle's careers have looked like with access to modern knee surgery? brady's career would have been close to over/significantly negatively impacted if he played in the 60s or 70's......can't pick and choose, it's why comparing eras is always just water cooler fodder

 

[Boomer B]

and brady never had to enter a team hotel through the back door, nor was his team capped at "3 coloreds" on the roster, either........if you want to compare eras, then do it across the board........what would bobby orr or mickey mantle's careers have looked like with access to modern knee surgery? brady's career would have been close to over/significantly negatively impacted if he played in the 60s or 70's......can't pick and choose, it's why comparing eras is always just water cooler fodder

Not really sure why Brady would get docked points because he didn’t face the racism that others did. Doesn’t have anything to do with measuring who is the greatest team sports player. If we were measuring who was more important sure, but not who’s greatest.

 

[Kontradiction]

He’s the GOAT at any position in NFL history and he’s now in the GOAT American Athlete territory. He’s surpassed Jordan, for sure.

 

[Vindicate]

Does Usain Bolt count?

I mean, the likelihood of seeing someone as good as him again is astronomically low, correct? His athletic profile is quite literally an exception even if your "average" group are the best athletic, physical freak-of-nature players.

I just remember hearing something along the lines of "It is scientifically unlikely we see another Usain Bolt in our lifetimes."

Completely different sport though. I know.

 

[Steve102]

Does Usain Bolt count?

I mean, the likelihood of seeing someone as good as him again is astronomically low, correct? His athletic profile is quite literally an exception even if your "average" group are the best athletic, physical freak-of-nature players.

I just remember hearing something along the lines of "It is scientifically unlikely we see another Usain Bolt in our lifetimes."

Completely different sport though. I know.

I'm not including the individual athletes, from my own POV. You can, but for me, you can't really compare.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

You know, you can completely erase everything brady did before the age of 36 and he’d still be a goat level player

 

[NashuaPats]

I put Brady over Russell. There were 8 teams in the NBA back then. There are 32 teams in the NFL all with equal payrolls.

 

[Steve102]

You know, you can completely erase everything brady did before the age of 36 and he’d still be a goat level player

Two hall of fame careers. 2001 thru the knee injury, and 2009 to current. It's nuts.

 

[Vindicate]

I'm not including the individual athletes, from my own POV. You can, but for me, you can't really compare.

Understandable. There also isn't much of a cerebral aspect to sprinting. I see from where you're coming.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

To add to Russell's greatness, 2 NCAA championships and an Olympic Gold medal.......!!!!!

 

[Steve102]

Understandable. There also isn't much of a cerebral aspect to sprinting. I see from where you're coming.

For me, it's not that. Is Brady a better athlete than Bolt? Ever seen Bolt throw a 15 yard out? Can he get off a jam at the LOS and get open man to man? Can Bolt play D in the NBA? (Probably haha) Raw athleticism? Who the hell knows. Bo Jackson... Deion Sanders...

Brady was drafted by the Expos tho.

 

[yukon cornelius]

Not really sure why Brady would get docked points because he didn’t face the racism that others did. Doesn’t have anything to do with measuring who is the greatest team sports player. If we were measuring who was more important sure, but not who’s greatest.

traveling with your team and being unable to use the same entrance, sometimes even the same hotel, as the rest of your team isn't a factor in your performance?

eventually russell began to stand up it and did some pretty crazy things while still playing

but the point was, when someone knocks russell for saying "there's only 8 teams then, brady has to deal with 32", that was one of my counters.....yes, russell had less teams in the league then, but there's other factors at play, also........brady could drink from the same fountain as his teammates (pre covid anyways).......you really can't compare eras

but year, russell's athletic performance is even more remarkable when considering the overt racism he encountered and fought against while playing

 

[Steve102]

traveling with your team and being unable to use the same entrance, sometimes even the same hotel, as the rest of your team isn't a factor in your performance?

eventually russell began to stand up it and did some pretty crazy things while still playing

but the point was, when someone knocks russell for saying "there's only 8 teams then, brady has to deal with 32", that was one of my counters.....yes, russell had less teams in the league then, but there's other factors at play, also........brady could drink from the same fountain as his teammates (pre covid anyways).......you really can't compare eras

but year, russell's athletic performance is even more remarkable when considering the overt racism he encountered and fought against while playing

I rank Russell at #1 for the reasons you outline. He had to deal with the racial tensions of the era and win.

 

[NE_Zealot]

Brady, Metta World Peace>>>>>>>>>everyone.

 

[nORRis8]

When people include other sports (LeBron, Jordan) to question Brady's greatness....ya that proves how incredible he is.
Twitter (exploded, because that's what it does) after the game was comparing Tom to Serena Williams.
Every tourney she plays in is a Championship. There's like 6 majors a year and as of late...she has not won too many.
Tommy is still winning at 43.
Enough already.

 

[1960Pats]

Brady's is more impressive because he is playing in a league with 32 teams.

Russell had to deal with 7 other teams for most of his 13 seasons.

The NHL had 6 teams until 1967-1968, which is when Richard won 7 of his Stanley Cups. He is like Brady in that he played for over 20 years.

The only fair way to compare players is by comparing them to the players of their own era, and it's impossible to do it at all across sports. Baseball would be a simpler sport to compare different eras because it's more of an individual game, but the use of PED's has made that more difficult.

For all around greatness in baseball it's very difficult to top Babe Ruth, as he could pitch and hit with the best of them.

However, the greatest pitcher who ever played was Pedro Martinez. If you look at where he ranks in all categories of pitching he's at or near the top in more categories than any other pitcher by far.

For pure hitters it's hard to overlook Ted Williams also.

I'm on the other side of the fence when it comes to the number of teams in basketball. Less teams usually means more concentrated talent. Russel spent the first 3rd of his 13 years in an 8 team league, his second 3rd in a 9 team league and his last 3rd in a gradual increase from 10 to 12 to 14 teams, when he was the player/HC. His last title came in a 7th game at LA vs Wilt, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. The team won nothing before he arrived, nothing for years after he was gone and one of the only two losses they had came when he was injured. No other player of any era, including his own, is even in the ballpark unless they played with him.

Less teams in hockey also means more concentrated talent and deeper teams. They, like basketball, played close to as many playoff rounds in spite of having less teams than modern sports. That also means that they aren't padding their stats by playing the little sisters of the poor with the ability to coast through early rounds against inferior teams. Having only paid close attention to hockey starting in the 70's, I'd put Bobby Orr up against anyone, even Gretsky.

As for football, it's tough to pick any one player, but Brady is easily the GOAT at QB and Jimmy Brown at RB. I'd also have to put Gronk in as the greatest TE that I've ever seen. No other TE was the complete package that he is. He runs like a locomotive, has great hands and blocks like a steam roller. I've never seen anyone who comes close.

It's amazing how many Boston athletes are on that list. We've been blessed.

 

[Kdo5]

I put Brady over Russell. There were 8 teams in the NBA back then. There are 32 teams in the NFL all with equal payrolls.

Brady passed Russell three Super Bowls ago. Level of difficulty between sports for exactly the reason you mentioned.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Teams have poured over 20 years of film to come up with a way to stop Tom Brady. Blitz the A gap. Fake the blitz, then play under man. Cover 0. Cover 1. Cover 2. Cover 3. Zone blitz. Weak side overload blitz. You get the picture. Doesn't matter who are his teammates or who's on the other side of that ball. He just finds a way to overcome all that attention given to stopping him.

I can't think of other sports whose players face this kind of focused attention.

Regards,
Chris