Tom Brady voted 2nd best player in NFL history.

[1960Pats]

Russell is the greatest Celtic and Top 5 NBAer (w/ Bird, Magic, Jordan and Kareem) but greatest "star"?

Let me recap for those that are too young to know.

In Russell's last two years for USF his team won the NCAA both seasons, at one point winning 55 straight games.

He then went to the Olympics and led the USA's gold medal team in scoring. Had he not been allowed to play (because he had been drafted by the Celtics) he would have competed in the high jump instead.

He then joined the Celtics and led the team to 11 NBA titles in 13 years, including 8 straight followed by 2 straight in his 3 years as player coach. The team's only losses in his time with the Celtics were in the conference and NBA finals.

Once Russell left it took the Celtics 3 years just to make the playoffs and 5 years to win another title. They have only won 6 titles in the 45 years since he's been gone.

 

[1960Pats]

Elway was the real deal. He carried his teams to the playoffs. They lost their first SB to the Giants (BB defensive coach) , their second in a strike year to the Redskins and their third to Joe Montana's monster 49 er team. All three were Dan Reeves coached teams.

But you're right about winning with TD. Elway was a shell of himself during the last 2 SB's.

That's probably why they had to cheat the salary cap to win.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Let me recap for those that are too young to know.

In Russell's last two years for USF his team won the NCAA both seasons, at one point winning 55 straight games.

He then went to the Olympics and led the USA's gold medal team in scoring. Had he not been allowed to play (because he had been drafted by the Celtics) he would have competed in the high jump instead.

He then joined the Celtics and led the team to 11 NBA titles in 13 years, including 8 straight followed by 2 straight in his 3 years as player coach. The team's only losses in his time with the Celtics were in the conference and NBA finals.

Once Russell left it took the Celtics 3 years just to make the playoffs and 5 years to win another title. They have only won 6 titles in the 45 years since he's been gone.

You don't have to convince me regarding BRs greatness. It's #1 in my book over everyone.

But biggest "star" in NBA history is MJ.

 

[1960Pats]

Brady won 3 Superbowls in, rule wise, the same era as Montana. The emphasis on illegal contact was 2004 and the emphasis on defenseless receivers was 2009. Unless I'm forgetting something, those were the two main changes steering the game towards offense.

Brady is 2/2 in Superbowls with old school rules and was 3/4 in Superbowls before defenseless receiver rules. Now at 4/6 over all, with 9 AFCCG appearances, he's well beyond Montana on achievements. Another ring would push Joe and Terry down into 2nd tier status.

This is probably why the old timers from the NFL, along with the help of Fraudger and the NYJFL, are trying to discredit any of Brady's accomplishments. They're all butthurt that Tom came out of nowhere and brought their dreamworld down.

The other thing that fascinates me about this discussion is that in their efforts to discredit TB's accomplishments by calling him a cheater, they have exposed themselves as cheaters instead.
- Don Shula cheated to get to Miami in 1970 and had a tainted undefeated season two years later.
- Joe Monatna's record was greatly aided by an admitted cheater who caught a ton of passes for him.
- John Elway doesn't win a thing without cheating the salary cap.
- And now we're finding out that the NYJFL's golden boy has been a PED user.

Life is good.

 

[1960Pats]

You don't have to convince me regarding BRs greatness. It's #1 in my book over everyone.

But biggest "star" on NBA history is MJ.

Semantics.

It's too bad that Russell didn't play against MJ, LJ or even LB for that matter. He would have shoved their stardom right back in their faces, like he did everyone else during his time.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Semantics.

It's too bad that Russell didn't play against MJ, LJ or even LB for that matter. He would have shoved their stardom right back in their faces, like he did everyone else during his time.

I'm in my mid 40s but my dad was a basketball junkie and has seen BR play man many times. He hates what the game has become but that's another issue.

He swears that if BR played today with the proper nutrition , strength training and bball skills he'd be a 15/20 guy still and block 3/4 shots a game.

Greatness is transferrable.

 

[varjao]

You must be joking. If not then you need a history lesson.

I think my Scalabrine gif didn't load in your device.

 

[1960Pats]

I think my Scalabrine gif didn't load in your device.

I saw it and that's why I commented that you must be joking, but I wasn't sure.