Why Tom Brady is NOT the GOAT athlete

Tom Brady is not the GOAT. Sorry, that’s a real nice notion, and I can even see where some people would get suckered in by it. But while he is the best quarterback of all time, and probably the best football player ever, that doesn’t make him the GOAT. Here are several athletes whose GOAT qualifications are stronger than Brady’s.

[Counterpoint: Why Tom Brady IS the GOAT athlete]

Tiger Woods This shouldn’t really require an explanation, but if you had a pulse and were a sports fan from 1996 until 2008, you know what Tiger was all about. He was less competitive golfer and more force of nature. No athlete intimidated his opponents into submission quite like Woods, which is particularly impressive given that he is a golfer, not a boxer. His “Tiger Slam” (holding all four major titles at once, though not in the same year) is one of the most impressive feats in the sport’s history. Woods’ 14 majors are second only to Jack Nicklaus, and while some critics say that Woods’ contemporaries were nowhere near as tough as Nicklaus’, I’ll submit that Woods made the impossible seem routine and almost boring for well over a decade.

Serena Williams Twenty-three Grand Slam singles titles, most in the Open Era. A staggering 14 doubles Grand Slams to go along with two mixed doubles Grand Slams, just for good measure. Oh, and Williams broke Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slams by winning the 2017 Australian Open while, and I feel I need to pause for emphasis here — eight or nine weeks pregnant. The preceding sentence alone should vault her past Brady and, frankly, everyone else in the GOAT discussion. Williams is an unmatched talent in the women’s game. Her athleticism, shot-making, tenacity and ability to take everyone’s best shot and still come out on top more often than not make her the obvious pick for best women’s tennis player ever — and possibly the GOAT regardless of sport.

Roger Federer What Serena is to the women’s game, Federer is to men’s tennis. His career resume is equally impressive, if not more so, given the fact that he’s actually had a few worthy rivals throughout his career, namely Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Federer’s 20 Grand Slam singles titles are a men’s record, as are his 30 men’s singles Grand Slam finals appearances. That number also includes a run of 10 finals in a row from 2005-2007. To watch Federer at his best is to watch someone transcend not only his competition but also the sport itself. Federer is impossibly graceful, his shot-making capacity limitless and his precision oftentimes breathtaking. If you prefer that your GOAT make his sport look effortless, Federer is your guy.

Michael Jordan He’s the unquestioned GOAT for an entire generation (and then some) of sports fans. Jordan’s aerial performances were breathtaking, and after his first retirement, his complete reinvention into a jump-shooting machine who was more or less unguardable was equally impressive in a different sense. Had Jordan not pursued baseball after the Bulls’ first three-peat, it’s reasonable to assume that Chicago would have won eight straight titles in the 1990s, and there’s a good chance that not even the most zealous Brady fans would dare place him above Jordan in any GOAT discussion. Jordan was a rare and lethal combination; he was the best basketball player on the planet and quite possibly the most competitive person walking the earth. Examples of the latter trait are almost as legendary as the man’s feats on the hardwood. Jordan has a plethora of iconic games dotted throughout his career — 63 at the Boston Garden, “Double Nickels” at Madison Square Garden and the “Flu Game” in the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. Jordan was a five-time MVP, 10-time scoring champ, 14-time All-Star and six-time Finals MVP. That’s pretty good, right?

LeBron James James is a physical freak, a cross between Jordan, Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson, with a little Karl Malone thrown in for good measure. He is, for my money, the greatest NBA player of all time. (Sorry, MJ fans.) He is a staggeringly complete player, one of the most cerebral people to ever step on the court, and can beat opponents in a multitude of ways. James has three titles, three Finals MVPs, has reached the NBA Finals eight straight years and is, more than anything else, a talent the likes of which we have never seen before. In a league full of physical outliers, James is the ultimate. For some people, he’ll always exist in Jordan’s shadow, and they’ll point to Jordan’s six titles as the trump card, but I’ve seen both play, and for my money, James is better and very possibly the GOAT.

Barry Bonds Before you prepare the pitchforks and torches and scream “but he’s a cheater!” at me, consider that Bonds played in an era where the cloud of suspicion hung over everyone. He was an all-time great before any PED usage and often had to go up against pitchers who were far from innocent in their own right. Can we move on? No? Too bad. I could make the case for Bonds as GOAT based on his numbers, which are so good they’re laugh-out-loud funny. But instead, I’ll go with the eye test. From 2001 through 2004, Bonds was the single most dominant athlete I have ever seen in a team sport, and that includes Brady and everyone else listed above. He was otherworldly: a master at work. He made the toughest task in sports — hitting major league pitching — look like child’s play. Even now as I type this, I smile thinking about the absurdity of it all. Imagine Brady if he never made a mistake or Jordan if he never missed a shot. That’s what Bonds was for those four seasons.