Quote:
Originally Posted by CroFlames
The GOAT across all sports means he is the clearest cut GOAT in his own sport. Wayne has a really strong case, but tons of people consider Bobby the GOAT in hockey or even Mario.
If you start talking about GOATs in the different major sports, there is a decent argument to be had and no clear cut choice i.e.: Michael vs LeBron, Tiger vs Jack, Ronaldo vs Messi.
IMO the clearest choice for GOAT in his sport, without much argument is Brady. Therefore, Brady has the strongest case to be declared the GOAT across all sports and has my vote.
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Exactly.
Brady is untouchable in football, what he has done in unprecedented and unheard of in a sport with short career spans. However I think he loses points since football is such a North American sport with limited worldwide involvement. In my opinion it's a lot tougher to be the GOAT in a sport like soccer that has a much longer history, with much higher worldwide participation, than a sport like Football that is more niche in the big scheme of things.
Phelps and Bolt deserve some consideration too for their Olympic dominance.
Ali is the GOAT in terms of social impact to the World and Popularity, but his actual dominance in his field is a bit overstated.
Serena Williams is probably the most dominant athlete ever, and is easily the GOAT female athlete of all time and deserves consideration too.
But in terms of the other pro sports it’s tough because nobody is unanimous anymore.
Hockey: Gretzky is the best but people still will argue for Orr, and nobody is going to touch his records. Hockey to me is held back in the same way that football is in that it's not as widespread as something like Soccer or Track & Field, so maybe that loses you some overall points.
Baseball: What Babe Ruth did was remarkable for the time but athletes of today’s generation are just so much better it’s tough to consider him the GOAT.
Golf: Tiger should be the GOAT but his late career failures opened up the door enough for Jack to still have a stake to the claim.
Tennis: Nadal and Djokovic have done enough to put Federers status as the GOAT into question
Soccer: Too many names to consider. Pele, Messi, Ronaldo, Maradona...really this is probably Pele and he deserves to be in consideration with Brady, Phelps, & Bolt.
F1: Schumacher is close but Lewis Hamilton has challenge to that throne right now and is younger.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Plett25
I don't think LeBron is underrated, IMO he's actually massively overrated due to recency bias.
Jordan is the goat for most people old enough to remember watching him. LeBron is the goat for most people too young to have watched Jordan.
Kareem is the forgotten goat because he dominated 40 years ago and retired 30 years ago. When he dominated, the NBA finals weren't even carried live, they were on tape delay. He dominated before cable sports channels.
Kareem is the goat.
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.  |
I remember watching Jordan and I still think Lebron has a claim.
But either way the point still stands - it's not unanimous for the NBA. Jordan, Lebron, Kareem all hold a potential claim on the Greatest of All Time. Kareem is by far the career leader in Win Shares (with Wilt and Lebron as 2 & 3)
Jordan gets a bump in these things because his timing in sport happened to align to a time when Black Culture in music, TV, and Sport was becoming mainstream, and his personality and shoe brand transcended the sport and his flaws and failures get overlooked.
In my opinion I think if you are looking at GOATs across multiple sports the short list at this time is Brady, Pele, Phelps, & Bolt (And maybe Gretzky). Plus Serena who is the greatest female athlete of all time and deserves consideration for the all time GOAT across sports.