Let’s talk G.O.A.T.s … the Greatest Of All-Time.
I see a lot of social media banter over who are the G.O.A.T.s, or Greatest Of All-Time in various sports. And on TV, if Tom Brady faces Aaron Rodgers, or Aaron Judge ties Babe Ruth or Steph Curry or Giannis Antekounmpo reach a milestone or Alex Ovechkin takes to the ice in pursuit of Gretzky and Howe, the broadcasters make a case for the current guys being the best ever.
Recently LeBron James gave his list of all-time greatest Lakers and he put his name on it, while leaving off Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem abdul-Jabbar. Every sports fan has an opinion and the rest of us are free to debate and argue with that opinion.
First, the term G.O.A.T. … when I was young, “goat” referred to a player who cost your team the game by not performing or by blowing a play. Today, “GOAT” is the best.
Second, as above, every sports fan has opinions and can’t wait to share them. But arguing G.O.A.T.s is subjective and not personal unless the debaters get personal. Mantle-Mays, Gretzky-Lemieux, Ali-Marciano, Brady-Montana, Jordan-Wilt … you get the idea, fans take their stands and love to argue and include all the “facts” that build their cases. Often, it is old-school vs. new-school, but at the end of the day, it is all opinion.
In addition to James’ list, a recent study of sports legends by gambling.com listed the G.O.A.T.s by winning percentage. The listed Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Magic Johnson Peyton Manning and Walter Payton as their Top-5. Wow. Tom Brady was No. 6 (behind Johnny Unitas), and Babe Ruth, Wilt, Jimmy Brown, Wayne Gretzky and others were left out. Well, let’s debate that.
Do wins alone make a G.O.A.T.? Unless you are on the tennis court or golf course, wins are made up of team play. Bill Russell could be the G.O.A.T in basketball on wins and championships, but he was surrounded by Boston Celtics teammates who were the best unit on the court. Personally, I opt for Wilt Chamberlain, who dominated stats and games like no other, but they didn’t translate well into championships.
Also, it is tough to compare eras when the game changes so much and evolves to current standards, so I choose to compare how an athlete dominated against his or her competition at the times. That has drawbacks as wars have taken top athletes out of the mix – Ted Williams lost five years to time served, for example -- and segregation took many top athletes out of the mix – Josh Gibson never had a chance to play MLB and neither did Oscar Charleston, Smokey Joe Williams, Bullet Joe Rogan and others, and limited Satchel Paige’s time in MLB. It also meant that stars including Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson and Cy Young did not compete against ALL the best talent of the day. But that shouldn’t diminish what Babe Ruth did against available competition, when he changed the sport, saved the sport and stood out among whomever he faced.
Monuments to their game that include Ruth, Gretzky, Chamberlain, Jimmy Brown, Muhammad Ali, Martina Navratilova, Sam Snead, still hold up today when we argue G.O.A.T.s. Some old-school athletes are still G.O.A.T.s and some new-schoolers replace them.
I am not talking about being better athletes. It can be argued that all of today’s athletes, with better conditioning, nutrition, medicine and evolving genetics are better athletes, but to me, a player’s dominance of today can only be compared with today’s athletes as all games evolve. So for me, a G.O.A.T. is how the athlete compared with the athletes he or she competed against in their own eras.
All sports have evolved. Expanded competition, in number of teams, number of athletes and ethnicity of athletes allowed to compete. Changes have been made to shorten fields and strike zones (baseball), increase safety for players to lessen severity of hits (football), added the 3-pt.shot and expanded zones within the key (basketball), lessened hits in hockey and it encompasses about every sport. The competition base has expanded, but also has been diluted from a compacted version of “the best” available talent.
Debate is great and sports fans love to debate and offer opinions. Here are my G.O.A.T.s and please disagree and send me yours.
Baseball – Babe Ruth – he saved the game and re-wrote records as a pitcher and hitter. For several years, he hit more homers than any other TEAM.
Football – wow … Jimmy Brown owned the run, but Tom Brady has seven Super Bowls.
Basketball – Wilt averaged better than 50 points a game one season and 22.9 rebounds a game for his career. He holds 68 NBA records. MJ may be the best player ever, but Wilt … he’s got to be in the discussion.
Hockey – For me it is Wayne Gretzky every day, but Gordie Howe? Bobby Orr? Mario Lemieux? Maurice Richard? I would take them all.
Tennis – Martina or Serena Williams? Steffi Graff? Or Bjorn Borg? Rod Laver? Roger Federer?
Golf – Snead? Hogan? Nicklaus? Palmer? Tiger Woods? Good debate.
What do you think? Do you care and is it important to you? If it is … who is your G.O.A.T? Let me know how you feel, at mike.blake@mountvernonnews.com.
