Tom Braaaaaaady retired this week. I spell his last name that way because that is how a goat would say it, and everyone is saying that Tom Brady is the GOAT – the Greatest Of All Time. I disagree.
Tom Brady was (and may still be, given that he’s said he was retired before) a great football player. He deserves enormous respect and immediate Hall of Fame recognition. But here’s the problem – he is considered the GOAT because he won so much. Winning in sports is certainly a measure of how good you are. Players who suck seldom win. However, winning in team sports, like football, can never be attributed to any single player, not even to any single group of players. Tom Brady’s teams won in part because he was very good, but he didn’t win anything and to call him the GOAT because his teams won is a mistake.
I am a big Derek Jeter fan. Both Jeter and Brady were great. Both contributed mightily to championship teams. But both achieved their championships because of the teams they played on, not solely because of themselves. Derek Jeter is not a GOAT.
Let’s look at it this way. If Tom Brady played all of his years on the Jacksonville Jaguars, then a team that otherwise sucked, would he still be the GOAT? No. Why not? Because the people around Tom Brady, quarterback of the Jacksonville Jaguars, would not have allowed him to win. And without winning, what else was Tom Brady the best at? Does he have the strongest arm of all time? No. Experts lists don’t put him in the top ten. https://fanbuzz.com/nfl/strongest-arm-in-nfl/. Does he run faster than anyone? Not even close. He barely runs at all. Is he the cleverest play-caller of all time? No. First of all, he doesn’t even call the plays. In today’s game the coaches do that. And even to the extent that he checks off and varies the call based on the defense, Peyton Manning and John Elway can easily be argued to have been at least as good.
If winning is used as a criteria for GOATness, then the only true GOATS in sports are the ones who win on their own. Tiger Woods is a GOAT. Nobody knocked his opponents down while he made all of those winning strokes. Muhammed Ali is a GOAT. Nobody played defense for him and took punches while he was on the bench waiting for his turn to throw some himself.
I give Brady this: he played and was good at it into his 40’s – a very old football age. But that makes him the greatest of all time no more than Joe Biden performing well in his 80’s makes him the greatest President of all time.
Tom Brady, super athlete, super wealthy and having been married to a super model is living a good enough life. Let’s not also give him a title that he doesn’t deserve.
We were right 
Admittedly, I am biased on this “Brady-thing” being a lowly Steelers’ fan. Steelers Bradshaw was an adequate if not mediocre hot/cold quarterback. Yet, his offensive line, wide receivers, running backs and defensive “Steel Curtain” and defensive linebackers brought him 4 Superbowl rings. We’ve seen the “GOAT”, Brady, play behind questionable protection and less than sterling defense and quess what? Brady IS mediocre at best.
Besides his “bullshit he didn’t know” deflate-gate, along side one of the “cheatingness” head coaches in the NFL, his legacy is at both infuriating and ho-hum at the same time. (Sounding bitter? The best is yet to come)
Now, we have what probably has to be a salt-in-the-wound self-grandizing, ridiculously stupid movie of 4 old bitties weaseling their way into a Brady Superbowl, all the while swooning over Brady getting their juices wet. After all, what’s more endearing than Grandma’s getting all hot and bothered? Sorry, I’ll continue in a minute, be back, gonna lose my lunch. (Aside…could you imagine a movie about four 80-yr men conniving their way into a female collegiate gymnastic match, all the while exclaiming how these nubile beauties make them feel like they have a scrotum full of nighcrawlers? Naw, didn’t think so)
There, all better now. Sorta.
Brady retire? Who cares? He’s yesterday’s news. Go back to New England for one game to retire as a Patriot? Showboating. Look, this admittedly talented yet over-rated has-been is moving on to 375 million dollars over ten years at FOX. To do what? Grace us with football wisdom beyond mere mortals? Or, perhaps buy up another 3 million dollar Bugatti? Huh-oh, feel another bowl of puke coming on.
As far as his “beautiful super-model” wife. Seriously, she ain’t all that. Gone girl anyway.
So, there you have it. A completely non-biased, totally objective analysis of yet another American travesty. Praise and adulation showered upon a rather tall, admittedly good looking person with a singular attribute…can throw on oblong ball.
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Great analogy with Bradshaw. If I wrote this again, I would also add Bill Russell. As far as your criticism of Giselle, I can understand your justifiable thinking that she compares unfavorably to your wife. I feel the same way about mine.
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Interesting perspective.
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Thanks but not sure what that means. “Interesting” covers a range from “thoughtful” to “when is your next psychiatric appointment?” Either way, I always appreciate your comments.
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I just meant that it was a perspective that I had never thought of before. It was something that made me question what is commonly said about Brady. I think you make a valid point.
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