February 8, 2021, 9:42 am
After winning his seventh Super Bowl title on Sunday, veteran quarterback Tom Brady was predictably brought into the conversation about being “the greatest of all time.” (Or, via a handy acronym, the GOAT.)
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But that soon sparked a debate crossing sport and gender, with others touting tennis star Serena Williams as the true GOAT.
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Donte Stallworth kicked it off by comparing Brady to another GOAT of his sport, basketball legend Michael Jordan.
That talk also got fueled by current basketball star LeBron James, actively challenging Jordan’s GOAT status within the NBA, praising Brady following the win.
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Both Stallworth and James got refuted, however. As someone pointed out to Stallworth, “Jordan didn’t lose” — as in Brady has lost Super Bowl games, while Jordan won all six NBA finals he appeared in.
James, meanwhile, was met with “Honest NBA Fan” discounting the pathway to a Super Bowl victory derisively referred to as a “Nickelodeon ring.”
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Tom Brady’s journey to a Nickelodeon ring:
– Brought Gronk out of retirement
– Gets Fournette
– Needs more help, gets Antonio Brown
– Played 7-9 team with 4th string QB first round
– Jared Cook fumble
– Threw 3 picks vs Packers, Kevin King
– Chiefs missing Oline, Mahomes injured— Honest NBA Fan
(@LifelongNBAFan) February 8, 2021
Then a number of people brought Williams into the conversation.
Twitter user @kidnoble succinctly pointed out, “Serena Williams has 23 Grand Slam titles.”
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Oregonian writer Aaron J. Fentress tried to counter with math, noting, “But you can play four grand slams per year. Can’t win up to four Super Bowls in a year. Serena has been a pro for 25 years let’s say 22 as a threat. So, she had 88 shots at grand slams. Brady has had 21 shots at Super Bowls. Jordan, 13 at NBA titles (wizards years don’t count).”
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That resulted in a lot of men going back-and-forth, including a lot of debate about whether or not Jordan’s years with the Washington Wizards in the tail end of his career really did or didn’t count.
Simon Hancock made a resonant point, though, noting, “Brady is playing in a team game that only one country plays. An individual sport where you compete against the whole world is surely harder to dominate.”
Charlotte Clymer added another layer to the debate, adding, “Serena Williams has 23 grand slams, four Olympic gold medals, and cleared one of those titles while pregnant at the Australian Open,” concluding, “She is the GOAT of GOATS.”
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Don’t get it mixed up. Serena Williams has 23 grand slams, four Olympic gold medals, and cleared one of those titles while pregnant at the Australian Open.
She is the GOAT of GOATS.
— Charlotte Clymer
(@cmclymer) February 8, 2021
Bree Newsome also opened up a race-based debate. She said, “There is an enormous amount of racial undertones to this entire convo about Brady being the best athlete of all time in a way that willfully ignores Black athletes past & present as well as the ongoing systemic discrimination against Black athletes in the QB position.”
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(That included, if you are so inclined to hunt for it, Ben Shapiro’s take on the GOAT in multiple sports.)
And Lexie Henning included an interesting criterion tied to declaring gymnast Simone Biles the GOAT, noting, “Simone Biles keeps having things named after her because she’s the only person to ever have done them before.”
Perhaps the only thing conclusive after Sunday night is that talk of Patrick Mahomes eventually supplanting Brady as the NFL GOAT has been put on pause.
*First Published: February 8, 2021, 9:42 am
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