Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady has officially announced his retirement. The most decorated player in NFL history is leaving the game at age 44, while also at the height of his powers. Brady’s final campaign saw him throw the most passing yards, the most completions and 2nd most touch downs of his illustrious career.
How is “dominance” defined, you might ask? Therein lies the subjectivity of this exercise. The simple answer is “numbers”, but with such a vast array of statistical categories, it can be tricky deciding which ones are the most relevant. Harder yet is the challenge of comparing players from different eras across the sports world.
Each candidate in the G.O.A.T debate can be defined by individual statistics, longevity, championships, impact on their sport, and a multitude of other factors
5. LeBron James
For much of the last two decades, “King James” has essentially represented half of all content produced by ESPN. All kidding aside, it’s quite an honour to be mentioned in the same breath as Michael Jordan. A growing number of pundits believe that LeBron has even surpassed him.
I’m personally not in that contrarian camp, but it’s undeniable that LeBron is more of an imposing physical force. Winning has followed LeBron anywhere he’s gone, bringing at least one championship to each franchise he’s been with. All-time, he ranks 3rd in overall points and 7th in assists.
4.Tom Brady
Tom Brady captured Super Bowls for both teams that he played on in his career, similarly to how LeBron went 3-for-3 in that respect. However, a quarterback does not have nearly as much influence on a game as a star basketball player would, which in my eyes, makes Brady’s accomplishments stand out more. Brady also has seven championship rings to LeBron’s 4, despite playing in a harder league. He finished 1st all-time in passing yards, 1st in pass touchdowns, and 1st in pass completions.
3. Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an equally important athlete and historical figure. We can’t really put the greatness of his legacy into words, but we’ll give it a try. His professional record was 56 wins, 5 losses, and 37 knockouts. Though that’s not the very best stat sheet of all-time, his raw statistics are still incredibly elite.
What puts him far above everyone else in the boxing world are the circumstances in which he made these Herculean feats. Ali was forthright on his stance against the Vietnam war, refusing to participate in the conflict when drafted in 1967. For that, he was fined $10,000 and narrowly avoided a five-year prison sentence.
2. Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan was commercially. He essentially created the superstar athlete/mega celebrity hybrid – a trend we see today with icons such as Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams and others. Air Jordans are as prevalent today as they were in the 1990’s. Moreover, Jordan is by far the richest athlete of all-time. Now after that preamble, onto his actual exploits as a basketball player.
The 1990’s Chicago Bulls were arguably the greatest dynasty in the history of sports. They had a pair of three-peats that were briefly interrupted by a 1993-94 season that saw Jordan step away to try his hand at minor league baseball; as well as a rocky return season in 1994-95 where he only played 17 games.
1. Wayne Gretzky
While other athletes have dominated a sport, their peers were at least within shouting distance of them. For example, Tom Brady’s pass completions record of 7,263 is closely followed by Drew Brees’ 7,124. Brady also leads in touchdown passes with 624 to Brees’ 571. He’s clearly the best, but peers like Brees and Peyton Manning can at least be mentioned in the same breath. Now let’s look at some of Gretzky leads.
Gretzky’s all-time points record is 2,857. The nearest player to him (Jaromir Jagr) sits at 1,921. Read that again. The 2nd highest scoring player is 936 points behind. He’s the all-time leader in goals, assists, points, and points-per-game; not to mention retiring with 61 NHL records.