The Greatest of All Time is a label that has been given to quite a few figures across multiple sports.  Is there really such a thing as a greatest of all time, or is there just a greatest of now and a greatest of then?  I offer up proof that the greatest of all time is a hard, hard title to prove and bestow upon any one person in a sport.  Is Michael Jordon the greatest basketball player of all time or is Kobe Bryant going to surpass him?  Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus?  Wayne Gretzky or Gordie Howe?  There is no way to tell in my opinion.  How do you decide who should be the greatest off all time?  Stats, championships, grit, determination, effect on others around them, clutch performance, equipment, rules of the times, teams or opposites to compete against?  What are the defining characteristics?  Read on!

     Stats?  Brett Favre holds a majority of passing records for quarterbacks in the NFL but that in no way makes him the greatest of all time.  Championships?  Dan Marino is one of the five best QBs ever and he never once won a Super Bowl.  Determination and grit?  Cal Ripken Jr. played 2,632 games in a row, never missing a start.  16 years without a day off and yet Ripken is far from the best baseball player ever.  Effect on teammates?  Joe Dumars made everyone around him better and he is not the greatest.  Equipment is shown false by people like Greg Norman who managed to compete against the best players with the best equipment of today, after  playing with wooden drivers and wound string balls to start.  Showing he can compete today just as well as in his prime shows there is more to it than the equipment but Norman isn't the greatest golfer of all time.  Rules of the times?  Lance Alworth was a superstar in the 1960s, amassing a huge amount of yards, touchdowns, and Pro-Bowl appearances but he is not considered the best ever over WRs like Jerry Rice even though he played in a time that the rules were not slanted to protect the wide receiver and give them the advantage.  These things go to show that there is not a G.O.A.T., but a G.O.N.A.G.O.T. (greatest of now and greatest of then, remember).  I admit G.O.N.A.A.G.O.T.  doesn't have the same flair as G.O.A.T. but it more fairly covers the players of today and yesterday.

     So let me compare and contrast a few greatest of all time candidates and see if there is one true greatest, or a few people who should share the honor equally.

His Airness or Kobe?

To some people comparing Bryant to Jordan is comparing apples to oranges.  To me it's like comparing apples to grapples, they both look the same inside and out, they just taste different.  I grew up watching Jordan fly around the court and making shots that seemed impossible until the ball left his fingers.  Jordan won 3 championships, decided to go play baseball and then came back and won three more.   He was and is one of the most marketable sports figures ever.  Jordan was a personality and someone everyone wanted to look up to.  Kobe now makes those shots and invents some of his own.  He has 3 championship rings of his own and is only 30, with years left to go before he retires.  Bryant may not be as marketable as Jordan but he does have multiple endorsement deals.  Kobe may not be as well admired or well loved outside of the Laker fanbase but the people who love him do it with gusto.  So does all this make Jordan the greatest basketball player of all time?  No.  It makes him the greatest basketball player of the 1990s just as Kobe Bryant will be remembered as the best player of the 2000s.  Every decade has that one player that defined the era, that everyone looked up to and wanted to be. 

Tom Brady vs Joe Montana vs Everybody Else

    Joe Montana is at the top of almost every greatest quarterbacks list since the mid 1980s but you have to admit he was a lucky man who had some great targets to go along with his helping of skill.  Montana won 4 Super Bowls but stat wise is light years behind Dan Marino.  John Elway and Marino both had 9 Pro Bowl appearances where Montana has 8.  So going by stats Marino is best ever, going by Super Bowl wins Montana is best ever and going by Pro Bowl appearances both Elway and Marino are tied.  Tom Brady is behind everyone in the stats department except for regular season touchdown passes.  He has won three Super Bowls which puts him ahead of Marino and Elway, but only 4 Pro Bowl visits which is behind all three.  I feel Brady is a decent quarterback and certainly one of the best of this era of football, but after the amazing season he and the Patriots has last year a large amount of people were calling for him to be labeled the best ever which is ludicrous.  One season of above average football doesn't mean you get to rocket to the top of the chart.  If Brady continues to play like he has in the past, and I mean every season not just 2007, then he will likely be remembered as the best of this era, over people such as Favre and Peyton Manning.  The only hard thing to do is pick out who would be the greatest of the last era out of Montana, Marino and Elway.  I think that Marino wins for all of his accomplishments and the fact that he had next to no offensive weapons to help him out.  Marino was amazing and if you take away the Super Bowl wins from Elway and Montana he wins hands down.  So, in conclusion Marino is the best QB of the 80s and 90s and Brady has a chance to be the best of this generation.

Sitting here I just figured out I could go on and on like this for every sport there is.  Tiget Woods vs Jack Nicklaus.  Ali vs Tyson in his prime.  Barry Sanders vs Emmit Smith vs Walter Payton vs Jim Brown.  Magic vs Bird.  On and on the list goes and over and over all you can definitively say is that one was the best in their time but not the best ever.  Invent a time machine that will allow us to put MJ from the early 90s vs Kobe of today and then there is a different argument but until then lets all agree to disagree and love who we feel is the G.O.A.T.  Or G.O.N.A.G.O.T. if you will.  Peace!