I will be using I a lot in this post, because I can't understand who made up the rules and what the actual rules are --- so lets begin with legacy, what will be Tom Brady's legacy? He plays a team sport, but somehow he gets all the credit for making it to 5 Super Bowls. I can remember just two years ago when a certain Manning brother was ready to play the Seahawks and his legacy was he had to win to make a great legacy. Now these same "experts" make up new rules to suit their warped wants and fuzzy spots.
It is chic to love Tommy the super model with the second wife he had an affair with the super model while married to a pregnant woman carrying his baby. But those kind of morals the NFL doesn't care about. You have to pummel a woman and have the tape seen by everyone, have a dog fighting ring and be photo'd with the dead clients, or spank your kid with a switch multiple times leaving bleeding welts and bruises for everyone to see on social media.
I need to get back to the subject, making up rules for a player's legacy. Michael Jordan is considered the greatest basketball player ever - Not Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, or even Larry Bird or Earvin Magic Johnson. How do "experts" come up with these names and criteria? One will say 'Rings' - His Airness had six finals appearances and six championships. But an argument immediately pops up Russell has 11 rings ... The rest of the reasons digress from this point.
Why can't we use our eyes and our minds to decide. I saw George Gervin, David Thompson, Geoff Paddock, and Dominique Wilkins play in their primes as well as Magic and Larry, who resuscitated the NBA almost by themselves, and I saw greatness many days, but I have yet to see any better than the best ever, an amazing 7'1" dude who could run and jump like a man twelve inches smaller and one hundred pounds lighter, who was told all he could do was score, so he intentionally went on the floor and led in assists. Wilt was the greatest - period! Please argue that he only has one ring, on a team sport even. Let me just ask, for arguments sake, how many rings Air Jordan won without Phil as coach or Scottie as teammate? As a two sport athlete Michael sucked at baseball, and Wilt went on in his older years to dominate at volleyball.
Okay, I am done. Let's talk about the greatest of all time - at quarterback in the NFL. Montana is undefeated in five Super Bowls, while playing on arguably the greatest franchise of an era from every position. Some Tommy Terrific Ugglickers have created the five Super Bowl appearances with no special supporting cast - The number of All Pros Brady played with is Gulliverian compared to the number John Elway had as teammates.
The Coaches Elway played for also makes his accomplishments even more Herculean, as his first Head Coach and he fought for years, with an Offense that was run the ball, control the clock, strong Defense to neutralize the opponent and then TWO MINUTE WARNING - Go for it John! Reeves was never able to get O-Linemen who were worth anything. Running backs were either broken old dudes or young guys who Reeves reportedly couldn't deal with. Wade Phillips was a Defensive genius, and the offense was a lot like playing in the back lot with the guys --- you go long, you do a 'button hook', and you run to the patch of leaves and then cut hard right --- finally after ten seasons where the world saw greatness get massacred in three Super Bowls, Shanahan was hired as his Head Coach. So John has been to five and won two, his numbers were not spectacular, since his contemporary Dan Marino was breaking every passing record for the Dolphins.
He now runs those same Broncos, whom I admittedly have been fanatic about for close to 50 years. I believe the quarterback of the 2015 Broncos, goes by the name of Peyton, is right on the heels of G.O.A.T. (that's a shortcut for greatest of all time) - yet, the game has changed so much. Staubach was a brilliant leader and so incredibly athletic. Bradshaw had to throw to two HOF receivers or give it two a HOF back, with an O-Line of superior talent. Namath was amazing until his knees just didn't work anymore. These are men I saw play, and the game has changed so much in rule, and in innovation. Brees, Wilson, or Luck could all be names argued years from now as G.O.A.T. ---
