Who is the greatest athlete of all time? A question that has always been asked but never been answered other than in opinions. Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, and Michael Phelps are the top 3 in many arguments. To truly understand who the G.O.A.T is, a deep dive into the statistics is necessary.
With 6 rings, 6 Finals MVPs and his jersey retired by 2 NBA teams and one of which he never played on, Michael Jordan is hands down the greatest basketball player of all time, but is he the greatest athlete of all time. Michael Jordan was the star player of the bulls all through his career, leading the league in points per game in 10 of his 15 seasons in the NBA. Jordan not only was dominating other teams night in and night out, but he helped his team get rings. Jordan won 3 titles in a row from 91-93 then abruptly retired after the third title and played minor league baseball. After a year out of the league, he came back and won three in a row with game 5 of the 97 finals being one of the most impressive athletic feats ever. MJ was bed ridden all day of the game with the flu and was questionable. He then showed up to the game and dropped 38 points to help his team win 90-88.
Michael Jordan’s career numbers are superhuman, he played 1,072 games in the NBA and totaled 32,292 points. Michael Jordan has a career 30.12 points per game and 5,633 career assists. Michael never missed the playoffs with the Bulls who he played for 13 out of his 15 seasons. Michael Jordan had 5,987 career playoff points and in the 1990-1991 playoffs the Bulls only lost two games. Jordan was a 14 time all star, 10 time scoring champ, 11 time all NBA, and 5 MVPs.
Tom Brady, a name that everybody that isn’t a Boston or Tampa Bay fan is tired of hearing. Tom Brady is undoubtedly the best football player of all time. Tom Brady was drafted 199th overall in the 6th round of the 2000 NFL draft. Brady was originally drafted as a backup to Drew Bledsoe. Drew Bledsoe got hit hard in week 2 of the 2001 season and his lung collapsed. Brady was then put in but he could not win the game for them. In his first career start he got the job done against Peyton Manning’s Colts, he won 44-13 and threw for 168 yards with no touchdowns due to an incredible Patriots run attack. He would go on to take the Patriots to a super bowl win that year and continue to rampage through the NFL until 2008. In 2008 Brady got hit hard by Bernard Pollard as he threw the ball and tore his ACL and MCL. It didn’t slow Brady the next season of the rest of his career which is 20 years long. Tom Brady has the record for most fantasy points of all time with 5,207.5 career fantasy points.
Tom Brady has enough wins to put on one whole hand and both of his big toes. With a completion percentage of 64% and a touchdown/interception ratio of 581/191, it’s obvious he has a laser for an arm. Tom Brady has the most NFL wins for a starting quarterback with 230 wins and only 69 losses. Brady has been selected for 14 pro bowls and 10 of them were consecutive. Tom Brady has 19 NFL records including passing yards, completions, touchdown passes, games started for a quarterback, and most pro bowl selections for a quarterback. Tom Brady has made it to the super bowl 50% of the time and won it 35% of the time.
Michael Phelps is so dominant, he is like a 99 overall created character in a sports game. Michael Phelps has 23 gold medals, to put that in perspective, the athlete closest to that only has 9 gold medals. Phelps also has 21 Guinness world records. Michael Phelps has never lost in the 4×100 Medley and swept gold in the 2007 World Championships and in the 2008 Olympic games.
Although all of these athletes are great in their own sport, it is hard to tell who is the best. This argument will go on until the end of time.
