The worst thing about the sports GOAT debate is that it's redefined one of my favorite terms in sports, which is "the goat."
It used to indicate the counterpoint to the "hero." It was the catalyst for defeat, the one who wears horns of shame and gnaws on cud while the champions drink champagne. I loved the goat. I miss that goat.
RIP "the goat." Long live "the GOAT."
The second-worst thing about the GOAT debate is that it's apparently now over, at least in the minds of many fans and pundits after Tom Brady won Super Bowl LV (thanks to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defense). Some are calling him the greatest athlete in sports, which is frankly an impossibility due to the existence of Serena Williams.
There is a difference between the GOAT of team sports and what Muhammad Ali, Serena, Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps and others have accomplished in their respective sports. It's not to say one feat is more impressive than the other. It's just to note the difference between the singular icon and the focal point of a collective.
Many are instead saying that Brady is the GOAT of team sports, which also doesn't work, because Wayne Gretzky is the GOAT of team sports, full stop.
Regular readers of this space know that I'm not some huge Great One fan. I think Mario Lemieux is the greatest hockey force ever unleashed on this planet. But if the task is to match Brady stat-for-stat and accolade-for-accolade, then we need Gretzky in this fight.
The great Jenny Vrentas of Sports Illustrated spoke with Gretzky about Brady recently, and asked him point-blank: Would you say he's the greatest athlete in any team sport?
"Well, listen, what makes sports so great, is we all sit and debate who the greatest teams were or who the greatest player was or who is the best quarterback is or who is the greatest athlete. I don't know a lot about football, I never played it, but it'd be hard-pressed for somebody to tell me that somebody else was better than he was," said Gretzky.
Paraphrased translation: 'Yes, he is the greatest ... at football, I guess.'
When you lay out the case, Brady is the football GOAT, but Wayne Gretzky is the GOAT of team sports. Here's a breakdown of Gretzky vs. Brady.
The records
When Gretzky retired in April 1999, he held or shared 61 NHL records. Almost 22 years later, he still holds 60 of them. That includes one he regained during retirement: Mario Lemieux's comeback from 2000 to '05 dropped his points-per-game average from 2.01 at the time of Gretzky's retirement to 1.88, elevating The Great One's 1.92 points per game to highest all-time.
His 2,857 career points are 936 more than Jaromir Jagr. For perspective, the gap between Gretzky and the second leading point scorer in NHL history is roughly the entire career point total of Jason Arnott (938).
Everyone has a favorite Gretzky fact, and mine's always been about this point total. If you subtract every goal Gretzky ever scored in the NHL regular season from his career point total, he still finished with 42 more points than Jagr. That's just silly.
As far as individual achievement, his 215 points in 80 games during the 1985-86 season might be the GOAT season for a major league athlete statistically. The only one that comes close is Babe Ruth's 1921 season, when he had 59 homers, 171 RBIs, 177 runs and a .378 batting average. His 12.8 wins above replacement was the second highest of his career. Oh, and he was 2-0 in nine innings as a pitcher, no less.
The statistical argument between Brady and Gretzky is as lopsided as the Tampa Bay pass rush against the Kansas City O-line. As of now, Brady is second all-time in completions and passing yards to Drew Brees. He's seventh all-time in passer rating (97.3). He leads Brees by 10 passing touchdowns for most all-time (581) and is 42 TDs ahead of Peyton Manning in third place, but we're talking about just edging out the competition while Gretzky is so far ahead you need to use the Hubble to locate him.
The postseason records
OK, so we'll concede the point to Brady here. He owns the following records for the Super Bowl: Games played, games won, touchdown passes, passing yards, yards gaining in one game, MVPs, pass attempts, pass attempts in one game, completions, completions in one game, consecutive completions and most passing attempts without an interception.
Gretzky does own his share of postseason records: Goals, even-strength goals, assists and points, among others. He won four Stanley Cups and appeared in the Stanley Cup Final six times.
Brady, of course, has been to 10 Super Bowls, winning seven of them.
The other major factor in Brady's favor here is that he won championships with two different franchises in two different conferences, which is something Gretzky never accomplished. He won all his Cups with Edmonton, reaching the Final with the Los Angeles Kings once.
"What he was able to accomplish, I don't even think you can put into words. It's probably similar to what LeBron did going from Cleveland to Miami back to Cleveland to the Lakers and still being successful. That's very, very difficult for any athlete to do," Gretzky told SI.
The awards
Awards are inherently subjective. But the facts are the facts: Gretzky won NHL MVP nine times in the regular season, including a record eight times in a row. Brady won NFL MVP three times in the regular season.
Brady won Super Bowl MVP five times. Gretzky won the Conn Smythe for playoff MVP twice.
Of course, Gretzky has one achievement that Brady can never match when it comes to awards: On five occasions, he won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for "player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability."
Top that, Tom.
The rules
The true GOATs are the ones whose sheer presence can influence the very rules of their sport. Hence, both Brady and Gretzky have inspired rules changes in football and hockey.
"The Tom Brady Rule," as it's known, made it illegal for a defender who was on the ground but not pushed into the quarterback to lunge at a QB's legs at the knee or lower. It strengthened an existing rule because Brady suffered two torn ligaments in 2008 during a game against the Kansas City Chiefs, after Bernard Pollard dove for Brady's knee in an attempt to sack him.
"The Wayne Gretzky Rule," as it was known, was the NHL's attempt to subvert the Edmonton Oilers' offensive juggernaut by implementing offsetting penalties. Instead of matching minor penalties dropping teams down to 4-on-4 -- where Gretzky and the Oilers feasted on opposing defenses -- teams remained at 5-on-5.
"Instead of trying to raise the excellence of other players, they`re just trying to bring it down," Gretzky famously protested. (The rule was changed back in the 1992-93 season.)
The wild thing is that this isn't the only "Wayne Gretzky Rule." In fantasy hockey, Gretzky inspired two different rules in many leagues, because he produced so many points. One rule restricted fantasy managers to draft either Gretzky's goals or Gretzky's assists, but not both. Another rule simply prohibited teams from drafting Gretzky at all.
(To Brady's credit, he became the highest-scoring player in fantasy football history this season.)
Of course, the most famous "Gretzky Rule" is also one of the basic managerial philosophies of Dunder Mifflin. As far as we know, Tom Brady has never inspired a single paper company in the greater Scranton area.
The longevity
Maybe it's the fish tank's worth of water he consumes each day or the almond butter sandwiches or the power of positive thinking. Whatever Tom Brady's secret is, his longevity -- leading the Bucs to a Super Bowl title at 43 years old -- is perhaps his greatest argument for GOAT status.
"The thing that impresses me most about Brady, and what sets him apart from Gretzky, is that he's still the best player in the league and winning championships over the age of 35 years old," former NHL goaltender Jose Theodore told me. "You take someone like Muhammad Ali, who was one of my favorites as a boxing guy, and toward the end he was losing to s---ty guys. Brady kept winning."
Gretzky played from 1979 to '99. Brady played from 2001 to the present. Brady was an MVP at 40. Gretzky was still a 90-point player at 37, but his reign was more concentrated: 2,142 of his points were scored from 1979-80 through 1990-91.
"Now, if you asked me who dominated the most for 10 years, I would say Gretzky by far," Theodore said. "But if you're asking me who the GOAT is, and Brady is still winning Super Bowls at 43 years old ... look, I'm 44 years old and I have a tough time tying my shoes in the morning, and this guy is winning Super Bowls."
The legacy
The GOAT can be measured by all manner and sort of accomplishments and statistics, but the true essence of the GOAT is that they both define and transcend their sport.
Ali was boxing. Pele was soccer. Phelps is swimming. Lance was cycling, for better or worse.
Gretzky was hockey. They were synonymous, specifically to an American audience whose concept of the sport was bench-clearing brawls and guys named Gord.
When he was traded from Edmonton to the Los Angeles Kings, he transcended the sport. He was now sports royalty, holding court for celebrities, hosting "Saturday Night Live." Hockey worked in Southern California and "suddenly hockey made much more sense" in places where it shouldn't have succeeded around the Sun Belt, as Gretzky's teammate Luc Robitaille put it.
"TB12" is a brand. "No. 99" is sacrosanct, never to be worn by another NHL player. That's GOAT status.
I think Gretzky eclipses Brady, but then again I'm a hockey partisan. So is Andy Brickley, a former NHL player who competed against Gretzky and who is now a color commentator for the Boston Bruins. He's also a Melrose, Massachusetts, native with an affinity for the New England Patriots.
I'm not saying he's an impartial observer, but he certainly provides an informed view of the debate. So I called him up and laid out the cases. The stats. The facts. The ethereal aspects of both athletes.
"I think Brady's the best quarterback I've ever seen," said Brickley. "And the numbers that Gretzky put up ... outside of the goal total, are they ever going to be challenged?"
OK, who's the GOAT?
"It's just ... it's just hard for me to put Gretzky ahead of Bobby."
So it's ... wait, did you say Bobby?
"Bobby. Bobby Orr. I grew up watching him," said Brickley. "I might lose this argument in most markets, but it's hard for me to put Wayne in front of Bobby."
Herein lies the danger of engaging a Boston hockey guy in a GOAT debate.
Rather than continue down this Bobby Orr path, the last word here will be Gretzky's.
"I think we all acknowledge how great an athlete he is and how what he's done is truly special. And I know this may sound silly, but I think as time goes by, years from now, we're going to appreciate and people are going to appreciate more what he accomplished than we even do today. I think it's sort of like Babe Ruth; we still talk about Babe Ruth as maybe the greatest player ever. He retired in 1930, '31. So 30, 40 years from now, they're going to look back and everybody that does anything is still going to be compared to what Tom accomplished," he said.
So there you have it: 2061, the Gretzky vs. Brady GOAT debate continues. Let's all set a calendar alert now.
Or we can just admit the answer is Serena.
The three biggest surprises of the season
1. The Blackhawks aren't hot garbage. It might be too early to start touting Kevin Lankinen as a potential Calder/Vezina/Hart winner, but Chicago was projected to have the worst goaltending tandem in the NHL. Instead, the rookie is 5-1-3 with a .933 save percentage, and he is second to Andrei Vasilevskiy in goals saved above average. The Blackhawks probably aren't a .571 points percentage team by the end of the campaign, but it's been an amusing resurgence in what was expected to be a lost season, especially with Jonathan Toews having stepped away from the team.
2. The Maple Leafs play defense. I won my Wednesday "Best Bet" on ESPN's Daily Wager, with the Canadiens going under 3.5 goals against the Maple Leafs because I believed in the Toronto defense. This is admittedly a weird thing to declare due to the Leafs' palpable apathy toward their own end of the ice. Yet they're seventh in goals-against average (2.57) despite being 19th in expected goals against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 (2.30). In both cases, it's an improvement over last season.
3. Nicklas Backstrom. If you haven't noticed, Backstrom is fifth in the NHL in scoring, with 17 points in 12 games. Then again, it's only appropriate if you haven't noticed this, because that's the epitome of Backstrom's career: Chugging along with brilliant efficiency, just outside of the spotlight that glares on other players in Washington.
Winners and losers of the week
Winner: Brian Burke
First of all, the guy pulled a quasi-Dick Cheney. Remember when he headed up the search for George W. Bush's vice president, only to discover he was the best guy for the job? Well, Burke helped the Penguins with their general manager search and endorsed Ron Hextall as their hire, all the while making an impression on Mario Lemieux that, hey, maybe Burke should join the team, too.
But Burke's a winner because he found a perfect spot to reenter hockey operations in the NHL. Hextall will do the grunt work. Burke will be the public face of the organization, the blunt liaison with ownership, and the guy helping to craft the significant trades the Penguins need to change their trajectory. All the while working for one of the NHL's true glamour franchises. I thought television was his perfect gig. It might actually be this one.
Losers: Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin
When asked about the future of the Penguins' core, Hextall said in his introductory news conference: "I can't tell you what's coming our way. I can't. I can't tell you how good our team is going to be for the rest of the year. To be definitive in a direction ... obviously, we have different ideas. In my interviews, we talked about all kinds of different scenarios. We went through them all."
Sidney Crosby is going to be a Penguin for as long as he wants to be a Penguin. But after hearing that from Hextall, I'm a little concerned about what the future holds if I'm Letang or Malkin. Granted, they both have trade protection. But they also have something few other parts of the Penguins have: outstanding trade value.
Winner: Kevin Weekes
He swung and missed on another NHL front-office job, but Weekes was a finalist for the gig that eventually went to Burke. Once again, his name was in the mix and his profile continues to grow. Someone's going to hire this insightful and charismatic NHL Network analyst to head up their hockey operations department, and soon.
Loser: Sports radio
Bell Media shuttered its sports talk stations in Hamilton, Winnipeg and Vancouver this week. Employees found out about the firings through social media. Bell, let's talk about how not to break news like this ...
But the bigger issue is the loss of voices in these markets, particularly in Vancouver, where the TSN station was a popular and influential destination for fans. Fare thee well to all those who lost their gigs. Hopefully, brighter days are ahead.
Winner: Unintentional comedy
John Tortorella saying that he doesn't like benching players after benching a player that his team acquired after trading a player that Tortorella benched twice earlier this season ... well, that's just a chef's kiss of irony right there.
Loser: Precedent
So let me get this straight: The NHL and the on-ice officials botch a coach's challenge Sunday with Columbus and Carolina, awarding the Hurricanes a goal that should have been wiped away with an offside and giving the Blue Jackets a delay of game penalty for the failed review. They inform the teams during intermission that the call watch botched. They wipe away the rest of the power play. They do not take the goal off the board.
"There's never been a goal reversed after play has resumed," NHL VP of hockey operations Colin Campbell told The Athletic. "I can't recall when a penalty has been wiped out in the middle of it, either, but at this point ... even though it's the wrong procedure, I'd rather go with what's right."
So the goal couldn't be overturned because there's no precedent, but a penalty could be wiped away even though there's no precedent? Do I have that right? Anyway, looking forward to the board of governors meeting where they debate a new rule covering this once-in-a-decade incident.
Winner: Auston Matthews
His goal-scoring streak came to an end against the Canadiens on Wednesday after eight straight games with a tally, but an assist extended his points streak to 11 games. There's only been one game this season where Matthews didn't have at least a point.
Loser: Alexis Lafrenière
Tough sledding for the phenom drafted first overall in the 2020 draft, who now has just one goal in his first 12 NHL games and skated just 12:39 in the New York Rangers' loss to the Boston Bruins. Look across the river at Jack Hughes and take solace, Alexis. It gets better.
Winners: COVID-free teams
Through Feb. 10, there have been just five teams that didn't have a player on the NHL's COVID-related absences list at any point this season: The Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators. St. Louis Blues and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Losers: Second-hand COVID teams
The New Jersey Devils, Minnesota Wild, Colorado Avalanche, Buffalo Sabres and now the Philadelphia Flyers have all postponed multiple games recently due to COVID-19 outbreaks. But as the postponements grow, it's not just the teams in quarantine that are affected -- it's also their opponents and other NHL clubs. The Florida Panthers missed four games due to outbreaks for the Dallas Stars and Carolina Hurricanes. The Arizona Coyotes and Blues have had to play seven straight games against each other because of other postponements. It's a ripple effect.
Puck headlines
Helene Elliott on the NHL's wobbly season: "If that means cutting the schedule to 48 games, cut it: [commissioner Gary] Bettman considered 48-game seasons long enough to be legitimate after he imposed lockouts in 1994-95 and 2012-13. Given the circumstances, 48 is enough."
Why the NHL should pause its season. "Pausing the season and shutting down team facilities for two weeks gives the NHL time to stop the spread between teams while also coming up with more concrete restrictions for the league going forward."
Sabres GM Kevyn Adams discusses whether Buffalo got COVID-19 during a game against the Devils. "Our players have been incredibly disciplined. We've come into a situation where potentially it was in the New Jersey locker room and now we are where we are. There's certainly the ability to connect the dots, but I don't want to in any way [come off as] saying it's happening on the ice."
How COVID-19 has impacted the Blackhawks, including their mascot.
The Penguins' AHL team modified its arena lease in order to salvage its season.
NCAA Division I hockey student-athletes, coaches and administrators unveiled a new initiative Wednesday: College Hockey for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
Why Mikko Koivu deserved a better ending in the NHL.
A group of 40 hockey players in Edmonton hopes to set a record for the longest game ever played while also raising money for cancer research.
From your friends at ESPN
Great work here by Emily Kaplan on the "Oops, I Did It Again" goal that won the U.S. Olympic gold in 2018.