Substack superstar Freddie deBoer had an interesting piece yesterday about the way sports pundits use the term “GOAT.” Despite purportedly identifying the greatest of “all time”, in truth the title changes hands more often than the old WWE Hardcore championship, essentially little more than empty, provisional praise.
I think you had recently referred to the "Era of Machida" sarcastically, but this has been a problem forever with MMA media. I think part of it is that the UFC itself doesn't care about it's own history or that of the sport's at large given Dana's falling out with virtually every fighter who has come through the promotion. The same will, in turn, be true for Conor McGregor one day, which will lead to some amusing conversations should we live to see them in 25 years.
That said, Mahomes is different. The comparisons I've seen made to Tiger Woods or Jordan in the late 80s seem appropriate: you know what you're seeing is different. You're seeing something better than you've perhaps seen anything before in that realm. Both Jordan and Tiger are put opposite historic legends (Russell, Nickalus) who's greatness in pure titles will remain unmatched, and I think Mahomes will to some degree fall victim to this with Brady as well. Everyone knows with Mahomes that his mechanics are not "proper" but that his insane athleticism is able to more than make up for what were considered deficits. At some point, that athleticism will be dinged up and lead to a Tommy John surgery or ACL repair that separates his career into distinct periods of prime and post-prime. But Prime Mahomes, however long should he reign, is the guy I'd choose to lead my football team should I be given a time machine and need the playcaller to win for the survival of myself/family/mankind.
With a specific sport that involves pure numbers, like marathon running or the 100m dash or powerlifting, I do suppose we have to continuously update "GOAT," unless we're making era adjustments (which could be heavily biased due to a larger % of the population pool not competing in those earlier times). But MMA, boxing, etc. - clearly much harder. Then there's baseball/football/basketball, where the overall and highly visible stats fluctuate depending on playstyle, equipment, and so on, which really seem to break people's brains (but he scored 50 ppg, hit 73 home runs, etc., not to mention new eras might advance new stats which are in turn publicized, such as QBR versus rating, VORP and then WAR, etc.).
I think you had recently referred to the "Era of Machida" sarcastically, but this has been a problem forever with MMA media. I think part of it is that the UFC itself doesn't care about it's own history or that of the sport's at large given Dana's falling out with virtually every fighter who has come through the promotion. The same will, in turn, be true for Conor McGregor one day, which will lead to some amusing conversations should we live to see them in 25 years.
That said, Mahomes is different. The comparisons I've seen made to Tiger Woods or Jordan in the late 80s seem appropriate: you know what you're seeing is different. You're seeing something better than you've perhaps seen anything before in that realm. Both Jordan and Tiger are put opposite historic legends (Russell, Nickalus) who's greatness in pure titles will remain unmatched, and I think Mahomes will to some degree fall victim to this with Brady as well. Everyone knows with Mahomes that his mechanics are not "proper" but that his insane athleticism is able to more than make up for what were considered deficits. At some point, that athleticism will be dinged up and lead to a Tommy John surgery or ACL repair that separates his career into distinct periods of prime and post-prime. But Prime Mahomes, however long should he reign, is the guy I'd choose to lead my football team should I be given a time machine and need the playcaller to win for the survival of myself/family/mankind.
With a specific sport that involves pure numbers, like marathon running or the 100m dash or powerlifting, I do suppose we have to continuously update "GOAT," unless we're making era adjustments (which could be heavily biased due to a larger % of the population pool not competing in those earlier times). But MMA, boxing, etc. - clearly much harder. Then there's baseball/football/basketball, where the overall and highly visible stats fluctuate depending on playstyle, equipment, and so on, which really seem to break people's brains (but he scored 50 ppg, hit 73 home runs, etc., not to mention new eras might advance new stats which are in turn publicized, such as QBR versus rating, VORP and then WAR, etc.).