Who is the G.O.A.T?  Who is the greatest player of all time? Who is the greatest athlete of all time? 

        It’s a debate we love to have for every sport.  It’s one of the most popular arguments amongst friends in bars all over the country and the world.  Whenever an all-time great athlete reaches a new milestone, social media is either quick to crown them the greatest of all time or tell you he or she could never reach that status.  It’s a debate that has spanned across generations and will do so until the end of time. 

        Most recently, we all got to witness Lebron become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.  A feat that many when he came into the league almost 20 years ago thought was unattainable.  However, he surpassed any and all hype and now holds that record which certainly feels unattainable for anyone else.  Naturally, however, Lebron’s accomplishment immediately sparked the G.O.A.T debate between him and Michael Jordan.  We’re not going to get into that here, but it did get me thinking:  Did we just live through the greatest era in sports history?  Did we just live through The GOAT Era?

        I am 29 years old and was born in 1993.  I believe that everyone that is part of my generation or earlier was lucky enough to live through the greatest era in almost every major sport, and at the same time, witness the greatest player of all time in every major sport.  Let’s go sport by sport.

Basketball

         Since the GOAT debate in basketball is so relevant right now, let’s start there.  Let me preface this by saying I know that some people don’t consider Lebron to be in the discussion for the greatest of all time and will even go as far to say that he’s not in their top 5.  To that I say, you’re wrong.  Amongst most fans, the GOAT debate in the NBA is between MJ and Lebron.  But no matter what side of the fence you fall on, if you’ve watched the NBA anytime between 1984 and now, you were able to witness the careers of the two greatest NBA players of all time.  Between the two of them there are 16 Finals appearances, 10 NBA Championships, 9 MVPs, 10 Finals MVPs, and 70,000 points.  Those numbers are otherworldly, and we were lucky enough to witness it all. 

I’m going to leave some players out here, but we also had the privilege of watching guys like Kobe, Shaq, Allen Iverson, and Tim Duncan.  Who’s the greatest shooter of all time? Steph Curry? Reggie Miller? Ray Allen? We saw them all.  No doubt the NBA is in good hands going forward, but we witnessed the greatest. 

Did you notice I labeled this section “Basketball” and not just “NBA?”  Let me ask you another question: Who’s the greatest WNBA player of all time?  Is it Sue Bird? Is it Diana Taurasi? There are a couple other women that belong in that conversation, but again, it doesn’t matter because we experienced them all.  The greatest era in the history of basketball happened during our lifetimes.

NFL

        Speaking of G.O.A.Ts, Tom Brady finally decided to hang up the cleats.  We’ve had the honor of seeing a lot of great players take the field in the NFL.  For 22 years, Tom Brady was on our televisions winning more Super Bowls than any franchise in the NFL and breaking the following records:

• Games Started
• Passing yards 
• Passing Touchdowns 
• Wins by a starting QB
• Completions
• Division titles
• And about 30 more 

Numbers that we will likely never see any other player come close to.  We’ve seen a lot of greatness on Sundays in our lifetime, but I want to focus on one position specifically: Quarterback.  With Tom Brady deciding to call it a career, the greatest era of quarterback play in the history of the NFL has come to an end.  Since 1998, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, and Ben Roethlisberger all graced our TV screens.  It was a truly special time to be a fan of football.

 MLB

      Now baseball gets a little tricky, because the GOAT debate is a difficult one to pin down.  There are so many different angles you can take and variables to consider.  So, I’ll just list the players we saw take the diamond.  Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Pedro Martinez, and that’s just to name a few.  Say what you will about some of those guys and what they may or may not have done but growing up in that era of baseball was a beautiful thing.

 We experienced the excitement of McGwire and Sosa’s home run record race in 1998.  We witnessed Bonds break the record in 2001.  Ken Griffey Jr. made me fall in love with baseball and made baseball cool for a generation of kids.  Mariano Rivera was the most dominant closer of all time.  Forget about the steroids and anything else, that was the golden era of baseball. 

Everything Else

        We haven’t just seen the greatest player of all time in the major American sports, this discussion goes much deeper than that. 

         Lionel Messi became THE soccer icon and GOAT right before our eyes through the years.  Serena Williams not only became the greatest tennis player of all time, but you could make the argument that she’s possibly the most dominant athlete of our generation. 

        And speaking of tennis, the only reason Roger Federer  isn’t unanimously considered the greatest of all time is because he just happened to play in the same era as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

        While we’re on the topic of individual sports, let’s talk about golf.  Tiger Woods.  The greatest, most dominant, and most influential golfer of all time.  Most of the people in my generation are only fans of golf because of what Tiger Woods accomplished while we were growing up. 

       Finally, here’s some lagniappe.  Wrestling.  This may not apply to everyone, as everyone isn’t a fan of wrestling.  However, if you were a fan of the WWE between the years 1997 and 2002, you experienced the single greatest era of sports entertainment to date.  The Attitude Era.  The Rock, Stone Cold, The Undertaker, Kane, Mankind, D-Generation X.  The list goes on.  Wrestling has never, and likely will never, be that great ever again. 

        So, have your GOAT debates if you want to, but I’m going to choose to just be appreciative.  I’m choosing to be thankful that when my sons grow up and ask me about Brady, Manning, Brees, Jordan, Lebron, Tiger, Bonds, Griffey, Serena, and anyone else I may have neglected to mention, I’ll be able to say I saw them all.  I experienced all the highs and all the lows, but mostly, I experienced all the greatness.  WE experienced it all together.  We should be thankful because we lived the Greatest Sports Era of All Time.