By Norm Frauenheim-
Amid all of the hyperventilating, over-eating and hyperbole preceding the annual Super Bowl spectacle, there’s now another reason for indigestion:
The G.O.A.T. debate.
The acronym — Greatest Of All Time — is often traced back to Muhammad Ali. In 1971, Ali began to call himself the greatest, often adding “of all time.’’ He never called himself the G.O.A.T. Who did? It was a loser’s label in those days
The four letters evolved later in pick-up games on asphalt courts and rap lyrics on street corners. In 1992, Lonnie Ali, whose husband died 20 months ago in Scottsdale, Ariz., incorporated Greatest of All Time, Inc. (G.O.A.T. Inc.), licensing it as her husband’s intellectual property.
Ali created it.
Owned it.
Yet, the original G.O.A.T. is not part of the argument in the hours before the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots kick off Sunday in Minneapolis. At most, there’s a passing mention of Ali during the endless rounds of give, take and redundancy about who is better: Pats quarterback Tom Brady or retired NBA star Michael Jordan.
One number appears to be at the heart of the current debate. Actually, it’s one ring. Jordan has six NBA championship rings. Brady has five of the NFL’s version. If Brady wins his sixth Sunday, who’s the best? If it’s only about the respective resumes — Brady’s versus Jordan’s – fair enough. But don’t ever put ever next to best. And don’t ever talk about The Greatest without mentioning Ali. In 1971, that would be enough to make you the lower-case goat.
Depending on who is debating, Ali gets tossed out because he wasn’t involved in a team sport. In other words, he didn’t have a Scottie Pippen or Randy Moss. But how does that eliminate him? Yes, this is a column on a boxing website. Am I biased? Of course.
From a boxing perspective, an individual sport is a better test of how great an athlete really is than team sport ever could be. There was never a back-up quarterback in Ali’s corner. When he got hurt, he had to reach within and fight on or he was finished.
Jordan and Brady always have had a reserve waiting to come in long enough to shake off pain or some other trouble. In boxing, adversity of just about every strip is part of the contest. More than that, it helps explain what it means to be the G.O.A.T., which is what Ali was in coming back from a 1971 loss to Joe Frazier and enduring George Foreman’s massive power in 1974.
It’s also impossible to fully define G.O.A.T. by restricting it to what happens in the arena. Ali, named the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Century in 1999, had a personality and fearlessness that went far beyond the ropes. In fact, there are reasonable arguments within boxing circles that Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis might have been better boxers. But nobody had Ali’s impact on culture and politics.
He is remembered for his controversial stand against Viet Nam. He’s also admired for paying a price that neither Jordan nor Brady ever had to pay. He was banned from the ring for three years. Ali’s history doesn’t need to be repeated here or anywhere else. At times, however, it seems to be forgotten in what really takes to be the G.O.A.T. Jordan and Brady will be remembered for rings, victories and money. They might be the greatest athletes of their time. But of all time? There’s still only one.
