There has been talks about athletes being greatest of all time for their respective sport, but Stephen A. Smith provides a point for who is the true GOAT. Click to VOTE below.
LeBron James broke the all time record for scoring in the NBA that Kareem Abdul Jabbar held for nearly 40 years. Tom Brady who is considered the greatest player in football recently retired again. The two athletes have dominated talks in the last few weeks about their prowess in their respected sports.
However, during a broadcast with Andrew Schultz Flagrant podcast, the ESPN iconic sports analyst made sure to make the distinction known about great athletes and great players.
Stephen A. Smith breakdown of GOAT Athletes
In the clip up above, Smith was asked whether or not he thinks Brady is the greatest athlete of all-time. Immediately, Smith said no. Overall, he believes that you can’t really consider Brady to be a top-tier athlete. At the end of the day, he was never truly athletic. Instead, he was just someone who knew how to throw the football well, while also possessing a fantastic mind for the game. Consequently, Stephen A. was asked who he believes are the most athletic athletes of all-time. Smith went on to say that it would have to be Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders as they played both football and baseball at the highest level.
Both Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders managed to succeed at NFL football and Major League Baseball. Jackson’s major league career lasted from 1986 to 1994, including time with the White Sox. Simultaneously, he played four seasons with the Los Angeles Raiders, from 1987 to 1990. Sanders played in the NFL from 1989 to 2005, concurrently logging parts of nine seasons in the big leagues.
Michael Jordan who is considered by many to be the greatest basketball player ever, once tried to follow the footsteps of Jackson and Sanders. A fan of baseball, Jordan attempted to be a two sport player when he originally retired from the NBA after winning the big championship in a threepeat. In an interview with NBC he stated the following.
“Well, I got this whole idea from Bo, from Deion, the guys who made that transition to play two sports,” he said. “I always wanted to play baseball, and I kicked myself for not playing in college when I had an opportunity to play in college. I was just hoping I’d get that opportunity again, and I have.
“They gave me the motivation to at least try it. I’ve seen the hard work that Bo’s gone through with his hip (injury) and successful achievement that he’s gotten overcoming that hip (injury). I worked with Herm (Schneider, White Sox trainer), who really worked with Bo, and he’s really gotten me into tip-top shape to at least try it and learn. So I feel like I’m right on schedule with that, physically.”
