Sorry, I can’t come up with a word to describe Jordan.
During his peak he:
Won the most championships
Was the greatest player
Was the greatest at what people cared about most (scoring and dunking)
Was the most stylish player
Was the most charismatic
Was good looking
In The Last Dance they said Babe Ruth and Muhamed Ali.
Lets say that’s three on Mount Rushmore. Who’s number 4?
Tom Brady, Wayne Gretsky, Tiger Woods, and Michael Phelps all seem to fall a bit flat in the looks, charisma, and style department (Brady and Gretsky in the dominant athleticism department, if you know what I mean). Andre Agassi wasn’t dominant enough. Serena Williams and Stefi Graff, again, lack style and charisma.
I’m kind of curious where Caitlin Clark will be in 15 years.
The best top of my head answer (and it’s not a good one) is maybe…Joe Montana?
As hard as it is for me to nominate a wolverine, I think you have to go with Brady. Career stats, married a super model, 7 Super Bowls with multiple teams. As good as Montana was, I think he benefited a bunch from the system in SF,
Not sure how much weight we are putting on style and charisma for this honor, but I would not put Brady in the same league with Jordan, Ruth, and Ali in terms of style and charisma. (Though he is much more classically good looking than Ruth).
Ruth is a tough one. I feel that his looks may have been a generational thing, as he’s clearly not good looking by our standards, but I think he had a bit of a John Wayne-esque alphaness to him in his day.
See my above post. He was definitely a bit of a playboy. Maybe he’s still objectively ugly, but was definitely a ladies man. he had that “it” factor that goes beyond that on-the-field stats.
Not sure who Wayne Gretsky is but a fellow named Wayne Gretzky was the greatest hockey player to ever live.
Also… Tom Brady is a really good looking guy so not sure where you’re going with the line of thinking that he lacks in the looks department. I say that in the most hetero way possible.
If we are sticking to the four major North American sports the Mount Rushmore is Ruth, Jordan, Brady, and Gretzky. The last two are the only givens and there’s no argument otherwise. Arguments can be made for Lebron over Jordan (not IMO but I can see the debate) and for several players over Ruth (Aaron, Mays, Bonds, etc.).
Neither of them are in the same league as Michel Jordan, based on the sentiment of the OP.
I’d agree with Gretzky for sure. The most talented and accomplished player on the ice, famous, stylish, good nickname, etc.
Brady might fall short because he never seemed to be the most athletically gifted guy on the field.
Maybe Federer, except for the tougher competition especially later in his career. Certainly a few years where he was the cream of the crop on and off the court, with tons of style, and beloved by the public/fandom.
Funny, I recently rewatched the musical A Chorus Line (my niece was performing in a version of it, so I thought I’d brush up on it) and remembered how hot I thought she was when I first saw it on HBO in the 80s. I looked her up to see what she’d done since, only to find out that she married Wayne Gretsky.
