Tom Brady On Being Called The GOAT: 'It Makes Me Cringe'
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- If you ever run into Tom Brady on the street, don't tell him that he's great. Tell him that he sucks. He'll like that better.
That's at least what the quarterback told Michael Strahan, in an interview from Disney World on "Good Morning America." Strahan asked the Patriots' quarterback, fresh off winning his record sixth Super Bowl, what it's like to be referred to as the GOAT -- the Greatest of All Time.
"I don't even like that! I don't like it. It makes me cringe. It makes me cringe. It makes me cringe," Brady repeated. "I guess I take compliments worse than I take -- I wish you would say 'you're trash, you're too old, you're too slow, you can't get it done no more.' And I would say, 'Thank you very much, I'm gonna go prove you wrong.'"
Obviously, that element of Brady's personality was easy to see this year, when at 41 years old he was tapping into various sources for inspiration for both himself and his team. Most athletes can relate to adopting a philosophy of "nobody believed in me" or "nobody believed in us," because at various points throughout their lives and careers, those statements were true. And though it's been a very, very long time since Brady himself was a true underdog, he told Strahan that who he was in the early stages of his playing career very much still define him today.
"I was a late bloomer. I struggled in college. I struggled in the early part of my career. I was never the first guy chosen. So I think that part is just in me, it's deep, and it's there, and it's not going anywhere," Brady said. "And the foundation of where I was, who I am, where I started, where I'm at now is a reflection of so many things and situations and occurrences that had to happen."
It's worth sharing, for a point of comparison, what Montana -- considered for two decades to have been the greatest of all time, before Brady came along -- tends to say when asked about the topic.
"I don't think you can answer that question, because the game's so different," Montana told The Athletic when asked who is the GOAT. "You can talk about when I played, but even before I played. There are guys back there where you could basically almost tackle a guy off the line of scrimmage … I don't know how you can compare guys of my era to that era, and how he would have played in this era. And how does a guy like [Dan] Marino — holy crap — how does he play in this era?"
It's obviously a valid and reasonable digest of the situation. Comparing an athlete like Tom Brady to someone who played during a time when players smoked cigarettes in the locker room isn't really a worthwhile endeavor.
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Nevertheless, this much can't be argued -- Tom Brady is far and away the most accomplished quarterback of all time.
Brady's now won six Super Bowls, more than Joe Montana (4), Terry Bradshaw (4), and Troy Aikman (3). Brady owns just about every possible Super Bowl record, he owns the record for most all-time victories, and he's closing in on some of the overall all-time records in the sport's history.
One could easily make the argument that he is indeed the "GOAT," and plenty of people often do. Brady doesn't appear to be one of them.
