Jimmy Higgins
Contributor
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2001
- Messages
- 50,541
- Basic Beliefs
- Calvinistic Atheist
Just to brighten people's day, I saw a comment made by someone else, which I found interesting. With Tom Brady, Boston has seen the best players ever in each of the four major sports play for their teams. I mean best ever, not Hall of Fame, not really really good, but top five all-time. And we are talking home brewed or drafted. Not some NY Yankee signing spree sort of thing. This is something unique to Boston. New York would be the obvious first place to think about top players, but I can't think of a single original for the Rangers that'd make a top five player list in the NHL.
Ted Williams is one of the best baseball players ever. He is the last player to bat over .400, and had the best career on base percentage ever, nearing .500! His entire career was with the Red Sox, minus some play for the military on the battlefield.
Bobby Orr's name is along side Maurice Richard and Wayne Gretzky as best hockey player ever. He was one of the best players on both sides of the rink. He reinvented the role of the defensemen. He won the Hart (MVP), Art Ross (Scoring), Norris (Defense) awards consistently. Had it not been for very bad knees, his career would have been much longer. He started as a Bruin professionally and had it not been for his crook agent, Alan Eagleson, he would have likely retired a Bruin.
Bill Russell is one of the best NBA players ever. As a Celtic, he rebounded and played defense like few others could. He could also score a lot too. He once had 50 rebounds in a single game, a feat matched by just Wilt Chamberlin. Technically drafted by St. Louis, he was quickly traded to the Celtics for a couple marquee players. Auerbach did well with the trade. Russell would go on to not win NBA titles in just two of his years as a Celtic... with whom he finished his career with.
Tom Brady took the field when Patriot great Drew Bledsoe was injured in a game against the NY Jets. That was 16+ years ago now. An in just less than half of those years, Brady has played in the Super Bowl, a feat never performed and likely never to be matched again. While some credit is due to massive cheating such as underinflating a ball by 2 psi, video taping opposing sidelines when generally presumed legal (until 2007), equipping moles with surveillance equipment and burrowing under the opposition sideline, most credit is due to Brady typically not making mistakes. He has had the longevity of Brett Favre but a slightly better TD to INT ratio with Brady's 3 to 1 to Farve's 1.5 to 1. While Brady is the benefactor of playing with such a great coaching staff (as was Russell), there have been plenty of times where Brady could have failed to make one of the many comebacks he has in the regular and post season. And while his regular season stats don't match up with a Peyton Manning, when the chips are down, Brady almost always comes up big in the end. Even in the two Super Bowls he lost, he managed fourth quarter TD drives to take the lead (only to see the defense give it up to Eli Manning in the end). No QB in the history of the NFL has seen (and possible will ever see) the success in the playoffs Brady has. Brady has been the benefactor of many things, coaching, other players making brilliant plays (any number of catches or the Butler interception), calls (tuck rule), he still did his part, and his records in the playoffs are a thing of brilliance.
Ted Williams is one of the best baseball players ever. He is the last player to bat over .400, and had the best career on base percentage ever, nearing .500! His entire career was with the Red Sox, minus some play for the military on the battlefield.
Bobby Orr's name is along side Maurice Richard and Wayne Gretzky as best hockey player ever. He was one of the best players on both sides of the rink. He reinvented the role of the defensemen. He won the Hart (MVP), Art Ross (Scoring), Norris (Defense) awards consistently. Had it not been for very bad knees, his career would have been much longer. He started as a Bruin professionally and had it not been for his crook agent, Alan Eagleson, he would have likely retired a Bruin.
Bill Russell is one of the best NBA players ever. As a Celtic, he rebounded and played defense like few others could. He could also score a lot too. He once had 50 rebounds in a single game, a feat matched by just Wilt Chamberlin. Technically drafted by St. Louis, he was quickly traded to the Celtics for a couple marquee players. Auerbach did well with the trade. Russell would go on to not win NBA titles in just two of his years as a Celtic... with whom he finished his career with.
Tom Brady took the field when Patriot great Drew Bledsoe was injured in a game against the NY Jets. That was 16+ years ago now. An in just less than half of those years, Brady has played in the Super Bowl, a feat never performed and likely never to be matched again. While some credit is due to massive cheating such as underinflating a ball by 2 psi, video taping opposing sidelines when generally presumed legal (until 2007), equipping moles with surveillance equipment and burrowing under the opposition sideline, most credit is due to Brady typically not making mistakes. He has had the longevity of Brett Favre but a slightly better TD to INT ratio with Brady's 3 to 1 to Farve's 1.5 to 1. While Brady is the benefactor of playing with such a great coaching staff (as was Russell), there have been plenty of times where Brady could have failed to make one of the many comebacks he has in the regular and post season. And while his regular season stats don't match up with a Peyton Manning, when the chips are down, Brady almost always comes up big in the end. Even in the two Super Bowls he lost, he managed fourth quarter TD drives to take the lead (only to see the defense give it up to Eli Manning in the end). No QB in the history of the NFL has seen (and possible will ever see) the success in the playoffs Brady has. Brady has been the benefactor of many things, coaching, other players making brilliant plays (any number of catches or the Butler interception), calls (tuck rule), he still did his part, and his records in the playoffs are a thing of brilliance.
