The overhyping of Tom Brady

During the week of the Super Bowl the hype surrounding the game starts to hit a fever pitch and sports writers and analyst tend to overhype the game, the teams involved and the players themselves in order to give the game added importance and this year is no different.

This year the theme seems to be placing Tom Brady among the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, even though many think he is not even the best quarterback in the NFL today. Brady has to be given credit for what he has accomplished to this point in his career and he may indeed be one of the greatest quarterback when it is all said and done, but he hasn't accomplished near enough to be compared to Joe Montana or any number of the greatest quarterbacks ever.

The question also has to be asked if he is even the best quarterback today. If you were given the chance to have one quarterback for you team would you take Brady? I could make a case that Peyton Manning, Steve McNair, Michael Vick, Brett Favre, Donovan McNabb, and Chad Pennington are all better or just as good as Brady, but outside of Brett Favre you won't here any of these quarterbacks called all time greats.

It's not Brady's fault that this happens. It's a result of the sports culture we live in today. We want to believe what were are seeing today is the better than it has ever been, and to make that point we try to compare today's best to the best of the past. We have to make Lebron James the next Michael Jordan even though Kobe Bryant proved that there will never be another Jordan. We have to compare Yao Ming to the greatest centers ever even though at times he looks like Shawn Bradley. We have to make Kerry Wood or Mark Prior the next Roger Clemens even though into his 40s he is still just as good as they are.

My point is that we should just sit back and enjoy what we are watching and stop trying to give it more importance because Brady's and the other athletes of today's accomplishments will all take their rightful place in sports history in due time.