Hall of Fame basketball player Charles Barkley made a pronouncement on Tuesday that would further cement Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady’s status as the greatest athlete of any sport. During the broadcast “TBS and TNT broadcast of 'Capital One's The Match,” where Brady played alongside veteran golfer Phil Mickelson against the partnership of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Bryson DeChambeau, Barkley issued a declaration that would make all Brady fans happy. "Tom Brady is the greatest athlete of all time, not just any football player," Barkley said after Brady landed a nice shot onto the green.
Barkley worked as one of the guest commentators for the match, a match-play golf round pitting professional golfers with NFL quarterbacks, per Scott McDonald of Newsweek.
Strong words from Barkley
Those were strong words from Barkley, who played against basketball legends such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Karl Malone, David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O’Neal, and Patrick Ewing. As a studio analyst, Barkley covered other NBA stars such as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. However, none have won more world championships than Brady, who has seven Super Bowl titles during his 20-year stint with the New England Patriots and one season with the Buccaneers. In an earlier interview, James said he considers Brady the greatest quarterback of all time, but he cannot consider him the greatest athlete of all time because he’s not working on the other side of the ball or defense.
During an episode of HBO’s “The Shop,” which is produced by James, Brady backed the stand of the Los Angeles Lakers superstar, saying he doesn’t block, tackle, run and catch. In the upcoming season, Brady has a chance to add to his Super Bowl rings when he tries to lead the Buccaneers to back-to-back Super Bowl victories. In his first year with the Buccaneers, he led them to their first Super Bowl crown since 2002, following a 31-9 triumph over the then-defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Rodgers, DeChambeau beat Brady, Mickelson
On Tuesday, the partnership of Rodgers and DeChambeau emerged victorious over the pair of Brady and Mickelson, 3-2, at the picturesque The Reserve Golf Course at Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Montana, per Tom VanHaaren of ESPN. The match was all square until Rodgers got the last laugh as he sank a birdie putt on the par-3 16th hole to seal the victory.
"I haven't been playing a lot of golf; I'm just a pretty good putter," Rodgers said after the match, proceeds of which will provide 6,300,000 meals for Feeding America and $2.6 million to My Brother's Keeper. The loss was the second straight for Brady and Mickelson, who also lost to the tandem of retired quarterback Peyton Manning and Tiger Woods last year. “Aaron killed it. Bryson was playing great. They were tough to beat today,” Brady said after the match, per Grant Gordon of NFL.com.
