Super Bowl will prove Taylor Swift not a Joe Biden psyop, Patrick Mahomes not a GOAT | Commentary

Thank God (and Andy Reid’s mustache groomer) that the Super Bowl is almost here.

Finally.

Maybe now we can do away with these ridiculous storylines that have inundated us over the last two weeks.

Like the one from the right-wing conspiracy theorists who believe Taylor Swift’s relationship with fellow liberal and pro-vaxxer Travis Kelce of the Chiefs is a left-wing, liberal, psyop plot to get President Joe Biden re-elected. When President Biden was asked about the famous singer, he replied, “Taylor? I love James Taylor! Great folk singer!” (Kidding.)

Or the storyline about how San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy bears a striking resemblance to Lee Harvey Oswald. (Here’s hoping Jack Ruby’s doppelganger is not allowed into the post-Super Bowl press conference.)

We aren’t going to tackle these two preposterous narratives today but instead delve into the one that is equally absurd to us serious football fans:

Has Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes already surpassed the legendary Tom Brady as the NFL’s GOAT (Greatest Of All Time)?

Amazingly, this has become a major debate this week as Mahomes tries to win his third Super Bowl championship on Sunday against the slightly favored 49ers. The man leading the charge is legendary national radio host Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, who got his start in the business while a student at Orlando’s Rollins College.

“I’ve been watching quarterbacks since [Joe] Namath and [Johnny] Unitas back in the mid-60s. And [Bart] Starr, I saw him,” Russo said on his SiriusXM radio show this week. “I’m gonna say this really definitively: he [Mahomes] is the best quarterback I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what else to tell you; he’s the best. There’s nobody better than this kid. He’s unbelievable. … For my money, [being] 64 years of age and [doing] sports shows for 40 years, this is the best quarterback I’ve ever seen.”

I think Mad Dog needs to be taken to the vet because he has obviously developed a severe case of sports rabies. The man is foaming at the mouth and losing his mind.

In all seriousness, I believe Russo and others have fallen victim to a malady that is starting to affect the entire country in this SnapChat era of instant gratification. There are a couple of names for this affliction: Now-itis Nervosa, Rapid Rush Disorder and Impulse-opathy.

We have become a prisoner-of-the-moment society. Nobody wants to wait for anything to develop anymore and, so, we just make abrupt, definitive conclusions without waiting for substantiation or validation.

Don’t get me wrong. Mahomes is a great quarterback and may well be on his way to being the greatest of all time. In his six years as a starter, he’s gone to six AFC title games, played in three Super Bowls and won two of them.

But to compare him to Brady would be like comparing Aaron Judge to Hank Aaron. Judge has 257 career home runs; Hammerin’ Hank has 755. Mahomes has two Super Bowl championships; Brady has seven.

Is Mahomes a better pure athlete than Brady? Absolutely.

Is he flashier and more fun to watch than Brady? Absolutely.

Is he greater than Brady? Absolutely not.

There’s more to greatness than athleticism and flashiness. Yes, Mahomes has also proven he is a winner and he’s the best in the game right now, but will he still be winning Super Bowls and still be the best in the game in 10 or 15 years?

Brady not only won six Super Bowls with the Patriots, he then went to the Tampa Bay Bucs and immediately won another with one of the most miserable franchises in the NFL. He was 43 years old at the time.

The following season, at age 44, Brady threw for a career-best 5,316 yards and led the league in passing yardage and touchdown passes. He retired as the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns, Pro Bowls, Super Bowls and, yes, wins.

And winning matters.

Longevity matters.

Durability matters.

For a four-year stretch, Sandy Koufax was the most dominant pitcher in the game, but he retired at age 30 because of constant arm problems.

Midway through his career, it was considered a no-brainer that Tiger Woods would easily break Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major championships. By the age of 32, Tiger had already won 14 majors, but then life happened. Tiger went through a scandalous divorce, his health began to deteriorate and then he got into a serious auto accident. He went 11 years before he won his 15th major at the 2019 Masters, and it’s unlikely he’ll ever win another one.

Here’s hoping Mahomes stays healthy throughout his career and someday is able to make a run at Brady’s status as the greatest of all time.

Right now, though, he’s not even close.

Even if Mahomes leads the Chiefs to a victory over the 49ers, he won’t even be halfway to Brady’s record of seven Super Bowls.

Then again, this all just a bunch of ridiculous pre-Super Bowl rhetoric.

This won’t even be discussed after the 49ers blow out the Chiefs.

Tom Brady is undoubtedly the GOAT.

On Super Bowl Sunday, Mahomes will become a sacrificial lamb.

San Francisco 34, Kansas City 14.

Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen