Introducing: The FROGs!

A whole new way to think about greatness

A couple of weeks ago, I asked readers to take a survey and name the GOAT — the Greatest of All Time (like you needed me to explain GOAT) — in 10 different categories. Many thousands of you did.

My guess is that most people filled out the survey thinking that it would lead to a series of GOAT posts. And absolutely, in this series, I will reveal who the readers think is the baseball GOAT, the football GOAT, the hockey GOAT, the basketball GOAT, and so on.

But I honestly don’t think much of that will surprise you.

And that wasn’t my idea.

No, my idea … well, it revolves around Rafael Nadal. I’m not going to reveal the tennis results yet, but my thought on Nadal is this: Very few people would call him the GOAT, not with Federer and Djokovic out there.

And yet, Nadal is unquestionably the greatest clay-court player who ever lived.

What do you do with that? The GOAT conversation is so constricting, so narrow, so repetitive, so hot-takey, so restrictive because the whole point is that there can only be one answer. And so you find yourself arguing about Djokovic and Federer and Nadal, and then someone throws in Rod Laver and maybe Pete Sampras, and don’t forget Bjorn Borg, maybe you were a Stefan Edberg fan, and, in the end, all of that tennis awesomeness is condensed into one “right” answer and a bunch of wrong answers.

Rafael Nadal can’t be the WRONG answer when talking about tennis greatness.

So maybe he’s not the GOAT … but he’s definitely something.

He’s a FROG, that’s what he is.

FROG stands for “Flagship Representative of Greatness.”

The idea is that FROGs are kind of like the Knights of the Round Table — they might not be King Arthur, but they are awesome in their own right. They expand the idea of what sports greatness is. Lawrence Taylor and Tom Brady were great in entirely different ways. Randy Johnson and Willie Mays were great in entirely different ways. Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky were great in entirely different ways.

They’re all FROGs.

How many FROGs are there in each sport? Great question, thank you for asking, imaginary reader. That’s what the poll really is all about. I want to see not only who received the most votes, but who else is in the conversation for greatest ever, who else captures the mind. There are a bunch of delightful surprises in here.

Here’s what I love about the FROG conversation — it’s generous, open, and filled with possibility. The GOAT conversations have mostly run dry for me. There seems no place left to go when one side screams JORDAN and the other side screams LEBRON.

But was Julius Erving a FROG? Close your eyes. Think about a single play, maybe that one where he’s under the basket, staying in the air like a cartoon character, spinning the ball off the backboard like some kind of magician.

You better believe that guy’s a FROG. He changed what greatness even means.

Two other quick housekeeping notes: One, is the GOAT also a FROG? I say yes. Everyone at the round table of greatness is a FROG. One may be the GOAT. But if that person gets surpassed and another greatest of all time steps in, then they will always be a FROG.

That’s the great thing about the FROG: It’s forever. Nobody wants to talk about Sammy Baugh vs. Tom Brady for GOAT because that feels silly. But Baugh is most definitely a FROG and will be forever.

The second note is that the Frog logo was painted by my impossibly talented friend Jane Manfredi, owner and proprietor of the best stationery store anywhere, Good Postage. I told Jane the idea and asked her to paint the cutest frog her mind could imagine. Jane will tell you she knows nothing about sports, but I know she does in her heart because I don’t think she could have painted anything better.

Starting next week, we will start going through the sports, naming FROGs, and discussing what greatness is all about. It should be a lot of fun.

Eighteen days until pitchers and catchers … and here’s your daily splash of joy.

Why do you love baseball?

Brilliant Reader Steven Smith: “Watching and hearing Nolan Ryan’s loud grunts as he releases every pitch.”

Brilliant Reader Craig: “The Topps cards numbering system of assigning round numbers for star (and minor star) players and seeing who got a card number ending in a ‘5’, ‘10’, ‘50’, or the Big Kahuna: 100, 200, 300, etc.”

Brilliant Reader John: “We were there to get Warren Spahn’s autograph. I felt a tap on my shoulder. As I turned around, a woman said, ‘My husband will give you an autograph, he’s right there catching Mr. Spahn.’ His name is Joe Torre. I said: ‘Nah, we don’t want Joe Torre’s autograph, we want Warren Spahn’s.’” Such a wasted opportunity.

Brilliant Reader John: I thought the Tigers winning the last legit World Series in ‘68 or starting 35-5 and going all the way in ‘84 would be my best baseball memories ever. That changed on 9-25-13 when my 10-year old daughter caught a wicked line drive to left field with two on and two out in the bottom of the 6th inning, winning the game.