McGrath's Thoughts on The GOAT

And that's true!
The King i s the g.o.a.t. and the Goat is the S.o.a.t...

I agree. The GOAT nickname is kind of an insult to MC, because McGrath does have the most wins in Supercross (by a mile). However, RC does have the most wins outdoors, and his 125/250 MX wins alone is more than MC's all-time wins in both SX and MX. The argument has it's sides, and both are valid arguments. Nicknames are simply nicknames, the record books tell the tale, if you want to really get into it.

Well said. McGrath had some style and flow but he could never, ever mess with RC. Dude was just an animal. ANIMAL. RC had the fitness by a mile, the speed, and a killer instinct that i don't think McGrath ever had.

did you watch sx 99/00? and mc was getting old by the time rc was hitting his stride, i think the motivation from getting beat by mc gave him the drive to train and work even harder....once he got that sx title 01 he knew he had everyone covered

Matthes will be giddy when he sees this.

I know it's would have, could have, should have, but RC retired at 27-28? If he had of stuck around for a few more years I believe he was plenty capable of at least equaling MC's SX title wins. I think MC gets caught up in the whole goat thing way more than he should.

RC is the Greatest (Overall) Of All Time then. GOOAT??? MC has the best SX record of all time no doubt, but outdoors, RC got him covered. Easily. With out even going into mini's. So I think makes up for it. Stupid argument anyway really.

Curious as to who has the best sx win percentage of all time. Anyone know?

Ricky has way more championships than MC. He rode supercross AND motocross. Therefore his seasons were much tougher than MC and he deserves the title G.O.A.T.

rc is the goat supercross is for show ponies motocross is the roots of the sport and rc is the greatest mc is a poof in comparison to rc

Yeah sorry, Rc beating 31 year old MC in sx 3 years in... That's not really a fair fight.

Mc vs Rc, both 25, same generation, as in came up together, in sx... Mc wins. Holeshot, never makes mistakes and was fit then.

I believe some posted these stats lately and it was RV with the best sx win percentage. Mc, RC and JS were all pretty close. Hell they were all pretty close it was like 42-44% for all four. Maybe it was in racerx.

OH yeah someone also took out mc's return races (no wins in this group) after retirement and it still did not put him ahead of RV. I think it put him into second (up from 4th) figured without the return after retirement.

MC is the King, RC is the goat.
I wonder how much closer RC would have been in wins had he not sat out the 2004 SX season.

Maybe another 5-6. Reed still on steel frame yz that season.

All right,all right..
So let's say:
MC is the King of SX
RC is the G.o.a.t. of outdoors
Deal done?

The thread title says it all. MC doesn't like it. RC probably doesn't care one way or the other about a nickname. It's not like he nicknamed himself.

Some people like Motocross more than Supercross. For them RC is the GOAT.

"GOHT" greatest of his time and they both where. and they'd both get smoked by villiopoto just like in 5 years there will be some new hotshot that would smoke villiopoto it's evolution.

I think that it comes down to whoever you are a bigger fan of. Both sides of the debate can be argued successfully so you need a tie breaker. Me, personally, I'm an MC guy.

I am a fan of both riders. For me MC=king of supercross and RC=Goat (best when combining supercross and motocross).

RacerX had a good article that really hits home how good RC was, the numbers for him in the outdoors are amazing. Realize, since he went pro on the 125's he only lost 25 times. Period, that is it.

Over 150 outdoor nationals spanning 125's to 250/450 he did not win the overall only 25 times.

Amazing numbers, combine this with his SX championships, he earned the GOAT nickname.

Considering I never said anything about RC beating him late in his career......I said that RC was more fit, had more speed, and had more fight that McGrath ever did. Sit down now, adults are talking.

As far as I'm concerned, MC's dominance in SX had to do with the fact that he grew up racing BMX. He had better timing and rhythm than his competitors. He was the most influential ,maybe. He changed the game as far as technique and staying low over jumps. RC's dominance can just not be questioned as far as I'm concerned. McGrath just didnt have the speed outdoors. One 250 championship. How is that the greatest?

There is definitely a good arguement for both sides. You can't discount RC's total number of Championships. He is the GOAT in that respect by far...Unless you want to figure in SE's World titles..
But, McGrath chose not to ride MX most years, he managed to win an outdoor title, and was on his way to another when injury got him. We'll never know how it woulda, shoulda, coulda, ended up those years he sat out.
The thing is, SX packs the house, and the King made it look easy every race, race after race, for years.
As for me, I'm a Mcgrath fan.. Named my son Jeremy in the summer of 93..

When you say GOAT, it's obvious to figure out that it means combining SX and MX together. This title clearly goes to RC.

RC = 12 Championships, 1 near perfect SX season, 2 perfect and 3 overall perfect MX seasons.

MC = 8 Championships, 1 near perfect SX season.

Just a few thoughts as I was coming up during the 90's and saw the evolution of the sport.

McGrath changed our sport in a way that ricky johnson, hannah, bailey, ward, decoster, etc, could never do. McGrath was the Michael Jordan of our sport, of our time. He elevated the sport to a level never seen before, or since in my opinion. Everybody came to watch MC. It was literally magic watching him ride, and win. He beat everybody, no question about it. Was he the most fit or in shape? No, not hardly. He even admitted that. His style and riding ability and techniques are what everyone tried to emulate.

When RC came around in 97-98 he reminded me of Magoo. Seriously. Short redhead kid that was out of control. Everyone has said he was a fitness freak. HA! Remember RC's chubby muffintop in his PC/spitfire days? I do. I also remember mitch coming unglued because he was munching on reeses and soda after a moto. RC's game changed because he had to challenge McGrath. What no one remembers is how much RC was on the floor taking a dirt nap. He couldn't figure out McGrath.

MC was smooth, effortless, stylistic. RC was on the hairy edge, A LOT. When he began training and gained his fitness is when he finally dethroned MC. MC tried to counter by getting in the best shape of his life and dropping down to 160lbs or so but 31/32 vs 20/21 in this sport is very very hard to overcome. It was the changing of the guard and the evolution of the sport to the sheer physical fitness game we see today.

In MC's day, you trained by riding, maybe some weights, some running. You rode a lot. They partied a lot. Watch the old freestyle video's? Its MC, jeffro, etc with the cinqmars, harts, deegans. That was how they trained. RC changed it into a science of diet, exercise and focus. Thats when he beat MC. The focus from training.

In my opinion there is no GOAT. There are only the dominant racers of their era's. MC was his era's dominant king. RC was his era's dominant king. Everyone calls Michael Jordan the GOAT in basketball because he won 6 rings. People forget that Bill Russell won 11 rings though because it was a different era. Same applies to MC/RC/RV

Jeremy just needs to get over it. Instead of being offended by it, his reply should always be that RC came up "short" on his SX record. The record books speak for themselves and his record will not be broken anytime soon. Not even the FMOTP could pull it off. King, Goat, FMOTP...blah, blah , blah. He's Jeremy F'n McGrath. Anybody who knows anything about the sport knows who he is.

Now as far as people he should hold a grudge against, who was that that dressed RC up as a king? That was the big F' you to Jeremy if there ever was one. RC was even against it.

I still think MC is the Goat of SX. Everyone can speculate what would have happened if RC hung around a few more years and raced in 2004. I believe RC was planning on racing the CRF450 that year because he didn't like the CR250. I don't think he would have beat Reed in 04 if he had stuck with the CR250 and I think 05 would have been a lot closer if Reed would have raced the 04 YZ250. In 07 I think JS would have won the title. I don't think RC would have won 27 more races. How many race wins would MC have if he raced the 93 CR250 in 97? I wonder if he would have more won more races if he was able to ride that instead of the YZ250? No one will ever know.