Don’t take the bait this time

Brady snub isn’t worst part of ‘Dominant 20’ list

The Magazine is rolling out its “Dominant 20,” which is an attempt — a really, really lame attempt — to take a whole bunch of athletes from a whole bunch of different sports and run them through the same beauty pageant.

Seeing how I’m writing for a Bostoncentric audience, the guessing here is that you’re already aware of the “Dominant 20” — and not because the whiz kids down in Bristol used self-congratulatory “fool-proof math” to make their choices.

No.

You’re aware of the “Dominant 20” because Tom Brady was lucky to even get a mention, landing at

No. 20.

You’re aware of the “Dominant 20” because Peyton Manning landed at No. 3.

You’re aware of the “Dominant 20” because Lauren Jackson came in at No. 13.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Lauren Jackson, she is an Australiaborn former basketball star who, well, dominated the WNBA during the first decade of the 21st century.

Where to begin with this? Well, here: The biggest problem with discussing the “Dominant 20” is that regardless of what you write, regardless of what you say, regardless of what you relay via a series of eye-rolls, gasped mouths and temples theatrically wrapped in hands, you’re guaranteed to have the ESPN people spitting up their milk while they high-five each other.

I’m writing about this and you’re reading about it. That was the whole idea behind this . . . this . . . list.

But we need to discuss this thing if only to protect the reputation of an iconic athlete who has been unfairly maligned by a bunch of nerdy basement-dwellers who have twisted and contorted the numbers to arrive at conclusions that were guaranteed to get everybody buzzing.

I’m not talking about Tom Brady.

I’m talking about Lauren Jackson.

You needn’t worry about Brady. He’s off somewhere on his Best-Looking 40-Year-Old in the History of Mankind Tour, hitting on such hot takes as “Brady Bunch” trivia and his disliking of strawberries, offering all the proof you need that he’s planning for a life after football. When he does retire, he’ll do so as the Greatest Quarterback of All Time, with five Super Bowl rings and an overall career postseason record that, and I’m just throwing this in for kicks, is the same as Steve Carlton’s Cy Young Award season with the 1972 Phillies: 27-10.

I was going to add some stuff about Brady’s supermodel wife and the houseful of adorable kids, but . . . nah. Let’s just stick with the football, starting here: Whatever your take on the long, sordid Deflated Footballs Caper, Brady is the goods. You know it, and, for the purposes of this discussion, he knows it. He’s not going to lose any sleep over the “Dominant 20.”

But my, my, my, my, what about poor Lauren Jackson? While she was doubtless very pleased to receive a call from Baseball-Dwelling Nerd X-5 that she had landed at No. 13 in ESPN The Magazine’s “Dominant 20,” the post-announcement snark has ranged from “Who the heck of Lauren Jackson?” to much worse.

While I can’t confess to be a true WNBA fan, I do have a friend who played in the league and, as such, I have at least an idea as to the talent and dedication required to ascend to professional women’s basketball. To merely peruse Jackson’s resume is to come away impressed.

And yet outside women’s athletics circles she’s been mocked for no other reason than because she finished seven spots higher than Brady in ESPN The Magazine’s “Dominant 20.”

In the interest of saving you from a popsicle headache, I’ll spare you the methodology used by ESPN The Magazine other than to point out that playoff stats didn’t get used. Why, you ask? “In evaluating players,” said the magazine, “we considered regular-season stats only, since there’s no good way to compare playoffs across sports.”

They managed to come up with a formula that includes athletes in football, baseball, basketball and even running, golf and boxing, but they had to dump playoffs . . . well, just because. Michael Phelps? Just because, I guess. No National Hockey League players? Just because, I guess.

But this This isn’t about Alex Ovechkin. This isn’t about Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, and it’s not about Tiger Woods, who, in case you missed the news, was named No. 1 on the “Dominant 20.”

This is about Lauren Jackson and the lunacy of turning a ranking of professional athletes into a drawerful of mismatched socks.

Way to go, ESPN The Magazine. I took the bait. High-fives all around.