The Bay Area isnt nece sarily synonymous with the word grit, and neither are many of the best pro athletes to ever call it home. Rice, Montana, Bonds, Mays, Henderson, McCovey and Barry all made greatne s look so damn Stephortle s.But then you dig a little deeper and start to understand what makes them great.MORE: Grit x Talent.For some of the Bay Areas best, their legacies preceded them. Joe Montana, a national championship winner at Notre Dame, helped usher in a new offensive system that would change the league forever. Barry Bonds came back home to the Bay fresh off an MVP season in Pittsburgh.For others, their arrivals came with skepticism. Jerry Rice dominated college football, but outside of the national spotlight. Could he get separation against the NFLs Custom Jersey best defenses? Stephen Curry was a nice story with a beautiful stroke, but could a guard from Davidson really be more than a 6th man in the NBA?Yes and yes.Four legends who have the honor of being in the discu sion for GOAT status in each of their respective sports make up the Bay Areas Mount Rushmore. Rice, Curry, Bonds and Montana stand above the many other legends that played at Oracle Arena, the Coliseum, the Cow Palace and the Stick. So sound the foghorn, set off the water cannons and listen to who We Believe belongs on the mountain. Jerry Rice might just be the greatest football player to ever live. The NFL Network thought as much in 2010, when it ranked him No. 1 in their countdown of the league's top 100 players of all-time.From the moment general manager John McVay and head coach Bill Walsh traded up to grab Rice out of Mi si sippi Valley State in the 1985 NFL draft, much was expected.Bill Walsh was unlike most other talent evaluators in that he didnt believe that there was a guy hed really like to have,"said Maury Wills Jersey longtime Bay Area columnist Ray Ratto. "There were a few guys he really had to have and Rice probably was the premier example of that.His rookie year was a bit uneven, yet he still recorded almost 1,000 yards receiving. In year two, it was on. Rice finished with over 1,500 yards receiving and caught 15 touchdowns, leading the NFL in both categories. The strike-shortened 1987 season was arguably the most impre sive of his Hall of Fame career. In just 12 games, he caught 22 touchdowns, finishing second in MVP voting and capturing AP Player of the Year honors. The funny thing about it is he didnt really have a defining moment (in his career)," Ratto says. "He had a bunch of defining games.One of those was the 49ers' dramatic 20-16 win over the Bengals in Super Bowl 23.Rice was simply unstoppable, torching the Bengals for 11 catches for 215 yards and a touchdown as he took home MVP honors.He dominated that game coming off an ankle injury," says Bonta Hill,radio personality on 95.7 The Game and host of Warriors pregame live on NBC Sports Don Sutton Jersey Bay Area."He was spectacular. Quick slants, deep routes, double-teamed, triple-teamed, it did not matter, Hill said.When the lights were brightest, Rice was at his best. In four Super Bowl appearances (three in San Francisco, one with Oakland), he averaged 147.3 yards and two touchdowns per game. No other wide receiver who has played in multiple Super Bowls has averaged more than 117 yards receiving.Rice played 16 seasons with the Niners before heading acro s the Bay where he helped Oakland to its last Super Bowl appearance at age 40 with a 1,200-yard season. In 54 somewhat forgotten games in Oakland, he still averaged 61 yards per game and scored 18 touchdowns -- all after age 39.He worked harder than you did in July and August, and beat you like an old rug in September, October, November, December, and January, Ratto says. His career numbers are, in two words, utterly ridiculous. He still ranks first in NFL history in receptions, receiving yards, touchdowns and all-purpose yards despite the evolution to the NFL being a pa s-first league the last 20 years. He finished in the top 10 in NFL in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns a whopping 12 times. He was a 10-time All-Pro selection who finished with three Super Bowl rings. Rice was the one guy who could not ever be accounted for by any other team no matter what they did," Ratto says. "You couldnt double-team him out of the game. And thats probably the most extraordinary thing you can say about anybody."At the end of the day, there simply arent enough goat emojis to describe his career.Rice By The NumbersCareer receptions; rec yds; rec TDs1,549*; 22,895*; 197*First-team All-Pro10Super Bowl titles3Super Bowl MVP1Career points1,256**TSN ARCHIVES: Stephen Curry simply changed the game. Everyone knew he could shoot when the Warriors drafted him 7th overall in 2009. But few anticipated him developing into arguably the greatest shooter to ever live, with an incredible handle, flare for the dramatic, and the engine for a dynasty almost nobody in the NBA saw coming. Early in his career, with the Warriors mired in well over a decade of mediocrity following Run TMC and a brief return to relevance with We Believe, Curry was paired with fan favorite Monta Ellis in the backcourt. Many Warriors fans wanted Ellis to be the star, but the Warriors front office thought differently.You were Walker Buehler Jersey either team Monta or team Steph," Hill says. "I remember when the Warriors traded Monta and I was like damn thats a bad move. Steph had the (oft-injured) ankles. He is another cursed Warrior.Ellis was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2012, clearing a path for Curry and then rookie Klay Thompson to become the Dubs backcourt. In the 2012-2013 season, Curry began the most prolific shooting stretch in NBA history. He broke the league's all-time record for 3-pointers made in a single season in 2013 (272). And again in 2015 (286). And again in 2016 (402), a record that still stands. Curry owns four of the top five single-season marks in league history and is 127 triples clear of Ray Allen for the career mark. And he's just 34.But he is obviously more than a shooting savant, as he led the Warriors to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in pre-Kevin Durant era, and has brought home four rings overall to a Bay Area that had not had an NBA championship since 1975.I think its safe to say in no point in his career was he the best player in the league, but he was the most important player on the best team four times, Ratto said.There are the titles Curry has brought to the Bay, and in the proce s, a new state-of-the art arena in San Francisco, and the moments. His performance in Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the Celtics was one for the ages. In a gotta-have-it game, when he silenced that crowd and dropped 43 big ones, its hard not to say thats not the signature moment," Hill says. "On the grandest of stages Zach McKinstry Jersey . In Boston under all of those banners."His 54-point performance in Madison Squar