What Does Greatest of All Time Really Mean? - 33rd Square (2024)

The phrase "Greatest of All Time" or "GOAT" gets thrown around a lot these days. But what does it really take to earn this lofty title? As a sports and data fanatic, I wanted to break down the origins of this term, what it signifies, and who truly deserves to be called the GOAT in their respective fields.

Let‘s start from the beginning – where did this GOAT thing come from anyway?

The Original GOAT: Muhammad Ali

While the term "greatest" was already common, the genesis of GOAT as an acronym starts with none other than "The Greatest" himself – boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

During his electric career in the 60s and 70s, Ali cemented himself as the greatest boxer of his era with his unique style, transcendent talent, and big personality. He even titled his 1975 memoir "The Greatest: My Own Story."

It was Ali‘s wife who took the nickname further. In the 1990s, she trademarked the phrase "G.O.A.T – Greatest Of All Time" to brand and promote products related to Ali.

So the actual GOAT popularized the full GOAT acronym. How perfect is that? Over the decades, GOAT stuck around as a way for fans and pundits to label transcendent talents across every sport you can imagine.

The Rise of the 🐐

More recently, the rise of social media gave GOAT a nice visual symbol – meet the 🐐 emoji. With goat imagery meaning someone is the "Greatest Of All Time," using it became a convenient shorthand to crown the greats with just one emoji.

As a millennial, I love that GOAT has its own emoji now. I can quickly tweet "LeBron is the 🐐" instead of spelling it out. The kids are calling GOATs "goats" these days too. "Did you see that shot by Curry? He‘s a goat!"

So now that we know where it came from, let‘s break down what exactly makes a GOAT.

The Keys to GOATness

Being crowned the Greatest of All Time is the pinnacle for an athlete. But what does it really take to reach that summit? As a data guy, I wanted to quantify GOAT criteria:

Longevity: Sustained greatness over many years. Not just a flash in the pan.

Stats and Awards: The numbers and hardware that measure excellence – championships, MVPs, records.

Competition: The other all-time greats an athlete faced within their era. Strength of rivals.

Context: How they impacted or changed their sport and influenced its evolution.

Intangibles: The style, flair, and wow factor that capture fans‘ imaginations. Signature moments and highlights.

Consensus: Agreement from experts, former athletes, coaches that this player is the GOAT. Totality of accomplishments.

Let‘s see how the top GOAT candidates in some major sports stack up:

Basketball GOATs

As you can see, Jordan has a slight edge with his perfect 6 for 6 Finals record, more MVPs in fewer seasons, and transcendent scoring ability. But LeBron has insane all-around numbers and longevity still on his side. Most experts still lean MJ, but many fans argue for LeBron as the new GOAT given his stats across 18 seasons (and counting).

Hockey GOAT

Yeah, this one‘s not close. Gretzky dominates every major offensive statistical category despite retiring in 1999. The Great One is hockey‘s consensus GOAT, given his outrageous production and impact in taking the NHL to new heights. Some records are just untouchable.

Football GOATs

Tom Brady‘s 7 rings and counting cement his GOAT status for most NFL experts and fans. But Joe Montana defined the QB position in the 80s and has a perfect 4-0 Super Bowl record compared to Brady‘s 7-3. Both defined their eras and have sound cases in the never-ending NFL GOAT debate.

There are many more great GOAT debates across every sport – MJ or LeBron, Brady or Rice, Messi or Ronaldo? As a fan, it‘s part of the fun to compare the greatest players across eras and have friendly arguments about who‘s the definitive GOAT in each sport.

Appreciating the GOATs

At the end of the day, we should appreciate how special it is to witness all-time great players in any sport. These GOAT-level talents only come along once in a generation, if we‘re lucky.

As much as we love to debate legacies, it‘s important to remember that "Greatest of All Time" is a subjective term with no clear answers. The more I learn about sports history, the harder it is to crown one single GOAT for eternity. There are just too many all-time legends and what-if scenarios across different eras.

So instead of getting caught up in labeling the definitive greatest ever, let‘s admire the otherworldly talents that earned GOAT status in the first place. Savor those transcendent players that capture our imagination and inspire future generations. Appreciate greatness whenever you have the chance to see it.

At least that‘s the perspective of this sports fan who can‘t get enough of the endless GOAT debate! What do you think – who is the Greatest Of All Time in your favorite sport? Let me know!

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