The GOAT: What Defines the Greatest to Ever Play?
In the history of sports there has been a question that has gone long unanswered for most of the Modern Era: who is the greatest of all time and how do we determine if that is actually true? For the most part, this question is easily the most subjective sports question in existence, however, I don’t think that makes for a very satisfying answer for a lot of people.
Just leaving the definition at, “Well, it depends on who you ask”, is not the true intent of the GOAT debate and it really leaves nothing to the imagination. Having a set definition of the GOAT (the Greatest of All Time) is the key to determining who that player is, but since too many people unanimously agree that the definition itself is flexible, we can’t even begin to discuss who the GOAT could be. This needs to be the first step so I decided to create the ultimate process to determine the definition of the GOAT, once and for all.
It’s hard to make an objective decision considering the magnitude of great players to participate in Professional Sports. However, we can quickly narrow down hundreds of great players in one step, how well recognized they are by the majority. I don’t want this to be mistaken for majority rules, however, I do think that choosing a player that is easily recognized or at least considered to be in the GOAT conversation should be considered a candidate.
While this is still really subjective, there really is no other way to choose one true GOAT. I’ll use the NBA as an example mainly because I believe that the GOAT conversation is the most heated in this sport among all others and because I personally know it the best.
The NBA players I think are unanimously considered in the GOAT conversation are Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Bill Russell, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James. Before you begin slandering the decision, I feel that it is also important that you only choose up to five players per sport, mainly to decrease any overlapping factors that might cancel out and make the choosing pool even smaller. This gives plenty of chances for the title but enough exclusivity to make it difficult to earn.
The next step is determining the impact the player had on their respective team, again a very subjective aspect but one we can quantify with an easy statistic to quantify; total playoff appearances. All of the players on the list identified as candidates for the NBA’s title of the GOAT have won at least three Championships, however, a lot of players that could be considered the GOAT in other contexts have not, so to be fair, I narrowed it down to playoff appearances, since those are a bit easier to make a case for.
In the NBA’s case, the player with the most championship victories would have a higher consideration for the title of GOAT and this player would be for Boston Celtics Center, Bill Russell, with eleven championship rings. However, Championships are not the end-all-be-all and the next step looks at the player’s overall impact on the city in which the played the most for.
The allegiance to a player’s city they play for is a really key aspect of what the GOAT debate means for a lot of basketball fans, even though this can affect the results due to rivalry. For the NBA candidates, those cities are Boston for Bill Russell, Chicago for Michael Jordan, Cleveland for LeBron James, and Los Angeles for Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Kobe Bryant.
Of course, all of these players meant a lot to their respective cities, however, none was more impacted than almost the entire state of Ohio when LeBron James decided to leave Cleveland for Miami. It completely affected the economy and culture of Cleveland, unlike anything that had been seen before. James meant more to Cleveland than any basketball player, or athlete in general, reasonably should and it all translates directly into how strong a candidate for the title of GOAT it really makes him.
In retrospect, I can’t really imagine another player in another sport whose transition to another team drew so much attention, however it is still possible to quantify the impact on the city for other players in different sports as well. You can’t really get much more similar to LeBron James’ situation, but I think it is possible to get pretty close to it.
The final step in determining the definition of what a GOAT should be is arguably the most important. This step is the overall impact on the game and while this may be hard to calculate for someone still playing, there are a few players that you can easily make an exception for. The obvious one for the NBA is Lebron James, however, I think an example from another sport would be warranted here as well; the New England Patriots’ Quarterback, Tom Brady.
Easily considered by most the greatest player of all time, Tom Brady’s transformation of a team that was just good enough to be forgettable to a complete football dynasty is one not easily replicated. Going from the small, skinny, unathletic, third-string quarterback at the University of Michigan to an undeniable football legend could be considered one of the greatest stories in all of sports.
It gives people hope, even outside of the realm of sports that if you work hard to get the opportunity, you can achieve anything you put your mind to, even if that goal is to become the player with the most amount of Super Bowl Championships. That is Tom Brady’s impact on not just the game of football, but society as a whole and it’s one of the most outstanding factors that easily makes him a frontrunner in the NFL’s GOAT conversation.
This process undoubtedly has many flaws, from the subjective choice of candidates to the connotation of the impact on the game. I never said this was perfect however I still firmly believe that with refining, that it can give an acceptable answer to a question sports fans have been debating for decades.
I don’t like to get too confrontational with a topic that I cherish, however, I still get excited when I can honestly let my opinions flow freely, which is really what inspired me to write this. I won’t slander any of your choices for who the GOAT is because if this process made an undisputed champion I don’t think it would serve the purpose that I designed it for, to create positive discourse in the sports community.
