What Makes A GOAT?
A GOAT which is the greatest of all time is a title not handed out to many, there can only be one GOAT in each sport. But what makes a GOAT? As described in (Streeter, 2023) GOAT’s are everywhere in sports as over the years people have given out the title to many players. However, what really sets these players apart from the rest in their sports? Are there multiple GOAT’S in a sport or can there only be one?
For example Tom Brady won seven Super Bowls which is the greatest achievement you can win in football and Brady has the most ever won. This is one of the GOAT’s in sports. However none set the bar as high as Michael Jordan won six championships in his career and never lost a single championship, as he also holds records for the best regular season average of points of all time and when it matters the most he also holds the record for most playoff points scored a game. We can use these statistics to call a player a GOAT because winning the championship is the hardest accomplishment to achieve in sports and how players go their entire careers without winning one so for a player to win multiple of these is crazy in itself.
There can also be made an argument that there is not just one GOAT per sport; for example in football there are multiple positions, and that leads to several players being the best of all time at their position. But there is a major difference; for example, the best wide receivers are as great as they are because of the quarterback being able to get them the ball. A single wide receiver can’t win or lose a game on his own, but a quarterback can. This is the same on the defensive side of the ball. Sure, the best guys can make huge plays, but they can’t win a game on their own. Tom Brady took bad defenses and a bad offense to the championship and won. This is why he’s the GOAT. In basketball, sure, there are players who are the best at their position, but none of them won like Jordan did or played as well as he did. Another example of why there’s only one GOAT per sport is Wayne Gretzky. In hockey, there are the forwards and the defender plus the goalie. Gretzky was “one of one” in hockey. He broke every record known to man. Not only was he a brilliant playmaker and scorer, but he was also a great defender and contributed greatly on defense. No player in history at another position had as much of an impact as Gretzky did; hence, hockey is another sport where there are multiple positions, but there can be only one GOAT.
We also care about the stats because not only does it show us what kind of player they were but how dominant they were, and how clutch they have been. Some example of being clutch are, hitting a game winning three pointer at the end of the game, scoring an overtime goal, hitting a walkoff homerun to win. These are examples of clutch game winning events, but there’s also other times that can be determined as clutch. An example would be tying the game up or hitting a pop up to get the runner home, or even just making a free throw to keep the lead at the end of game. These are the example of clutch events, but it’s no easy task to be a clutch player. To be clutch you have to have a separate mentality then most, for example if you are down by two points who is going to take the shot? Whoever volunteers knows that they have all the pressure on themselves, no matter how well the player played up to that point does not affect how the fans will feel if the player misses the shot. This player will either be a hero or a villain. That being said, there is one player who always took the shot and always thought he would make it. This player never let the moment get too big. This player was Michael Jordan, Jordan holds an NBA record nine game winners during his career. Jordan would also has a 50% shooting percentage in the clutch, to compare Lebron James only has a 29% shooting percentage. Not all players were as graced with confidence as Jordan which led him to be the greatest clutch player in NBA history
There are some more meanings to the word GOAT, for example as described in the article it explains how there’s times in sports where there are multiple player’s being called the GOAT for example in soccer Messi and Ronaldo are considered by many people the GOATS of the sports however there can only be one GOAT, for example people compare Messi’s total goals he scored in his career to Ronaldo’s, which lead to people to think Ronaldo was better, and for a while because neither had won the World Cup which is considered the greatest achievement in soccer this opinion was the same. That was until in 2022 when Messi finally would end the GOAT debate by being the most dominant player in the World Cup and winning it for the first time in his career. The team that these players have played for definitely gave these players a higher chance to win games, however when it mattered the most in the World Cup Messi and Ronaldo both had great teams, with both players being at their peak in skills it was Messi who came out on top. Messi would win MVP of the World Cup and it would show in his stats as he lead in everything not only did he score the most but he elevated his team enough to win it all
This is also in the NBA however in different circumstances, for example Michael Jordan and Lebron James are the two being compared for the GOAT status. In this case we have Lebron James who has the longest list of statistical achievements. For example he recently became the NBA scoring leader of all time. This is a popular claim for Lebron’s claim to being the GOAT, however this is where certain stats matter more then others. Michael Jordan did not accomplish all of these statistical feats, however he won arguably one of the hardest championships in sports six times and never lost once in a finals. While doing this Michal Jordan averaged the highest points per game in the playoffs in history. Jordan also would accomplish this feat in over three hundred less games. Michal Jordan will stay the GOAT of the NBA until James is able to surpass this however its looking unlikely as James is nearing the end of his career. In the end a GOAT is one of one.
References
Streeter, K. (2023, July 3). GOATs are everywhere in sports. so what really defines greatness? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/03/sports/tennis/greatest-athlete-of-all-time.html#:~:text=Defining%20the%20term%20as%20%E2%80%9Cthe,the%20acronym%20had%20become%20dictionary
Brooks, M. (2022, December 27). GOAT meaning: what does the term G.O.A.T. mean in sport – why Lionel Messi and Pelé are often called it. NationalWorld. https://www.nationalworld.com/sport/other-sport/goat-meaning-what-does-the-term-goat-mean-in-sport-why-tom-brady-and-rafael-nadal-are-often-called-it-3568312
Counterintuitive Fall 2024 
As I have mentioned in class, no paragraph should develop more than one main idea. Since you haven’t broken your essay into paragraphs at all, a reader will likely conclude that you have just one idea to develop. Let’s hope that’s not true. I’m going to divide your text into sections where the breaks seem most appropriate.
A GOAT which is the greatest of all time is a title not handed out to many, there can only be one Goat in each sport. But what makes a GOAT? As described in (Streeter, 2023) GOAT’s are every where in sports as they are normally just described as the sports best player of all time, however what really sets these players apart from the rest in their sports?
—Choose one way to capitalize GOAT and stick with it, HockeyPlayer. The word is an acronym, formed of the initials of four words, so it should always be GOAT. When you spell it out the first time, use the initial capitals to help your reader see the word hiding in the phrase: the Greatest Of All Time.
—You’ve managed to repeat yourself twice in just 68 words here, HP. Since your entire essay is just 542 words (out of the 1000-word budget you were permitted), the only reason it should be so short is that you’re being VERY economical. Repetitions are the opposite of that.
—Write more. Find more sources and bring the evidence.
For example Tom Brady won seven Super Bowls which is the greatest achievement you can win in football and Brady has the most ever won. This is one of the GOAT’s in sports but none set the bar as high as Michael Jordan won six championships in his career and never lost a single championship, as he also holds records for the best regular season average of points of all time and when it matters the most he also holds the record for most playoffs points scored a game. We can use these statistics to call a player a GOAT because winning the championship is the hardest accomplishment to achieve in sports and how players go their entire careers without winning one so for a player to win multiple of these is crazy in itself.
—Here you compare two players at the top of their sport.
—No argument about the Greatest Player of All Time in their sport would be complete without these two. But . . .
—You’re not correct that there can be only one GOAT per sport.
—Brady may be the GQOAT (Greatest Quarterback).
—Jordan may be the GSGOAT (Greatest Shooting Guard).
—Are you saying there can’t be categories for Greatest Running Back, Greatest Wide Receiver, Greatest Placekicker, Greatest Center, Greatest Third Baseman, Greatest Homerun Hitter, Greatest All Around Defensive Player?
—If you REALLY MEAN there’s room in every sport for just one GOAT, then be sure to let your readers know that, and address their objections. I can’t be the only reader who thinks you’re missing something really important here.
We also care about the stats because not only does it show us what kind of player they were but how dominant they were, and how clutch they have been.
—Well, maybe, but you’d need at least a paragraph to convince me what stats you’ve got that prove the “clutch” attribute.
—When, in Ryan Howard’s early career years, he was knocking homers out of the park at a rate faster than Babe Ruth, lots of pundits projected he might become the GHRHOAT. Of course, injury shortened his career, and he never got the overall record. But even at his peak, lots of knuckleheads complained that he hit too many “empty” HRs that came after the team was ahead, or early in games, and that he struck out too often when an HR would have “won” the game.
—I’m having a conversation with myself about what “clutch” means, and how disputational an argument about it can be.
—You should be having this conversation with your readers.
There are some more meanings to the word GOAT, for example as described in (Brooks, 2022) this article explains how there’s times in sports where there are multiple player’s being called the goat for example in soccer Messi and Ronaldo are considered by many people the GOATS of the sports however there can only be one GOAT, for example people compare Messi’s total goal’s he scored in his career to Ronaldo’s, which lead to people to think Ronaldo was better, and for a while because neither had won the World Cup which is considered the greatest achievement in soccer this opinion was the same. That was until in 2022 when Messi finally would end the GOAT debate by being the most dominant player in the World Cup and winning it for the first time in his career.
—And I could very easily disagree with you, and you’d have to explain why the GOAT of soccer might never play on a team that could win a championship.
—Greatest SINGLES male tennis player of all time? We can argue about that and use championships as the measure, but greatest player on a team sport? Different story, right?
This is also in the NBA however in different circumstances, for example Michael Jordan and Lebron James are the two being compared for the GOAT status. In this case we have Lebron James who has the longer list of statistic achievements for example he recently became the NBA scoring leader of all time. This is a popular claim for Lebron’s claim to being the GOAT, however this is where certain stats matter more then others. Michael Jordan did not accomplish all of these statistical feats, however he won arguably one of the hardest championships in sports six times and never lost once in a finals. While doing this Michal Jordan averaged the highest points per game in the playoffs in history. Jordan also would accomplish this feat in over three hundred less games. Michal Jordan will stay the GOAT of the NBA until James is able to surpass this however its looking unlikely as James in nearing the end of his career. In the end a GOAT is one of one.
—This paragraph at least entertains the complexity of the questions.
—If you’re REALLY serious about Defining your term, readers should understand, very clearly, by the end of your 1000 words, what Categories the GOATS fulfill. In every sport you can manage. For every type of player in that sport that you can manage.
Helpful?
You’ve got a lot of work to do on this post to make it an admirable Rewrite, Hockey Player. Do you have the talent and drive to write the GD/CEOAT?
This is significantly better, HockeyPlayer. You haven’t added more research, which is a shame since it’s a research paper, but you have provided important new arguments.
You’ll forever be denied the best grades for composition, I’m afraid, as long as you persist in basic grammar and punctuation errors. A sample from just one of your paragraphs follows, with corrections in bold.
You’re welcome to incorporate the corrections into your own work, but your grade will remain unchanged from today’s unless you do a thorough “search and destroy” for the rest of the paragraphs.
There can also be made an argument that there is not just one GOAT per sport; for example, in football there are multiple positions, and that leads to several players being the best of all time at their positions. But there is a major difference; for example, the best wide receivers are as great as they are because of the quarterback being able to get them the ball. A single wide receiver can’t win or lose a game on his own, but a quarterback can. This is the same on the defensive side of the ball. Sure, the best guys can make huge plays, but they can’t win a game on their own. Tom Brady took bad defenses and a bad offense to the championship and won. This is why he’s the GOAT. In basketball, sure, there are players who are the best at their position, but none of them won like Jordan did or played as well as he did. Another example of why there’s only one GOAT per sport is Wayne Gretzky. In hockey, there are the forwards and the defender plus the goalie. Gretzky was “one of one” in hockey. He broke every record know to man. Not only was he a brilliant playmaker and scorer, but he was also a great defender and contributed greatly on defense. No player in history at another position had as much of an impact as Gretzky did; hence, hockey is another sport where there are multiple positions, but there can be only one GOAT.
Apostrophes make possessives or contractions.
They don’t make plurals.
GOAT’s means “the next thing I name will be the thing that the GOAT owns.”
Or it means “The GOAT is.”
The PLURAL of GOAT is GOATs.
Very much appreciate the new material, which adds considerably to the persuasiveness of your overall argument.
You did a nice job, too, of resolving the grammar and punctuation errors in the paragraph I isolated for you, but you didn’t apply those corrections to the rest of your paragraphs, which still contain multiple errors that mar your final grade.
Correctable, though, if you still have time and want to make the effort.