The goat used to be the player who failedSourced
GOAT now means the greatest.
A goat once meant the one who blew it.
Today sports fans use GOAT for 'greatest of all time'. Historically, lowercase goat could mean the athlete who failed at the worst moment. The same animal ended up on opposite sides of praise and blame.
One word,
two very different verdicts.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
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GOAT (sports culture) · Wikimedia contributors
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Reviewed: 2026-10-01