ONLINE — A basketball fan reportedly solved the sport’s longest-running GOAT debate Tuesday by introducing a completely new evaluation criterion halfway through an argument.
“You guys keep talking about rings and stats,” he wrote. “Nobody is accounting for how much fear a guy created on random Tuesdays.”
The category had not appeared during the first 47 replies but immediately became essential after traditional comparisons began favoring the other player.
When another user requested a definition of “Tuesday fear,” the fan cited two anecdotes, one retired player quote, and a highlight video uploaded with dramatic music.
Other participants responded by introducing their own criteria, including era difficulty, teammate quality, rule environment, cultural impact, playoff aura, and how impressive certain shots felt in childhood.
Within an hour, the original debate had expanded into 18 separate arguments that could not be measured against one another.
The fan declared victory, noting that nobody had successfully disproved Tuesday fear.
