16:7 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD [at] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
16:8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
16:9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer him [for] a sin offering.
16:10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, [and] to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
By dying in the wilderness, the scapegoat provided atonement for the sins of the people.
In the Biblical context, the scapegoat is innocent of the sins for which it is condemned, and scapegoats, historically, have been those who took the punishment for others.
It is rare in sports for one person to be really responsible for a team's loss, but the basketball player who misses a layup in the last thirty seconds is remembered, while the guard who missed countless three-point attempts earlier is forgotten. It is convenient to have someone else to blame when your own performance is mediocre, and sports goats will be with us for a long time.Greatest
Of
All
Time
Like me at Surfing and Kung fuI have only heard of "The Goat" with reference to Shaun Goater, professional footballer with amongst others Manchester City. City fans didn't think too much of him at first, but he went on to score over 100 goals between 1998 and about 2003. They penned the song "Feed the Goat and he will Score" in his honor.