[Disco_Volante]

Baseball is the hardest to play.

Most of your athletic ability is genetic.....football and basketball heavily reward you for your genetic traits which you have no control over. the NBA is filled with 6'10 bench players who can't shoot worth a shit but still are 'pros' due to their natural size. Natural athleticism doesn't help you near as much in baseball, but unlike golf you are nonetheless in physical danger.

Football is mainly a measure of how muscular and fast you are (genetics). Baseball there is no race monopoly because there's no clear advantage in physical characteristics. NFL draft every year there's always players who just started playing at 16 or 17, but nonetheless get put infront of the line because they're physically larger.

IMO, that's why baseball has lost a lot of popularity with young kids in sports. It's fucking hard to play. Any kid can put on pads and run around into eachother, or jump higher and put a ball in a hoop. But your skill doesn't matter when you get older and there's a 6'10 kid who will simply jump over you. Baseball is chess and takes precision to master. but unlike golf you need a variety of skills. Football and basketball are aligned with natural athletic movements so they require less instruction.

Why do you think Major League Baseball has 4 levels of minor leagues? it's virtually impossible to go from draft day to the pros. Yet in NFL and NBA, you go straight from college to the pros simply because your physical characteristics are the prime consideration. Baseball is harder to master.

[Easy_C]

Difficult to play skills wise or physically? If the former that goes to sports like golf, tennis and skiing where it can take days to even be able to use the equipment right. If the latter then rugby, long distance running and mma.

[Switch]

Definitely baseball. They give you a round ball and a round bat and tell you to hit it square.

Good baseball players are the best overall athletes imo. Put a good baseball player in a basketball game and he'll compete. Put a good football or soccer player up against even an 80 MPH fastball (average high school fastball) and he's gonna look silly.

Hockey is probably a close second. You have to learn a whole skill (skating) just to play the game.

[porscheguy]

F1 racing. With the exception of safety equipment, there's nothing on a F1 that doesn't serve to make it get around the track faster, including the driver. The driver's have to live practically as though they're anorexic, but at the same time, they spend 3-4 hours a day in the gym training. They have to do that because an F1 car can pull 5Gs in lateral grip. That means a normal human head goes from weighing 12-15lbs to 60-75lbs a few times per lap, every lap of the race. When Renault F1 let Richard Hammond do a few laps in one of their cars a few years ago, they had to put him in a small car first, then an intermediate car, and even though they weren't satisfied with his performance in the middle car, they had to get him into the F1 car because they knew his neck could only withstand a few more laps. One of the largest drivers in recent years was Mark Webber. He's about 6' tall and weighed about 155lbs. His neck was as wide as his head.

[RoastBeefCurtains4Me]

Darts, bowling, and pool. There's no doubt that these are very hard to master, what with the fact everybody always drinks every time they practice.

[Sooth]

(12-26-2015 01:59 AM)porscheguy Wrote:  

One of the largest drivers in recent years was Mark Webber. He's about 6' tall and weighed about 155lbs. His neck was as wide as his head.

Haha, no yarn.

[Beyond Borders]

I stopped taking any of the other posts seriously after someone mentioned free soloing.

[cascadecombo]

Quote:

IMO, that's why baseball has lost a lot of popularity with young kids in sports. It's fucking hard to play. 

I figured it was because they simply found it boring like I did as a kid.

On a more serious note, this thread is ridiculous.

[Barron]

Anything Red Bull has pervaded its way into as a lead contributor is not a sport.

Although Golf is difficult, it's a game, not a sport. Same with Bowling.

(12-26-2015 12:57 AM)Switch Wrote:  

Put a good baseball player in a basketball game and he'll compete. Put a good football or soccer player up against even an 80 MPH fastball (average high school fastball) and he's gonna look silly.

Who gives a shit about hitting a ball? There are a million things that are difficult to do. Professional Eating is difficult, Chess is difficult, reading and comprehending literature is difficult, learning a language is difficult. Should these be sports also? Baseball requires minimal physical fitness and a lot of practice, as do the things I listed above.

This thread is a good look into what each user identifies with as a rite of passage. Guarantee not one person has said "X sport is most difficult" that they never touched.

Ego's gentlemen, if you want objectivity then learn not to have one.

[Sourcecode]

(12-25-2015 06:01 PM)Stun Wrote:  

NHL Hockey has to be up there, because the prerequisite to be the best in the world is not pure athleticism. You have to have the vision to know where that puck is going to be, and that is a gift given to far fewer than is genetic athletic superiority.

When Chris Rock said black guys would dominate at hockey if given more access to it, because of athleticism, I laughed out loud for ten minutes.

Wayne Gretzky is 5'11 and 160 lbs and was the best player in history. If you put Lebron on skates and taught him to play, Gretz would humiliate him today at 54 years old.

I put my vote in for rugby. As a player for multiple years, there is a specific level where your brain comes over your brawn.
A lot of on the move thought goes into the sport and there isn't time to constantly set up plays like football.
You don't get multiple minutes to sit around and debate it with your team and coach. I often see football players cross into rugby and do well on athleticism, but never get far because they aren't intelligent in the multiple aspects of the game.
Often football players are taught to run one direction.. on position.
Most good rugby players, are much more versatile in the areas they can play.

On that note.. there are plenty of exceptionally well blacks in the game of Rugby. Its much more than just being quick on your feet
There are also plenty of exceptionally well blacks in Hockey. The same with Lacrosse though. Both sports are a bit expensive to get into.

Lebron is much more than just a physical athlete. He isn't a chess master, but players like him are extremely knowledgeable on the mental side of the game.

[Mage]

Every sport is easy if you do it recreationally and every sport is hard if you do it at world's elite level competing for medals on the verge of human genetic abilities with large money and political and personal pride at stakes, sacraficing everything else in your life for maximal performance.

Rather pointless thread.

[Horus]

Test match cricket is the hardest game we have, and it is also the greatest game we have.

Most of these examples aren't from test cricket, but it shows some of the skills these men have.

It is played over five days. It is the ultimate test of wits between men short of war.

It requires absolute precision over five days in every area - precision in batting, bowling, throwing, footwork, accuracy....

It requires superb reflexes to catch a ball after standing in a field for hours with little to do.

It requires a batsman maintain frame for many hours as he establishes dominance over a hostile fielding team.

Here's am example where a batsman loses frame, and when a dominant team goes in for the kill.

[Rocha]

I am surprised no one mentioned cycling yet. Only a crazy guy to do 200 km a day climbing mountains with temperatures of 40º celsius, during 21 consecutive days.

Some gopro footage of last years mytical L'Alpe D'Huez stage.

[Pareto]

(12-26-2015 11:17 AM)Rocha Wrote:  

I am surprised no one mentioned cycling yet. Only a crazy guy to do 200 km a day climbing mountains with temperatures of 40º celsius, during 21 consecutive days.

Some gopro footage of last years mytical L'Alpe D'Huez stage.

As much as I like cycling and am an avid watcher of the Tour de France, I still think that the Race Across America (RAAM) is harder.

My father was a member of the crew for one of the teams back in 2000-2003 for the team events. 3000 miles from west coast to east coast, pretty much non-stop. For the solo riders, that means 24 hours of cycling, then 1.5 hours sleep, then more cycling...at the end of the week, you've cycled 3000 miles and only had 7 hours of sleep to show for it.

[brick tamland]

OP used two criteria - degree of difficulty and conditioning.
After thinking a little bit, I came up with other factors that make a sport hard, but I'll confine this to well-known sports only.

Difficulty of initial participation - some sports are prohibitively costly to take up, such as golf, polo, motor racing and tennis.

Intense competition to become professional - Any sport with a draft system or any sport that has a high number of participants. Here there are many athletes of a similar high ability, many of whom will simply be unlucky not to get into, or go far in the professional leagues. Examples are the major US sports and the only truly international sport, soccer.

Exceptional skills required - gymnastics, golf, motor racing, tennis, ice hockey, baseball. Here athletic ability alone is not sufficient.

Fitness demands and training schedules overwhelming - gymnastics, boxing, triathlon, swimming, marathon, rugby, NFL, athletics, cycling, power lifting and body building, cross country skiing.

Extraordinary discipline and dedication required - boxing, gymnastics, athletics, body building, martial arts and combat sports, swimming, cycling.

Extraordinary bravery and courage demands - boxing and combat, NFL, mountain climbing, ski jumping, rugby, surfing, open water swimming, skateboarding.

High likelihood of premature retirement or death due to injury during competition - motor racing, combat sports, boxing, mountain climbing, NFL. These athletes sometimes live from one event to the next.

High likelihood of post-retirement physiological disorders - many contact sports but NFL and boxing come to mind easily.

Exceptional requirement of an unusual build - basketball, horse racing jockey, most positions in gridiron and rugby, netball, body building and power lifting. Here, the genetic lottery can have the final say.

PS - the list is not perfect but I've tried to add nuance to the concept 'hard'.

[Jvramerys]

(12-26-2015 12:57 AM)Switch Wrote:  

Definitely baseball. They give you a round ball and a round bat and tell you to hit it square.

Good baseball players are the best overall athletes imo. Put a good baseball player in a basketball game and he'll compete. Put a good football or soccer player up against even an 80 MPH fastball (average high school fastball) and he's gonna look silly.

Hockey is probably a close second. You have to learn a whole skill (skating) just to play the game.

[spokepoker]

Miss those "Bo Knows..." commercials. I was a kid, but all my memories of then was him being a bad ass.

[Rocha]

Table Tennis, another incredibly underrated sport.
Natural ability, skills, reflexes, speed, conditioning, all are required here.

[jariel]

(12-26-2015 12:57 AM)Switch Wrote:  

Good baseball players are the best overall athletes imo. Put a good baseball player in a basketball game and he'll compete.

John Kruk wouldn't have made it through one pick and roll even at whatever his "peak" condition was.

FOH with that.

[Sidney Crosby]

Little biased cause I'm Canadian, but the Stanley Cup is the hardest championship to win. You have to win 16 playoff games after an already grueling 82 game schedule. In the playoffs you can play as many as 28 games, and usually a few players on each team have major surgeries after the playoffs are over. Plus you have to deal with guys physically pounding you for a whole series, not just one game.

Playoff games often go into double or even triple overtime, After an already 60 minute long game with each overtime period potentially adding another 20 minutes. Then getting on jet and traveling thousands of kilometers, changing time zones and playing another game two days later after breaking your foot or fingers blocking a shot.

[cascadecombo]

I really wonder how many people here have actually experience competing in more than 1 or two sports?

Quote:

Put a good baseball player in a basketball game and he'll compete.

I've only played bball in pickup games and dicking around with buddies but do you honestly think you could put a good baseball player into a basketball game and expect him to compete? Compete is such a vague term, for simplicity I will assume you mean do well. Which I do not see happening, gauging your strength for the ball to go in to hoop is not as easy as you would think as with ball control and not having it stolen out from under you.

Going from an example like that, would you say that a strong football player could hop into wrestling and compete? Because that is utter bullshit. I can clearly remember in highschool some of the football players coming in in their off season thinking they would be hot shit since they were physically strong and having their asses handed to them. Trying to argue X player would do better than Y player in a certain sport is only displaying the difference of similarities between the sports and what skills you need for each one.

That and from a very strong personal bias I would like to know of any sports that on average have better conditioning than wrestling(combat sports). The warm up to their workouts are on par with the workouts for other sports.

[Slim Shady]

Rowing. Lightweight is even harder. I am biased however.

[Bazzwaldo]

1) Boxing
2) Rugby League
3) Ice Hockey

[Mentavious]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills

[Akwesi]

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