I think baseball is brutally boring, but there's no denying this. None.
Which sport has the best athletes?
- Thread starter entremet
- Start date
- Status
I think baseball is brutally boring, but there's no denying this. None.
The troll post would be Nascar.
freenudemacusers
Member
american sports obviously
Lol that is a teerible argument.
I don't know about basketball, they are great athletes for sure, but their insane heights has got to cause some natural negatives for agility. A lot of basketball players are really awkward when trying to do other sports. And if you're gauging on overall athleticism, I'd think you'd have to be more generalized and not zoned in on one thing.
If you can go into specific positions and not just a sport overall I'd say Running backs and cornerbacks in Football or midfielders in soccer.
If you can go into specific positions and not just a sport overall I'd say Running backs and cornerbacks in Football or midfielders in soccer.
GungHo
Single-handedly caused Exxon-Mobil to sue FOX, start World War 3
True. Also they probably don't really want to fight as they'll be fined/ejected. Just always funny seeing athletes outside their comfort zone.
Besides, deep in the soul of every man lies the heart of a killer.
Why did they make the guy look like Dean Martin in a toga?
MrToughPants
Brian Burke punched my mom
Doesn't football have like 10 minutes of actual play? They'll gas faster than mma HWs which in itself is a feat.
Ill go with hockey players.
Ill go with hockey players.
sixteen-bit
Member
Basketball is a good answer. Soccer too.
lol @ anyone saying baseball
lol @ anyone saying baseball
Larry Allen - 324 lbs
For the uninitiated...
That fat guy benched 700 pounds and squatted north of 900.
Try exerting maximal body effort to lift/move things for more than 20 second bursts. When people compare it to soccer and say "lol soccer players run for 90 minutes so much harder" it's laughable. Try running that 90 minutes with a 300 pound vest.
EDIT: point being that saying they're "gassed" is silly because the gauge of endurance is far different.
entremet
Member
Larry Allen - 324 lbs
That's one guy. He was an exception as well. I think he was a track athete in HS.
I think football has the best in class athletes no question, but since lineman are so populous it kills the athleticism advantage as a whole.
Football also has so much stoppages as well, unlike Soccer or Basketball.
smokeandmirrors
Banned
phillipgessert
Member
Wrestling. Both varieties.
Nascar requires good endurance and sharp reflexes.
And that extends to all motorsports.
Yeah but those can be very explosive plays.
Frank Zappa
Banned
True.
I really wanted to like american football, but it is just a giant ad space in a sport disguise. Very little gameplay time. It's always ads, commercial breaks, time outs.
Unbelievable boring.
Yeah I don't think people understand the endurance needed to play hockey professionally, just being on the ice for 2 minutes can be incredibly grueling, average time for most lines is like 40 odd seconds, only the most badass dudes in the NHL average over 50 a shift. Not to mention checking and all that's involved.
shira
Member
that doesn't make him better? The title question is loaded, because all sports are different.
Succinct Verbosity
Member
I'd say singles Tennis, based purely on the fact that it could drag on for hours with absolutely nobody to fall back on.
BFIB
Member
How so?
Steve Wiebe best athlete confirmed.
Hari Seldon
Member
I dunno if this helps the discussion, but I remember reading a blog of some massage parlor happy ending prostitute who claimed to have serviced many athletes. Someone asked her which athletes had the best physique and she claimed hockey for sure haha.
Frank Zappa
Banned
I really don't think the average american football player has that much stamina. They only get to play a few seconds and they rest for minutes.
freenudemacusers
Member
I can attest that it's much different watching in person vs tv. you get a better appreciation for how much moving, and how fast they move, when you see the rink below you.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Shouldn't this question also assess the degree of testing for performance-enhancing drugs in each sport? Sports with more rigorous testing regimens can be assumed to have less cheating (especially when you get a scenario like cycling, where athlete speed measurably gets worse after stricter testing regiments), and thus are easier to evaluate the actual athletic ability of those competing. Among the American majors, only the MLB has applied any effort to test for PEDs. Isn't this a significant point?
Dem quads doe.
Hockey is the one sport that I really enjoy watching live. Everything else is just generally more enjoyable on TV.
Jimmyfenix
Member
Football.
Athletes
Physics
Life.
But Donkey Kong isn't really a twitch game is it?
thelatestmodel
Junior, please.
Anyone that doesn't say hockey hasn't really thought about what hockey requires.
I don't believe there is another sport that combines as much strength, physical exertion, and manual skill and dexterity, and puts it all together with a culture of being tough and never giving up.
Example of the top of my head - Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks lost SEVEN teeth during a playoff game in 2010, and was back on the ice to finish the game about 20 minutes later.
Not to mention the length of the season - 82 games, plus 16 wins required to win the Cup. It's unbelievably grueling.
You could also argue that "best" means the ones that have the best reputation for being nice guys, and again, hockey players win. They are the nicest athletes bar none.
I don't believe there is another sport that combines as much strength, physical exertion, and manual skill and dexterity, and puts it all together with a culture of being tough and never giving up.
Example of the top of my head - Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks lost SEVEN teeth during a playoff game in 2010, and was back on the ice to finish the game about 20 minutes later.
Not to mention the length of the season - 82 games, plus 16 wins required to win the Cup. It's unbelievably grueling.
You could also argue that "best" means the ones that have the best reputation for being nice guys, and again, hockey players win. They are the nicest athletes bar none.
Stamina depends on context of the percentage of effort necessary.
A runner can't sprint at top speed for the same time that a runner can jog.
smokeandmirrors
Banned
And those hits can be loud as fuck too no matter where you are in the arena.
Does being tall equal being the best athlete?
Based on CDC data it's estimated that no more than 70 American men are between the ages of 20 and 40 and at least 7 feet tall, and around 17% of them are NBA players.
If 20% of left-handed people were able to play a certain sport professionally, would you say that sport had the best athletes, or that it was a sport that really favored left-handed people even if they weren't elite athletes?
Being extremely tall requires no athletic skill, it's not something one can improve on with practice and hard work.
SI
Forbes
Many 7 footers also profit by getting into basketball relatively early. While scouts canvas the globe for super-sized warm bodies Ill check up on anyone over 7 feet thats breathing, NBA scouting director Ryan Blake told Torre in 2011 they usually havent slipped through the cracks. In a nation like China or Germany, a 10-year-old who shows extreme growth potential will be recruited into a national basketball academy; in the United States, clumsy young giants are often funneled into the sport thanks to some variation on the following conversation: Do you play basketball? If not, you should.
Theres a clear reason why extreme height is so prized in basketball: At worst, its still an unteachable asset. Even a relatively unskilled 7 footer can simply stand near a basket and alter an opponents shots just by his presence.
And given the market need for players who can protect the rim, there are extra rewards for this extra height. The leagues median player last season was 6 feet 7 inches tall, and paid about $2.5 million for his service. But consider the rarified air of the 7-footer-and-up club. The average salary of those 35 NBA players: $6.1 million.
(How much does one more inch matter? The 39 players listed at 6 feet 11 inches were paid an average of $4.9 million, or about 20% less than the 7 footers.)
In what other sport could 17% of some segment of the population play professionally and earn $6 million a year not based on any athletic ability but based on a physical characteristic?
Being 7 feet tall and making it in the NBA is like being the best athlete at a small dinner party (NYTimes)
Nameless
Member
The question is which sport has the best athletes, not which sport as the best athletes on average.
If you took the most examplary athletes from all sports, the football players would be the most athletic of the bunch.
methane47
Member
Any sport that has a 1 hour lunch break where the players hang out and drink tea and beer cannot be seriously considered as "endurance" sport.
Can't be football (American) because there is so much rest time (though they're probably some of the strongest and fastest in burst speeds). Basketball has plenty of restful periods with foul shots and bench time. Hockey is probably a bit better. Maybe soccer? There's never commercial timeouts, the clock just keeps going, there's not really much substitution so the stamina to play a whole game non-stop has to be there.
Frank Zappa
Banned
Agree.
- Status