Even if it's as high as 95%, the US has a population roughly of 300 million.
Which leaves the rest of the world, which is about 96% of global population.
Pretty sure that 96% has pretty good athletes too...
Which sport has the best athletes?
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Even if it's as high as 95%, the US has a population roughly of 300 million.
Which leaves the rest of the world, which is about 96% of global population.
Pretty sure that 96% has pretty good athletes too...
EDIT: nm, they never really did make it out of the farm leagues. My original attempt was to attack the random name dropping of who could or couldn't make it to the top league in a sport. I don't think its a good way to show that a sport requires more skill than another. I should have used a better example.
bananabread
Member
It's gotta be Australian Rules Football.
You've really got to excel at just about everything be it fitness, strength in all areas and a wide range of skills. You have to be mentally and physically strong.
It's extremely fast paced and involves wide, long running, short burst sprints, gritty and dirty close quarters tackling and handballing, kicking of the ball, timing etc, placement of yourself on the field and who to ship it off to etc.
Basically you have to be a perfect balance of athlete. Extremely strong to remain physically imposing, but also fit and fast enough to stay in the contests. You have to have the skills to kick it to another running player with pinpoint accuracy, or take a screaming mark, or weave in and out of incoming opposition, but also the smarts to know who to kick it to. Footy's the best (except the rules. The rulebook is a joke at this point).
Also Tennis - once again, incredible skill set requiring perfect precision and the strength to return extremely difficult balls back into court. But also fitter than probably any other sport. The matches can go on for longer than any other sport, sometimes around 5 hours, which is ridiculous. Especially in the Australian summer during the Australian Open - some incredible athletic feats there.
AFL is definitely up there in terms of versatile or "complete" atheletes, and this is coming from an Aussie who'd rather watch a Soccer match than an Aussie Rules game.
- Midfielders can cover up to 20km in the course of the 2 hour game while getting into close physical contests on a regular basis
- They can leap like in the gif above
They're agile
They're strong
They're fast and can kick with pinpoint accuracy
Bulbo Urethral Baggins
Banned
Easily American football. I've played just about every major sport at a competitive level and football needs a combination of everything. Strength, speed, agility, technique, precision and toughness. Prancing around on a soccer field, throwing a baseball, dribbling basketballs around...? They don't even come close to requiring the same amount of athletic skill.
Halcyon
Member
They're training towards a different standard though. We are weeding out our athletes to be giant freak monsters who are also super fast and quick.
We're talking best athletes, not amateur level though.
When you go up against the best of the best, player pool comes into play.
Soccer has to be at the top.
I'm not even the biggest soccer fan,
but the logic makes too much sense.
I hate the MLS, that's amateur, but I think no one on this forum could even get into that league. ;P
Teams, getting into the Champions league, those players are just on another level.
At least his loaded example actually happened
Yep, even if your estimates are correct with 95% of your athletes,
which seems high given your female population that doesn't play the sport.
So if we go by that, since you have about 300 million in your population,
and seeing that roughly 150 million would be male.
Out of all those males, what amount would be professional athletes?
The number keeps getting smaller and smaller.
Out of a global player pool, it's very small.
Yes the US has some very good athletes,
but the world also has very good athletes... ;P
Halcyon
Member
The_Hitcher89
Member
I'd agree
Factor in the constant changes of direction at a full sprint and stretches as well
Those 2 are great athletes and probably in the upper echelons of their respected sports.
RedHotChimiChanga
Banned
E-Sports /trollface
Bulbo Urethral Baggins
Banned
I take "best athletes" to mean those who will excel over a broad range of athletic activities.
Strength tests, endurance tests, speed tests, etc. There's no way a top soccer player would beat an NFL skill player overall.
AllIsOneIsNone
Banned
I'd say very possibly some sort of fighting, be it MMA or something else. You need a shitload of strength, endurance, agility, technique, coordination, focus, and straight up will.
Actually, you know what? Maybe gymnastics.
Actually, you know what? Maybe gymnastics.
thelatestmodel
Junior, please.
Again, all just plain wrong. Ice hockey is your answer. Do me a favour and just watch an NHL playoff game. Non-hockey fans just have no idea.
RedBullEnergy
Member
About as tough as it gets
Out of the sports that people care about, it's basketball. Takes more stamina than most others and a surprising amount of strength, but I think what sets it apart is the plyometrics. They jump to shoot, jump to contest shots, jump for rebounds, jump when they drive the ball. Even staying crouched in a defensive stance wears down your legs. Anyone that has done plyometrics knows that it is downright brutal, and I think basketball players doing as much running if not more than other sports while also having to constantly elevate themselves puts them a mark above the rest.
Out of all sports, it's wrestling
Out of all sports, it's wrestling
Skating is easier than running, once you've learned how. You cover more ground with less effort.
It doesn't prove that at all though... michael focused more on his basketball skills. Take babe ruth and he'd have been garbage at basketball most likely, there is nobcomparison. Hell deion sanders did pretty damn good in the mlb while spending the majority of his training on what I consider the hardest position in all of sports... on top of this take any of the best baseball players and I bet you they don't hold a candle to tiger woods. None of these comparisons prove anything though.
Edit also I never mentioned anything about molding players into baseball players, not sure who you got that from, but baseball is definitely a tough sport... however there are far more talented baseball players than there are basketball... just look at the nba draft to get an idea of how many people can actually make it to the nba let alone succeed.
This is what I think set it apart for me too. Having long-term knee issues would suck.
thelatestmodel
Junior, please.
This just demonstrates the lack of knowledge from people who do not know hockey. Starting and stopping yourself over and over again while wearing 30lbs of gear is incredibly draining - even more so than running. At maximum effort, it's only possible to play for 2-3 minutes at a time.
BFIB
Member
Its the best example to use though. If your a professional athlete in your respective sport, that means you are better at that sport than 99% of the people on the planet. And MJ is arguably (again, arguably) considered the absolute best at this profession (another topic for another time).
It doesn't diminish a respective professional athletes ability. But the skill set in baseball is vastly different, and a lot more difficult to maintain than a skill set for every other sport.
Nemesis121
Member
Better question? which one is the most pure, least amount of PED..
cripterion
Member
Best atlethes? Basketball.
Bulbo Urethral Baggins
Banned
Just look for the sport nobody watches.
Neffarias_Bredd
Member
Is the question, like, if a bunch of the best athletes from different sports were gonna compete in a bunch of different sports, who would be the best? Is that what being the best athelte means?
Since this guy in his prime was the best all around athlete to have ever lived, I'm gonna go with boxing.
edit: LOL basketball
"In 1996, Jones maintained his winning ways, defeating Merqui Sosa by knockout in two and future world champion Eric Lucas in round 11. When he boxed Lucas, he became the first athlete to participate in two paid sports events on the same day. He had played a basketball game in the morning and defended his boxing title in Jacksonville, Florida that evening. He also held a press conference in the ring just before the fight, taking questions from a chair in the middle of the ring and defending his choice of Bryant Brannon as his opponenet instead of Frankie Liles, his nemesis from the amateurs. He then defeated Bryant Brannon in a round two TKO."
edit: LOL basketball
"In 1996, Jones maintained his winning ways, defeating Merqui Sosa by knockout in two and future world champion Eric Lucas in round 11. When he boxed Lucas, he became the first athlete to participate in two paid sports events on the same day. He had played a basketball game in the morning and defended his boxing title in Jacksonville, Florida that evening. He also held a press conference in the ring just before the fight, taking questions from a chair in the middle of the ring and defending his choice of Bryant Brannon as his opponenet instead of Frankie Liles, his nemesis from the amateurs. He then defeated Bryant Brannon in a round two TKO."
Uhhh...
Strength maybe, depending on position...
But I think some NFL players would be very high up on this.
As some are picked just for strength and lack speed and endurance.
Endurance? I'd have to give that to soccer players, I'm talking high level not MLS.
(Even though MLS players probably have more endurance most likely)
Pretty sure Soccer stomps most sports in the endurance dept..
Maybe Tennis would be up there and long distance running.
Remember, there's only 3 substitutions per game in soccer and it's 90 mins.
Speed? Well again, depends on position.
You can probably look up stats of the fastest soccer player and fastest football player
If you're talking speed of a sport, Hockey would have that,
you see how fast they travel on an ice surface?
Bulbo Urethral Baggins
Banned
That's how I take it.
I'd love if we could take the top 5 athletes in each of the major sports in the world, American football, basketball, hockey and baseball, and put them in a decathlon. There's no doubt in my mind that an NFL player would win.
They also can move way faster which takes skill itself weaving around and such.
Soccer is NOT running for 90 minutes straight. First, there is a significant amount of walking when the ball is far away from you. Second, there is tons of stoppage - free kicks, goal kicks, corner kicks, penalty kicks, etc. Not to mention the 5 minutes per game where dudes are writhing on the ground in pain.
Also, if you're going to discount American football players due to the "fat" linemen, and then say that basketball players are the most fit...what about NBA power forwards / centers? Not every NBA player looks like Lebron James.
Also, if you're going to discount American football players due to the "fat" linemen, and then say that basketball players are the most fit...what about NBA power forwards / centers? Not every NBA player looks like Lebron James.
Neffarias_Bredd
Member
I think an Olympic decathlete would win. In my mind, they're the most athletic. They're faster than pretty much everyone, can jump further and higher, and are strong. NFL players definitely win in the strength department tho
Ashton Eaton runs a 10.2 100m dash, long jumps 27 feet and high jumps 6'10". He also runs a decent 1500
The average shift in professional hockey is 45 seconds.
They're literally sprinting the whole shift,
that's why hockey is considered one of the fastest sports.
crimzonflame
Member
Lots of fat "athletes" in the NFL
Lots of fat "athletes" in MLB
Lots of out of shape players in the NHL.
Hardly any out of shape players in the NBA. Of course there are exceptions like old players and "big" players. But for the most part NBA players have very nice physiques.
Im talking about athleticism, not toughness, stamina, strength or endurance.
A lot of soccer players are below average in height and doubt any of them can dunk.
Lots of fat "athletes" in MLB
Lots of out of shape players in the NHL.
Hardly any out of shape players in the NBA. Of course there are exceptions like old players and "big" players. But for the most part NBA players have very nice physiques.
Im talking about athleticism, not toughness, stamina, strength or endurance.
A lot of soccer players are below average in height and doubt any of them can dunk.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Not really. Baserunning and fielding you might make an argument, but he was not a great hitter, which is what most in the thread have been saying is the most difficult thing to do consistently well. His career line was .263/.319/.392, and he only had an OPS+ of 89.
It'd be harder to do the same on foot. You can cover a lot of ground with a little effort. People can average 30 mph over 10000 meters skating. More than twice as fast as the fastest distance runners. That's why we play it on ice. To speed up the game.
People push themselves to their limits in every sport.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
I wanna say that MMA is the ultimate challenge for a human being. There is simply so many variables to win. Royce Gracie revolutionized martial arts in the first UFC, and gave us what we all wanted to see - A small man beat much bigger opponents with technique, skill and strategy.
But for hardcore endurance, it might just be boxing. The reason being the head trauma. The fixation on the head sorely, unlike MMA which disses it out more evenly all over the body (overall) makes boxing the more dangerous and that more hardcore. The big gloves allows people to wreck peoples faces into the next dimensions.
It's only now with MRI scanning that we are beginning to see the truth of what happens with Boxers, MMA fighters and NFL players brain. They are paying the ultimate price. These guys are literally sacrificing their mental health for this.
As a guy who does Jiu-jitsu, it freaks me the fuck out when I talk to middle aged boxers with speech impediments. It's fucking terrifying. My philosophy is that it's okay that my body is getting abused, that I break bones and all that. But I want to keep my mental health. When I am old and worn down, I wanna know I used my body to its full potential, but I am nothing without my memories. with alzheimers and dementia, you are nothing. You cant enjoy the memories of all your struggles. thats what old age is for. nostalgia and looking back at your life.
These guys are getting robbed of that, and that's why I dont wanna do MMA. The risk is too much.
But I love watching it. These guys are real warriors!
But for hardcore endurance, it might just be boxing. The reason being the head trauma. The fixation on the head sorely, unlike MMA which disses it out more evenly all over the body (overall) makes boxing the more dangerous and that more hardcore. The big gloves allows people to wreck peoples faces into the next dimensions.
It's only now with MRI scanning that we are beginning to see the truth of what happens with Boxers, MMA fighters and NFL players brain. They are paying the ultimate price. These guys are literally sacrificing their mental health for this.
As a guy who does Jiu-jitsu, it freaks me the fuck out when I talk to middle aged boxers with speech impediments. It's fucking terrifying. My philosophy is that it's okay that my body is getting abused, that I break bones and all that. But I want to keep my mental health. When I am old and worn down, I wanna know I used my body to its full potential, but I am nothing without my memories. with alzheimers and dementia, you are nothing. You cant enjoy the memories of all your struggles. thats what old age is for. nostalgia and looking back at your life.
These guys are getting robbed of that, and that's why I dont wanna do MMA. The risk is too much.
But I love watching it. These guys are real warriors!
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