What, In Your Opinion, Is the Most Demanding Sport

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Lounge' started by jackBURTON, Oct 21, 2003.

  1. XBoxJon

    XBoxJon Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2003
    Messages:
    8,127
    Trophy Points:
    1,590
    Location:
    St. Louis, MO
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    Actually, I'm more of a Football and Baseball fan than Hockey. But I played all 4 of them throughout HS and college (at one level or another, all organized though) so I do know what I'm talking about.

    Hockey is easily the most demanding sport as it requires the athlete to have the ability to skate, shoot a puck, check, have high endurance, etc etc. The only reason I put it over football (which has similar athletic requirements) is the skating part... and having to keep your balance and skate.

    My 5yr old nephew can play basketball. So can my 68yr old father. Sure, not at a pro level, but they can at least play the game. Neither one could even attempt to play hockey.

    Even so, I ranked basketball higher than baseball, since the NBA requires much more athletism than what's required to play MLB. I mean, look at David Wells, it's so out of shape it's not even funny, and he only has to play once every 5 days. A guy playing RF might only have to make a real play on a ball once or twice per game and he only gets 4-5 plate appearances all night. Hitting a baseball from a MLB pitcher might be the hardest thing to do in all of sports, but the game itself is the least demanding.
     
    No Streaming Account
  2. skornzbolt23

    skornzbolt23 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2003
    Messages:
    438
    Trophy Points:
    1,190
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    true true, i see validation. i am just a huge basketball fan. you can see people diving on hard floors in hoops as well, eevr skid on a waxed floor before? yea, ow. lol. and i don't know if any of you have slammed it home on a rim, but it bruises the wrist and such, and that's if you dunk correctly. i know tennis is difficult, i am just enamored with basketball, because the net to ball ratio is the best in the entire world, it just intrigues me:)
     
    No Streaming Account
  3. skornzbolt23

    skornzbolt23 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2003
    Messages:
    438
    Trophy Points:
    1,190
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    There is so much physical wear and tear though...maybe not for all the players out there but like i said before the pitchers and catchers get beat down every game they are out there[/quote]

    i agree, being in that gear in some days being over 90, even 100. and pitching throws your shoulder for a loop, over 100 pitches a game if yer lucky. ........ another good nomination for hardest sport. these god dang strong man competitions. it includes the wood chopping, along with pulling a 600 pound anchor, lifting larde sphereical rocks...... my skinny lil butt ain't liftin that :laugh:
     
    No Streaming Account
  4. skornzbolt23

    skornzbolt23 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2003
    Messages:
    438
    Trophy Points:
    1,190
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    Actually, I'm more of a Football and Baseball fan than Hockey. But I played all 4 of them throughout HS and college (at one level or another, all organized though) so I do know what I'm talking about.

    Hockey is easily the most demanding sport as it requires the athlete to have the ability to skate, shoot a puck, check, have high endurance, etc etc. The only reason I put it over football (which has similar athletic requirements) is the skating part... and having to keep your balance and skate.

    My 5yr old nephew can play basketball. So can my 68yr old father. Sure, not at a pro level, but they can at least play the game. Neither one could even attempt to play hockey.

    Even so, I ranked basketball higher than baseball, since the NBA requires much more athletism than what's required to play MLB. I mean, look at David Wells, it's so out of shape it's not even funny, and he only has to play once every 5 days. A guy playing RF might only have to make a real play on a ball once or twice per game and he only gets 4-5 plate appearances all night. Hitting a baseball from a MLB pitcher might be the hardest thing to do in all of sports, but the game itself is the least demanding.[/quote]


    lol wow. well to be honest, my grandmother can ice skate and use a stick, not at a pro level, but she can. the discussion is not who can do what at 80 years old, but what the sport asks of you. i've seen michael jordan play with a 103 degree temperature, in a finals game and score over 40 where as most can't score 40 healthy. and back to my earlier post, the net to ball ratio, is a 1" circumference, and that's without people tryin to guard it. can you say the same for any other sport?
     
    No Streaming Account
  5. Eclipse2k

    Eclipse2k Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2003
    Messages:
    614
    Trophy Points:
    1,190
    Location:
    Illinois
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    I think Football takes a lot of Mental Concentration and a lot of physical ability. Those players literally take a beating on all of the tackles. The QB needs to think where to throw the ball without the other team blocking it or intercepting it. The kicker needs to concentrate on where he wanted the ball to go and how much power to actually put into the kick. Football careers for most end early due to injuries/age but not for everyone.
     
    No Streaming Account
  6. The Phat Bandit

    The Phat Bandit Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 13, 2003
    Messages:
    116
    Trophy Points:
    1,190
    Location:
    Ocala, FL
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    I would say Tennis because ive played Football, Tennis, Baseball, Basketball, and Soccer and out of all of them I dont get physically as exhausted as tennis. I dont think there is as much movement in a short period of time as tennis if you think about it a point could last for up to 10 minutes and this is not 10 minutes of just standing there its running back and forth and thinking about your next move and i think its also the most mentally challenging because it all revolves around who is mentally stronger. A perfect example is my big brother that hates tennis and has played it like a total of 3 times in his life so he sucks really bad. My little brother is only 10 but he i really good for his age and he has played tennis for about 2 1/2 years and my big brother is really smart and can make someone feel like shit by just looking at them. So he played my little brother and beat him 6-0 6-0 which mean my litlle brother did not score once. I thikn tennis is a really hard sport and it takes the most effort ever to be really good.

    just an opinion
     
    No Streaming Account
  7. jackBURTON

    jackBURTON Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2003
    Messages:
    285
    Trophy Points:
    1,190
    Location:
    Little China
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    I know the physical extremes of Basketball - over the past year I've had deep thigh bruises, slightly hyperextended a knee, and sprained both ankles several times.

    The reason I think Tennis is number one is the career length of elite athletes. Pro Tennis players are usually done by 30/31.

    Hockey, Baseball, Basketball, and Football athletes can all stay at the top of their sport until 40 or so.

    I don't really include boxing because I think that sport is a disgrace - WAY more than one belt per weight division, canned matches, etc. It's hard to know what a real career would look like unless Belt holders were always required to fight the legitimate number one contender in each division.
     
    No Streaming Account
  8. IndigoVDub

    IndigoVDub Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2003
    Messages:
    3,467
    Trophy Points:
    1,290
    Location:
    Tempe, AZ
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    Jack until you play real hockey stop putting it down. Everyone needs to read jon's post at the top of the page, it really puts it into perspective. I dont think you understand the key point, you have to learn a whole new mode of transportation. Also it requires great mental strength to restrain yourself from beating the piss out of an opponet after he cheap shots you with a crosscheck to the lower back. Your saying that you get bruises and ankle sprains from bb? Please... That is a normal event in hockey, i for one play defense and get hit with a puck atleast a couple times a game. The only thing that would come close to getting hit with a slapshot would be getting elbowed pretty hard and that rarely happens in bb. To anwer your question you get checked atleast twice a shift in hockey, but that is the best part about the game in my opinion.
     
    No Streaming Account
  9. jackBURTON

    jackBURTON Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2003
    Messages:
    285
    Trophy Points:
    1,190
    Location:
    Little China
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    I never put Hockey down. What I said is that the career length of elite athletes in different sports is telling in the stress a sport puts on the body.

    For instance, Golfers being able to compete at a high level until they're 45 obviously shows that it puts much less mental and physical strain OVER A CAREER than tennis. Same goes for Hockey. You play it so you seem a bit prejudiced in this regard. Look at the facts, many hockey players last till their late 30's in the NHL, how many ATP players can you say this about?

    Regarding my own physical stress from basketball - i was responding to Skornz so maybe I should have stated that.
     
    No Streaming Account
  10. jackBURTON

    jackBURTON Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2003
    Messages:
    285
    Trophy Points:
    1,190
    Location:
    Little China
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    Additionally, a whole new mode of transportation has nothing to do with anything. Hockey players are gliding across ice on skates. That's alot less stress than stopping/starting on Hardcourts in Tennis, stopping/starting on a basketball court, or getting tackled on astroturf.
     
    No Streaming Account
  11. IndigoVDub

    IndigoVDub Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2003
    Messages:
    3,467
    Trophy Points:
    1,290
    Location:
    Tempe, AZ
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    Actually i have played all of the above sports and i think hockey and auto racing are the most demanding. Yes there are many older players still playing hockey but if you watched it you would notice that they aren't as quick as the younger players they have to use their brains to stay competetive. Tennis is all about being in perfect shape and that is why players cant continue once they get into their later 20's. This thread is going nowhere and is just going to turn into a big argument, everyone think's their sport is better and you aren't going to convince people otherwise.

    EDIT: You dont's just "glide" on ice. It is very hard on your knees to move on 1/8th of an inch blades. You really need to go play hockey then come back to me and tell me what you think.
     
    No Streaming Account
  12. Golden Gophers

    Golden Gophers Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2003
    Messages:
    3,416
    Trophy Points:
    1,290
    Location:
    Moorhead, MN
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    Yeh jack there is such a thing as starting and stopping in hockey too, unless you want to be a lazy ass and just do circles but the pros like we are talking about stop and start just as many times as basketball players do during the course of the game.
     
    No Streaming Account
  13. skornzbolt23

    skornzbolt23 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2003
    Messages:
    438
    Trophy Points:
    1,190
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    as for players being on top of their game over 40? there are very vew who were great still at 40. like jerry rice is still good, rich gannon is lucky, mj still had nice shots and stuffed the younger guys...... i think you confused the guys who play, with the guys who played well. not many are good at 40, especially like an earlier post said, they play smart, not hard, because they aren't the athletes they once were.
     
    No Streaming Account
  14. Golden Gophers

    Golden Gophers Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2003
    Messages:
    3,416
    Trophy Points:
    1,290
    Location:
    Moorhead, MN
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    Here are a couple of things I would also like to point out, people become pro tennis players around the age of 16. If you are gonna base the difficulty off that then womens gymnastics would be the most demanding as they retire from the sport no later than 20.
    And yeh that is a good pt Skorn, there arent a whole lot of people still playing basketball and hockey at the age of 40, they are usually the people who have excelled in the sport and know how to play it in a mental way which gives them their edge, plus by that age they usually get pretty good respect so they dont take as much punishment as younger players who are trying to make their name. I rarely saw people hit or try to run over Wayne Gretzkey.
     
    No Streaming Account
  15. Cru Thik

    Cru Thik Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2003
    Messages:
    221
    Trophy Points:
    1,190
    Location:
    Brooklyn,NY
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0



    Jon,i highly respect your oppinion.as i cannot totally agree with you.it was interesting to hear ur side.no hard feelings :oops:
     
    No Streaming Account
  16. jackBURTON

    jackBURTON Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2003
    Messages:
    285
    Trophy Points:
    1,190
    Location:
    Little China
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    Whether you play a sport from a "smart" standpoint or an athletic standpoint is irrelevant. Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, and Rich Gannon (all older statesmen) led the Raiders to the SUPER BOWL last year. At advanced ages, they were still on top of their game, showing that older players could be dominant in the NFL. Sorry, this just hasn't happened in Tennis. Do you see people being superior based on mental guile in the ATP? Please, someone show me some evidence to the contrary.

    Gophers - gymnastics I did think about today but discounted it. Many female gymnasts exit the sport because with age comes weight gain. This doesn't really factor into the physical/emotional stress I started the thread about. 14 year old nymphs excel at gymnastics because they're so tiny they can fling their bodies all over the place. It's not that they burn out or get physically torn up, they just get a bit too heavy. The age at which SOME ATP players turn pro really isn't relevant either. All top athletes, with the exception of Tim Duncan, start their careers at an early age. The wear and tear occurs whether they're working their way up through the ranks or are pros already.

    Everyone is getting up in arms about Hockey. Yes, we all respect the sport, but look at the facts, despite Xbonjon's amazing empirical evidence based on a 68 yr old and 5 yr old relative, i did a quick internet search and made a list of a litany of older NHL players still playing and in the prime of their games. I don't see this in tennis. Someone show me some PROOF to the contrary.

    On a side note, Tango and Cash is playing on cable - has there ever been a worse movie made in the history of mankind? I don't think so.
     
    No Streaming Account
  17. The Original MP

    The Original MP Wreck 'Em Tech

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2003
    Messages:
    6,452
    Trophy Points:
    1,290
    Location:
    Lubbock, Texas
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    well when you get older you get slower, fatter, and hand eye coordination gets worse so couldnt you discount tennis for the same reasons as gymnastics?
     
    No Streaming Account
  18. jackBURTON

    jackBURTON Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2003
    Messages:
    285
    Trophy Points:
    1,190
    Location:
    Little China
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    MP - it's an interesting question. It's a bit different to getting mentally/physically burnt out.

    You can stay in excellent shape, but you can't stop your natural bone/organ/muscle weight from gradually increasing with age (from pre-teen to adulthood - after that it CAN be controlled).

    Of course, in most sports - save gymnastics - this isn't a factor as it actually helps you get faster, quicker and stronger. But in gymnastics it's actually a negative.

    I guess that just goes to show that my original question was stupid and we can't compare sports. :)

    Unless we specifically state which sports we're debating.

    BUT - I think gymnastics really is a wildcard here. Tennis players benefit from moving into adulthood, as do basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer and football players. Gymnastics is one of the few sports where you actually benefit from being a pre-teen/teen individual.
     
    No Streaming Account
  19. IndigoVDub

    IndigoVDub Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2003
    Messages:
    3,467
    Trophy Points:
    1,290
    Location:
    Tempe, AZ
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    I think its time we let this topic die. And fyi we showed you plenty of proof about hockey you just would not except it.
     
    No Streaming Account
  20. Golden Gophers

    Golden Gophers Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2003
    Messages:
    3,416
    Trophy Points:
    1,290
    Location:
    Moorhead, MN
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    My point was is that you are saying that tennis players burn out at a younger age, but they also turn pro at a younger age then other pro athletes. So they are playing at a pro level for roughly the same time, the average beginning age for hockey players would prolly be around 21 years old, cept it is starting to get younger as a lot of rookies are now around 18 when they enter the league. Tennis players usually enter the league sometime around the age of 16. So they are at a pro level in hockey for a little longer amount of time then tennis players.
     
    No Streaming Account