What, In Your Opinion, Is the Most Demanding Sport

Ok I just figured it out, all of you are wrong and there is no point arguing about it....

No one can compete w/ the World Pie Eating Championship Contestants, so why bother about arguing for second place. Second place is still the first loser.....

Seriously there is no point in taking this any further as we all have different points of view, so I vote we should agree to disagree before anyone gets rubbed the wrong way. No one's point of view will be swayed as we all actively play different sports and we are very defensive of those sports as we love them dearly.

Please be extremely careful if you guyz continue this thread. I won't close it yet, but I can see this getting ugly real quick....

 

One plain and simple answer to this question would be if a sport is not demanding to high levels that only a select few can be elitists at the sport to create an interest to follow would it really be made a professional sport. I think not so it comes down to each sport has its own demands that can not be compared as they are apples to oranges comparisons and most of the arguments are biased towards the sport that the ones like best.

 

I agree and it all comes down to the fact that I am right on every point that i've made!

Just kidding - but while we're making last points - IndigoVDub no one has shown me proof about Hockey. Everyone has talked about hockey (many of you have talked about your manly exploits in your mom and pop leagues), but no one has made a valid argument based on empirical evidence that relates to the NHL vs the ATP. That's what I've been posting all along and no one has posted anything to the contrary. I've been begging for it, but no one has posted something that relates to PROFESSIONAL hockey players and their career longetivity Vs PROFESSIONAL tennis players and their career longetivity (your amateur experiences are all irrelevant).

 

actually... well nevermind. Someone please lock this.

 

doesn't need a lock, this thread is pretty much done, just waiting for final thoughts from everyone.

 

Actually jack scroll up a bit and look at my post, that is all I have to say, and I have said before that you cant compare individual sports with team sports. DONE.

 

Gophers - I did read your post and responded to it. Tennis players turn pro at an early age, but I don't consider that different from a Hockey player playing semi-pro/college hockey or a football player playing college football, or a baseball player playing in the minor leagues, or a basketball player playing in the DL or College (or turning pro as a High Schooler).

With regard to team sports vs individual sports - I disagree, you can compare sports, but you can't compare them along the lines of "i've played this sport and it's hard". You have to look at PRO sports leagues and the average career length of the athlete. Taking this into account, you can arrive at a conclusion.

 

Hockey players play nearly everyday, and those days they don't have games they have practice. Tennis players play a tournemnt maybe once every 3-6 weeks. Hockey players train in the offseason by lifting weights dieting themselves, doin balancing excericises, run the treadmill for hours on end and whatnot. As where tennis players just practice their volleys, backhands, and other types of hits...they just practice their technique....And whats this about Hockey players having it easy and gliding across the ice. Theres alllott more to skating than there seems. You dont just glide from place to place. You basically sprint the whole time you're out on the ice. So not only do they need to have the skill to be able to skate they must have enourmous endurance. And when you say Tennis players get no break??...thats bull, they get a 1 second break after every hit, a 10-20 second after each point and after 3 or 4 games they get a 5 min break then switch sides. Hockey players skate as hard as they can for a whole minute and then get a min rest then they're right back out there skating as hard as they can for another minute. .......This was only about the endurance of the two just wait til tomorrow when I go over the mental part of the game
I'll finish this discussion tomorrow...goodnite

 

Skater - good addition. So... that all accounts for the fact that there is a high percentage of 35+ year old players in the NHL and nearly zero players of that age in the ATP. That says to me that tennis is harder on the mind & body. Tennis players get a rest while awaiting the next shot? Hardly. NHL players get a rest when the puck is out of their general area, and also rest during line shifts.

Show me the evidence. Show me the leagues and who is playing. I'll show you the NHL which allows players to play at a more advanced age. I'll also show you the ATP which torches the mind and body and finishes your career much earlier.

 

since we're about to tie up the thread, i got somethin to say plain and simple. despite which sport we feel is the harshest, mentally or physically, it takes a man to play a game well, a pro to excel, and a legend to grace the sport until they quit. we may see one sport that seems the hardest on the body, and another that can cause mental anguish, the point is, is that each sport takes a legend to show what limits are pushed and what humanity really can do. so no matter what sport, i say anything man can do that surpasses our expectations, i'm glad it's around. play on playa * sticks tongue out in rock and roll fashion, then waits for nba 2k4 in about 10 hours*

 

Why not just say that football and hockey keep the players physical strength up higher over longer periods of time allowing their careers to last longer. The conception of how long the avg. career is in a particular sport has noting to do with how demanding a sport is.

 

well said man, you hit it right on the head

 

I don't know if anyone hs mentioned it yet (I haven't seen it,) but Rugby seems like a really demanding sport. Constantly running and making/taking tackles while getting your eyes gouged out seems like it's tough. And there's no helmets or pads involved.

Racing cars seems highly demanding too. I know you're just sitting there but your concentration needs to be at it's peak for a few hours straight and the only breaks you get are 12.2 seconds long. Drivers lose 8-10 lbs per race.

I'm not going to take a stand on which sport is more demanding though since I think all sports are highly demanding if you try to be the best at it.

 

All you said in your response was that you consider it no different then college/semi pro hockey and so on. You said they all start their careers early. Yes they all start playing sports at an early age but you have said it yourself in the above quote that we are talking when they are playing in the top PRO league. And hockey players do not get there until around the age of 21. So they actually dont start their top echelon PRO career which is what I thought we were talking about. So if you want to consider college and all of that now it is kind of unfair as a lot of those players will never reach or even get to play an NHL game. So if we are comparing top Pro league to top Pro league entry age then there is a 5 year age difference.

 

ok I have the most physically challangeing sport of them all....

What is it you ask....

Curling.
You know the Olympic sport where they throw those really heavy rocks down the ice and the other players use the broom to make it go where they want. Sort of like shuffleboard on ice.

Very demanding.

 

i agree. Curling kicks ass.

 

Hey, you forgot Shuffleboard. There are some awesome TRASH TALKING SENIOR CITIZENS who rule at this sport.

 

Hey, what about Ping Pong? Tiny white ball travelling very fast with a ton of spin on it.

 

Cycling to me is the easy pick. This is a sport that is just enduring pain and fatigue. Lance Armstrong is the most dominate athlete in the world in my opinion.

 

Don't know if anyone has said this but have you ever played midfield in lacrosse, now that is demanding.