HARDEST sports to play

College Confidential Community
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you basically wanted me to do that because you couldn't make any points yourself and had to use everything i said?

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<p>For one, I had attempted to make the same points as the ESPN rankings layed out previously. I just thought the World Wide Leader in sports might have enough weight on the subject to make you actually admit that you might be wrong. Secondly, YOU DIDN'T DISPUTE THE RANKINGS. </p>

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boxing won b/c of the straight up physical aspects like strength, durability, endurance and power. but tennis beat it in every other aspect, which were the ones dealing with more skill.

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<p>Those aspect you so casually dismiss as being the reason that boxing won are what make sports hard. The fact that they are an integral part of boxing means that it is a harder sport.</p>

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yeah, we all know a tennis ball doesn't move at all during the point right?

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<p>Not at the point of contact it doesn't. Both sports involve predicting where an object is going to be and then reacting. The difference is that a human being may decide to not be in that spot when your fist gets there whereas a tennis ball isn't really all that capable of independant thought last time I checked.</p>

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these are simply special occasions where the players must improvise what they are going to do. in tennis, this is a constant dilemma

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<p>What are you even talking about? Special occasions? Have you ever played basketball or football competitively? That happens every play in football. As I've said before, making split second decisions based on where a ball is going and how to hit it is a hell of alot easier then having to combat a human opponent. Seriously, when are you going to admit this? </p>

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most of the time and with the help of a slew of coaches (esp in football). and a quarterback has people protecting him from those 300 lbs guys.

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<p>Coaches arn't on the field while you're playing, dolt. You ever see a football coach run onto the field during a drive and help correct someones technique? And the the fact that the quarterback has 300 pounders protecting him doesn't mean that d-lineman don't get through occasionally, so basically you've in no way countered the argument that it is harder to perform when someone else is trying to hit you. </p>

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do you ever see a playbook or dry erase board on a tennis court? nope. you just have your brain, body, strategy and reactions.

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<p>Wow. Tennis must be really hard. YOu have to have quick reactions? And be smart? And control your body? Wow. I don't know a single NFL player that has to do that during a given play. I'm pretty sure that any offensive lineman in the NFL has to use all those things to block a defensive lineman on a given play.</p>

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eye-hand: when you hit a puck, most of the time it isnt coming at you 100mph. you get to stop it with your puck and then hit it, or its conveniently passed to you.
nerve: i'm pretty sure its the fact that you can get hit thats nerve wrecking, not the puck, given that (as you mentioned) you have a whole bunch of padding. and i admitted tennis doesnt require nerve.
analytic: tennis is way harder.
endurance: hockey players arent always skating hard, they do relax and kind of glide along. i don't think skating is harder either. skating 100 yards is a lot easier than running 100 yards. and i've never heard of hockey players cramping in their legs as much as players do. and of course, SUBSTITUTION is a great advantage to have. but you dont have that benefit in tennis now do you.

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<p>Okay, now I might have to get someone who either ice skates or plays hockey to back me up here, BUT SKATING ISN'T EASY. It is murder on your quads and legs to skate. Even when you're just "gliding" along your leg muscles are still flexed. Furthermore, it's harder to stop the puck and then hit it. Could you stop a volley shot to a dead standstill and then launch a return shot? Read the definition of analytic again. Tennis doesn't require nearly the amount hockey, football or basketball does. Why? You only have one opponent. One solitary opponent, who is limited to a relatively small area. Comparatively, in any of the other sports you are guessing what the future actions of 5 other human beings are going to be. Tennis requires more fieldvision? Laughable. And yes, you do get to be substituted out, oh wait, don't tennis players get to sit down and get a drink of water between sets? So what's the difference between that and being substitued in for? </p>

<p>Finally, I would like you to answer the question of what is harder: hitting a tennis ball (with all the incumbent spin and adjustments) or hitting the same tennis ball while a 245 pound man tries to tackle/check/otherwise abuse you physically?</p>

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<p>Nine pages and people are still defending tennis as a difficult sport. I don't care if you're Andy Roddick, I'd still tell you what you're doing isn't even as tough as my running against gold medal Olympians every spring.
And on that note, am I the only one here that actually plays a college/professional sport?</p>

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<p>Horseback riding. Definately. All of the sports deal with some other object, but with riding, you're dealing with another animal (and another brain). I ride pyscho little ponies, and sometimes they'll be stubborn little brats and refuse to go over jumps. Do I make them? Of course. Riding is as much a physical sport as it as mental sport. I get such a huge thrill from doing a course (a series of jumps) correctly, when I know that the horse and I have worked together. :)</p>

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<p>At least in other sports, even if you're not as good as someone skillwise you can still somewhat have fun, provide some sort of competition for the other team or player, or have a teammate help you out in the situation.</p>

<p>However in tennis, if there is a great skill gap between you and your opponent, you're going to be standing there looking like an idiot when you can't even touch a single serve or even attempt to return your opponent's reply of serve. In tennis, you can be beaten so badly that you might not even have the opportunity to move around or swing your racquet a whole deal. Your opponent could be 6-0, 6-0 in a matter of 20 minutes while you're still wondering what the hell is going on.</p>

<p>And in a middle of a match during crucial points, there's no coach, teamate, or a timeout to help you out, you've got to rely on yourself and your instincts alone...</p>

<p>Yeah tennis might be easy if you're playing Homer Simpson, but you'll see how hard it really is when you're getting ass smoked on the court by someone with skill.</p>

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<p>^</p>

<p>What makes what you just said then me playing hockey against Wayne Gretzkey?</p>

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<p>yeah seriously shut up.</p>

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<p>so no one will make a claim to being able to hit a golf ball correctly?
case closed if you ask me!</p>

<p>just kidding</p>

<p>man i can't run for @#$*&@(((</p>

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<p>Golf is the hardest sport in the world. Thousands of technical details you have to perfect, and if one is off, then you suck.</p>

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<p>The question of this thread has taken on various meanings. What exactly does one mean by "hardest" sport to play? If we are taking a general position on the issue, then the answer is that all the sports are equally "hard". Certain aspects of certain sports are bound to be more difficult than those of some other sports. In the end, especially at higher levels, everything balances out, and every sport is equally difficult. I repeat, EQUALLY DIFFICULT.</p>

<p>This may sound corny, but it's almost like Newton's third law of motion: for every action, there is an equal an opposite reaction. Basically, if one sport is less challenging than another in one aspect, it will be more challenging than that sport in another. I can provide countless examples to support this.</p>

<p>That said, unless for the sake and fun of arguing, it is pointless to debate this topic. On the other hand, maybe I should join in on the fun and say that TABLE TENNIS is the HARDEST sport.</p>

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<p>Long distance running (or biking or swimming) is the toughest athletic activity. Because in these kinds of sports, the muscle that is put to the ultimate test ... is your heart.</p>

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What makes what you just said [different] then me playing hockey against Wayne Gretzkey?

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<p>Word. See Mike Tyson's career record for more examples:
<a href="http://boxing.about.com/od/records/a/tyson.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://boxing.about.com/od/records/a/tyson.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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Golf is the hardest sport in the world. Thousands of technical details you have to perfect, and if one is off, then you suck.

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don't even try please. If John Daly can compete at the highest level of this sport and Ray Ramano can play on the Pro-Am tour you cannot make the argument the golf is harder then any of the sports listed above. </p>

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Long distance running (or biking or swimming) is the toughest athletic activity. Because in these kinds of sports, the muscle that is put to the ultimate test ... is your heart.

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don't even try it either. Now if you were allowed full contact...that would be an interesting sport...</p>

<p>"Here we are at mile 14, Jones has a commanding lead, running well, definitely on place..OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE THAT HIT? Thomson has just absolutely leveled Jones coming around the corner, it is all over here in Boston ladies and gentleman. There is no way Jones is getting up from a hit like that. My sweet Jesus."</p>

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And on that note, am I the only one here that actually plays a college/professional sport?

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<p>No you ain't my brotha, played football and baseball my freshman year, now only play football. Where do you run?</p>

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<p>Ray Ramano is on the Pro Am tour because he is a celebrity, and I'm not sure I understand your reasoning behind mentioning John Daly to support your point. If anything Daly's performance proves how the sport demands perfection; for years he has been trying improve his tour standings by hitting the long ball and impressing the gallery, and it is doing nothing but hindering his progress. John Daly has almost never competed at the "highest level of the sport," and I believe the only reason that many of us have even heard of him is because he is a fat alcoholic that tries to belt the ball as far as he can; the people love it.</p>

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No you ain't my brotha, played football and baseball my freshman year, now only play football. Where do you run?

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<p>Tulane, only white sprinter in Conference-USA, I think ;)</p>

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<p>That's the spirit, I'd say you're talking to the smallest football center in the nation. C-USA is legit too man, props.</p>

<p>To respond to indianboy: Check out the definition of sport I posted earlier. Under these guidelines it is questionable whether or not golf is even a sport. Also, the reason I pointed out Daly is because he is rather unathletic and still competes at the higest level of the sport, and Ray Ramano because he is relatively competent at golf and still has another full time profession.</p>

<p>A sport is any:
A.) physical activity where the main instrument of the contestant is the human body that
B.) requires a direct employment of an offensive/defensive strategy and action in order to win the contest.
C.) Your opponent must physically impact your ability to perform/score during the event/match/game. I.e. you are not operating in a vacuum.</p>

<p>Under this criteria it could be argued that golf is not even a sport, however, even conceding that golf is a sport there is no logical argument that could be made that it is in fact the hardest. Yes, it is very tough to become a master, but the overall chaallenge of the game, i.e. physical aspect/level of athleticism required is not comparable to any of the sports debated above. Except the idiot who suggested ultimate frisbee. I sincerly hope they were joking.</p>

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<p>Ok, i have lettered in 4 sports, and lemme tell you this, tennis is by far the hardest sport ive played.Hockey involvees teamwork and the ability to take pain, wresting involves massive weight lifting, speed , and stamina, but the matches are so short its not much of a mental aspect, you gotta e smart and use the right move, xc is just all physical no mental, except for pacing. I ran and played tennis at the same time, and tennis still takes a heavies toll. Between wrestling and hockey, wrestling owns it .. Its hard to go out on a mat half naked in front of your whole school and get your ass kicked by some kid ranked 37 in the nation.</p>

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<p>Let's just say that it's not tennis, and wrestling is probably the best answer some people can agree on. Again, this comes from a long distance runner.</p>

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<p>ithihnk the kids who are on the espn spelling B are the best, all around atheletes...lol jk</p>

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<p>Are we a 7th grade girl? LOLOLOL jk =) You played sports, respect yourself.</p>

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Let's just say that it's not tennis, and wrestling is probably the best answer some people can agree on. Again, this comes from a long distance runner.

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<p>Agreed, but granted I've probably been brainwashed by my buddies on my high school wrestling team. My two best friends were both state champions and all-state champions, and one finished 1 spot from All-American at Nationals (the other tore his shoulder and couldn't wrestle at Nationals - <a href="http://www.mansfieldwrestling.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.mansfieldwrestling.org&lt;/a>, though he became the first wrestler in our school's history to finish a season undefeated). We would go out for dinner and **** after practice and I would ***** about my track workout for the day but nothing I ever did even compares to the practices that the wrestling team had.
Wrestling is the hardest sport because the work ethic involved with being successful. ::awaits argument that tennis has the same work ethic::</p>

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<p>dude...don't you know by now that tennis players have to make constant spilt second decisions, controlling every aspect of their body, and by extension the racket and ball. There's no way the extreme physical punishment of restling can compare to the countless hours of hitting forehands across the net.</p>

<p>Moving the debate onward: I'd probably say that boxing edges wrestling if only because the training regimens are very similar, but in boxing you absorb more punishment. Conversely, during a wrestling match you're essentially flexing your entire body for a solid 3 minutes, something you escape in boxing. However, the fact that a boxing match can go on for 12 rounds makes up for that difference in my mind.</p>