OT: ESPN ranks 60 sports from hardest to easiest.

[CuseTG2003]

4 games in the last week and I'll play 4-5 this weekend. I'm on an ice hockey kick bc its too hot still to run. I signed up for an unlimited membership to this app/league that has like 40 games per week at different rinks and have been using it StinkySocks Hockey bc I need to do 2 games in a row for it to be worth driving and putting on all the nasty ass gear.

Just saying app soccer made it so I couldn't walk. Hockey I'm dripping in sweat totally gassed but not sore the next day at all, falls don't hurt, score goals and get assists. Way easier than if I tried to jump into a pick up basketball game vs anyone decent.

Nice!

Agree re bball. I played in a league two winters ago for the first time in years, and it wrecked me. Never again. I used to play a lot of soccer and loved it, but blowing out my knee playing indoor ended that. I just golf and run now.

 

[IthacaMatt]

They leave out the track and field event the 400 meter hurdles which no one on this site or many others could do. Running at full speed and jumping while doing it is harder then any of those sports.

Back in high school, I could do 56 in the quarter; pretty good for a small school.

So in track, coach tried me out on the 440 hurdles, since it's not like a school with 90 kids in the graduating class has hurdle specialists on their 20 person track team.

I went tearing down the track and wiped out at the first hurdle, over and over. Never got the hang of it. Never could get smoothly over the hurdle, and those are the low ones.

A week or so later, he asked me to try the pole vault. Lots of speed but no upper body strength. As with the hurdles, it was an afternoon of one wipe out after another, until I just gave up.

 

[baggerbob]

Back in high school, I could do 56 in the quarter; pretty good for a small school.

So in track, coach tried me out on the 440 hurdles, since it's not like a school with 90 kids in the graduating class has hurdle specialists on their 20 person track team.

I went tearing down the track and wiped out at the first hurdle, over and over. Never got the hang of it. Never could get smoothly over the hurdle, and those are the low ones.

A week or so later, he asked me to try the pole vault. Lots of speed but no upper body strength. As with the hurdles, it was an afternoon of one wipe out after another, until I just gave up.

Just think If you had gotten over the first one you then would have had 9 more chances to get hurt.

 

[jncuse]

Its complex. What is the hardest to be great/elite at, or just hardest to be good or average.

There are really two skill sets that define athletics.
- Raw athletics - jumping, running, speed, agility, even pure size and strength
- Skill based athletics - hitting a ball, handling a ball etc.

If you don't have the elite raw athletic tools, there are some sports (or positions in certain sports) you can never be elite at. But that shouldn't be a factor that makes it the hardest either.

Getting too golf -- there are many elite pro golfers that simply don't have the physical assets to be great at other pro sports... but elite players from other pro sports don't have that same limitations if they want to play golf. Of course they might not be any good at the skills required to play golf, but there are no raw athletic inhibitors that stop you from playing golf like other sports. But should it be measured at the elite level?

Anyway all of the above to say, what sport is the hardest to get to at least above average or good at is perhaps the better way to look at things.

Rambling over.

 

[DoubleDee]

Since auto racing is on there, I feel comfortable saying Motocross is harder than fishing.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Its complex. What is the hardest to be great/elite at, or just hardest to be good or average.

There are really two skill sets that define athletics.
- Raw athletics - jumping, running, speed, agility, even pure size and strength
- Skill based athletics - hitting a ball, handling a ball etc.

If you don't have the elite raw athletic tools, there are some sports (or positions in certain sports) you can never be elite at. But that shouldn't be a factor that makes it the hardest either.

Getting too golf -- there are many elite pro golfers that simply don't have the physical assets to be great at other pro sports... but elite players from other pro sports don't have that same limitations if they want to play golf. Of course they might not be any good at the skills required to play golf, but there are no raw athletic inhibitors that stop you from playing golf like other sports. But should it be measured at the elite level?

Anyway all of the above to say, what sport is the hardest to get to at least above average or good at is perhaps the better way to look at things.

Rambling over.ţ

Not sure if you saying this, but physical attributes definitely come into play. If you are built like a gymnast, there is probably a great chance you will never be a pole vaulter or football player or a bunch of other big boy sports.

 

[jncuse]

Not sure if you saying this, but physical attributes definitely come into play. If you are built like a gymnast, there is probably a great chance you will never be a pole vaulter or football player or a bunch of other big boy sports.

That is what I'm saying, you seem to have stated it better. There are certain sports that to be elite, you need to have a high level of physical attributes, that elite performers in other sports will never have. And there are a few that even the basics are really hard.

Those are factors that limit your ability to get at the top.
But is that the same as making that sport harder? I'd say for basketball, nope. But for gymnastics yes. And golf which is more skills based is very hard to get the basics down for some.


I would consider gymnastics one of the hardest sport, as I can't even do any of the things they do at even a minimal level... I can't come close to an "average" gymnast, I can't do the basics.

Basketball not that hard in terms of the basic stuff -- I can dribble, shoot, do everything that is required. Can't do it anywhere near an elite player, but I can do the basics.

Anyway this has turned into more rambling/

 

[GoCuse14]

Golf at 51 shows me everything I need to know about this list. 14 clubs. Weather. Elements. Different styles of courses. Different grasses.

Basketball at 4, get real. Every court is the same. Every hoop is the same. Ball doesn’t change. Climate controlled. Stop it

This is laughable

Actually having basketball above wrestling disqualified this list.

 

[GoCuse14]

Well, anyone can box or wrestle. It doesn't take much effort to get knocked out or to lie on your back on a mat. Being good at them is a different discussion.

Not true. Good luck surviving one practice.

 

[Eric15]

There is a reasonable argument to be made that Water Polo should be #1 on this list. It's probably the only sport where you can't take even the slightest breather while playing.

 

[Bayside44]

I'll say something nice about golf now. It should be ahead of the following:

-rodeo (which honestly should be illegal in 2024, wrestling calves to the ground and tying them up is ridiculous)
-auto racing
-horse racing
-probably badminton and table tennis also

There's a chance of death or dismemberment in rodeo, auto racing, and horse racing. Probably not in badminton.

 

[DoubleDee]

There's a chance of death or dismemberment in rodeo, auto racing, and horse racing. Probably not in badminton.

All fun and games until you take a shuttlecock in the eye.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Just think If you had gotten over the first one you then would have had 9 more chances to get hurt.

Precisely! LOL

 

[IthacaMatt]

There's a chance of death or dismemberment in rodeo, auto racing, and horse racing. Probably not in badminton.

My ancestors (the Parker family) started the rodeo in Florida in the 1920s or so. We had the largest cattle business in Southwest Florida for 5 generations. Finally sold to an oilman in the 1960s for $6M (about 1/4 of all of DeSoto County), which would be worth around $65M today.

The Parker Brothers Ranch of DeSoto County - Florida History Blog

Captain John Parker was a Seminole War veteran and former sheriff of Hillsborough County. He was the first settler east […]

floridahistoryblog.com

 

[TheHaze315]

Soccer at 10 is also crazy. I’ve played football, basketball, golf, and competed in boxing forever, and picking up soccer was insanely difficult. Golf and soccer should both be top 3 imo.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Yeah, try something like this.

 

[721Comstock]

Yeah, try something like this.

I *heart* seeing the ladies send the road gap!!!!

AWESOMENESS.

That said, they all juuuust barely made it to the other side.
Really glad nobody stacked the landing into the road, that woulda been super ouch.

The one scene where the dude shoulder-checked that tree, then shook it off and kept riding -
dunno how that wasn’t a broken collarbone.
BAMF.

The level of skill, strength, and huevos the guys & gals who do that shite is 20/10.
I can’t even.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I *heart* seeing the ladies send the road gap!!!!

AWESOMENESS.

That said, they all juuuust barely made it to the other side.
Really glad nobody stacked the landing into the road, that woulda been super ouch.

The one scene where the dude shoulder-checked that tree, then shook it off and kept riding -
dunno how that wasn’t a broken collarbone.
BAMF.

The level of skill, strength, and huevos the guys & gals who do that shite is 20/10.
I can’t even.

Yeah, I’m not sure I would try any of that stuff, and no way do I have the nards to send it on the big jumps.

 

[OburgOrange]

Since auto racing is on there, I feel comfortable saying Motocross is harder than fishing.

How is fishing even a sport?

 

[Hoo's That]

I don't get baseball above lacrosse. You don't have someone smashing into you with regularity in baseball.

And, no, Ted Williams hitting a baseball is not the toughest thing in sports. As long as you don't get a walk, strike out, get hit by a pitch, or get on due to catcher's interference, you've hit the baseball. You might not have safely reached base, but even a foul ball or the weakest dribbler in front of the plate is still hitting the baseball.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I don't get baseball above lacrosse. You don't have someone smashing into you with regularity in baseball.

And, no, Ted Williams hitting a baseball is not the toughest thing in sports. As long as you don't get a walk, strike out, get hit by a pitch, or get on due to catcher's interference, you've hit the baseball. You might not have safely reached base, but even a foul ball or the weakest dribbler in front of the plate is still hitting the baseball.

What other sport on the list can you be a failure 70% of the time.

 

[ar inj]

What other sport on the list can you be a failure 70% of the time.

Fishing, if indeed it is a sport

 

[orangefog]

This is getting ridiculous. There are sports like soccer and basketball where you can literally walk out and play, but it takes great skill to play at any competitive level. There are sports like golf and gymnastics where really good athletes look very pedestrian at first attempt. At the highest level of any sport, it is HARD. This list is just to create clicks and get people arguing. Discussion is great and productive, but arguing is futile.

 

[Eric15]

Tennessee is beating Kent State 65-0.

At halftime.

 

[Brooky03]

Actually having basketball above wrestling disqualified this list.

I’ve seen 2 football players convert to wrestling late and hold their own. I never saw a wrestler, who wasn’t already somewhat exposed to basketball at a younger age, dribble a basketball remotely well.

I know it’s not 1-to-1 because I haven’t seen strictly bball players convert to wrestling, but it seemed like having a high muscle-to-weight ratio was half the battle or more.