WHO ARE THE BEST ATHLETES IN THE WORLD?

Want to get into a fight with a co-worker?  Easy.  Try and argue who YOU think are the best athletes in the world.  Trust me, it’s not easy.  It’s like trying to tell your wife that some “sales” at Nordstrom aren’t really sales.  It’s impossible.  Regardless of who you are, what you believe in, or what sport you follow, the age-old question of “who are the best athletes” remains a mystery.  Go ahead, go stand by the water cooler right now and try and state your case (with someone that cares) and see if you’re as smart as you think you are.  Remember one thing as you state your case: Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won’t have a leg to stand on.

For the sake of argument, let’s just play with the idea of 5 different sports:

Hockey, Basketball, Football, Baseball, and Tennis (yes, Tennis, trust me)

Hockey-

Try playing basketball on skates.  Try doing anything on skates.  Balance is a key ingredient here.  These athletes do it at mach speed.  Stopping on a dime, avoiding a 245 pound freight train aiming to take their head off against boards that don’t move.  The eye-hand coordination is ridiculous.  Physically, you must be in the best shape of your life.  The endurance of a :60 second shift on skates, in full pads, with your legs pumping, your head spinning, and your lungs burning is enough to make you consider a different sport.

(Argument)- Too many shifts, not enough time on the ice.

Basketball-

The grace is hard to argue.  Playing at a speed where if you blink for one second, you miss the play, the pass, or even worse, the shot.  No one can jump like basketball players, making 360’s look easy.  The endurance is unmatched.  Playing in 82 games is brutal.  Playing like Kobe, Carmelo, or Steve Nash for those 82 games…impossible.  You need to use every part of your body at all times.  Go play a pickup game for 30 minutes and tell me how you feel.  Now go play against Lebron.   See what I mean?

(Argument)- Too many whistles, timeouts to rest.

Football-

If you aren’t a physical specimen, don’t even try and argue this one.  These guys eat race-car drivers for breakfast.  The sure size and speed of these beasts is enough to make you consider football players as the best athletes in sports.  They hit, cut, throw, dive, and glide all over the field for three hours. They matchup against guys three times their size in hopes of beating them in a foot race or hitting the hole faster.  The playbook is more reading than I did in seven years of college, and NO, I’m not a doctor.  These players are trained killers that move faster than most cars.

(Argument)- Not as many games as the other sports.

Baseball-

Try hitting a slow softball pitch over a 300 foot fence.  Now try hitting a much smaller ball, moving 100-mph in different directions out of that same park.  Hitting is hard, keeping up with the pace of a ball cranked out into right field at 90-mph and making a play at 3^rd is just as difficult.  162 games.  Yes, that is a lot.  Keeping your body in good enough condition to play almost every single day, with travel, is without a doubt, an awesome accomplishment.  You must be fast, you must have great eye-hand coordination and you must be better than the 15,000 other youth players trying out for the same position.

(Argument)- Relief pitchers have it pretty good

Tennis-

Andy Roddick had a serve clocked at 155-mph. He also had a serve implant itself into the clay.  These athletes move and shift their body, stopping, and starting (and grunting) for nearly three hours in most cases.  The upper body strength and condition of the lower body is key.  One false move and you snap your ACL.  It’s all about speed and how you react.  Never a dull moment on the court, with very little time to rest in between.  Have you ever seen a fat tennis player?

(Argument)- At the end of the day, it’s tennis, no one is trying to smash your face in.

 

So let’s hear it…let me hear your argument. I’ll be right here on my couch eating my cheetos waiting to hear your answer.

Comments

[Gjcya]

It's actually gymnastics hands down the toughest sport in the world. It's not a matter of if you get hurt but when and you keep going. It's like all of the other sports put together and adding bull riding. You don't see tennis players doing back flips on a 4 inch beam or hockey players doing the iron cross.

[Scott Pantall]

I have a hard time eating cheetos. It's not the eating them that bothers me, it's the orange fingers. Maybe if I could eat them without using my hands, but then I'd have a orange, cheesy face. I dunno.

Hockey is the perfect combination of skill, speed, violence and grace. If you were to rate the endurance, strength, coordination and smarts to excel at any of those sports you'd find hockey would have high marks in every category while the others would rate low in some categories.

[bob martens]

I think you made the case for what sport is more demanding physically, what sport must you be able to do both right and left, what sport do you have to develop multiple skills. ie what does a wide reciever do, he runs a route and tries to catch the ball thats it. He doesn't have to pass it, dribble it, or shoot it. Its basketball that is the most difficult test of endurance, varied skills and quick thinking. Remember Bball players PLAY 48 minutes of action, football 18 M., baseball 14M. Case closed!