Current Events > These two ESPN stooges are dead wrong about the top 5 hardest sports.

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The factual hardest sport in all of the world and universe is being a sports entertainer in the WWE.

Poker and chess are harder

Chess

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Maybe basketball. I think most ppl are at a disadvantage for it

How is chess a sport. I honestly asking not complaining about it. Like is monopoly a sport too?

I don't know dick about hockey, but I would put football and baseball as 1 and 2 from experience. Baseball requires insane hand-eye coordination and reaction time. For football, it's mostly the hits and how physical every single play is

I would say Hockey is a lot harder than most would think. On top being able to skate, there is a significantly higher amount of importance of it being a team sport. With how many players that play during a game, you are only as good as the backups and the backups backups. Some team sports can rely on one or a few players to carry the team.

Baseball is the hardest.

EDIT: To play at a major-league level anyway.

Try hitting a baseball with any level of consistency

MacadamianNut3 posted...

I don't know dick about hockey, but I would put football and baseball as 1 and 2 from experience. Baseball requires insane hand-eye coordination and reaction time. For football, it's mostly the hits and how physical every single play is

hockey is basically football on skates. plus youre always moving. theres no 30 seconds between plays to catch your breath. Id say its more grueling than football

F1 racing

Hockey and it's not even close. The hand/eye coordination, game sense, physical endurance, athleticism all while doing the shit on skates?

Golf is a dark horse pick though too imho. Anyone that has played the game should have a tremendous respect for those that can do it at an elite level.

Rugby

VeggetaX posted...

The factual hardest sport in all of the world and universe is being a sports entertainer in the WWE.

While the 300 days a year schedule is much more painful on the body, many don't consider pro wrestling a sport due to its scripted nature.

Soccer at number 3? Please.

Crimson_Corsair posted...

F1 racing

I was literally yelling this at the screen as Mad....dog..? listed Curling.

MacadamianNut3 posted...

I don't know dick about hockey, but I would put football and baseball as 1 and 2 from experience. Baseball requires insane hand-eye coordination and reaction time. For football, it's mostly the hits and how physical every single play is

honestly take the coordination of baseball, and the teamwork and fluidness of the NBA along with the physicality of the NFL and you get Hockey.

I played football, basketball, and Lacrosse in HS along with swim, golf, soccer, and wrestling (wanted all those patches on the LJ). I havent played baseball outside like middle school and pickup stuff.

now Im a bit biased because I played Hockey since childhood and still do, but Ive never had any trouble with the other sports. Granted I wasnt collegiate or anything, but hockey basically translates to anything else from what Ive seen, whereas most sports only transfer a few skills over to hockey.

so Ive always felt it was the hardest because of that aspect alone. I dont think theres overall a hardest sport cause its always your competition that determines how hard any given game is, but I think the learning curve to play at any level of Hockey is going to be higher just because theres more athletic traits required than basically any other sport.

edit: F1/racing in general is probably way up there. Wasnt thinking about it until I saw the other posts but gotta agree racings probably hardest

I think people have different definition of what 'hard' means. Does it mean:

1) Most difficult to excel at the highest level?
2) Most difficult to play, in general?
3) Requires the most natural talent or innate skills to even qualify to play?
4) Requires the most practice and repetition to excel.

Since everyone has their own ideas of what 'hard' means, this is where there is massive debate and disagreement.

Boxing and MMA should be up there.

Who wants to be punched in the face

I really don't like those two guys.
They are almost unwatchable whenever I see them on TV.

It's funny how FS1 basically hired everyone that ESPN fired for whatever reason and their shows are way better.

cjsdowg posted...

How is chess a sport. I honestly asking not complaining about it. Like is monopoly a sport too?

Monopoly has random element (dice roll) so no, it cannot be a sport. Same with esport that relies on random number generator during powerup spawning.

Chess is weird. The International Olympic Committee acknowledges the World Chess Federation (FIDE) so yes, it's a sport according to them. But chess itself has never ever become one of the olympic events. Take that as you will.

https://twitter.com/FIDE_chess/status/1098783539468951558

https://www.britannica.com/story/how-are-sports-chosen-for-the-olympics

There are numerous other rules, including bans on purely mind sports and sports dependent on mechanical propulsion. These rules have kept chess, automobile racing, and other recognized sports out of the Olympic Games.

Yeah, Hockey does look like it'd be tough as hell, considering all the stuff the guys have to do while keeping balanced on ice and constantly moving, while wearing heavy equipment.

Basketball is up there.

Football/Gridiron is obvious.

I wouldn't sneeze on Golf, either, considering if you're just swinging as an amateur, it's easy to see how tough it is to even get CLOSE to any consistent hits...and that's before learning how to putt the damn ball right.

Anyone who says NASCAR/F1 racing isn't hard are fooling themselves.

...
Honestly, a lot of sports, especially professionally, are tough in some degree or another. Making a list for top hardest is gonna fall into subjectives.

Unless if someone brings up that stupid "slap" sport.

Aloc posted...

Boxing and MMA should be up there.

Who wants to be punched in the face

from interviews Ive seen its actually the gut punches that are particularly bad

thisworld posted...

The International Olympic Committee acknowledges the World Chess Federation (FIDE) so yes, it's a sport according to them. But chess itself has never ever become one of the olympic events. Take that as you will.

I never understood why Olympics doesn't define sports as having an athletics as a vital component to a competitive activity?

Chessboxing.

But it depends what you mean by 'hard'.

Greatest toll on the body? Probably one of those absurd endurance races.

Sport with greatest incidence of life-changing injury? Probably US football, boxing, or rugby (due to CTE).

Sport with the worst ratio of aspiring players to those who make it as a professional? Football.

I have played lots of sports, and I think the old chestnut about hitting a baseball being the hardest thing is true.

My oldest son played lacrosse in middle school and high school and is currently a college lacrosse player. He has played goalie almost exclusively all these years. I dont know if it is the toughest thing in sports, but he takes an incredible beating every game. I dont know how he does it. But he kind of relishes it.

I have no idea why anyone would put Baseball on the list. It is mostly standing around doing nothing, unless you are the pitcher

Of the four "major" US sports, it still has to be Hockey.

If the requirement is to play one game on any sort of competitive level, and have zero prior experience, Hockey would be the sport that you would look the most out of place.

Professional baseball players go 0-4 with 4 strike outs all the time, which is what most of us would do playing competitive baseball. And they can toss you at DH and you never even have to take the field.

You can put someone at Free Safety in football, and they can play the whole game and not make a tackle, or even get remotely close to the ball, and few would take notice.

Basketball might be noticeable, but they can just avoid giving you the ball on offense, and you basically just need to be a speed bump on defense.

But if you don't know how to ice skate, it would be noticeable the second you get out there.

firedoom666 posted...

I have no idea why anyone would put Baseball on the list. It is mostly standing around doing nothing, unless you are the pitcher

Same could be said about any sport where you stand around and wait for your turn. Diving, for example.

firedoom666 posted...

I have no idea why anyone would put Baseball on the list. It is mostly standing around doing nothing, unless you are the pitcher

Hitting a baseball on any sort of competitive level is widely considered one of the hardest things to do in all of sports.

firedoom666 posted...

I have no idea why anyone would put Baseball on the list. It is mostly standing around doing nothing, unless you are the pitcher

Until the ball comes your way if you're an outfielder, then you gotta run dat ass and throw fast and hard and accurately as possible to attempt to get an Out on the guy running for a base.

But that's only if that guy makes a good enough HIT on the ball in the first place (and hit it accurately, too, without making it a foul ball).

And that depends on if the Pitcher is good enough to even not let that guy hit by making consistent, accurate, fast and HARD throws to strike that person out in the first place, or risk letting em walk.

You really can't underestimate any sport until you break it down into what all requires what. It's only slow and boring to us audience who don't care for it much unless someone does make an exciting hit.
These days, baseball went through some rules change to speed things up in order to drum up excitement, and so far, it seems to be working.

bigblu89 posted...

But if you don't know how to ice skate, it would be noticeable the second you get out there.

Or, you can argue this from the other way. Once someone learns how to skate, they can go pretty far if they play a bit.

VeggetaX posted...

The factual hardest sport in all of the world and universe is being a sports entertainer in the WWE.

Pro Wrasslin' is not a sport, it's a soap opera.

lydiaquayle posted...

I never understood why Olympics doesn't define sports as having an athletics as a vital component to a competitive activity?
It's quite obvious that chess is a competitive activity, but shouldn't be considered an athletic 'sport'.
If the Olympics aren't about athletics, then might as well make cooking, cleaning, and singing a 'sport'.

I don't understand either They've never defined sport that way. Here's IOC's stance about sport:
https://olympics.com/ioc/faq/sports-programme-and-results/what-are-the-conditions-required-for-a-sport-to-be-recognised-by-the-ioc

What are the conditions required for a sport to be recognised by the IOC?

To be recognised by the IOC, a sport must first of all be governed by an International Federation (IF). This is required in order to conform to the Rules of the Olympic Charter, the World Anti-Doping Code as well as the Olympic Movement Code on the Prevention of Manipulation of Competitions.

Yeah that's it. That's the whole answer. However it's clear as day that IOC prefers sport with physical athleticism so why did they acknowledge FIDE in 1999? Plus how the heck is FIDE supposed to check for doping as outlined above?!

They could've just said no to chess in the first place yet they didn't. So now chess is an officially recognized sport that will never be an event. That's just weird

lydiaquayle posted...

Or, you can argue this from the other way. Once someone learns how to skate, they can go pretty far if they play a bit.

Oh definitely, but that can be said about anything. Once you get good at it, you can succeed in it.

I was talking about taking someone that doesn't know how to play ANY of the 4 major sports.

Hockey is the one that would be the toughest to "fake your way through".

lmao @ the dude picking baseball and golf.

Maybe at the professional level, but that not what the question is asking as far as i can tell

At a professional level all sports are pretty hard. No random joe is going to be able to compete against pros.

For an amateur? Harder to say. Ignoring needing certain physical attributes, it would probably have to be a sport where each athlete needs to know multiple techniques to play.

1. Amateur Wrestling
2. MMA
3. Boxing
4. Professional Wrestling
5. Hockey

What defines hard to me its the training, practice, and mental toughness it takes to do the sport. Not how difficult it is to get good at. Gymnastics & Golf are hard has fuck to get good at, but the practice is something akin to joining a book club.

TimeForAction posted...

from interviews Ive seen its actually the gut punches that are particularly bad

look up naoya inoue

cjsdowg posted...

How is chess a sport. I honestly asking not complaining about it. Like is monopoly a sport too?

Imagine confusing Chess with monopoly.

Scholars mate on four! Ready! Break!

And Golf definitely deserves to be on the list. Hitting the little white ball the length of four to five football fields into a cup sized hole in the ground in three to four shots is a god damn miracle for the average Joe.

I find soccer to be infinitely more difficult than baseball or basketball. Have never really played football to judge, but it seems piss easy too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0OkR986LL4

I like to think of it this way -- basketball, football, soccer, volleyball, etc., track/field are easier sports to master, but harder sports to become elite.

-- In order to become an elite basketball player, you need to be the top 450 players among the 450 MILLION who play basketball. that is 1 / 1 MILLION people.

If you're less than 6 feet tall, then you better be among the most skilled 10 players among 450 MILLION people who play.

-- Baseball, hockey, golf, etc. are harder sports to master, but easier to become elite. For baseball, you need to be around Top 800 among 15 million people who have played since they were 6-8 years old, so that's only 1 out of every 18750 people that you need to be better at.