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I was at the Yankee game today and watching the players make running catches and dives, etc and it got me thinking, which sport has the most athletic players, and by athletic, I mean overall, not just strength or agility, but which sport tends to require the most of its players?

My choice is Basketball. As a former basketabll player and football player I have to say that I was in the best shape of my life while part of my high school Basketball team and the worst shape as a football player. YOu have to work on endurance, agility, strength training, etc as a basketball player and you tend to expend more energy running a full court game for 1 hour as comapred to a football game (I was a lineman so I didn;t move much.)

You must have been an offensive lineman. If you were a good D-lineman you were always moveing.

Playing D-line was probably the most physically demanding thing i have ever done in sports. Ya ive played soccar baseball track, and basket ball
but nothing compared to the sheer drained feeling after playing 4 quarters against a O-lineman that had 90lbs on me.

I think maybe soccer or basketball. Soccer needs every player to be able to run across a very large field, dribble a ball with the feet, be extremely agile, and then still be able to kick the ball, even while the goalie (the least used player) is only in the goal, still mst be very agile as well as able to jump and catch the ball. It requires both hand-eye coordination and foot-eye coordination in the players' parts, but also requires a lot of use of peripheral vision as well as speed and endurance.

~ver

Track and Field, just for the range of abilities it takes. IMHO, that is.

Frank Hipper wrote:Track and Field, just for the range of abilities it takes. IMHO, that is.

I almost said something about Track and Field, as well, but I think there are other sports that require other range of motion, more endurance and stamina, more teamwork, etc., etc.

~ver

Cross-country. Track, only with teamwork.

I don't see a lot of basketball players passing out and the end of their games because they've worked so damn hard.

Howedar wrote:Cross-country. Track, only with teamwork.

I don't see a lot of basketball players passing out and the end of their games because they've worked so damn hard.

True this, but there IS a bigger basketball team than a cross-country team (in regards that they swith out players). If those basketball players played the entire game without switching anyone out, they might actually pass out at the end of the game. This does go for a lot of team sports.

~ver

Yeah. Um, you kinda can't switch out in the middle of a race.

Howedar wrote:Yeah. Um, you kinda can't switch out in the middle of a race.

That was the point.. -_-" However, in track, you can (but only in relay races ).

~ver

Well, technically there are also cross country relays.

Swimmers. They exercise pretty much every major muscle group, and often for very long periods of time. Range of motion is required to become more efficient, and so is lung capacity and circulation to supply the muscles with oxygen.

I'm sure jmac would back me up on this

Ice Hockey. Nothing combines the requirement for strength and agility like hockey does. The fact that ice is prominetly involved also complicates things. The amount of lower body strength you need just to keep balanced is incredible. I tried playing a couple of times, and each time I could barely walk the next day thanks to my legs being incredibly sore.

Basketball. While other sports might require stronger athletes, faster athletes, athletes with better endurance, and whatnot, basketball calls on every player on the court to have all these things. On the pro level, they've got to be stronger, faster, more agile, jump higher, and of course, shoot the ball better than 90% of the human population. Soccer comes pretty close, I think.

Having played rugby, football, basketball, and baseball(not all of them on a formal team, though) I must give my vote to basketball.

Football of course, it requires the perfect balance of speed, maneuverability and strength though if you've ever pitched your hardest for even 3 or 4 innings then you have to give respect for guys like Roger Clemens who have been doing that for their entire careers.

Stravo- Go Yankees!

Actualy I think cross country has the best but I voted T&F because there was no XC choice. Running in the desert in the middle of the day is not easy. Twelve mile runs on sand dunes is not easy. No water until you get back, which is hopefully under an hour and a half. Then you race. That part isn't that hard but still, three miles(5k) is no walk in the park if you want to win. Then there's good old Hell's Hills. The hardest cross country course in New Mexico. First mile is nothing but soft sand, then comes stair way to heaven, nothing but sandy hills for a while. After that is heaven, but you can't slow down there because every one else is tired from the hills. Then the fun part, a quarter of a mile of down hills but then the hills start up again and don't stop until the sandy quarter mile finish. Now that is hard. That makes a mentaly unstable runner who would take on any body or any thing. Looks thin but can woop some ass. We feel no pain.

RedImperator wrote:Basketball. While other sports might require stronger athletes, faster athletes, athletes with better endurance, and whatnot, basketball calls on every player on the court to have all these things.

Um, races require strenght, speed, and endurance. Whats your point?

On the pro level, they've got to be stronger, faster, more agile, jump higher, and of course, shoot the ball better than 90% of the human population.

This is true for any sport.

Modern Pentathlon - thisone requires lots of differt skills.

Howedar wrote:Um, races require strenght, speed, and endurance. Whats your point?

Do runners also have to move with, pass, and accurately shoot at the same time they're dodging five other guys? Do they have to keep track of the locations of 9 other players, all moving in different directions, five of whom would like to steal the ball and score on the other end of the court? Do they have to do all this while recieving plays from the coach and adjusting them on the fly, as point guards do? Do they have to plant their feet and take charges from 7 foot tall, 300 lb men, as anyone who tries to guard Shaq has to? How about maneuvering around and through two or three guys assigned to defend them to score, as nearly all the big name players do?

I have no doubt a world class runner could leave an NBA player gasping in his dust in a foot race. But being fast and having good endurance isn't enough in basketball (and it's not like pro players are slow or tired--small guys like Allen Iverson have to be fast or else they'll never be able to shoot around guys with 6-12 inches and 100 lbs on them, and Iverson routinely plays every minute in the game).

On the pro level, they've got to be stronger, faster, more agile, jump higher, and of course, shoot the ball better than 90% of the human population.

This is true for any sport.

Are you seriously suggesting 300lb offensive linemen and pitchers with beer guts are faster than 90% of the human population? Every pro athlete has to be one of these. Basketball players have to be all of them.

If what one defines as 'athletic', is the ability to push your body beyond it's physical limits, then it would have to be Track&Field ( X-country included, and road races).

This argument is going around in circles. There is no such thing as a single measure of athleticism, so each person is inventing his own definition.

Some people argue that if you are the very best in the world at any one physical event, then you are the best athlete. Others argue that if you have some mixture of various skills, then you are the best athlete (and they will argue about what the optimum mixture between speed, strength, agility, flexibility, and endurance are).

Since athleticism has not been defined, each person simply argues that his chosen field of sports conforms best to his particular ideal of athleticism, hence each person believes that his choice is the best athlete. This argument simply cannot be resolved because its terms were never defined in the first place.

It's like asking what is the best-performing car instead of the fastest, or quickest off the line, or best-handling, etc. You can arbitrarily define the definition of the ideal to suit your personal preferences.

You would be surprised how in shape a good badminton player is. Im not talking hitting the birdie in the backyard. But competition play. Extreme bursts of energy are required to cover the court and agility is a must. However, its hard to say a 'best athelete' is since every sport uses a little something different skill wise.

On a side note, I saw a show where they said people who participate in triathalons are often prone to injury, not because they push themselves, but because they dont excel enough in each area to avoid injury.

Howedar wrote:Cross-country. Track, only with teamwork.

I don't see a lot of basketball players passing out and the end of their games because they've worked so damn hard.

Cross-Country running isn't the only discipline that requires lot of endurance.
Soccerplayers will run 10+km during a typical 90 minute game. Biathlon adds
shooting to cross-country skiing. The Sport that gets be close to collapse fast
is squash.

Do runners also have to move with, pass, and accurately shoot at the same time they're dodging five other guys? Do they have to keep track of the locations of 9 other players, all moving in different directions, five of whom would like to steal the ball and score on the other end of the court? Do they have to do all this while recieving plays from the coach and adjusting them on the fly, as point guards do? Do they have to plant their feet and take charges from 7 foot tall, 300 lb men, as anyone who tries to guard Shaq has to? How about maneuvering around and through two or three guys assigned to defend them to score, as nearly all the big name players do?

Do basketball players have to run up to 2hrs every workout ( up to three times a day for pros). Do basketball players have to run over 100miles a week just to stay in shape to compete on the international level? ( ~60-80 in college; ~50 in highschool). Do basketball players have to do the exact same repetitive motion of running for miles or hours on end? Do basketball players have to watch were they run or else they may get a several bleeding gashes from the other persons spikes?

Runners actually have to dodge other runners and keep track of each other in a race, whether it is in track or on the road. Once your mind starts to slip, people start passing you up. Plus in a race, you have to watch out for other people elbows and feet. Have you ever been jabbed in the stomach or the ribs when you are breathing as hard as you can? Runners on the track actually have to manuever around each other, or else they can lose a race when someone runs up on the inside, or if you get shoved to the outside and you end up running the longer race.

Cross-Country running isn't the only discipline that requires lot of endurance.
Soccerplayers will run 10+km during a typical 90 minute game

Which is why highschool track teams try to recruit soccer players.

I voted Football, but YEah Ice Hockey Too, thos eguys sacrifice themselves a lot, though some bella donnas in the NHL who are scared of getting hit make me wince. I say both of those sports.