Baseball is back, but at what cost?
June 24, 2020Live music: WFNY Staff Chat
June 25, 2020mgbode – For today’s roundtable, @wfnycraig has suggested the following table of ranking the most difficult sports to play. There are no rules given to how to rank them though, which is the tricky part. The parameters are what really help make a determination. Does a somersault count as “doing gymnastics” or are we trying to discern the difficulty of making the Olympics? Or being able to compete in college? Anyways, we can discuss the parameters alongside what you think are the most difficult sports (or parts of each sport) to play.
andrew – I feel like football and basketball are too high on this list. And I think baseball and soccer are too low. I’m splitting hairs here, but I would put hockey #1 and boxing #2. In my opinion, nothing is harder than trying to play a physical sport while also skating on ice at an elite level. You cannot be a mediocre skater and play hockey. It just won’t work. And you can be a great skater and still not be good at hockey because the sport still demands hand/eye coordiantion, physicality, strength, endurance, etc, etc, etc.
gerbs – How is baseball not higher on this list? Put any other athlete in the batters box and he’s going 0-fer. Maybe you get some weak contact or foul one off but the idea that you can plug and play is ridiculous
Also you can argue boxing is the oldest sport. People have been fighting each other for millennia. Doesn’t that make it easier?
andrew – I think baseball is way harder than this list puts on. Hitting a baseball is perhaps the hardest single thing to do in sports. And being a good pitcher takes incredible talent as well. And with soccer, the sheer endurance it takes as well as the coordination with feet makes it harder than #10 to play, in my opinion.
My response to that, Gerbs, would be to say that fighting isn’t boxing. Boxing takes immense talent to not be immediately destroyed in the ring. You have to know when to attack, how to counter, how to read your opponent. You need strength and endurance and a mental strength and will to endure round after round after round of repeatedly being punched in the face, side, and gut.
gerbs – It was hot take-y in its premise, but I still say give me a month and I could go be mediocre at boxing more so than I could be at baseball
frank – If golf is 51 this is not a serious list. The lack of consistency even at the highest levels bears witness…
andrew – Maybe, Gerbs. I’m not sure I totally agree and I think you’re selling short the degree of skill in boxing, but I’ll grant you it’s a solid point to consider.
And yeah, Frank, golf should be WAY higher. Hitting a golf ball is not the hardest thing in the world, but making the ball go where you want it to will drive literally anyone crazy, including professionals.
wfnycraig – See, now boxing isn’t difficult in as much as everyone knows how to punch and anyone could successfully punch someone in the face. To be good, is obviously difficult. I think of things like water polo, ice hockey, and some of those sports where you’re learning two skills. Skiing freestyle seems like it should be higher on the list too. Gymnastics might be in the top five too.
mgbode – I agree with the faultiness of the list, itself. More interested in the discussion of why different sports are difficult, which y’all have been covering well.
Let me add to the gymnastics note. Not only is it a sport difficult enough to require even the youngest competitors to train as if it is a full-time job, but the combination of mental toughness (both after inevitable mistakes are made and also to overcome fears of doing different skills on the beam, bars, and vault) and physical ability (strength, flexibility, and acute athleticism are all required to be elite) are ridiculous. And, even then, no matter how much any girl trains… the odds are they are never going to be the next Simone Biles as she changed the entire elite-level of the sport. It’s the one sport where that elite level changes so drastically with each generation. It’s not good enough to do the same things you see right now… it’s going to be way more difficult if you are even able to get to that level.
wfnycraig – Maybe we should each do our own rankings and compile it into a WFNY list where we rank them. If everyone does a top ten most difficult sports, we could determine our list and have some (other sports receiving votes) section at the end. First things first though, we have to decide what the criteria are. Like anybody can walk off the street and take a boxing class. Does that make it less difficult than hockey? Or is boxing’s difficulty high because the stakes are high when you face the best in the world and you could end up punch-drunk? How much does risk like that play a factor in difficulty? I could see it being a tie-breaker more than anything.
mgbode – You know Craig is a good manager when he uses today’s talk to setup another future article. Well done, sir. I think risk has to play a factor. The real criteria should revolve around being capable of playing the spot well enough to be quite good, but maybe not all the way to the absolute elite status (as that is impossibly hard for almost any sport). How about we make it based on “being able to compete at the collegiate Division I– or FBS for football- level?”
davesterling – The topic is a bit flawed as many have noted, but a big part of the “difficulty” can be shown with how the sport is played at lower levels. All of the non-NFL version of pro football are generally pretty terrible, as it turns out football is a very difficult team sport, but Baseball, soccer, basketball etc. can be enjoyable at many many levels because as long as the two sides are evenly match talent wise, there is no masterful skill needed to simply PLAY the sport.
scott – Baseball and softball should be different line items. Softball should also be broken down between slow- and fast pitch. There’s also the underlying element of just doing something versus the difficulty in being good at it. Like, anyone can golf. But not everyone is going out shooting a 41-39.
mgbode – I can putt-putt. Does that count? If it helps, I can conquer both the mountain terrain holes and the windmills. I have more difficulty with the billiard-style angled holes, but I likely just over-think the needed geometry there.
Couple other notes: no way boxing should be over MMA as boxing is one piece of that complex sport. And, I have no idea where to place bull riding. Just having the cajones to sit on an angry bull knowing you will get thrown even if you are successful in most cases is such a high barrier to entry.
joshpoloha – I don’t even know where to start here.