doing the butterfly stroke >>
I used to swim in high school and the butterfly was my best event. Anything that an uncoordinated slug like me I can do is not one of the ten hardest things to do in sports
doing the butterfly stroke >>
I used to swim in high school and the butterfly was my best event. Anything that an uncoordinated slug like me I can do is not one of the ten hardest things to do in sports
600 MLB players may face a big league pitcher, but a batter will not even make contact with every pitch. So if you take the number of pitches thrown and those that contact are made (fair or foul), then you have made the percentage pretty small. Now if you take the number down to the balls put into play, it gets even smaller. An actual hit is even smaller.
Just because only a handful of people can do something does not necessarily make it the hardest. Very few people climb Everest every year. Heck very few people go into space.
curling: drawing the rock onto the button with no sweeping.
(with a beer in your non-throwing hand and a smoke dangling off your lip)
10. Hitting a curve ball off of a major league pitcher
9. Getting a hole in 1
8. Get in the ring with Ali
without pissing your pants (garan-damn-tees to at least be the hardest hitting!)7. Returning a serve from Pete Sampras6. Playing QB when Warren Sapp is on the other side of the line and you made fun of his mamma.5. Trying to pick up some strippers at Scores in New York4. Place 100 "little people" in a tug of war against an elephant in an event "man vs. beast"3. Climbing Mt. Everest2. Climbing over your mama she is so fat...1. Make money in the sport of long distance running!
Ski jumping off the big hill. I stood at the top one time (not even on skis) and had my testicles creep up into my intestine. I could not imagine flying down that jump at 60 mph and then launching myself into the air. Yeah, I know you are not that far off the ground.
Okay, that would be it for me outside of standing in the batter's box against Randy Johnson.....as a left handed hitter.
Cool things I have tried:
Return a serve from an NCAA tennis champion (who was not a big server---Mikael Pernfors for those who know tennis). Hard, but I finally got it back. Cannot imagine how hard it would be to return the serve of one of the big guys.
Dig a spike from an Olympic mens volleyball player. The only time I got my arms on a ball and it left 2 huge bruises for a week. A volleyball going ove 100 mph hurts!
Was at the top of the SLC Olympic DH Alpine course....would not have dreamed of going down that course (I respected the USA Today report where the journalist did it--albeit gingerly). Alpine course really do not have snow, it is really just a sheet of ice.
Fielding a punt. No thanks.
Running in and of itself is easy. Not a lot of skill required. Now running fast is another issue.
Baseball is a sport at least according the defintion supplied by the Canadian Coaching Association website. Golf is different since the PGA rule book refers to golf as "the game of golf". Still a hell of a lot of skill needed. I like the quote in the USA Today where the golfer told Ted Williams that when a golf shot goes foul, the golfer must play it.
There is no way to settle this argument, but it is fun.
Mr. Uno wrote:
10. Hitting a curve ball off of a major league pitcher
9. Getting a hole in 1
8. Get in the ring with Ali
without pissing your pants (garan-damn-tees to at least be the hardest hitting!)7. Returning a serve from Pete Sampras6. Playing QB when Warren Sapp is on the other side of the line and you made fun of his mamma.5. Trying to pick up some strippers at Scores in New York4. Place 100 "little people" in a tug of war against an elephant in an event "man vs. beast"3. Climbing Mt. Everest2. Climbing over your mama she is so fat...1. Make money in the sport of long distance running!
Some things are difficult, while others are impossible.
Given enough at bats (maybe 1000, or even 10,000), an above average fit man would likely eventually be able to hit a big league fastball. Give me 8 hours a day to tee off from a 160 yard par 3, and eventually I would likely get a hole in one. Same goes for returning a Pete Sampras serve.
But, I could never break 4 in the mile!
Or triple jump 60 feet, or long jump 30 feet, etc.
Or even slam dunk!
WTK wrote:
USA Today has started running articles on "The 10 Hardest Things To Do In Sports". My question is - trying to be a general sports fan, not some runner geek, and being as objective as possible - where would "running a sub-4 mile" rank? That is if they even rank it amongst the hardest. I mean, you indeed have to consider skiing downhill at 90mph (#10 on the list), blocking a soccer penalty kick (#9), and maybe things a "hole in one".
Now what you need to consider is these are hard things to do even for the athletes that try them. I mean, a slam dunk is hard for the average person, but certainly an easy task for even a 5' 6" college guy. Returning a Pete Sampras 120mph serve may be virtually impossible for the Johnsons, but obviously no problem for any joe-shmoe ranked in the top 250 in the world. So how hard is it to run a sub-4 mile for a middle distance runner? Is it hard enough to be ranked at one the hardest things to do within a sport? Only about 250 - 300 guys have EVER done it in the States. Not many more outside the US. So where does, IF IT DOES, rank?
Again, don't be a geek, and automatically rank it #1, just because you are runner. Objective!!!!!
WTK
I thought about your statement, but I'm going to say that running sub 4 minutes for the mile is the hardest.
Why?
Because there is no luck in running. Many, if not all of the aforementioned sports contain some element of luck. If someone hits a hole-in-one, it is not necessarily because they were aiming for the pin, it may have very well been because they were lucky. Someone who is not a professional baseball player could conceivably hit a ball off of a major league pitcher. Again, that could be luck. The same can be said about hitting a return ball from Pete Sampras. Winning a world championship title in boxing could contain some luck because you are competing directly against someone else. If he is having an off night, you could take advantage of that and pummel him into the ground. With football and basketball, I could write volumes about how much luck is involved with those sports. A lot of great things can be accomplished in each, but you have to question whether or not it was all skill, or some skill and some luck, or in some instances, all luck.
I'm not taking anything away from the difficulty of what was mentioned, but I am suggesting that they may not seem as difficult when you consider that nearly anyone in the world could do what was said. Anyone. Not just any person, however, can break 4 minutes in the mile.
The mile. Breaking 4 minutes in the mile involves no luck whatsoever. It's you versus time. Time won't trip and stumble right before the finish. Additionally, the wind will not always blow at your back when running a mile (on the track anyway). It's you versus yourself and time. There is no luck with that. You either do it or you don't. Can an individual who has hit a hole in one say that they are among the greatest golfers in the world? Certainly not. Can an individual who broke 4 minues in the mile claim that they are among the worlds elite in running? I would say so.
Ask a person who just hit a hole-in-one if it was difficult for them to do? They'll tell you no it wasn't and that all they did was swing the club and the ball went in. Lucky swing I guess. The same can be said for a tennis player and a baseball player. Breaking 4 minutes in the mile requires you to put your body through hell. It comes easy to no one...no matter what their ability is.
I think that this is a very rational way to look at what was asked. I especially like the comment about it being you versus time. A lot of the other sports require circumstances to be right to accomplish a goal...breaking 4 minutes in the mile is pretty amazing. Who isn't amazed when they look at race results and see a mile time starting with a 3?
Sorry if this one has been mentioned. I've only scanned the posts since it is so opinion oriented. One thing I feel would have to be considered as one of the toughest things in sports is a goalie trying to stop a 120 mph slap shot. Remember, you are on freakin' ice skates. Oh yea, you may not even get a glimpse of the damn thing because a cement head is clogging the crease. Just as you reach for it, some sly son-of-a-bitch taps it changing the direction to the other side of the net.
A 4 minute mile is easy. Anyone who follows my simple training scheme can break 4.
One other comment. When considering the hardest things to do in sports you have to completely eliminate the element of luck. Many things such as getting a hole in one or making a 90 foot shot in basketball are 90% luck. Now if you make that hole in one 10 times in a row or make that 90 foot shot 10 times in a row then you are able to eliminate luck and it is one of the hardest thigns in sports to do. The good thing about track and field is there is no luck involved in any event.
Winning the Tour de France is easily the most difficult sporting event in the world, even if you are the most talented athlete in the race. Too many unknown variables of three weeks can impact your race (riding off the road, flatting in a TT, crappy team support, bonking, testing postive for drugs, etc.).
Now, the more important question ---> What is the most stupid sporting event out there?
Answer: Trying to summit Mt. Everest. Talk about unknown variables.
What's harder?
Sub 10sec 100m
Sub 45sec 400m
Sun 4min mile
sub 13:00 5000m
sub 27:00 10,000m
running a 4:00 mile will not be on the list. nothing qualified by time or distance should be on the list. why put a 4:00 mile on, when they could put on a 3:43 mile? hell, why put that when you could put a 3:42, no one's done that, it must be hard.
things qualified by time will not be on there, neither will anything qualified by distance.
i have a feeling on skills will be on it. that's why we're talking about "hitting a baseball" and not "hitting a baseball 600 feet." it would start getting absurd.
Well, the highlight of my speed skiing career was wiping out in the speed trap and coming out on my arse at a clocked speed of 185kmh(115mph). That bloody hurt, and high speed skiing certainly tests courage, but I'm not sure that the technical difficulty is that high.
As an old running fart now, I find the hardest thing in running is to balance the desire for pace and mileage, with not getting injured. A far greater technical challenge than pointing your planks down a steep mountain and putting your head down.
David
I would say there is some luck involved in being able to run a 4 min mile: you have to have the genetics for it. Face it, Maurice Green just does not have the genetics to do.
How about running 9.8 for the 100m (might be comparable in terms of the number of people who can do it not that it matters)?
I would not consider climbing Mount Everest a sporting event.
i agree with Ears on the no-luck aspect of running, but i'm still gonna go with yogi berra on this one, "it's a round ball and a round bat and you have to hit it square"
ah yogi, you haven't steered me wrong yet
If hitting a baseball is always in the top 10 does that mean that pitching a baseball against good hitters is always in the easiest 10?
winning the world cross country championships as a north american...any race
Well if we are talking about hitting a baseball, why say that it is being pitched by a major league pitcher. Its the simple fact of being able to hit it if it came across your path, no paticular speed. By stating a time in the mile is like stating a major league pitcher is pitching to you in a sense, both give a certain distinct level of participation needed to complete the task.