Tiger Woods: AP athlete of the year - But golf isn't a sport

tiger = the man wrote:

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I'd say Tiger likely has Nash beat on: strength, flexibility, coordination and mental toughness.

Nash has him on speed, agility and fitness. Coordination is close, but the golf is a much more technically difficult sport than basketball, so I gotta go with Tiger.

golf may be more echnical but you really think that tiger has more coordination? last time i checked when you hit the golf neither you nor the ball is moving. whereas in BB both you, the ball, and your opponent are moving.

so i think you can give the edge to tiger in maybe strength (how big is nash compared to tiger?) maybe flexibility, and maybe to mental toughness. it is the very fact that you hit a ball that is not moving that makes golf difficult. you have time to thin about it before you do it. kind of like a free throw. in opposition while the game is being played BB is a reaction type sport. and besides, does'nt nash have a fairlyhigh free throw percentage?

diving, ping pong, and ski jumping require physical stamina and skill.

golf is a leisurely game.

that\'s my differentiation, stamina vs. leisure.

you can move around on an electric buggy for the disabled and play golf. the luge is propelled by gravity. ninento requires mental stamina but certainly not physical stamina, thus is a game.

The ball may not be moving, but the club is - at over 100 miles per hour and if the ball is miss hit a single time by a few degrees or a few millimeters it can be the difference between a birdie and a bogey. Tiger does this more than 260 times over the course of a weekend and might miss hit 10 balls, while 200 or so are dead solid perfect.

If that's not skill, I don't know what is. And while it's true that old or fat people can still play golf, none of them can do it at anywhere near the level of skill and consistency that Tiger does.

Old people can also leisurely run, swim, and yes, even play ping pong. Just not at a high level. Does that mean that they're not sports?

Tiger has great skill. So do billiard players and XBox gamers. But there is no physical stamina involved, you can sit on a wheel chair and play Wii, golf, or billiards. Walkers are real athletes, they look skinny and deathly like many marathoners. I\'ve never heard of a bulemic golfer who trained so hard to shed weight to speed his swing, or a 300 pound steroid fed monster golfer who pumped so much iron to make the ball sail further. Golf is a great game, but golf is not a sport.

Tiger has great skill. So do billiard players and XBox gamers. But there is no physical stamina involved, you can sit on a wheel chair and play Wii, golf, or billiards. Walkers are real athletes, they look skinny and deathly like many marathoners. I\'ve never heard of a bulemic golfer who trained so hard to shed weight to speed his swing, or a 300 pound steroid fed monster golfer who pumped so much iron to make the ball sail further. Golf is a great game, but golf is not a sport.

Even RC knows Bubba's better than him. Irrespective of the # of titles RC has won, and no question he's had an amazing few years by riding with incredible poise and discipline, but bottom line, Bubba's got his number. The only person who beats Bubba, and unfortunately it's been far too often in his young career, is Bubba. Can't say that I'll keep track of RC in NASCAR. I find MX much more exciting.

Golf is a sport. It's difficult, it has rules, and hell, it tires me out more than my long runs.

That\'s right, you have to get in and out of that electric golf cart using your own muscle power. How strenuous !

Your long runs are too short, too slow, or both. I've golfed, it is tiring because you're doing one thing for a long time.

I bet if you sat down and watched 12 hours of a Twilight Zone Marathon you'd be tired at the end of it, but it's not a sport.

By the definition of sport given on this thread, anything that has rules and is a competition is a sport. An art contest or poetry reading contest take physical "effort", have rules and there is a winner, etc.

Golf does take hand/eye coordination.

How about this? Sports are events that are real life:

People run, swim, wrestle, box, sword fight in real life- at one time they did these for day to day survival. These are the real sports. People don't play other sports for real life survival. Those (football/soccer, basketball, golf, baseball, etc) are games.

Running is not a TRUE sport!!! The only real sports are baseball, basketball, golf, soccer, tennis, handball, football, and hockey!! Running is just simply that..running! It's not a sport, it's an activity. Running is in the same column as seeing who can jump in the same spot the longest, or who can walk backwards fastest. It's just an activity to stay in shape so one can compete on a high level in a REAL SPORT!!!

If y'all havent noticed, running isn't exactly the most well-known sport?....and you wanna know why, because everybody realizes that it is a very easy sport. Yeah, yeah i know, you have to push to your limits, yadada. But if you were to take a good athlete, who didn't play many sports, and let him do each sport for a week at a time, I betya he would be good at running. But now lets see what sports he wouldn't be good at; football, soccer, baseball, GOLF, and a few others. The point is, running doesn't require any skill. You're not talented, you just devoted your life to running. To be good at any other sport, you have to be born with a gift.

runn wrote:

Your long runs are too short, too slow, or both.

'twas a joke

People run, swim, wrestle, box, sword fight in real life- at one time they did these for day to day survival. These are the real sports. People don't play other sports for real life survival. Those (football/soccer, basketball, golf, baseball, etc) are games.

I have to see anyone sword fight in real life or for survival, but I'll leave that out.

I never did understand the huge obsession with defining what a sport is.

Bubba's Better wrote:

Even RC knows Bubba's better than him. Irrespective of the # of titles RC has won, and no question he's had an amazing few years by riding with incredible poise and discipline, but bottom line, Bubba's got his number. The only person who beats Bubba, and unfortunately it's been far too often in his young career, is Bubba. Can't say that I'll keep track of RC in NASCAR. I find MX much more exciting.

hahaha..bubba has had two years to beat RC and it has not worked yet. yes, bubba is fast but so was damon bradshaw. and how many titles does he have again...

and if bubba wa so much better than how come a semi-retired RC beat him at vancover? and reed beat him at toronto?

and in mx bubba is not faster than RC. all summer long RC came from behind and caught and passed him.

regardless, i just hope that he ends up doing the whole outdoors as i wil not be watching that borefest called neckcar.

"But there is no physical stamina involved"

Why do you think Tiger always whips up on the other golfers on Sunday? He's in better physical condition than they are. That's part of the reason at least. Tiger has upped the ante on the rest of the PGA. Look at the younger players coming onto the tour. The players are looking more like Tiger and less like Mikelson and Daly. Tiger is definitely a stud. That being said, Federer should have won this year. He was freaking incredible all year. What did he lose, 5 matches, that's insane.

Yeah Man wrote:

diving, ping pong, and ski jumping require physical stamina and skill.

Let's just declare yeah man the biggest idiot on letsrun.com and be done with the thread. Did you really just say that diving requires stamina? ROTFLOL!

I don't quite agree with you that few people can see the enjoyment of running. True, runners are a distinct minority but so are golfers. Runners are a VERY BIG minority though. There is an aweful lot of us but most runners make BAD advertising demographics. Advertisers want couch potatoes with NO BRAINS who'll buy their product because of a cute commercial or people with lot of money who can play a lots of money sport like golf and need to speed lots of money to support their game. Were a hard sell by nature and don't need much equipment anyways. No advertising revenue = no television time = no reporter interest = no recognition & no athletes of the year. Huggs Becky

I can't figure out if this Yo-Yo is a total 100% idiot or a very clever nerd who likes trying to pull people's chains. I'm guessing the latter. Nobody is that stupid. I notice everybody (except me) is smart enough to ignore such inname mutterings. Huggs Becky PS If running didn't require a whole lot of nature physical talent as well as hard work and intelligent training, I would be a world class runner instead of radically mediocre. I certainly put in the work but as that line in 'Chariots of Fire' goes, "You can't put in what God left out".

(yo-yo wrote)

Running is not a TRUE sport!!! The only real sports are baseball, basketball, golf, soccer, tennis, handball, football, and hockey!! Running is just simply that..running! It's not a sport, it's an activity. Running is in the same column as seeing who can jump in the same spot the longest, or who can walk backwards fastest. It's just an activity to stay in shape so one can compete on a high level in a REAL SPORT!!!