Hardest thing to do in all of sports

Completing the TdF and completing an Ironman are in no way on the same plane of athletic achievement. Completing an Ironman is about the equivalent of completing an ultramarathon.

Jump to the moon.

No, wait. Jump to Jupiter.

Oh! Oh! Oh! Make that ... jump to the Virgo cluster of galaxies.

But hold on, you say. If you could reach escape velocity and jump to the moon, you'd eventually be able to reach the Virgo cluster with no additional effort. Good point. But you're forgetting the fact that objects in space (like galaxies) are constantly moving relative to each other, so you'd have to know where the Virgo cluster would be (to borrow from Carl Sagan) billions and billions of years in the future when your lifeless body (burned to a crisp when exiting the atmosphere to begin with) finally arrived on the scene. Therefore, you'd have to jump out of the Earth's atmosphere at such a precise angle and with such exquisite timing that your feat would be equivalent to sinking a 30 quintillion mile putt. I think that makes hitting a baseball look pretty easy.

I have to believe that hitting a baseball is one of the harder skills to do in all of sports.

The thing here we have to realize is that everyone can run.

If a person wants to a person can run a mile. Some are just faster then others, but they can still run a mile. Same for the marathon.

I could say that the hardest skill is all of sports is to hit 500 for a baseball season. Pretty much impossible. No one has ever done it.

One person has climbed Mt. Everest or whatever the mountain was that the other thread mentioned.

People can climb, people can skate, people can run, people can do flips and so forth. But hitting a major league fastball is down right tough.

I don't think it is the hardest skill but it is up there.

It is just to hard to compare sports to one another.

I believe what gymnast do is very difficult. As for the hardest skill in all of sports I really have no clue.

But there are skill contests that see who can hit a hole in one so I would have to say that a hole in one in golf would be the hardest.

As for all out punishment a 800 in 1:30 is total hell.

If you give me ten sub 4 milers and 10 Major League Baseball players for one year I'll have the milers alot closer to hitting or making contact w/ a MLB pitcher then the MLB players will be to running sub 4. The baseball players will be lucky if they will be able to break 5.

I've done several Ironman, and they're tough, but I actually think running a balls-out marathon hurts a lot more (the pounding is more severe) - it just doesn't hurt as long. I felt way worse at Boston last year than I did at any Ironman (2:50 marathon versus a 3:25). One thing you get with ultras that you don't get with a marathon is the stomach issues - you have to eat a lot during an ultra, and it's going to come back up at some point, and the question is can you slough it off and keep going.

On the other hand, the pros can run sub 2:40 at the end of an Ironman (after going damn hard for about 6 hours already), and I bet that hurts like hell!! Still, I think hitting a baseball consistently at a major league level has to be hard as hell and damn frustrating. The tour de france has to be the ultimate test for an endurance athlete though. These guys average nearly 15 miles/hour up 8-10% grades at the end of big stages - that's truly unbelievable (as are sub 5 miles for a marathon). Hell, I'm impressed by anyone who's world class - FREAKS!!

I've done several Ironman, and they're tough, but I actually think running a balls-out marathon hurts a lot more (the pounding is more severe) - it just doesn't hurt as long. I felt way worse at Boston last year than I did at any Ironman (2:50 marathon versus a 3:25). One thing you get with ultras that you don't get with a marathon is the stomach issues - you have to eat a lot during an ultra, and it's going to come back up at some point, and the question is can you slough it off and keep going.

On the other hand, the pros can run sub 2:40 at the end of an Ironman (after going damn hard for about 6 hours already), and I bet that hurts like hell!! Still, I think hitting a baseball consistently at a major league level has to be hard as hell and damn frustrating. The tour de france has to be the ultimate test for an endurance athlete though. These guys average nearly 15 miles/hour up 8-10% grades at the end of big stages - that's truly unbelievable (as are sub 5 miles for a marathon). Hell, I'm impressed by anyone who's world class - FREAKS!!

Finishing first in the Comrades Marathon.

completing anyone of the 3 grand tours in cycling (France, Italy or Spain), drug free, of course.

Try to ride your bike for 100+ miles a day, 3 days straight, at a 25mph pace....and do it on flat land without hills and see how fun that is and then think about doing it over a variety of terrain for 3 weeks.

Hands down, these are the most physically grueling athletic events.

winning every wrestling match in your collegiate career is pretty tough. 159-0 is damn impressive

gabberjr wrote:

If you give me ten sub 4 milers and 10 Major League Baseball players for one year I'll have the milers alot closer to hitting or making contact w/ a MLB pitcher then the MLB players will be to running sub 4. The baseball players will be lucky if they will be able to break 5.

I would bet that you are wrong.

Columbo wrote:

Hitting a baseball IS NOT the hardest thing to do in sports. But anyone out there who thinks otherwise I challenge them to prove it. SAYING it doesn't prove it.

I agree. About once a year some guys (and one gal) from work head to the batting cages, and a couple of us step in against the 90 MPH machine - I get a solid contact pretty much with every swing, and many are cranked WAY out there - high up on the net on the opposite side - granted, it's not a curveball, but 90 MPH is wicked fast, and I haven't done it for a year every time I go there, and it's like riding a bike. If you could EVER hit a baseball with any kind of authority, you'll be able to do it forever.

With running, you have to train and be in SHAPE in order to succeed - that's much harder to do. That being said, those playing Major League Baseball are superior athletes (well, except for the ocassional overweight pitcher).

All sports have their strengths and weaknesses.

southsiderunner wrote:

winning every wrestling match in your collegiate career is pretty tough. 159-0 is damn impressive

Boy, just when I thougth I'd be first to mention wrestling...ah well. On a smaller scale, those 6 minutes of a wrestling match are about as intense as sports can get.

Sitting in the peleton for 3 days of 100+ miles isn't that hard at all. Hell, given a little training you can sit in at 25mph freaking forever on the flats.

It's the HILLS, man.

scotth wrote:

southsiderunner wrote:

winning every wrestling match in your collegiate career is pretty tough. 159-0 is damn impressive

Boy, just when I thougth I'd be first to mention wrestling...ah well. On a smaller scale, those 6 minutes of a wrestling match are about as intense as sports can get.

scotth,

With that you and I are in agreement.

at least you're not annoying.

mcpuddlemaker,

Are you saying that I'M not annoying. If so, that's a first - usually people say I'm annoying.

If you're saying scotth is annoying then I'll just say he seems like a good guy, and he does a lot for this sport we love, so I give him the benefit of the doubt way more than he even realizes.

Anyway, carry on mcpuddlemaker (whatever that means).

It kinda seems to me that you are not comparing two things equally. Hitting a baseball and running a 4 minute mile does not seem to be a fair comparison. Hitting a baseball and running a mile or hitting a baseball 400' and running a 4 minute mile seem to be fair. It is like running a marathon and sinking a putt. Is the put for 3 inches or 40' is the marathon in 4 hours or 2:20? I don't think hitting a baseball is hard, it is hitting it in the holes or hitting it 400' that makes it hard. I think you need to quanify both sides of the argument if you are going to quantify one.My opinion.

trand16 wrote:

This is off the four minute mile and the marathon thread.

There is no question that running a four minute mile is down right impossible for 99.9% of the world.

Running a marathon is possible for MOST people though IF a person would want to.

Running is running some people run faster and some people run slower.

And if everyone wanted to run again MOST people could run.

But I guess my point is that I believe hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in all of sports.

Running a four minute mile is something a person strives to do.

Hitting a baseball is something you either can or can't do.

What are your opinions?

I disagree that there is no luck in running. There is luck in anything you do. Take the example of someone wanting to run a 4:00 mile:

-There are high winds

-If my plan is to sit and wait and the pace is slow OR I plan to take it out, but no one goes with me and I have to work twice as hard ALONE

-If I stumble and fall

All of these circumstances hurt my chances and are outside of my control. Now imagine if:

-The wind suddenly dies down

-Someone goes out at the exact pace I want OR people go out with me and give me someone to compete against late in the race

-I stumble but manage to catch myself.

There is luck in running too, just different types.

Climbing K2 -

Some interesting points:

Only 5 women have reached the Summit of K2. Three of the 5 women have died descending from the Summit.

The 198 summits are by 196 climbers.

Note there is no woman alive today that has summited K2...

http://www.everestnews.com/sumk2.htm