If you could be a professional athlete for any sport ?

Nate Archibald wrote:

Would anyone actually choose running over the major popular sports?

No. Tennis for sure if I could crack the top 10.

I would have to go with baseball for the guaranteed money.

For lifestyle I would have to go with surfing.

Nate Archibald wrote:

I would have to go with baseball for the guaranteed money.

For lifestyle I would have to go with surfing.

Baseball's got a long, grueling season. You can go a month without a day off.

I might go with golf. I don't have any actual interest in the sport, but it seems like it'd be fairly easy from a lifestyle perspective. Play every other week or so during the season, nab some sponsorship money, no teams or coaches to deal with, little risk of debilitating physical injury...

It really depends on what your desires, likes and goals are.

If you crave money, attention, exposure or publicity, then running is not the way to go.

If you like working with others as a team, don't be a pro runner.

But if you value knowing that success depends on yourself, and you value the internal satisfaction that comes from individual measurable improvement, running is good.

You can be the best in the world at your position in a team sport, but never win a team championship. The watch allows you to measure your improvement, and provides indisputable evidence that you are the fastest runner.

The chance of serious injury due to mistakes made by other players is always there in team sports, but low in running.

You can retire from pro running and still continue to run for fun, but that is hard to do in most other pro sports.

Basketball. No question about it.

Fun (This is my primary reason).

Money.

Popularity/fame (I don't think that I would necessarily want this, but a pro basketball player could have it.)

Safe, long career, and then you can play for fun forever.

I'd choose running any day! I'd be happy to run 1-2hrs a day and spend 22+hrs recovering while doing something that I actually know and enjoy!

Baseball, no question. Specifically, a power-hitting leftfielder. Play outdoors in nice weather, unmatched atmosphere. You're not expected to be great defensively, or even have much of an arm. Just swing for the fences 4 or 5 times a night. Heck, you'll probably get platooned, so only have to play half the games. Guaranteed contract. Easy money.

F1 driver, maybe.

Football

I ran to get fast for football.

The NBA for sure. Indoors. Half azz play until its playoffs. Constantly get away with berating the refs. Hoes in city after city. Easy choice.

Golf, followed by baseball or fútbol

Barrel Jumping. When men were men and ice was hard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ85Ck2fCM0

Nate Archibald wrote:

Would anyone actually choose running over the major popular sports?

No, but I believe Pickle Ball is gaining in popularity and possibly be a major sport one day????

Nate Archibald AKA Tiny, I remember when you were playing with the Kansas City Kings of the NBA, seems like just yesterday.

Covid Hysteria wrote:

Nate Archibald wrote:

I would have to go with baseball for the guaranteed money.

For lifestyle I would have to go with surfing.

Baseball's got a long, grueling season. You can go a month without a day off.

I might go with golf. I don't have any actual interest in the sport, but it seems like it'd be fairly easy from a lifestyle perspective. Play every other week or so during the season, nab some sponsorship money, no teams or coaches to deal with, little risk of debilitating physical injury...

+1.

Less physically demanding than tennis. Easier travel. Longer career. More established senior tour. Better pension.

Annika Sorenstam quit junior tennis because she often had difficulty with finding the right practice partner. No such issue with golf.

The only aspect I may not like is having to play pro-am with sponsors.

i chose baseball also from the perspective that you will have major clout for a being a pro but at the same time you can walk down most streets without getting recognized. NBA players would get recognized almost everwhere due to height and playing with close up camera exposure with no helmet or hat on.

Yeah, baseball has a long grueling season as does basketball. Changing time zones every week or sooner doesn't help.

Golf would be my choice. Beautiful scenery, fresh air, nice weather, a long enough off season to recover. The stress on the body is not as tough as other sports. You can make money through sponsorship, teaching, public appearances yet still have anonymity.

coach wrote:

Yeah, baseball has a long grueling season as does basketball. Changing time zones every week or sooner doesn't help.

Golf would be my choice. Beautiful scenery, fresh air, nice weather, a long enough off season to recover. The stress on the body is not as tough as other sports. You can make money through sponsorship, teaching, public appearances yet still have anonymity.

I agree completely with you, coach. I've thought about this question a lot. Though football would be fun it is terrible on the body. Maybe only boxing would be worse.

Golf is a lifetime sport you can make money on as long as you have some name recognition. If you've never been to a major tournament, even on the practice days, I would highly recommend it. It's a fun and classy environment with a lot of humor and humility. Plus, you never have to play in real crappy weather. However, those guys spend a lot of time practicing year round. Maybe more than most sports.

l ive under a bridge wrote:

I agree completely with you, coach. I've thought about this question a lot. Though football would be fun it is terrible on the body. Maybe only boxing would be worse.

Golf is a lifetime sport you can make money on as long as you have some name recognition. If you've never been to a major tournament, even on the practice days, I would highly recommend it. It's a fun and classy environment with a lot of humor and humility. Plus, you never have to play in real crappy weather. However, those guys spend a lot of time practicing year round. Maybe more than most sports.

Yeah I think people are underestimating how many hours/day you need to spend practicing to be good at golf. Google up Tigers practice routine from his prime and you are looking at 10 hours of physical activity per day.

To a certain extent this is going to come down to how much you value money and how good we are talking. If I could be the best runner in the world, it would be an option as I am sure you could make 50+ million over your career. But if I am only going to be the 100th best in the world, I want to be doing something like soccer/baseball where I would still make a fortune. In a lot of individual sports, the money falls off very quickly.

At a high level I would want a sport where

a) Don't need to be too much physical freak. I would much rather go through life a 6'1 than 6'7 or 5'4. Rather weigh like 180 and not 250. And so on

b) Don't want to be a cripple when the sport is over. Boxing, MMA, and most football positions. Hockey is probably also out as there might not be a ton of big hits, there are enough. Tougher sports are things like golf or being a pitcher where RSI are serious concerns. Being 45 with back issues can't be fun. Most of the extreme sports are probably out.

c) Want to be be comfortably rich. To me money after the first 20 million loses value quickly:)

d) the lifestyle along the way can't be all consuming. Baseball/basketball travel would. be really rough.

I don't think anything is perfect so you have to balance things out.