Mr. Luge Scrooge wrote:
Refer to the "Ranking Sports by Various Measures of Athleticism" thread at
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3418847Apparently, ESPN did an analysis and found that Bobsledding/Luge is a tougher sport than Track and Field - Distance. see
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills?sort=total_rank#gridHow did this happen? I would point out two things:
1) ESPN gave points for "NERVE" -the ability to overcome fear. This boosted Bobsledding/Luge in the ranks.
2) ESPN gave points for "DURABILITY" - the ability to withstand physical punishment over a long period of time. But they only awarded distance running 5.75 points out of 10. This doesn't make sense....
Of course it doesn't make sense. They give equal weighting to every category! How did they decide that makes sense? I know..., they have no idea what makes sense so they do the simplistic thing. Also, can all the experts that were chosen categorically state that they have a detailed understanding of all the sports they were ranking? It's not surprising that the major sports that people are most familiar with come out on top. In the end, it's all just mental masterbation that has no real meaning.
Also, I must say that I am perplexed by many of the numbers. How could Gymnastics and Figure-skating, for example, not rank super high on the agility scale. They must have a different definition of agility than I do.