Which sport is the most difficult to master?

Ninja Warrior.

Dakar Rally.

 

Maybe this isn't the same thing, but I've often wondered what big-league sport I could step into the easiest without making an ass of myself. I think baseball would be the easiest, because I could play the fielding half of the game with some competence and maybe get my bat on a ball or two.

I think hockey would be the hardest, and I'm not even that bad of a skater. They're incredible. Golf is such a technical game; I'm amazed at their consistency. I think football would be hard, just because of the level of physicality. Basketball would be the same, maybe a little less difficult.

 

I think that's a good way to look at it.

One thing with hockey, If you don't state learning to skate early in life it becomes almost impossible to catch up. Other sports you can make up the lost ground. Hockey does have a point where game can pass you buy if you have aspirations to paly at an elite level.

 

Water polo always seemed pretty tough...just having to stay above water and simultaneously toss a wet ball around doesn't look easy. This kinda goes with hockey...any sport involving something slippery should be tougher. Lacrosse and hockey aren't too different, except hockey players have to do it on ice.

 

More fuel for the "who's better, Federer or Woods?" argument.

I like it. Keep it coming.

 

I played adult baseball with former pro hockey (defenseman and goon) and pro football players (linebacker and runningback/receiver. They all thought that not only was baseball more difficult, but when we were playing our fifth game in a week with the weather in the 90s, more grueling and harder on the body.

 

Didn't somebody say. comparing golf to baseball, was that in golf you have to play the foul balls?
Does anybody disagree that bowling is probably the easiest to master?

 

true, boom, you can take up golf at any age. but i'm not sure hockey is the only sport you can't pick up late in life. baseball fundamentals - especially hitting - don't just happen. the middle age guy who joins the rec baseball league will never catch up to his teammates who have been playing since little league, even if only on a strictly amateur level.

 

1. Golf (Secretariat)
T2. all the others

 

Hitting a baseball at the pro level would be very difficult. I don't think fielding would be that easy too because the ball would be leaving the bat a whole lot faster than you're used to and your average infielder can throw a lot better than a beer league Mike Schmidt-wannabe.

As others have pointed out, the skating ability required to play hockey is unique among team sports. But you also need the co-ordination to stickhandle, give and receive passes and shoot while there are bodies crashing into you. Never been a goalie at any level but i think it takes plenty out of you just getting up after hitting the ice.

Boxing is no piece of cake either.

 

I will go out on a limb and say that playing goal is the most difficult position of any team sport.
And yes, that includes quarterback.

 

No way.

Quarterbacks get hit on their blindsides by 300-pound linemen who run 4.8 40s.

There is nothing that approximates, in the relative fluff world of sports, the courage required to drop back to pass and wait for a guy to get open.