As for this side discussion of what is the most difficult thing in sports, I think first you have to at least get some sort of categories going. Reading that USA today article, they are all over the place comparing apples to oranges(not that any comparison here will be perfect apples to apples, but maybe green apples to pears?) How the fuck are you supposed to compare “lasting 12 rounds boxing” to hitting a baseball? One lasts an hour or more, the other lasts 5 seconds including the pitchers windup.
As far as one singular moment, most difficult single act in sports, I think it probably comes from one of the X-games, or maybe figure skating. Of course, the “it” will evolve as the athletes do(900, 1080, etc) but there are dozens of professional level athletes attempting the same shit at practices for years before one single person finally lands it. Sure those may not be your typical “T” sports, but go ahead and try to land a 1080 at the bottom of a super pipe on a snowboard(just an example), have fun in the hospital after.
[quote]TKOWKD1 wrote:
I agree that Bonds can hit the ball, his pitch selection is phenomenal. I’ve read somewhere that he practices with tennis balls that are numbered and he only hits the balls with ‘even’ numbers on them. [/quote]
This has actually become common practice among a number of ballplayers. The first I read about it was in an offseason article about Manny Ramirez and his training and BP routine. Apparently, it originated from Todd Helton (notice a common thread among these three players), and has taken off a bit from there. Supposedly it helps strengthen the eyes and allows the batter to pick up on the spin earlier–thus recognizing the pitch and subsequent break before they normally would.
Bonds’ greatest attribute, in my opinion, is his ability to not only recognize pitches, but to absolutely make the most of everything that’s in his wheelhouse. During those 4 years from '01 to '04 when he set all kinds of single-season marks he got almost nothing to hit (thus the 755 walks with just 1,642 official AB’s). Even still, he managed to hit a home run once every 7.85 AB’s, while walking once every 3.17 AB’s.
So if you only counted his HR’s and walks (excluding the singles, doubles and triples from his on base percentage) he would have STILL had an OBP of .442 in those 4 seasons…amazing, and I might consider that the greatest thing he’s ever accomplished.
[quote]red04 wrote:
As for this side discussion of what is the most difficult thing in sports, I think first you have to at least get some sort of categories going. Reading that USA today article, they are all over the place comparing apples to oranges(not that any comparison here will be perfect apples to apples, but maybe green apples to pears?) How the fuck are you supposed to compare “lasting 12 rounds boxing” to hitting a baseball? One lasts an hour or more, the other lasts 5 seconds including the pitchers windup.
As far as one singular moment, most difficult single act in sports, I think it probably comes from one of the X-games, or maybe figure skating. Of course, the “it” will evolve as the athletes do(900, 1080, etc) but there are dozens of professional level athletes attempting the same shit at practices for years before one single person finally lands it. Sure those may not be your typical “T” sports, but go ahead and try to land a 1080 at the bottom of a super pipe on a snowboard(just an example), have fun in the hospital after.[/quote]
I agree with that.
For the most part though, this argument on “what is the hardest thing in sports to do?” is retarded.
-Put an average adult male in front of Johan Santana, how many are getting hits? None… that’s why they aren’t in the MLB.
-Put an average adult male across the net from Andy Roddick, how many are returning his serve? None… that’s why they aren’t professional tennis players.
-Put an average adult male in the sand and have him return a jump serve from an pro beach volleyball player, how many are going to pass it up? None… that’s why they aren’t in the AVP.
You can do that for any sport, which is why it’s a dumb comparison. A bum off the street can’t do anything against a pro athlete, which is why they’re bums off the streets and not making millions.
Question I was thinking of, considering the long grueling schedule of MLB do you fell it would be healthier in the short term and long run for players (especially those in their mid 30s) to be taking smaller amounts of certain steroids?
I know next to nothing about steroids but hopefully someone that does could give a little insight on the topic.
[quote]jtrinsey wrote:
red04 wrote:
As far as one singular moment, most difficult single act in sports, I think it probably comes from one of the X-games, or maybe figure skating. Of course, the “it” will evolve as the athletes do(900, 1080, etc) but there are dozens of professional level athletes attempting the same shit at practices for years before one single person finally lands it. Sure those may not be your typical “T” sports, but go ahead and try to land a 1080 at the bottom of a super pipe on a snowboard(just an example), have fun in the hospital after.
[/quote]
Yeah red X-Games gets my vote. Other sports may be tough when going against the best, but just practicing tennis won’t put as many people in the hospital as just practicing Backflips on a bike… …Still can’t believe that guy got up from falling off his skateboard…
-Put an average adult male in the sand and have him return a jump serve from an pro beach volleyball player, how many are going to pass it up? None… that’s why they aren’t in the AVP.
[/quote]
Before people jump on this because they’ve never played true beach 2’s, this is way fucking harder than you think. Even just a solid float serve with the wind can cause some issues if you aren’t a good passer. Fun sport btw, first time I’ve seen AVP mentioned since I’ve been on T-Nation.
-Put an average adult male in the sand and have him return a jump serve from an pro beach volleyball player, how many are going to pass it up? None… that’s why they aren’t in the AVP.
Before people jump on this because they’ve never played true beach 2’s, this is way fucking harder than you think. Even just a solid float serve with the wind can cause some issues if you aren’t a good passer. Fun sport btw, first time I’ve seen AVP mentioned since I’ve been on T-Nation.[/quote]
I’m a pretty decent athlete and beach volleyball has made me look silly more than once.
And while we’re headed in this direction, everything at the highest level is hard. Bowling in the high 200’s consistently is hard. Shoving 50-plus hot dogs down your throat is hard. Hell, the spelling bee is freaking hard. Those 6th graders would destroy most adults. (And probably most of this website, judging by some of the posts I read.)
There’s a crossword documentary that came out last year called Wordplay, and in it a female crossword champion is made fun of by her boyfriend for her nerdy hobby. In my opinion, her response is classic.
“What do you do that you’re that best in the country at?”
Anyway, my point is, it takes a lot to be one of the best at anything. It’s not something you just wake up with. Or inject.
-Put an average adult male in the sand and have him return a jump serve from an pro beach volleyball player, how many are going to pass it up? None… that’s why they aren’t in the AVP.
Before people jump on this because they’ve never played true beach 2’s, this is way fucking harder than you think. Even just a solid float serve with the wind can cause some issues if you aren’t a good passer. Fun sport btw, first time I’ve seen AVP mentioned since I’ve been on T-Nation.
I’m a pretty decent athlete and beach volleyball has made me look silly more than once.[/quote]
Haha I was a 4-time all-state indoor player in high school and I still look silly every now and then on the beach. I’m 6’4", can jump and pound the ball straight down indoors but when I first started playing high level beach I was getting beat by 5’11" guys who looked like my dad.
But yeah, you gotta respect anybody who’s at the absolute top of their respective field, both for their natural talent and the incredible amount of just pure repetition and training it takes to get there.
But yeah, you gotta respect anybody who’s at the absolute top of their respective field, both for their natural talent and the incredible amount of just pure repetition and training it takes to get there.
[/quote]
yes and not just physical talents and work but people who are the best know how to win and that’s a quality that is almost never talked about because most people are ignorant to the fact that winners even exist. most people are watchers and think winners win because they have more skill but that isn’t the case at all.
many, many, athletes have the skills to be the greatest but can’t put it together in their own heads. imagine what kind of man it takes to face tens of thousands of booing fans and still get it done. go barry.
There once played a much better man with Pittsburgh Pirates. In fact he was twice the mad Barry Bonds will ever be. His name was Roberto Clemente a dignified, kind and generous man who spent much of his time during the off-season involved in charity work.
Unlike Bonds, Clemente had one of the most poweful throwing arms in baseball. According to broadcaster Vin Scully “Clemente could field the ball in New York and throw out a guy in Pennsylvania.” Unlike Bonds, Clemente won two World Series rings in 1960 and 1971.
He died in a plane crash on December 31, 1972 while en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. He was elected to the Hall of Fame posthumously in 1973 as the first Latin American to be selected, and the only exception to the mandatory five-year post-retirement waiting period since it was instituted in 1954.
Major League Baseball presents the Roberto Clemente Award every year to the player who best follows Clemente’s example with humanitarian work.
I hope to one day be able to tell my children and grand children about Roberto Clemente and his legacy, not the infamy of Barry Bond and Commissioner Bud Selig. And so I hope that you will too.
Not to say that Clemente is anything short of a legend in baseball, but none the less your post comes off as extremely pretentious.
I don’t and never really “rooted” for Bonds, but some of the shit people try to slander him with is retarded, and makes me not want to root against him either. Why can’t you tell your children both?
It doesn’t take a high level of intelligence to spin the Bonds story as a tale of why even being associated with drugs is bad, whether you are using or not. You don’t need to proclaim his innocence, but at least remember he isn’t guilty yet.
Also Bonds wasn’t exactly a slouch in the field, and baseball is a team sport(rings). The worst possible thing to do trying to attack Bonds is to do so by comparing numbers, because his are staggering.
[quote]TKOWKD1 wrote:
I hope to one day be able to tell my children and grand children about Roberto Clemente and his legacy, not the infamy of Barry Bond and Commissioner Bud Selig. And so I hope that you will too.[/quote]
this thread is called “756!!!”. given what you’ve said about clemente i’ll bet he would also be a guy never to piss on someone else’s parade. sorry i never saw him play.
i have seen bonds play however and if i ever have kids i will tell them about the times i saw bonds hit in 2001 and what an absolutely awesome spectacle it was. absolutely awesome. i haven’t been in a ballpark and felt anywhere near that much electricity since. not even close. go barry.
