The Best Sport Ever
After last night’s NBA opener, we are now at that point in the year when the top four professional sports are in action.
Leaving aside the obvious and myriad ways that professional leagues can ruin the actual game, I wonder if I could entice anyone to try and boil down – 200 words or less! – the reasons why one of these sports is better than the others. Think of yourself as Don Draper preparing a pitch. (Elite alert!) Sell me on one of the following: baseball, football, hockey, or basketball.
Again, I mean the game itself, not its college version or pro version or its greatest ever player or greatest ever moment.
Sorry for those of you who really love cricket or badminton or boxing. I can appreciate those sports. Truly, I can. But let’s start simple and see how it goes.
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Sep '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
All sport gives us a microcosm of conflicts and their resolution. The tension of conflict with the satisfaction of knowing who won and who lost even if your team was not the winner. No sport produces the tension of conflict quite like the so-called "combat sports", among them boxing, wrestling, judo, MMA are individual sports and football, hockey, lacrosse, rugby are team sports. Alas,the risk of injury is part of what makes combat sports interesting, however, the physical need to actually subdue the opponent appart from injury is far more important. While that skill cannot exist without the risk of injury being present practioners and knowlegable fans know the difference. So Football is the only team, combat sport that also involves the extended use of strategy and tactics that play out over time in a way that often can overwhelm a greater level of skill and physical prowess by the other team. Other things equal we like to see underdogs win. Football allows for this to occur while it also emphasizes physical skills and physical conflict on a grand scale. For my taste the way plays are run and examined allows one to savor this aspect the most.
Jun '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
Football. It's core is the soul of what the other three only skim. No one just wins in sport, they beat someone. And in football there is both a win and a violent beating that stands alone in major professional sports. In every action on the field there is a beating that is delivered that is required to make the team function. A slender wide reciever must throw a block, a kicker must be prepared to tackle. There is no sitting back with a perfect three pointer, no slick skating.
It is the combination of violence, team work, and strategy that makes football America's game.
And thank you for not asking about soccer.
May '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
As a tennis fan I bow out of the discussion. I would point out however that there is ice hockey and field hockey.............you might want to clarify.
May '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
I'll defer in advance to EJ (and probably 90% of all contributors,) but want to show support for Ursula posting on sports topics so here goes:
I'm torn between two.
Basketball is a nearly perfect sport for its sheet physical grace; as a spectator it's like watching dance, but even better. It offers a stage on which we can see the most supreme accomplishments of the human form in terms of physical conditioning, hand-eye coordination and raw grace. Like dance, it offers the potential for intricate and subtle group coordination. As a participant, it offers the best opportunity (of the four) to really stretch oneself in all the ways listed above.
But baseball is a sport with so much more depth. Like chess, it seems slow and arcane to the uninitiated, but offers nearly endless opportunity for quantitative, strategic and psychological analysis. As a spectator it offers great opportunity for social interaction and mutual enjoyment. As a player -- and I get this only though my son -- it is wonderfully instructive in the importance of teamwork, dealing with adversity, rising above pressure and maintaining a positive attitude. Whether player or spectator the season is never long enough.
Re: The Best Sport Ever
Fair point, Steve. I meant ice hockey. The top four professional team sport leagues in the US are the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL. I might be with you on the tennis thing if/when we toss individual sports out there.
May '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
Football, the chess of team sports. It's the ultimate team sport, where every role is critical for overall team success, with each position calling a specific athletic skill set. It's athletes blend speed, dexterity, finesse and raw power more than any of the other three. It uniquely merges high strategy with primal violence, therefore achieving the Yin and Yang of being both a thinking man's game and a game for those who don't want to think. Its ebbs and flows make it the perfect sport to base parties around. Each of the other three offer some of these characteristics, but not together in one package.
It's only major flaw is the level of commercialization of the game, which has led to waaaay too many stoppages of play during pro and college games. This is particularly annoying when attending games live. The rules of the game obviously facilitate this in a way that the other sports do not.
Jun '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
Baseball. I wish I had the time this morning to write an appropriate soliloquy, but I will defer to the myriad of quotes from the movies such as Field of Dreams, For the Love of the Game and other baseball movies.
As a kid, I played both baseball and football, and I love both games. But now, when I go out on the diamond to help with my son's team, or stand by at practice with my glove in my hand, my spirit if you will is transported to my youth (my body of course, aches and moans and doesn't quite move like it used to). The smell of the grass, the dust, the sweaty glove - all of it pulls me back to a simpler day. To make the catch, make the throw, get the out, and get that hit, it is nothing short of euphoria - even if it lasts only the instant. Not unlike the new golfer who succeeds in that one solid golf shot that suddenly addicts him to the game (I can do this!), baseball has that pull on me. I guess it is a first love kind of thing. For me anyway.
Aug '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
Football! Greatest game ever conceived; reflects Western Civilization and democracy perfectly. It models the glories of war - territory must be conquered - but not war's death and destruction. There's just enough violence to test the players' courage and valor without harming them badly. Football's intellectual component rivals chess, even down to the special attributes of the players; as if they were pieces on a board. Complex plays and long-term strategies must be mastered by everyone - coaches and players.
All people, small or large, nimble or strong, fat or thin, have a place on a team. Linemen need to be huge, even fat; wide receivers, cornerbacks, and safeties need to be light and fast; tight ends and linebackers must be in between, and they all must be smart enough to memorize dozens of different plays and their code names - every week.
The greatest glory of the game is the way it elevates individuals with leadership skills to the positions of head coach, quarterback, and others. Every great team must have a gifted quarterback and coach, who like a Roman Caesar and his foremost general guide the Republic to glory, the Superbowl; the coliseum! Cities vie for the privilege!
Edited on Oct 27, 2010 at 10:17amRe: The Best Sport Ever
Oh this is fun. I'm going to cheat and offer two answers. First, I would say football, but for nostalgic reasons. I associate football with this time of year--the smell of fallen leaves, the countdown to Thanksgiving, hot chocolate--so I love the ritual of watching football on the weekends. But that only happens these days when I'm visiting my family at home. As a child, some of my best fall memories were watching weekend football games with my family.
I love watching hockey too--for its speed and excitement. And frequent brawls. The one thing that's always impressed me about hockey players is that they have to master two skills to be great: the actual sport of hockey--the rules, the physicality, etc--and, of course, ice skating itself, and all the twists and turns that that skill requires.
Re: The Best Sport Ever
Football incorporates the two worst elements of American society: violence punctuated by committee meetings.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
Both quotes courtesy of George Will.
Sep '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
Basketball stands out in comarison as follows:
The pace is fast and exciting. Hockey is next, football next (plays are fast but there is a lot of dead time), and baseball is numbingly slow.
There is a lot of scoring which ties into the pace.
There is a good balance of individual and team effort and that is visible in the game. This is not exceptional but since the teams are small you can see it. Most football fans can't even name the positions on a team. Half the football players are essentially invisible to spectators for 90% of the game. They play hard but you can't see it.
Basketball is by far the most graceful of the sports.
The athleticism (not a real word) of basketball players on average is the best of the sports.
Jul '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
No motorsports? I just had a 2,000 word essay on why motorcycle racing (World Superbike or MotoGP) is the best sport on the planet.
Of those choices, I like baseball the best. You don't have to be tall, fast, or strong to play it well. In that sense, it's everyman's game; all you need to do is develop the skills to succeed in the sport. Every player gets the chance to be the star of the game with either a defensive play or their chance at bat. It has the most unlikely "heroes" in a way that basketball (at the pro level) and football do not.
It takes as long as it takes to get the job done. There is no time limit on a pitch, play, inning, or game.
In the interest of fun, here's George Carlin comparing baseball to football.
May '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
In basketball men have grown taller towards the basket. In football, where once a 300 lb lineman was an exception, it now the rule. In hockey, composite materials have greatly altered the relationship between skill, strength and equipment.
Relatively unchanged since its birth as a professional endeavor, baseball remains unaffected by the advance of the human race. Ninety feet between the bases still produces bang-bang plays at first and 60 feet six inches the perfect distance to try to throw a ball past a batter. While the players change and technology marches on, the bat is still God's own lumber, the ball, a cork center with miles of string and a leather cover, still not less than five nor more than 5 ¼ ounces.
It is also the only game with an architectural element, where short porches and green monsters vary the result of game, a home run in Cleveland is double off the wall in Boston, a deep shot to center in Cincinnati for a double can be a triple in Houston.
From spring training in March to the final out of The Series, perfect proof in an imperfect world that there is a God.
Aug '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
Baseball is the most democratically Thumotic of all games. Each individual has a chance for a moment of greatness where he or she can contribute to the team offensively and defensively. The game has significant tactical and strategic elements. All players matter as individuals, as noted earlier, yet the whole must contribute or the game will be lost.
Additionally, it is one of the few games that is not a simulation of war. The opposing team is not your enemy. Referring to baseball players as "warriors" is ridiculous on its face, yet calling them athletes isn't.
Let us all praise a game where people work together toward a single goal through the exercise of individual merit.
May '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
Tommy De Seno: Football incorporates the two worst elements of American society: violence punctuated by committee meetings.
Both quotes courtesy of George Will. · Oct 27 at 7:54am
I think Will is confusing Football with Communism.
Re: The Best Sport Ever
I love baseball, football and basketball, but hockey can stay in Canada for all I care about it.
Baseball stands out. While it is a team sport like the others, the individual contributions to the team are more concentrated in baseball. In football you don't have the run without the block or the catch without the pass. In baseball, it's batter v pitcher; fielder v the ball. The emphesis on individual contribution makes baseball the most American, and most interesting, of all sports.
Plus, it's the only sport where the defense controls the ball, which is interesting by itself.
Although I'm outside the limitations set by Ursula, one quick note about boxing: It was may favorite sport, but over the years the matches appeared to be as fixed as pro wrestling. Also, particularly with heavyweights, the refs forgot clinching is actually a foul and stopped penalizing for it. That slowed the matches down terribly.
Last note: I don't dig MMA. Two rules about fighting I grew up with - never hit a girl, and never hit a man when he's down. I can't picture John Wayne punching a guy when he's down.
May '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
Football. I think its the most strategic of all four. There are an infinite number of ways to position your players as well as an infinite number of plays to choose from on defense and offense. It's a thinking man's game more so than the others.
Re: The Best Sport Ever
Michael Tee:
In the interest of fun, here's George Carlin comparing baseball to football. · Oct 27 at 7:55am
Oh, I'd forgotten about this. SO perfect. Thanks for the laughs, Michael. This is completely brilliant.
May '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
Tommy - Nothing is more distasteful than the present state of boxing. People dressed to the nines show up to watch primarily black and hispanic youth beat the crap out of each other for their amusement.
As for football, how can any game that changes rules with the frequency most people change their socks have any integrity?
Oct '10
Re: The Best Sport Ever
I know that this was not one of Ursula's options, but lacrosse fits in the same category as the other team sports (as does soccer, which I used to play. However, I can't stand watching a professional match where nobody ever scores). Lacrosse combines the grace of basketball mentioned above, and the speed and excitement of Emily's hockey. By extension, of course, it avoids Ross's "numbingly slow" pace of baseball. It is as aggressive as other sports, but injuries are fewer. And yes, there are still brawls, at least when teenagers play. Good family fun.