I put this under baseball because, according to USA Today, hitting a Randy Johnson fastball is #1 on their list of HARDEST THINGS TO DO IN SPORTS.

1. Hitting a baseball
2. Race Car Driving
3. Pole Vaulting
4. Hitting a Long Straight Tee Shot (Golf)
5. Returning a Serve (Tennis)
6. Landing a Quad (Figure Skating)
7. Running a Marathon
8. Tour de France (Cycling)
9. Saving a Penalty Kick (Soccer)
10. The Downhill (Skiing)


Agree? Disagree? What did they leave off? What doesn't belong on the list?

Hitting a fastball at the top the list? Just by standing in the batter's box and swinging wildly, odds are you're eventually gonna connect. It may not result in a hit, but at least you'll make contact. Now, if they said "Hit a Randy Johnson fastball for a homerun," I'd reconsider. Same for hitting a long, straight tee shot. Eventually, you could do it if you have good athletic ability. And race car driving? Hey, even I can turn left. (They should hold an F1 race in the streets of Montreal, home of the world's largest potholes. I'd pay to see that.)

I'd say landing a quad in figure skating should be #1. I couldn't come close to doing that in a pair of Adidas, let alone with steel blades strapped to my feet! As #2, I'd put the Tour de France, then the Marathon, then the pole vault.

What they left off? Score 92 goals in one NHL season (like Gretzky did in '81-'82). But I guess they're looking for singular, one-off feats. How about pitching a perfect game in MLB? Surely that's gotta be more difficult than hitting a fastball.

It's all rather subjective. Anyone with physical abilities and a capacity to learn can, with practice, do any of these things at least once. A better question might be, which of these is hardest to do on a regular basis?

Seph, considering that someone who hits a baseball successfully 3 out of 10 times is pretty darned good, this should tell you how difficult it is to play baseball.

Ump, considering how many people on the planet are able to land a quad, I'll stand by my choices.

I would have to put completing the Tour de France tops on the list and landing a quad a close second....taking nothing away from the obvious skill and difficulty involved with hitting a fastball (hell, I couldn't even hit a "breaking pitch") but when you take into consideration the grueling length of the Tour de France and the magnitude of its course, it makes what Lance Armstrong has accomplished even more remarkable -- and that is assuming he never had to come back from his near fatal battle with testicular cancer....IMHO, Armstrong has failed to receive even a small amount of the accolades he deserves for his unbelievable accomplishment.

Getting back to the list, to include driving a race car even at 200+ mph (which I nearly approach on I-95 some days ), hitting a golf ball straight or stopping a penalty kick in soccer (which is virtually a 50/50 chance if you are a professional goaltender depending on which direction you dive in) among the ten hardest things to do in sports is an absolute joke....even simply dunking a basketball (at least for someone 5'9'' like me) would exceed any of those in level of difficulty.

Well, I suppose the editors of USA Today got their wish in generating discussion and controversy over this highly subjective list....I know that if I could do any one of those on a regular basis, I'd be happy.

How about running across a tumbling mat, flinging your body into a series of twists and flips, culminating in a double-twisting double back flip and sticking the landing? Or swinging around a bar going faster and faster until you let go and throw your body into a double flip over the bar, then re-catching the bar and continue swinging around? Like landing a quad (not to mention doing it several times in the course of a program), there are many moves in gymnastics that are done by only one or two of the top world-class gymnasts, and have never been done by anyone else before.

I looked at the original list of the ten hardest things to do and concluded that those that had specific targets were the most difficult in most cases.

Based on the average person trying any of the ten I would go with the quad followed by the 15 foot pole vault then skiing 80 - 90 mph. These would require years of training to accomplish and most would never succeed.

The marathon could be completed by most people with some training since there is no time limit.

The golf swing is to be hit long and straight but with no set distance given it can be accomplished by many with instruction and practice.

The 90 mph fastball would require alot of practice and some may never hit it but some may eventually make contact even if by accident.

Diving a race car at mega speeds once again to specific speed given.

Hitting a 130 mph tennis serve I put in the same category as the baseball example.

Tour de France in same category as marathon running with no time limit specified.

Stopping a soccer penalty kick probably doable with practice but no mention is made as to whom is kicking it or the ball's speed.

phillyrunner beat me to the punch, and i agree with him 100%. as a veteran of dozens of marathons, i can confidently say that running a marathon is easy. running a marathon FAST, however, is another matter. ditto, the tour de france. all of the feats that didn't have performance standards could be dumbed down to be achievable by many.

so, let's make the list fair and put performance standards along each task. running a marathon under 3:00 is hard, though 2:50 would probably be a better comparison to hitting a big unit fastball. and if the comparison is made to landing a quad, which a handfull of people can do worldwide, then the standard becomes about 2:06-2:07.

who can speak to the other sports?

Speaking from a statistical point of view, hitting a baseball is more difficult.

But isn't the league average OVER .250? One in four times somebody is getting a BASE HIT. And this doesn't count the times a batter HITS the ball, but the ball is caught or a put-out is made.

But I have to agree with what's been said above: are we talking about what's most difficult for the average person or what's most difficult for a a trained/professional athlete in that sport?

I also think the choices are apples and oranges and you can't really compare them. What might be better is comparing WITHIN each sport:

- is it harder to hit a fastball, curveball, slider or knuckleball?
- is it harder to drive in NASCAR, CART, or Formula-1?
- is it harder to do an axel, lutz, salchow (sp?), flip or toe loop?

[ March 10, 2003, 03:47 PM: Message edited by: canmark ]

There's a play in Ultimate Frisbee called "The Greatest" that I'm sure they didn't consider, but which is incredibly difficult (I've never seen it completed in the 10 years I've been playing).

It entails leaping out of bounds to grab a Frisbee then, before you hit the ground, turning your arm around and throwing the Frisbee upside down to a teammate.

It is called "The Greatest" because it is believed, among Ultimate Frisbee players, to be the greatest play in sports.

I agree with canmark and the apples and oranges. Baseball hitting percentage is lower than figure skating landing percentage because it is the nature of the sport. If hitting percentage were near 100% or near 0%, baseball would be very boring. Similarly, figure skating would suck if the skaters fell on 75% of their jumps... so they don't.

I'd say one of the hardest things to do in pro sports would be come out while still an active player. If it wasn't so difficult more people would accomplish it.

Ding, ding, ding! Give the man a prize for the best answer.

...or an active umpire. wink

Can't really say that an active athlete trying to come out is the hardest seeing as no one has ever tried it. At least the quad and the pole vault get attempted now and then. wink

I concur that dwb56's comment deserves to be at the top of the list. But in view of the recent incident involving Mike Piazza and Guillermo Mota, how about including an umpire's difficulty in determining whether a pitcher has intentionally hit a batter?

For reasons of pure bias I'd have to go with Cyd's option, it is a play I have never seen completed successfully, although I have witnessed a ton of injuries trying.

I think trying to compare a one-time feat, like hitting one fastball, to the Tour de France is more than just an apples to oranges comparison, it's an apples to an orchard of oranges comparison.

But then again, whenever anyone tries to set a top X anything list it is never a perfect endeavor.

[ March 14, 2003, 02:15 PM: Message edited by: CPT_Doom ]

Frisbee??? Is that even a sport? OK, I guess it's almost as grueling as BOWLING.

One of the most difficult things for us to do as an umpire. I hate trying to get into the minds of some of these guys.

Landing a quad isn't the hardest thing in sports. Even if only one person in the entire world could do it, it wouldn't rank #1 for two reasons:
1.) There are what, maybe a hundred thousand figure skaters in the world? As opposed to a hundred million baseball players? If no one bothers trying something, you can't use the fact that few have succeeded as support of your claim. Otherwise, picking my nose is the hardest thing in the world because I'm the only person who has ever done it.
2.) Landing a quad in figure skating can't be the hardest thing in sports because FIGURE SKATING ISN'T A SPORT

Beachjock73 said:
Oooh...I think you better brace yourself for some flak over that comment I'm not a huge fan of figure skating myself, but I can appreciate the agility, stamina and precision that figure skaters must possess. Not to mention the gruelling practices.

Now if you had said 'golf is not a sport' I would be more likely to agree!

How can something be a sport when it involves the playing of music and dancing to it on ice?

I agree!

To make a serious point before this thread completely disintegrates into parody.

To me, the hardest thing in sports, because I do not understand for the life of me how it happens: those divers who can dive off a platform and make no splash.

I don't understand the physics of this. How does it happen?

I understand hitting a baseball. Maybe not hitting a Randy Johnson fastball over the left field wall, but even I understand the rudiment. It's tough to do well, but not tough to do.
And race car driving? Maybe driving 500 miles, in an oval, and not fermenting in your pee, that would be tough. But still, I understand the rudiments of driving a car. And, though it has not happened since the onset of adolescence, I still understand the rudiments of peeing one's pants. Strike this from the list.
The Tour de Freedom bicycle race? (Can't speak the unspeakable name of that unspeakable country.) Please. Just takes training to develop the endurance.
The pole vault? Worthy entry on the list. Unlike bicycling or racing, I couldn't even do that poorly.

I stick with diving and leaving no splash as the toughest thing to do in sports. Whenever I see it, it looks like computer-generated special effects, electronic erasing of the actual splash.

I think they'd be:

1/ A hole in one
2/ Striking out three consecutive batters
3/ Sinking a long (+3 ft) put
4/ Not losing the designated track in the Super-G
5/ The straight downhill alpine
6/ Catching a football pass in heavy traffic
7/ Netting a slapshot near mid-ice or farther
8/ Saving a penalty kick in soccer
9/ Hitting a triple in baseball
9/ Sticking landings from the vault in gymnastics
10/ Landing more than one extremely difficult leaps in ice-skating

[ March 19, 2003, 07:07 PM: Message edited by: fantomas ]

Actually maybe my #4 should move to the end. The Super-G is the one that combines the downhill with the various slalom flags, isn't it? That one goes fast and seems pretty dangerous, though the straight downhill is also hair-raising and extremely dangerous too.

ULTIMATE Frisbee is the most grueling sport I've ever played. It's non-stop running at full speeds, switching quickly from offense to defense, jumping high, laying out, scraping the hell out of yourself.

A LOT more grueling than, oh, say, BASEBALL!!

BTW - a bit about hitting a baseball. If you look at the percentage of pitched baseballs that are hit, it would be higher than someone's "hitting percentage." That hitting percentage doesn't give credit for balls hit that are caught, or that are hit and go foul.

The rules are here, but the most amazing thing about Ultimate Frisbee is how it's reffed:

What a concept! Cyd, it looks like an awesome game, but I'll bet not many smokers play it. wink

There are a lot of other activities that are grueling, but I wouldn't call THEM sports. wink

WTF? Then by what criterion have you decided that ultimate frisbee is not a sport?

There are certainly sports that border too closely to leisurely activities making their status as a sport questionable. However, I'm baffled at how someone could look at ultimate frisbee and not see a sport. Do you think soccer is a sport? Do you think football is a sport? Do you think tennis is a sport? Or has MLB decided that baseball is the only sport?

Hey, Orsino: Loosen up those panties, will ya? God, they must be tight!

Are men's floor exercises in gymnastics a sport? If so, does it really make sense to say that women's floor exercises (and by extension, figure skating) are not sports, simply because music is played.

I'm biased: the Tour de France is the only sporting event I look forward to and follow avidly every year. Not even the World Series gets me very pumped any more.

The Tour requires a bit more than "just" endurance training. Only about 200 riders even get the chance to participate, and a fair number drop out due to exhaustion and crashes. Some riders, mainly sprinters, do the first week and go home.... not wanting to endure the hardships of the mountain stages where the overall winner is generally decided.

This year's Tour will travel 3,350 km (2,082 miles) around the country in 23 consecutive days with only two non-riding days... and those are air travel days, hardly a great rest.

The riders don't just go out and spin long distances every day.... they are members of teams who are expected to fulfill roles, understand tactics, and to race in individual time trials and a team time trial.

I've heard that the riders eat something like 9,000 calories a day and still lose weight by the end. And no wonder: they're required to ride up mountainsides... some of them, like L'Alpe d'Heuz, so high they are considered "beyond classification."

I don't care which sport is the hardest. I'm simply in awe of the riders who finish the Tour. Images from the Tour stay with me when I need inspiration, like Lance Armstrong riding out of the saddle to the summit of Sestriere in 1999 and leaving his opponents far behind and wondering what just happened.

The hardest thing to do in any sport is winning all 4 Grand Slams (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon & the US Open) in a Calendar year....

So There....

[ March 27, 2003, 01:58 PM: Message edited by: kiperoni ]

Statistically its harder to win golf's Grand Slam than it is tennis'. Graf, Connolly, Court, Laver (twice), Budge have all accomplished it. And a number of players have come very close, as recently as Serena last year. Heck even Mats Wilander won 3 of 4 one year.

[ March 27, 2003, 02:31 PM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

My point remains - 3 out of 4; He didnt' win all 4 in the same calender year, neither did Serena.

I still pick tennis as it's a more physical game than golf...

Golf, Bowling, Figure Skating, are all "dead sports" meaning there is no "Offense" or "Defense" In those sports you are actually competing against yourself! If you can't do it, it's a mind game NOBODY is out there to stop you... Like a Free Throw in Basketball, I would think winning the Grand Slam in Golf would be the hardest thing to do, but pitching a perect game in baseball has to be close!