Saturday, June 25, 2011

an age old question

Which sport requires the most talent? Skill?

Skill- competent excellence in performance; expertness; dexterity: a craft, trade, or job requiring manual dexterity or special training in which a person has competence and experience

Talent-a special natural ability or aptitude

Going off these definitions which sport requires the most SKILL? I will give you my answers and feel free to express your opinion to back me up or prove me wrong. Also, the sport MUST include a ball, all other sports are irrelevant for this discussion. *Disclaimer* there is no perfect way to compare 2 sports

1. Baseball- The hand-eye coordination? Sure that can be a talent, but in order to be able to make a decision, swing, and make sure the bat hit’s the ball in less than .3 seconds takes an enormous amount of repetition and practice. Not to mention the 162 game regular-season. That’s insane. The idea of running full speed without looking where you are going to track down a ball knowing full well you may just in fact run right into a wall. Just think, the BEST baseball players in the world fail 7 out of 10 times. The mental toughness alone is an enviable skill.

2. Golf- I know, most won’t agree with this, but think about it, the difference between making 90,000,000 a year and paying 15 bucks to get into the Cedar City golf course is the skill in your swing. Anyone can swing a golf club, but it takes time, effort, and a little natural talent to swing like tiger (no pun intended)

3. Basketball- this one comes in third from the perspective of skill. Athleticism rankings it would be 2nd. It’s a challenge to make a shot with no one guarding you, but to have someone in your face and still maintain your composure, feel and dexterity to jump 36 inches in the air and make your hands and arms shoot the ball perfectly into a 17 inch (diameter) rim is impressive.  Especially if it’s from 30 feet away 40 minutes into a game after you’ve missed over 50% of your shots that night. Being mentally skilled to shake that off also comes into play.

Now remember this isn’t doctrine. I’m not the ultimate authority, but I’m definitely right ;) feel free to disagree with me…

No comments:

Post a Comment