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BPX028: Maximum Effort

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    BPX028: Maximum Effort

    One discussion we wandered on to yesterday at work was about the differences in how various sports work in terms of individual skill. It started on the usual chat about the unjustifiable salaries but drifted on to this topic so let's have a see if BD can work it out.

    Very simple starting pistol question:

    Which sport features the highest level of individual player/participant skill?


    We had the expected football fan defence force out but Tennis scored a strong case
    5
    Football, Rugby etc
    0%
    0
    Tennis, Badminton etc
    0%
    1
    Formula One, Rally etc
    0%
    0
    Chess, Droughts etc
    0%
    0
    Boxing, MMA etc
    0%
    1
    Sailing, Rowing etc
    0%
    0
    Other
    0%
    3

    #2
    Snooker or golf, I'd probably plump for.
    Lie with passion and be forever damned...

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      #3
      ESPN say boxing, but watching something like tennis, where you're running around the court and trying to set up shots on the fly is amazing to watch at top level.

      I'm not sure it's allowed as an answer, but I'd also say Decathlon because there are so many different skills to perfect and it's such a high intensity sport, there have been many fatalities over the years - to joysticks.

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        #4
        MMA, as to be a master you have to be at a high level in multiple martial arts. As I am partial to motorsports, the driver obviously has a huge bearing on the outcome of a race - from setting up a car to actual driving.

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          #5
          That's why Tennis came up, it seemed like people easily glossed over the factors such as it requiring both upper and lower body strength and incredible endurance at times along with strategic thinking. Also, the real speed the ball actually travels at in game.

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            #6
            Originally posted by cutmymilk View Post
            MMA, as to be a master you have to be at a high level in multiple martial arts. As I am partial to motorsports, the driver obviously has a huge bearing on the outcome of a race - from setting up a car to actual driving.
            I personally think either boxing or MMA.

            Tennis is a good shout, but the difference is that in combat sports, the player is maintaining a level of strategic play whilst sustaining injury. I think that requires a level of mental discipline that just exceeds most sports.

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              #7
              I think it's a hard one, particularly comparing team v single sports. I'd echo the comments on combat sport and also tennis, for me I'd add NFL players. The head of the UFC has said playing in the NFL is more dangerous than the UFC - one of his kids does play but he doesn't want the others to take up the sport.
              I thought the guys on the O/D line were just big fat blokes pushing each other around, but the amount of data to learn via the playbook and technique with various block moves, gap protection and so on makes it far more complicated than you'd think - then you get to the 'skill' positions.

              Though going off at a tangent, I had a discussion with the daughter the other week about just how hard it is to be a tennis player compared to a footy player. The 200th best footy player in the world probably plays for a team in Europe, the 200th ranking male player is trying to scrape by in the challenger tournaments, footy players get paid whether ill/injured or not and also get paid whether they win or not, also get free physio, doctors and travel to overseas tournaments, tennis players only get paid when they win (aside from sponsors) and have to fork out for coaches and travel etc.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Asura View Post
                I personally think either boxing or MMA.

                Tennis is a good shout, but the difference is that in combat sports, the player is maintaining a level of strategic play whilst sustaining injury. I think that requires a level of mental discipline that just exceeds most sports.
                So you're saying Connor McGregor could beat Rafa Nadal at Tennis?

                Just kidding :-)

                This is a dumb question this time Supes because there isn't some trait called "skill" that can be applied to anything; it's skill in a particular discipline so you can only ask who has the greatest skill in any particular sport.

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                  #9
                  DOTA2 or CS:GO.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by dataDave View Post
                    DOTA2 or CS:GO.
                    Part of me wonders if the world's best Fortnite player is actually more skilful. DOTA2 and CS:GO are certainly highly skilled games but in CS's case especially, you play under relatively controlled conditions. Games can pan out in so many different ways; whereas CS:GO's games tend to be less chaotic.

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                      #11
                      Rock climbing, that's a sport that soon sorts out men from the boys.

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                        #12
                        James Kingston wins it all, peeps like him.

                        And proper fighters, wrestlers. I respect those people the most. People who put their life on the line.

                        Football, tennis, etc. is just like dancin'. Frippery.

                        Weightlifters, World's Strongest Man, their guts could bust outta dem abdomenz in front of crowds and on secret, online vids.

                        On live contests, imagine the blood, intestines and sticky cacalack EVERYWHERE.


                        It would be an absoluuuuute MESS.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by fishbowlhead View Post
                          Rock climbing, that's a sport that soon sorts out men from the boys.
                          Oh god climbing is such a rush, I truly wish I'd climbed more when I was younger. Climbing an abandoned golf house nearly killed me as a kid but that reflex that saved me has always made me understand the hook.

                          You've made me think of booking a sesh at an indoor place, ten years since I last did it and I bloody loved it last time.

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                            #14
                            I find it hard to make the danger levels a factor. There's loads of dangerous sports that I could respect people for having the nuts to do but wouldn't personally consider a sport. That's a whole other discussion though as there's quite a lot of so called 'sports' that I'd class merely as hobbies, games or activities.

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