Poll: Toughest Sport

[supermariner]

providing that athletics count as a sport
then surely a marathon is the most physically and mentally challenging

if it doesn't then it has to be rugby. It's basically American Football without the protection
(yes i know there are HUGE differences but you can't deny the sports are similar)

 

[Funkysandwich]

I'd say rally, at almost any level. Requires unbreakable concentration and nerves of steel. One mistake can send you into a tree or off the edge of a cliff. Very physically and mentally demanding.

 

[shadyh8er]

I'd say tennis. Have you seen just how big those courts are? To cover that much ground in so little time. And sometimes the ball doesn't go in the direction you think it'll go in.

Baseball is a close second because it's mind games as well as athletic ability. Like guessing what pitch the pitcher's going to go with next.

 

[132635]

i love this website for its love of hockey. i was expecting a bunch of football loving retards, but no! people like the best sport. on my team, i am the enforcer, and by god it is amazing. my job is to mkae the other team scared to play us. thinking about it makes me want to hit something...

 

[savandicus]

Well this thread has a simple answer

As for real sports rugby requires some pretty tough stuff.

 

[BringBackBuck]

While there is certainly a great deal of hockey cred to this thread, my vote still has to go to Rugby, if only because of one man: Wayne Shelford

Wayne "Buck" Shelford was my idol growing up (hence my username).

I have played rugby for about 15 years and if I was to list all the injuries i've had it would fill a page. Suffice to say I have been to hospital many times, broken many bones, and had plenty of reconstructive surgery. Still at least I have never had my scrotum torn apart by another mans bots. And I count myself lucky with my injuries as it can get much worse.

No-one in this Football/Rugby/Hockey discussion has yet mentioned the power and force involved in the scrum: 16 100+ kilo guys pushing in formation, where the crux of this force is directed through the head and shoulders of the two props on each team.
I played a game back at uni where a scrum collapsed and one of the guys on my team broke his neck, and ended up in a wheelchair. And this happens not just at amateur level but at the very highest level of the games. At the 2003 World Cup, a scrum collapsed and the Australian prop Ben Darwin broke his neck, and was stretchered from the field and never played again. World Cup 1995: Ivory Coast player Max Brito broke his neck and has been paralysed from the neck down since.

Rugby is a very dangerous sport.

 

[smithy_2045]

I can't believe someone voted Cricket over the other options. Even it's name is girly.

Getting hit by a cricket ball, especially in the head, is not an enjoyable experience.

Sure, I'm not arguing that you can't get hurt. But you just can't compare that with what happens in Rugby for example.

True. You don't see someone get hit in the head and receive multiple facial fractures in rugby.

 

[silasbufu]

I can't believe someone voted Cricket over the other options. Even it's name is girly.

Getting hit by a cricket ball, especially in the head, is not an enjoyable experience.

Sure, I'm not arguing that you can't get hurt. But you just can't compare that with what happens in Rugby for example.

Try spending a few hours standing 22 yards away from someone who is hurling rocks at your face at 90 miles an hour. Then tell me it's not tough. Anyone who played without a helmet against the West Indies back in the seventies is a psychopath as far as I'm concerned.

With that said, I would have voted for Aussie Rules. Half those guys are only in it for the violence.

As I had stated before, I sure agree that it may be tough , but so is almost any other sport out there ( yes , you probably CAN die while playing badminton if you're unlucky enough ). I'm just stating out that cricket, even if it may be tough, is not tougher than rugby or hockey, not even close, and just don't see any good argument to prove otherwise.

I can't believe someone voted Cricket over the other options. Even it's name is girly.

Getting hit by a cricket ball, especially in the head, is not an enjoyable experience.

Sure, I'm not arguing that you can't get hurt. But you just can't compare that with what happens in Rugby for example.

True. You don't see someone get hit in the head and receive multiple facial fractures in rugby.

Then you haven't watched enough rugby

 

[packedcracker]

Starcraft.

 

[rhintintin]

it's called state of origin rugby league. it's pure tribal insanity. and the players are just as big as their North American brethren.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZFCsBvkIcc

or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsQXjTuzeBI&feature=related

This man is not wrong. Rugby League (of which Origin is the worlds best game) is utterly insane. American football without all the breaks in play or pads.

The first 10 minutes of the Origin game is called "the blooding" with good reason.

 

[smithy_2045]

I can't believe someone voted Cricket over the other options. Even it's name is girly.

Getting hit by a cricket ball, especially in the head, is not an enjoyable experience.

Sure, I'm not arguing that you can't get hurt. But you just can't compare that with what happens in Rugby for example.

True. You don't see someone get hit in the head and receive multiple facial fractures in rugby.

Then you haven't watched enough rugby

At suburban club level?

 

[Jester00]

lol 2% tennis.

ehm, stupid question: what's the difference between rugby and american football?
(<- stupid german kid)

it's hockey in my opinion.

 

[higgs20]

I picked rugby, but when I read hockey I was thinking about field hockey, which is brutal but not even in ice hockeys league, so I would probably go for that.

also apart form the fact they both use egg shaped balls, involve tackling people by bringing them to the ground and the fact that you score by crossing a line with the ball. almost everything is different between rugby and American football.

 

[BringBackBuck]

I can't believe someone voted Cricket over the other options. Even it's name is girly.

Getting hit by a cricket ball, especially in the head, is not an enjoyable experience.

Sure, I'm not arguing that you can't get hurt. But you just can't compare that with what happens in Rugby for example.

True. You don't see someone get hit in the head and receive multiple facial fractures in rugby.

Then you haven't watched enough rugby

At suburban club level?

yep. See my earlier post, a guy in my team broke his neck and was paralysed. I have been kicked in the face (got away with only a broken nose and some facial bruising) and once had my jaw broken by a very large angry Tongan.

 

[SentryGun]

extreme ironing... ironing in the middle of whitewater is tuff

 

[biGBum333]

i was going to say lacrosse, but ruby is almost as brutal

 

[silasbufu]

At suburban club level?

Seeing how cricket is clearly dominating the poll, I'll leave you with your beliefs. It wasn't going anywhere anyway.