Maybe Tiger dosen't think as fast as Barry. He takes 2 minutes to create and visualize and Barry takes a fraction of a second to create and visualize. Yes the ball is smaller but you don't have to decide in a spit second to duck a golf ball that might hit you in the head. If Randy Johnson was throwing the golf ball could Tiger hit it? Somehow I don't think it would affect your game if 10,000 people were chanting RAMAH SUCKS! before every shot. It would probably make you play better. If Joe Montana, John Elway or Dan Marino had ever taken a couple of minutes to CREATE AND VISUALIZE THE PERFECT PASS they would have been on their asses before they threw it. I play golf at most 3 or 4 times a year and I don't know what an oxen horn skullcap is. I could be a lot better golfer than I am if I cared enough to play all the time. I would rather spend the time fishing. I can't beat a good golfer but I know some guys who play every chance they get and buy every golf book and video they see and are still no better than I am. The best golfer I know is a totally schized out guy living on a Marine mental disablity pension. He lives in a roach infested apartment near the LSU golf course. He hasn't been laid in 14 years according to him. One time I felt sorry for him and set him up with a hooker I paid for and he still didn't get laid. He regularly shoots in the low 70's on the LSU course and frequently breaks 70. He has about the cheapest clubs that money can buy. I think he is good at it because he is too out of it to buy into the "golfers mystique" Last year I played with a guy who had a chance to beat me out of a few bucks on the 18th hole by sinking a very makeable 6 foot putt. Before he even aproached the green I complimented him on how well he was playing and then I asked him whether he prefered to inhale or exhale on his backswing. He missed it by 2 feet. If you use that one sometimes and it works for you buy me a beer.
From someone who has played football, baseball, swimming, track and gymnastics I would have to put gymnastics as the hardest. It is the most time consumeing. You practice six or eight hours a day six days a week. You have to do tons of strength work. I remember days when my coaches would make me do pushups for an hour or more with no rest. Then there is the difficulty of the apparatuses. My worst was always rings. The iron cross is the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life. The injuries when they happen can be the most severe. You won't find many gymnasts who havent broken a bone. I would put the rest in this order. Swimming, Baseball, Track, then Football.
There is a lot of stratagy involved in track and swimming. Here is an example from when I swam. I was swimming the 200 IM in the state elite eight. I 5'4 and at the time weighed in at a solid 150. I was to short and square to swim. The best swimmer in the state swam the IM also. This event was my best chance to win the state championshipl. My best time was 1.54.5 his was 1.52.2. My coach and I figured I would have to negative split each fifty yards of the 200 except breast where i could just swim a fast, smooth, and resting 29 to reload my legs for the last 50. We also figured I would have to swim a 23-24 second 50 free to close out the IM. My Butterfly leg could not be any slower than 25. My backstroke had to be under or low 27. My final time had to be in the 1.50-1.51 range if I were gonna outreach a 6'7 guy at the wall. I ended up second to the guy in the end. I got my 1.51 but he went an inhuman 1.49 in the IM
As soon as hits have to hit a target about 3 times the diameter of the ball in order to count, I'll start thinking about it.
Golf: not a sport. Say what you want about "mental visualization and mastery", but chess requires the same thing. Golf, like chess, is a GAME not a sport. And don't bring the argument that you have to walk between strokes. You can't say something's a sport just because it's hard to do well. Figure Skating: sport. I hate to admit this. Ignore the frilly costumes and melodramatic music. These skaters don't just do jumps and spins, they have to skate and build up speed for these moves. Figure skating also has constant movement and can wear you down. Figure skating requires complete body control (at a higher rate and level than golf) Auto Racing: not a sport. Yes it takes a physical toll on the body. Yes it's incredibly taxing on your mind and body to complete these races. The fact is the only physical fitness requirement is that you can fit through the welded door to get into the car. Also, you have to be either incredibly stupid or clinically insane to choose this as a profession. Cycling: sport. Unlike auto racing, all movement in cycling is initiated by human strength (not pushing an accelerator). Bowling: not a sport. Once again, people confuse a game with a sport. Hunting, fishing, skeet shooting, archery: not sports. They're actually all great skills to learn a summercamp. Poker: not a sport. Poker is the precise definition of a game. It uses cards! Also, poker champions have been anything but athletic (fat slobs, heroin addicts, creepy creepy creeps) Boxing: absolutely positively a sport. I don't think I need to argue this one. Horse racing: not a sport, although I'm not sure what I would call it. Extracurricular activity? Also, horses aren't athletes. Spelling bees: NOT A SPORT! Why do they put this carnival of freaks on ESPN every year? Can't TLC or PBS pick it up? That spelling bee has to be one of the most depressing things on television.
I doubt any two people would completely agree on what is or isn't a sport. But the way I see things is: Ever spent an hour on the driving range when you were out of shape? All golfers may not look athletic, but it does require strength, coordination, and flexibility. David Wells may also not look like an athlete, but try throwing 100 pitches. To me these are forms of athleticism. Not me. Not sure what you're arguing here. Cycling is still a sport to me. Agreed. I think boxing is sort of on the bubble. Track is another one that I see as on the bubble. No, sprinting is not a sport. It's just pure athleticism at its best. But running longer distances does require strategy. No athleticism required=not a sport. I was friends with one at LSU. Yes, they are. Coordination alone does not count as athleticism. Not objective. It's becoming increasingly difficult to determine what is and isn't a sport. I think we have to take a step back and realize that just because it is entertaining to us does not make it a sport. Notice that a lot of Olympic "sports" are not sports, according to me.
Friggin clueless, especially about golf ... you really are. I'd like to stick your ass on a thoroughbred for a mile and a quarter ... and after you next gargled and spit out one or two of your own testicles ... you'd have a little more respect for what a jockey does in his SPORT. Next, I'd like to stick your ass in a stock car race for about 50 laps ... not even 500 ... and, if almighty god saw fit to see you survive after 50 laps for a pitstop for gas and fluids ... and after they spatula extracted your death grip on the steering wheel, we'd ask your dehydrated and nervously exhausted ass again if this was a sport. My cousin Jimmy Mitchell of Gretna was the World Champion Bowfisherman a few years back ... now that's a sport ... but not by your definition. I'd like to see you shoot 100 times at a bull red and see if you could even get 1 ... then you could watch his two boys ... both teens ... hit ten in a row and make you look like a fool.
Hey Ramah, how 'bout we go to the carnival and see which one of us can land a nickel in those greased cups. Then we can throw darts at balloons and try to win a Paula Abdul mirror. Maybe after that we can head over to grandpa's for a nice game of horseshoes and then some shuffleboard. I'll try to dig up a Rubik's Cube out of the attic and give it a crack. JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING IS HARD TO DO DOESN'T MEAN IT'S A SPORT! There are thousands of people who are good at thousands of different things. It doesn't mean everyone's skill qualifies as a sport. BTW, I've played golf, riden a horse, hunted, fished and drive a car on a daily basis. I don't have respect for any of those activities as a sport. What some people consider sports (golf, pool, bowling), I consider games. Hunting and fishing are exactly that, hunting and fishing. And shooting at targets with bullets, arrows or otherwise are skills.
quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Come to think of it these bird watchers are pretty strange birds themselves. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was friends with one at LSU. Yes, they are. I knew this guy who was into bird watching and one time he asked me if he could borrow my canoe. I thought he wanted to go fishing with it but he told me he wanted to use it to go watch some birds. He was quite offended when I told him "Hey, I'll get my shotgun and go with you."
