Poll: Toughest Sport

[FieryTrainwreck]

Theoretically? Hard to say.

Real world? American Football. The NFL is the only athletic league with 6'8", 350lbs monsters who can still run down the vast majority of people. It's just simple physics; no one will hit you harder than a defensive or offensive lineman - or a linebacker (who weighs 1/3 less but travels 50% faster). Now imagine these people colliding with each other hundreds of times per game - and realize that their actual skin, organs, and bones are no stronger than yours.

 

[anglomanii]

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

but to be honest i do think that AFL or Australian rules football should be considered as the toughest sport, closely followed by hurling.

 

[Vykrel]

im gonna have to go with hockey. although rugby is probably a close second.

unless there is some other supreme badass sport ive never heard of

 

[zHellas]

I've got to agree with you. Hockey is just a bad ass sport. Followed closely by American football and rugby.

Yeah, Hockey is badass.

And people who play hockey are badass... and crazy.

I mean, to want to play a sport where you slide around on ice with 2 thin metal blades attatched to your feet while smacking a tiny piece of rubber with a thin stick while other guys doing the same thing try to smash you into the wall takes both balls & a bit of crazy.


I also think that American Football & Rugby should be in the same place, since it's essentially the same but American Football players have the good sense to use some fucking protection.

 

[Blackvegie]

I think it would be boxing. As the consistent aim is to damage your opponent as much as possible.

 

[Triskutt900]

i say rugby because
im 14 4"10 weigh 95 pounds and play rugger with people twice as big as me

 

[s0m3th1ng]

Other: Golf
Have you ever been golfing? That shit is literally club-snappingly frustrating and difficult on off days, only twelve-long strings of curse words on good days.

 

[meowchef]

Scientifically, baseball is the hardest sport to succeed at, as you have a cylindrical object hitting a spherical object moving on at 90+mph on as many as three planes.

As for the physically toughest, I would have said rugby up until a few days ago, but after having watched a few tests (I think that's what they're called) over this past weekend, it doesn't seem as if they're ever far enough apart to really hit the other guys very hard.

So, I guess I have to go with hockey or American football.

 

[Dimensional Vortex]

I'd have to go for professional fighting. Boxing especially or UFC. The training and risk of injury is huge. Insofar as team sport is concerned it would be Aussie Rules. It's like American football minus the gear and safety rules.

He did say fighting sports, where the sole objective is to beat up the other guy aren't allowed, this is between the other sports.

I would say Hockey, from what I've heard above, it does seem to be by far the most terrifying thing sport that I have seen.

 

[Thee Prisoner]

Lacrosse. Just from what I have seen this shit hurts like hell and if you get clocked with the ball your going down..hence why Goalies are crazy. Well I guess the same thing applies to Hockey as well.

Lawn Darts are deadly!

I was thinking the same thing. Lacrosse is hockey on grass.

 

[Lusty]

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.

 

[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.