most difficult sports according to ESPN.com

[4him]

Here's a laugh...

Durability: Basketball ranked highly, right in front of bull riding and several spots in front of wrestling. If this is so, because of the length of the events. Why is basketball so far ahead of soccer? Soccer is what, 50% longer than basketball, has no time-outs, and is played in halves and not quarters. Oh yeah, and soccer also involves intense physical contact.

[El-Moldo]

There is ONE main reason why track is not considered a difficult sport in the minds of many, including ESPN. The reason: In track, like in bowling and golf, no one has to play defense. You just do your thing the best you can. But you can't stop your opponent from doing his best. The toughest part to many sports, such as wrestling, b-ball, football, hockey, etc is playing defense. That's why track is taken so lightly. Heck, there's even defense in chess, billiards and horseshoes, but not in track!

[Gunner18]

defense in horshoese? now thats something im interested in hearing about...

[4him]

Oh yeah man...knocking the other guys leaner off...it's all about the defense!

I totally agree about track. I always said it would be better if it was a contact sport. That would require some real strategy, because you couldn't just start taking out people. If you did that, one guy would just take off while you were beating on people and you would lose. So you would have to strategically plan when you were going to give someone the judo chop to the back of the neck.

What you are saying about track is similar to what I was saying about gymnastics.

The only discrepency I had about the ranking of track was the order that they put the track genres in. And actually, you can play a little "defense" in distance track running. Sprints are all about busting your balls to be better than the next guy, but anything where the lanes converge, you can put a little strategy and "D" into the game.

[Gunner18]

they should dress track runners up in lacrosse gear and give 'em a stick....now that would b a sport!

[El-Moldo]

Getting back to horseshoes for a minute. Let's say your opponent goes first. Tosses a shoe that leans against the peg. You're next. You intentionally knock his shoe away from the peg. That's defense baby!!!! Keeping your opponent from scoring.......The knock about track running events is that anyone can do it. There is NOTHING in the ESPN rankings about "doing these sport well". For example, my mother can put on a sweat suit and run 800 meters to the local Sheetz. But my mother is not going to try to tackle anybody, do a somersault on a balance beam, slide into second base, wrestle another woman, box someone, play soccer, participate in the luge, or jacknife off a high dive. Whether you run well or not is beside the point when you consider difficulty.

[Gunner18]

id consider that more of an offense than a defense...ur attacking his shoe, not defending it from getting there in the first place...

[El-Moldo]

You just PREVENTED your opponent from scoring, but did not score yourself. You took him out of a scoring opportunity. Just like a blocked field goal attempt. Dee-fense, Dee-fense, Dee-fense.