Chuvak

https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ten-hardest-splash.htm



Who ever came up with this placement order is an idiot. Not because cycling is in 8th place, but because baseball is number 1. LMAO In fact I think they should be placed in somewhat opposite order...

bac

Actually it's MUCH worse than that, there top 10 includes:

#1 Hitting a basesball (not playing, just being able to hit a baseball @ major league speed)
#4 Hitting a long, straight tee shot (golf)
#5 Returning a serve
#8 The Tour de France

Damn, I have hit a baseball @ speed, hit a long, straight drive, and returned a serve. I'm ready to take on that Lance guy now!

Chuvak

I just discovered that it's a poll. Stupid me, this is how America thinks. I had to expect that since baseball is most popular sport in US.

bac

Yeah, well we elected a draft-dodger because of his "moral values", and his "never back down" stance on the war on Iraq. Collectively, we aren't that smart.

Chuvak

boyze

some others for consideration:

- 3 continuous backward somersaults on 4" wooden beam
- stopping a slap shot at 100mph with 4 players blocking your view
- running a 43 sec 1/4 mile
- face climbing El Capitan without aids
- downing 50 Nathans hot dogs in 12 minutes
- free diving nearly 400 feet
- and of course, motoring up Alp Huez at Pantani's record pace

genec

Not to mention the source... USA Today is known for it's riveting, hard hitting, in depth news... NOT!

Ebbtide

There is a legal and political section, you might want to check it out if you want to vent.

Ebbtide

Besides pole vaulting, the other require a high degree of hand/eye coordination. I could have ridden in the tour, I never could never developed the hand/eye to play MLB.

But yes, the tour should be higher on the list

Maelstrom 

To be honest I disagree with almost the entire list. Very VERY middle white america list. Who do they take their surveys from, the monday quarterbacks who watch the olympics and baseball only. Ironically, none of sports I played or watch are on that list at all. And having played a few on that list as well as off the list, I just can't help but wonder what subrubanites they interviewed.

DXchulo

You know, it's pretty hard to hit a bullseye while throwing darts. Maybe that's number 11.

slvoid

Bomb technician seems like a pretty intense sport.
I mean to ride a bike is easy. To hit a baseball is easy. To catch a football is easy. But try that when your life depends on it. If you don't make that time trial, if you strike out, if you fumble the ball, you die and they pick you up with a spoon.

deastin

#9 is right up my alley. While in High School I became the first keeper in my state to stop an entire round of PKs. The game went to double OT and then went to PKs. I stopped all of the kicks i faced. Hardest thing i ve ever done in sprots period.
Drew

operator

Wow that is impressive!

Dane

That list is such a joke. I ran cross-country in high school, and thats only a 5k race...a marathon should be way higher on the list. I would love to see my old highschool baseball team (apparently #1 hardest sport) try to run a cross country course. That goes for the Tour as well. Of course, most of the people surveyed probably haven't reached their max heart rate in years.

Chuvak

Actually, you can vote, anyone can...

wabbit

Obviously the criteria isn't what requires the most physical exertion. IT seems to be what people think is hardest in terms of skill. After all, most people can ride a bike. I can, but I couldn't hit a ball with a barn door.

Anyways, we all know that cyclists aren't REALLY athletes. They're skinny guys with shaved legs. ANYONE can ride a bike, let's face it. It's not REALLY a sport.

lisasimpson

the whole idea of a list is silly to begin with. because it is all subjective it is like asking what were the best movies of all time, every person has a different list.

Dannihilator

Why isn't Launching a Freeride bike off a cliff not on there?

khuon

So why aren't things like aerobatics on there? The amount of skill needed to compete against the likes of Patty Wagstaff or Bob Hoover (yes, I know he's no longer flying) is quite amazing. The poll was a perception based one. People vote only on what they know. People only know only what they've seen. Most people don't follow cycling or aerobatics so they're not aware of the skills involved. Most people couldn't even hold level attitude on a calm day. And riding a bike is one thing, doing it in the TdF is another... outfoxing 180 other riders over the course of 3 weeks and 2,000 some-odd miles puts you in an entirely different class of bikerider.

serious

You would think that the hardest thing to do in sports is to win.

But noooooo, they need to put up idiotic things like hitting a long straight tee shot, which is achieved by literally millions of people every year!

Laggard

A marathon is ahead of the TDF? How many people finish the Boston marathon every year?

Maelstrom 

Its not nearly as hard as hitting a baseball...come on now.

Maelstrom 

Who cares about numbers....one word

p-ditty