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How hard is skiing?

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Faggghkxd
Posts: 1163 - Karma: 13
ESPN made an article yesterday about how much skill it takes to play a sport and made a chart out of 60 sports, number one taking the most skill. 60 taking the least. boxing took first and hockey took second. there are 4 or so disciplines of skiing involved, alpine, nordic, ski jumping, and freestyle. i probably missed some. now, in all honesty i think our view of freestyle skiing to be very difficult, it was rated 25 out of 60. i think it should be in the top ten. why? our sport requires guts first of all, you dont just go and drop a sixty foot cliff the first day you ever try skiing. hell tons of people never will. i know that is an exaggeration but skiing takes lots of practice. somebody can pick up a basketball and get the hang of it quickly. to freestyle ski, you have to learn how to ski, then go freestyle. it takes years for this. now maybe espn's view of freestyle skiing is to go down a little hill on snow blades and hit a 2 inch jump, or maybe they mean moguls or something.  anyways i wonder who agrees. here is the link.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills
May 5 2008 5:39PM
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yung.bubz
Posts: 315 - Karma: 71
id say skiing is in top 5
boxing shouldnt get first
May 5 2008 5:41PM
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HermioneGranger
Posts: 1933 - Karma: 101
they made a mistake skiing isnt a sport it is a way of life.
May 5 2008 5:45PM
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babujib
Posts: 5039 - Karma: 104
naw boxing is definatly first, a couple of my friends box and they have no life because theyre non-stop training, but i dont think football should be 3, i mean if your athletic you can play football thats not the same with every other sport
May 5 2008 5:46PM
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Faggghkxd
Posts: 1163 - Karma: 13
yea but its espn, obviously football will be up there
May 5 2008 5:47PM
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AhrenStein
Posts: 1941 - Karma: 177
do you think moguls is easier than park? if so, your a little off point









ps. no matter how much you dont want to call moguls and arials freestyle. It IS, and invented park today along with snowboarding
May 5 2008 5:48PM
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babujib
Posts: 5039 - Karma: 104
what i dont understand is how diving surfing horse racing gymnastics and football need more nerve than freestyle skiing

May 5 2008 5:52PM
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Armanzoid
Posts: 2453 - Karma: 26
Throughout highschool I wrestled, played football, and threw in track. I can say, without a doubt, that list is right. I boxed for a little while too, and that was excruciating. Wrestling is bad enough cause you are going all out for 6 minutes, but boxing requires a lot more stamina over a much longer period of time. Skiing requires guts and stamina, but I'd say wrestling and football far surpass it. The power, stamina, and agility you need to do those sports, and do them well, is insane.
May 5 2008 5:56PM
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Big--Ben
Posts: 508 - Karma: 296
rollerblading should be on that list. To skate at a pro level is rediculously hard
May 5 2008 6:05PM
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toominator
Posts: 4792 - Karma: 120
who cares what espn thinks.

the basketball example is a little bit off too, sure anyone can pick up a basketball, but it takes time and dedication to be awesome at that too.
May 5 2008 6:20PM
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huge-go
Posts: 1451 - Karma: 33
Dude, football is so hard.  If you ever watch football, stuff like the combine and college football, and watch players try and make the transition from ncaa to nfl, you'd know what you said not to be true.  There are so many people who get drafted just because they can run a 4.3 forty yard dash, but in the nfl, you can't do shit if you can't get better in the mental aspect.  But this is the case with most sports where teamwork is involved.
But I don't think you can classify one sport as the hardest.  Some people just have natural talents at certain sports, but suck hard at other ones.  And skiing is so much more of a lifestyle/passion sport.  There's no money if you get into it(for most), and most people won't know you unless they follow freeskiing, whereas pretty much everyone knows who Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Peyton Manning or Tom Brady is, regardless whether they follow the sports they're involved.
May 5 2008 6:43PM
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Literature
Posts: 13673 - Karma: 3,085
This man speaks truth.

It's a categorical mistake.
May 5 2008 6:54PM
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jedi.Jim
Posts: 1133 - Karma: 13
Considering how biased we are towards skiing, I think this list is the most accurate we can get for now. These guys know what they're doing; it's their job to analyze sports.

It is kind of comforting that we can almost say that fishing is not a sport, considering it got dead last, being beat by seven points (which I think was the biggest difference).
May 5 2008 7:04PM
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JGP.
Posts: 2785 - Karma: 474
Golf should be higher than 51 in my opinion...
May 5 2008 7:08PM
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knal
Posts: 505 - Karma: 43
skiing is super easy, just scary. Other sports take true hand eye coordination as well as the limited coordination needed in skiing. Personally id say basketball takes the most gifted athletes, but thats partly becasue u have to be a super human, nba players are unreal
May 5 2008 7:11PM
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sirskizalot
Posts: 4370 - Karma: 161
golf should be atleast top 5
May 5 2008 7:13PM
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1080ski
Posts: 4424 - Karma: 191
not that ESPN would include it, but crew (rowing) is pretty damn hard. for anybody that has rowed at least a little bit competitivley, they know that after a 2k or 6k race, you are so fucking tierd you cant really think straight and shit, and to be fast your technique needs to be top notch even when your tierd as shit. its nuts. i donno how valid this claim is, but there are a few wrestlers on our team, and at least one says that crew is harder than wrestling.
May 5 2008 7:16PM
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Crack.
Posts: 6020 - Karma: 84
how the hell is surfing 23rd
May 5 2008 7:18PM
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alaskakid
Posts: 5540 - Karma: 430
nordic skiing in 30th? are you fucking kidding me? it needs to be in top 10, along with golf. fuck espn
May 5 2008 7:23PM
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masta_LE3B
Posts: 3397 - Karma: 62
i was just about to mention X country skiing....
May 5 2008 7:46PM
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liukangkid
Posts: 3323 - Karma: 82
skateboarding is only one above us
if any action sports magazine had a list like this action sports would be favored over other sports
May 5 2008 7:49PM
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freestyler540
Posts: 13106 - Karma: 18,906
moguls are much more difficult than park, with moguls there is so much less room for error. Moguls also look more refined than park.

For difficulty, skiing is not about being being hard to do, its about progression. It just happens


May 5 2008 7:49PM
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nkinsman10
Posts: 1088 - Karma: 45
look how low they rated flexibility needed(6.88/10) and nerve needed(6.63/10), as well as endurance (4.13/10). I think nerve should be a 10/10 and flexibility like a 8 or 9, and endurance is way too low
May 5 2008 7:54PM
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Federation
Posts: 430 - Karma: 17
he they think squash, fencing, and volleyball is harder than freestyle skiing. retards.
May 5 2008 8:03PM
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Franny
Posts: 3980 - Karma: 77
What about formula racing. That takes years of training and experience and you gotta have balls.
May 5 2008 8:14PM
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huge-go
Posts: 1451 - Karma: 33
I think both football and boxing should have a durability of 10.  No sports dish out as much hits as them.  Hockey should also be 9+.  And how the shit did basketball get 7.75?  If boxing and football get 8.5, then basketball should be like a 5.
May 5 2008 8:26PM
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49566738265
Posts: 0 - Karma: 7,704
I've been in quite a few boxing matches.  It's hard, but it isn't harder than skiing or wrestling even.  Swimming, Skiing, and wrestling should be in the top 10.
May 5 2008 8:30PM
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bradcoffey
Posts: 582 - Karma: 31
i play hockey and it takes skill but i wouldnt really think it would be 2 in dificulty i actually dont know what id say would be most difficult.

with freestyle i think it depends how big you go to find its degree of dificulty
May 5 2008 8:31PM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,273
hockey definitely belongs at first, if you think about it it's the hardest sport, i mean it combines hand-eye coordination, skating on slippery shit, hitting, and incredible speed into the greatest thing ever. second i think should be snowblading
May 5 2008 8:32PM
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EClay46
Posts: 2499 - Karma: 69
that survey is bull shit.

look at rugby, it should be in front of football no doubt, such bull the ratings they gave it, they said u need more strength, power (same thing?), speed, agility, flexibility, nerves, durability,  pretty much im wondering how football beats rugby in anything


and i dont see how rugby rated so low in speed, has anyone ever heard of brian habana?
May 5 2008 8:39PM
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zackblain
Posts: 2322 - Karma: 22
thats a messed up list. I've played hockey all my life up until this year and was very good. But basketball in the top ten? I started playing a month before our tryouts this year and I made the team and started every game. Same with golf I had only golfed maybe 10 times my whole life  and tried out and made 3rd spot. Some of those sports are mad easy. But I would deff. keep hockey in the top 5.
May 5 2008 8:52PM
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bradcoffey
Posts: 582 - Karma: 31
true i never really thought about everything that goes into hockey but after playing all your life it doesnt really seem that bad lol
May 5 2008 8:53PM
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slashquatch
Posts: 874 - Karma: 17
true dat
May 5 2008 8:56PM
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pavel
Posts: 200 - Karma: 18
all sport are same it depends only on how far along sport has come. see example, park riding eight years ago was a joke, very easy. the potential there still existed for something very great and challenging, and today we still see only small part of potential but still it is much greater than before

it can be said the same in any sport. just because the gymnastics is high up of this stupid american list does not mean it is greater, only that it has reached a greater level of its... how do you say... potential than the great sport of the figure skating
May 5 2008 9:11PM
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BEARS.
Posts: 5380 - Karma: 696
espn is for pussies who love popping each other in the kisser with pillows on their hands.
May 5 2008 9:12PM
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Boodje.
Posts: 1394 - Karma: 21
word, take a look at alex broskow for an example.
May 5 2008 9:13PM
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Tortao
Posts: 1292 - Karma: 10
its both
May 5 2008 9:17PM
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Flarestrike
Posts: 437 - Karma: 18
I've done so many of these sports, soccer (football), tennis and football in general (AFL, NRL - what we call footy in aus).

In tennis once you get the basics you can hit a ball easily then incorporate topspin, slice and kick into your game, it's not that hard of a sport, or hasn't been for me.

In soccer, all you need to do is angle your foot to suit the kick you wish to do, yes you need excellent endurance, speed and will always ahve to do little "tricks" with the ball to keep it with your team (Ronaldinho being one of the best in the world at these things).

With footy all you really need is percerverance, you'll need to take a hard tackle, be fast and be good in teamwork...buuuutttt you get told what to do and when to do it by the coach almost constantly, it requires not much skill to tackle someone or run past someone....really it's like a big game of red rover :P

I have to say that skiing is harder in getting the hang of every single skill it involves, it is ahrder mentally as well, i'd always rather tackling someone bigger then me then skiing off of a cliff...maybe becasue i still hold a minut fear of heights from when i was little

I don't claim to be a specialist on this matter, but those are just my two cents :)
May 5 2008 9:28PM
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snowboardersrule
Posts: 1077 - Karma: 15
i thought wrestling would be higher. i do find it weird that the nerve rating is so much higher for ski racing than freestyle. that seems kinda weird.
May 5 2008 9:40PM
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icon1234
Posts: 3081 - Karma: 1,475
agreed i think rollerblading is so much harder than skiing.
May 5 2008 10:11PM
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coolhandluke
Posts: 4465 - Karma: 153
this article is honestly two years old, if you google "espn 60 difficult sports" you'll find blogs from 2006 mentioning it.  i can't prove it, but it led to some ncaa tennis idiots getting knocked up at a party about two years ago.  funny shit.
May 5 2008 10:22PM
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mntelebumper
Posts: 1287 - Karma: 10
wait hold the show cheerleading is a sport?
May 5 2008 10:27PM
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huge-go
Posts: 1451 - Karma: 33
Why?
May 5 2008 10:30PM
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spliff.Life
Posts: 7847 - Karma: 1,549
boxing shouldnt be number 1, its a dumb sport anyways, along with football which should be like number 50
skateboarding should be 1, no i dont skateboard/nor do i like the overall attitude of most of them or just the ones i know but skateboarding takes crazy skill, and theres more technical stuff than anything else

skiing should be 2 or 3
May 5 2008 10:31PM
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huge-go
Posts: 1451 - Karma: 33
This article is garbage anyway.  That shit is opinion.  One person might have played 2 sports, and he'll say that one is harder than the other, but someone else might think different because they're better at the other sport.
May 5 2008 10:45PM
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Faggghkxd
Posts: 1163 - Karma: 13
no it was made yesterday im pretty sure
May 5 2008 11:16PM
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coolhandluke
Posts: 4465 - Karma: 153
i'm glad it's revisited, because it's a great debate starter (which is all ESPN analysts are good for).  but i'm pretty sure it's older than yesterday's news.

2006 blog: http://cheerleading.about.com/b/2006/12/29/espns-60-most-difficult-sports-cheerleading-52.htm

2007 forum post:
http://forums.gamernode.com/showthread.php?t=10097

2004 forum post:
http://forums.techguy.org/random-discussion/226602-most-difficult-sport.html

2006 blog:
http://figureskating.about.com/b/2006/12/28/espncom-says-that-figure-skating-is-a-tough-sport.htm

May 5 2008 11:24PM
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Faggghkxd
Posts: 1163 - Karma: 13
oh well they had it up on home page il check again
May 5 2008 11:26PM
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navigator
Posts: 377 - Karma: 17
surfing should be placed higher. thats a hard sport that takes years to master, its way more difficult then skiing
May 5 2008 11:29PM
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860
Posts: 2930 - Karma: 166
boxing is way harder than skiing....not some punching match with your friends, if you actually fought in a real boxing match you'd get KO'd in like 5 seconds, its so much more technical than any other sport on the list and has some of the top reflex's and one of the best for endurance
May 5 2008 11:37PM
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Jwalk
Posts: 4647 - Karma: 134

word eh?

May 6 2008 12:01AM
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