Which sport is the hardest to win a championship?
doubledragon
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in Sports Talk
Out of the four major sports, which one is it the hardest to win a championship?
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And please, no mention of Carson Wentz on this thread, stevek is running low on ointment!
I think the NHL or NBA. Longer post season gauntlet. You have to win 4 extended series
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Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
NFL - not debatable.
Golf... everyman for himself
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
NHL
NFL: Buffalo Bills & Green Bay Packers
Hmmmm.
To the OP, what is your definition of "hardest"?
Most physically demanding?
Most mentally demanding?
Most complicated (i.e. instead of 5 basketball players for each of the two teams on the floor at one time, you go up the line to football with 11 players for each of the two teams on the field at one time; thus you have more complexity in the drawing up of and the successful execution of plays simply because there are more players and thus more moving parts that must be coordinated together)?
Most time consuming (i.e. length of each game, or length of each season)?
Interesting question.
How complex or simple (based upon your personal definition) is each of the four major US Sports?
Off of the top of my head I would think football would be the hardest (assuming it is the most complicated).
That is an interesting question, I guess what I was trying to say is, which championship requires the most of all of those things to win. The mental effort from each athlete, the concentration, the physical demand, the preparation, length of games, everything all combined.
Look at many professional football players after they're retired. A lot of them are practically cripples, have CTE, etc.
What else do ya need to know?
football for sure. in their playoff, every round is a single elimination playoff game. way more pressure. the other three is either a best of 5 or 7.
in NFL, every playoff game is a game 7
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
NCAA tournament without question. Just look at your brackets year after year. Anyone can beat anyone and there are so many single elimination games.
In the four major sports The favorites usually do well in the playoffs.
Single elimination plus a lot of teams in the tournament equals hardest.
True, but a playoff round of only one game introduces much more luck or randomness than in the other sports. One dropped punt, one bad call, one bad snap, and the series could be over. The better team will still usually win, but the better team is much more likely to win a 7 game series than a 1 game "series".
So the answer depends on what the OP meant. Hardest for whom? The NFL, or NCAA BB, makes it very hard for the most deserving team to win, but it makes it much easier for a random team to win; a random team that would have no chance at all in a best-of-7 format. When some random team does win the Super Bowl or March Madness they don't deserve credit for winning the "hardest" championship, they should thank their lucky stars that they didn't have to compete in an NHL-style format where they would have had no chance at all.
Hardest for the best team: NFL
Hardest for every other team: NHL
If you subscribe to the belief that the winning team is necessarily the best team, then never mind. But if you believe that, then all formats are equally easy/hard to win since some team has to win, and by the winning=best logic, that means the best team HAD to win, and effort doesn't enter into it.
Easily NFL.
Terry Bradshaw was AMAZING!!
Ignore list -Basebal21
MLB
NHL. Brutal.
NHL
NHL. So many teams in the mix
that is exactly what I mean. a team cant afford to have a bad game because that will be the last game of their season. in a 7 game series, the best team will win most times. like they say, anything can happen in a game 7. the randomness it adds makes the Lombardi the hardest of the big 4.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
in NBA and NHL, over 50% of teams make the playoffs. NFL and MLB are much lower. NFL 38% and MLB 33%.
more difficult to just make those to leagues tournaments.
I would also say that the brutality of the NFL game means that 4 preseason games (I realize most starters don't play in over half of those) 16 regular season and up to 4 postseason games with only one bye week is most difficult on the body. the violence of the nfl is unprecedented.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
NASCAR
HELLO? Ever watched a NHL Playoff game?
How many NHL players have all their teeth?
Hockey is a tough sport. It is not the NFL.
do you think anyone other than kickers could physically survive an 82 game NFL season? of course not. people would die and be crippled for life. its really not close.
NFL players are much bigger, stronger and probably faster. two different animals
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Not wanting to take anything away from hockey, but it seems every time there is a hard check along the boards, the crowd sort of gasps at the ferociousness of it.
Well...NFL players are doing something tough like that, and much tougher, on almost every play.
^^^^this. i think there is lots of talk about hockey being so tough because for some reason they have allowed players to punch each other during games. but on just about every play during a football game, someone is getting blown up.
there is a reason they can play 82 regular season hockey games a season and only 16 NFL games.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Although if the ultra-greedy NFL owners had their way, their league would play 82 games a year...maybe 364 games a year with a day off on Labor Day. LOL
NFL players just aren't tough enough to handle that many games.
The Annual Alfonz Wiffle ball tournament at Lincoln Park.
Someone better lookout!
I played both sports. You obviously have never played hockey where checking is involved.
A hockey player is much faster than a football player. They might be weightlifting stronger, but not tougher.
Football players are generally bigger. When I think of a 300 lb guy on skates, the first thing I think of is he would be down to about 240 if he had to work as hard as a hockey player does. No TV time outs baby!
I would be very very surprised if an NHL player could beat an NFL cornerback or WR in a 40.
there is no one in hockey nearly as strong as an nfl nose tackle. no one.
I suppose you are correct about toughness. it has nothing to do with strength. My grandmother was in fact the toughest person I ever met.
as far as violence, the NHL is not in the same league as the NFL. it just isn't. I mean, you really don't think any human being, no matter how tough could endure playing 82 NFL games in a 4 month period do you?
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
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Most football players couldn't even stand up if he were wearing skates.
Lots of those guys are also FAT. Ever seen even one fat hockey player............doesn't exist.
Never met her, I'll take your word for that.
That just shows you how much tougher hockey players are. They don't need a week off between games to get over every little boo-boo.
Here's a picture of what happens when you get hit with a hockey puck.
I’ve seen hockey players stitched up in the face while sitting on the bench and not missing a shift. Football is brutal but talk to me after getting hit between the pads unprotected by a puck traveling a 100 mph while blocking a shot. Hockey players don’t need no stinking tents to go under.
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Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
we are talking about 2 different things. i am talking about running not skating. i did a tiny bit of research and it is quite a bit closer than you might think. it looks like the fastest NHL players play at around 20-25 MPH. the fastest football players play at about 20-23 MPH. they can run almost as fast as hockey guys can skate.
ok, some NT are fat. so. they are much much stronger than a hockey player. middle linebackers are not fat, but they are fast and also much stronger than hockey players.
your statement about hockey players not needing a week off between games is cute, but you didn't answer the question.
do you honestly think any human beings could endure the physical beating an NFL game produces 82 times in a 4 month period? and then participate in the playoffs? you and I both know the answer to that. and that answers the question of which sport is more violent.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Of course football players could do it. Quarterbacks certainly could, running backs, not so much. Football players aren't ALL getting into big collisions on every play. Neither are hockey players.
It's not about ability, or toughness, it's about money. Most of us on the boards probably make it a point to watch at least one football game EVERY Sunday, how many here watch hockey at all? Hockey has to play more games to make money. football doesn't have to sell one single ticket to make a profit, why play more games?
My original response was to your comment that football violence is "unprecedented".
SOME football players are physical freaks of nature, some are big fat slobs that are very,very strong and hard to move, some play QB and have no physical abilities other than a good throwing arm, or kicking leg.
Even lineman who get hit on every play don't get involved in too many huge hits because they are two feet from each other at the start of the play, so none of those guys are running at 20 MPH when they collide.
Linebackers and running backs would seem to be the guys that take the most pounding. The year after Keith Millard won Defensive Player of the Year and Chris Doleman whined about it, I decided to focus on Chris and see if he had a point. He didn't.
Doleman did the same thing on every play, running around the offensive tackle, trying to get a sack (he was a great pass rusher) he also made sure that he "contained" any running back that was trying to run to the outside.
He got touched on VERY FEW PLAYS, he was involved in 5-6 tackles a game, most plays he had little or no physical contact with another player. Millard on the other hand was getting hit, often by two guys, on every play.
Of the 4 major sports, hockey and football BOTH are the most "violent" I wouldn't agree that either was much more or less violent than the other.
Now you are "spinning" the debate onto who's the more strong. It's apples and elephants. Hockey players need more agility and speed and bulking up with 20-30 pounds of muscle isn't needed. Size doesn't equal strength, remember Grandma!
I think we have (again) beaten this subject to it's conclusion.
Have a great day!
I agree joe, we are beating this horse to death. one parting stat I found on my way out. back in 2017, research was done on the cumulative hits nfl linemen are subject to in an average game. you mentioned they are only 2 yards apart. well, a special mouthgard was developed to measure g force inflicted on each play. they recorded 62 hits per lineman per game.
"According to the data collected, the average G-force of 10 of the 62 hits recorded was akin to the force the lineman would experience if he crashed a car into a wall at 30mph."
I think you are underestimating the effect these repeated hits are having. can you imagine the g force of an open field tackle over the middle where a safety has a 15 yard head of steam! it is just boneshatteringly violent.
I think I just invented a word there.
you have a good one too joe!
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
99% or more. Players wear full face shields before they get to the AHL or NHL.
On the contrary, hockey most definitely has TV timeouts.
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FAR less than 99% FAR, FAR LESS.
So when is is you have seen them blow a whistle and stop play so they can go to commercial? Apples and oranges, but a team going down the field in Football will often have to stand around waiting for commercials.
As long as the play is going on in hockey, they keep on keeping on!
Don't play dumb, someone else already has the job. ;-)
Find me a sport - any sport - where they stop play to go to commercial. None of them do. The NFL doesn't. The NFL doesn't interrupt drives for commercials other than the 2-minute warning. The NBA waits for a stoppage. The NHL does the same thing. It's not like Stamkos is winding up for a slapshot and Wes McCauley blows his whistle to go to commercial.
I remember being at a Vikings game when it happened.
Minnesota was driving nicely down the field and all of a sudden the teams were both standing around. Nobody was hurt and neither team had called a time out. I asked what was going on and one of the season ticket holders sitting near me said "TV time out".
I guess the point I was trying to make was that Hockey has continuous play as long as no one commits a foul or the puck gets shot into the stands or the goalie "freezes" the puck. They don't even stop play any longer when the players "tie it up" along the boards, or if they do it's a lot less than it used to be. Sometimes they don't stop for several minutes.
In Football they stand around for a while after EVERY play. Each play lasts 5 seconds?
Lots of standing around in the NBA (not that we were talking basketball) and I think sometimes baseball players actually nap during the games.
Maybe baseball. The Chicago Cubs went over a century between World Series wins. The Red Sox were close to 90 years. The hegemony of the Yankees has had something to do with it.
So far tough sports, football and Hockey are right up there. Given the length of the season, hockey might the toughest.
I would say MLB, and NBA probably because I am a Sacramento Kings, and a Seattle Mariners fan and these are probably the 2 worse franchises in the history of sports !!!!
Olympic gold medal. Only comes about every four years, and if you screw up at one you have to wait four more years to try again, assuming you're still young enough to compete
question pertained only to the 4 major sports.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Thanks dad
Forget those, I'd rather be on a championship UK team...in ANY capacity.
D's: 54S,53P,50P,49S,45D+S,44S,43D,41S,40D+S,39D+S,38D+S,37D+S,36S,35D+S,all 16-34's
Q's: 52S,47S,46S,40S,39S,38S,37D+S,36D+S,35D,34D,32D+S
74T: 37,38,47,151,193,241,435,570,610,654,655 97 Finest silver: 115,135,139,145,310
73T:31,55,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,80,152,165,189,213,235,237,257,341,344,377,379,390,422,433,453,480,497,545,554,563,580,606,613,630
95 Ultra GM Sets: Golden Prospects,HR Kings,On-Base Leaders,Power Plus,RBI Kings,Rising Stars
How about the Phillies not having ANY World Series championship (and only two NL titles; 1915/1950) for their first 97 years???
D's: 54S,53P,50P,49S,45D+S,44S,43D,41S,40D+S,39D+S,38D+S,37D+S,36S,35D+S,all 16-34's
Q's: 52S,47S,46S,40S,39S,38S,37D+S,36D+S,35D,34D,32D+S
74T: 37,38,47,151,193,241,435,570,610,654,655 97 Finest silver: 115,135,139,145,310
73T:31,55,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,80,152,165,189,213,235,237,257,341,344,377,379,390,422,433,453,480,497,545,554,563,580,606,613,630
95 Ultra GM Sets: Golden Prospects,HR Kings,On-Base Leaders,Power Plus,RBI Kings,Rising Stars
At the old Baker Bowl, which was the antiquated dump the Phillies called a home park until circa 1938, Lifeboy Soap had a sign the read, "The Phillies use Lifebot," and the fans response was, "And they still stink!"
The Phillies have mostly been a sorry excuse for a Major League Baseball franchise. There have been periods when they were little more than a minor league team for the rich franchises. When they got a good player, they sold his contract to get the money.
One year the joke was they had remodeled the clubhouse ... by putting up new nails for the players to use to hang up their clothes. One day there was a fire near the park, and fans stopped watching the game and ran over to one section of the bleachers to check it out. The bleachers collapsed.
The Red Sox had some lean years after the sold Ruth to the Yankees and Fraze sold the the team. The Quinn family controlled them, and they did have two dimes to rub together. One year the left field bleachers burned, and they didn't spend the money to fix them. It didn't matter because attendance was so poor that they didn't need them. Then Tom Yawky bought the team, and he spent a fortune on the team and remodeled Fenway Park.
The Cubs had some contending teams too in the late 1920s and early '30s.
My point is, the Phillies owners and management very often made little effort to put a good product on the field. And when they did, they often made major personal blunders, like giving away Hall of Fame pitcher, Fergason Jenkins, for two has been pitchers in the mid 1960s. Before that they gave away Jack Sanford, to the Giants for a pitcher who had one good season a while ago and a never was catcher.
The Phillies are famous for losing for a reason. It's ownership and management.
NBA, MLB, NHL, NFL
In order.
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https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
your welcome kiddo. rules of the discussion were in the very first post.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
But no condescension for the golf, NCAA BkB, or NASCAR responses prior to the Olympics mention, got it.