Five Most Difficult Things to Do in Sports
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Lang Whitaker, in an article for Sports Illustrated, listed five of the ‘hardest moves in sports’. I disagree with them all - as you will disagree with my list. And my list of five are:
1. The Badwater 135: This is a race of a hundred thirty five miles (or two hundred seventeen kilometers) through Death Valley. That is probably the most inhospitable place to have a road race. And that is why it is held there. The valley is named ‘Death Valley’ for a good reason.
2. The Tour de France: There are twenty stages to the Tour de France. It is up steep mountains on just leg power and sheer will. In the mountain stages, a mishap can mean a fall onto a steep, rocky slope. If the rider does not fall off the road, he could be run over by the following riders (the peloton).
3. Being a National Hockey League Goalie: NHL goalies try to stop pieces of frozen rubber, shot by the some of the fastest, strongest hockey players in the world. Those scorers (or potential scorers) can come as close as possible before they blast away at the goal. And as the goalie, you are expected to put parts of your body in front of that shot.
4. Alpine Grand Slalom Racing: The mountains are steep and the object is to speed down that slope as fast as possible. It’s slippery - with varying sun and wind conditions. There is no room for error. One error, like the slightest miscue on an edge, possibly could mean falling down the mountain. And sometimes gravity is not kind.
5. Hitting a golf ball - straight: People do not appreciate Tiger Woods’ skill until they try to hit that little ball. As Mark Twain said, ‘Golf is a good walk spoiled’. Tiger Woods just makes it look graceful and fluid, but, in the long run, that little ball always wins.
Those are my five - one of the aforementioned I do give serious consideration to trying. Is there one activity (or activities) that you think should be on the list?
Catherine Forsythe
[tags]sports, badwater 135, tour de france, nhl goalie, skiing, golf, list[/tags]
3 Comments
jimmyg869
August 11th, 2007
at 2:03pm
I think Tour De France should be number one based on the notion that if even you don’t cheat - that is doping - it is hard enough to win. Those cyclist are true athletes.
Number 2 should be World Cup Soccer played in the summertime near the equator such as Mexico that one year. If the altitude or the air (lack of or poluted), the heat will.
All the others you mentioned are well done!!!
Although it is still debated that Golf is a sport.
marc klink
August 11th, 2007
at 3:25pm
Your numbers 2,3,& 4 are in there at the top, but #1 is simply picking a good ride with a good cooling system - not easy, but not that much of a toll on the participants, golf ball - not in the top 50. I tend to agree with the original author about hitting a baseball, but as someone who played baseball a lot - once you hit it from one side, hitting from the other is no sweat - now if he had stipulated hitting with power — there’s a difficult thing to do - Mickey Mantle did it - not many others, and no one as well.
shausha
August 11th, 2007
at 5:14pm
Having been raised on rugby - both player and spectator - I certainly believe it should be in any Top 5 of tough sports, certainly above hitting a golf ball.
Have you ever tried to play rugby when your fingers are chilled to the bone and just catching the ball is like being smacked in the mouth very hard!
That aside nice article though the title was a tad mis-leading. I thought I was going to find the 5 toughest things a sportsman does and not the 5 top tough sports. Blame my British upbringing.