The hardest sport?

[MaineDolFan]

At the start level, each sports requires a person who succeeds to be very good on an individual level.  Which game, played at it's highest level, requires the most individual skill?

[JVides]

I voted Baseball, because hitting a ball coming at you at 95 miles per hour, not in a straight line, requires ridiculous hand-eye coordination.  I guess I believe that athletic ability (to run a sub-10 second 100 meters, or to have a 40 inch vertical jump, or to have the stamina to race bicycles) is more plentiful than is the hand-eye coordination needed to hit a curve ball.

[Phishfan]

If I read your post correctly we are looking for the most individual skill at the early levels of competition. Is that correct? I chose baseball because some children still do not have the hand-eye coordination developed when they first start.

[TonyB0D]

out of the things on this list, i'd have to say NASCAR....all the other sports you can pretty much be trained and work towards getting better at.  the ability to concentrate and take in your surroundings at 200+ MPH in tigh quarters and making split second decisions, thats just something you're plain born with.

honorable mention to any of the "speed" sports such as extreme downhill skiing, cuz it requires the same split second brainspeed

[MaineDolFan]

If I read your post correctly we are looking for the most individual skill at the early levels of competition. Is that correct? I chose baseball because some children still do not have the hand-eye coordination developed when they first start.

Kind of, not really.  I meant that in order to become a professional baseball team is made up of a group of very good players.  In order to get to that level that person needed to be amazing on an individual basis.  In other words - look at all sports listed as individual and not team.

What sport requires the highest talent level on an individual level?

[jtex316]

Every sport, there can be a big and well thought out argument for it being the toughest sport.

Any sport at the highest level of competition is ridiculously tough.  

I voted Golf as the toughest sport, with baseball getting my 2nd place vote.  

Golf is the toughest sport because:

1. It's it ridiculously tough to EARN and KEEP your PGA Tour Card.  If you do not perform well every year, you are off the tour
2. It requires incredible concentration and reptition of making shots / delivery.  You can't just wing it, you must be "mechanically fluid"
3. You need tremendous hand-eye coordination to hit the ball with a golf club, accurately and distance wise
4.  Your playing surfaces, bunker locations, and pin locations change every week, and sometimes more then once a week on the PGA tour.  Other sports, the fields of play are meticulously tended to.
5. You play outdoors, so you have to deal with the wind and other elements
6. You get drawn at random for your starting times on the 1st round of the tourney, so you will have to wake up at 5 AM to play golf at 6:30 AM
7. The PGA tour enforces by far the strictest media handling and dress code regulations in all of sports, BY FAR.  You can get fined for everything, whether or not it's televised or not.

And if that wasn't enough,

8. When you do by some miracle make the PGA tour, there's one small problem.  Tiger Woods.

[Phishfan]

Wow. It's almost impossible to judge that way (at least for me). With clarification I am going to stick with baseball, but change my reasoning. I would dare venture to say there are more, or as many, people trying to play baseball at a professional level than any other sport. Given that I would imagine you would need more individual talent in order to showcase yourself.

I'm not even a baseball fan and voted it twice.

JTEX, I would put the NFL's dress policy against the PGA's in terms of strictness

[jtex316]

Dude man, believe me when I say that the PGA's dress code is stricter.  I think Vijay Sihgn got fined $1,000 because he missed a belt loop on his pants.  It's rough.

[Sunstroke]

I'm the lone football vote at this point. I think that it takes all the skill of the other sports, but is performed while other people are trying to kill you. That last part makes it the hardest, imo.

[jtex316]

What?? You mean when Corey Pavin stares you down at the 15th tee...if that doesn't put the fear of GOD in you, then I don't know what will.

[SCFinFan]

I'd like the change the pace here and say amateur wrestling. When I wrestled in high school, I have to say that it was the most intense experience, day in and day out, that I've ever had in my life. It requires just as much coordination as baseball does (over the entire body) though maybe not quite as much hand-eye coordination. It is also the most supremely painful thing anyone has ever thought up. I know it may not look too painful for someone who is just watching, but it is. The tension that your body must sustain for an extended period of time is incredible.

Dress code and weight limits aside, wrestling gets my vote. Boxing would probably be second, and then baseball, golf, and football.

[Phishfan]

I almost chose wrestling also. I can't tell you how many times I walked off a mat with my forearms so cramped I could not straighten my fingers.

[bsfins]

Well,I've got a history with alot of these...
Wrestled for 1 year,Hated it...
Diver on the swim team 2 years
Played 3 years of College football (1 1/2 years total playing time)
Little league baseball 1 year
Boxed for about 3 years
Plays golf on an occasion
done a little truck and tractor pulling...

Boxing taught me to control my anger,discipline,how to take a beating...Boxing was hinderance to trying to get me to Block in football,In football some guy charges me,my tendancy pounded into my brain in boxing...MOVE,DODGE,SLIp the Punch...Stick and move...not good thing when You see someone blitzing.

I got the most out of boxing...

Diving was the second hardest sport for me,I didn't even know how to do a forward dive.It takes Strength,Balance,Concentration,Discipline,Endurance,and Grace. The worst part,It's all subjective. You could feel like that was the best dive you've ever thrown,and the judges thought it was ok,not even good....

Golf,to me is the hardest sport...some of the best athletes in the world,look horrendous playing Golf.It requires just about everything.You don't have to be a good athlete to play it,just about anyone can play...The idea is simple...Put the little white ball in the hole...It's the most frustrating thing to do....

[bsmooth]

You sure listed a lot of team sports for a question of individual skill. As it has been stated many times, one individual can't carry a team all the way without help.

[TEKGOD]

Man I cant believe so many of you voted baseball. With all due respect, what other sport lets a fat man do nothing but stand on a mound & hurl a ball as fast as he can & get paid for it? All these team sports have a specialty a person can specialize in. For example the kicker is the wimpiest guy on a football team, but who better than to kick that last second FG? And GOLF what the hell is it doing on the list? --- its not even a sport its a hobby. An activity that requires no physical prowess just swing a golf club well. You might as well call playing Madden a sport. And NO thats not a sport either.

I am going to say bodybuilding. Why? Because you cannot specialize. You cannot have great arms with a pot belly & expect to succeed at bodybuilding. You have to train & eat religiously. Its about when, how, where, & how much. And its not just about who's biggest. True bodybuilding is about shape, definition, & then size. Sure you can knock it & bring steroids up. But I am referring to TRUE bodybuilding. Some guys can train more without proper form to never look as good as the guy who trains less with excellent form. Let the flames begin.