Boilermaker Rick wrote:
Basketball was the only sport I played in high school, so obviously I would love to say that they are right on the basketball athletes are the best thoughts. They aren't. In fact, basketball probably isn't even close. Yes, it is true that basketball players look the most impressive coming off the team bus. That is because basketball rewards height more than any other sport. There really is no counter to be taller than someone. Of course, a point guard can be shorter, or someone who can jump an insane amount can overcome it to some degree, but as this show loves to tell everyone, Lebron just being bigger is the reason that the Bulls with Derrick Rose might as well just forfeit every season for the next 5. I don't consider height to be athleticism. It's just an attribute.
If I was to play basketball against Patrick Kane, I'm fairly certain he would be punching me in the face in frustration as I dominated him. Does that make me more athletic than him? Of course it doesn't. It's just that my body type is most advantageous for basketball. If we were playing soccer or another lame sport like cross country he'd destroy me.
Also, the NBA is filled with nonathletic guys. I doubt that many people looked at Brian Scalabrine, Kyle Korver, and Omer Asik and said "PUT THESE GUYS IN ANY PROFESSIONAL LEAGUE ANYWHERE AND THEY ARE GOING TO BE GREAT". Yes, Lebron could likely play football, maybe play baseball, and definitely couldn't play hockey or soccer professionally. Eddy Curry? He probably couldn't play division 1 in any of those sports right now.
If I had to make my list, these would be at the top but not necessarily in order:
Football(American)
Tennis
Gymnastics
These would definitely not be on it:
Soccer(take out the endurance aspect and what do you really have?)
Basketball
Baseball
Any endurance based sport like running, or cycling.
But you're just elevating certain physical traits over others to form your opinion on what athleticism is. There are plenty of fat, slow football players. Hell, the 60s were full of them and they were also white and tiny.
Coordination plays a big part in being an athlete. I would suggest baseball players are among the most coordinated. Just watch tape of the great Michael Jordan looking like a fucking spastic as he futilely tried to strike at balls pitched by minor league ciphers.
Whenever this conversation comes up I always like to tell the story of Alvin Elton and Phil Vernon. In fact, I may have related it here in the past, but at the risk of repeating myself, here goes.
Alvin and Phil were two guys I grew up with in Evanston. We used to play a lot of basketball in the local parks. Alvin was a short round guy, about 5'8", maybe a little over 200 lbs. I think he may be half Mexican. Phil looked like a fucking Adonis. His body was pretty similar to that of Derrick Rose. He was fast and strong. I believe he ran on the track team in high school. He wasn't a star, but ETHS track was a dominating thing at the time. Just to make the team you had to be good.
Nobody in his right mind would say that Alvin was a better athlete than Phil. Until you got on a basketball court with them. Phil just wasn't good. And Alvin had super coordination. He could see the court really well and he just had great control of his body that Phil lacked. And I would say the ability to control one's body is the heart of what we call athleticism.
I can remember picking teams with some guy we didn't know. Of course, he took Phil with his first pick and looked extremely puzzled when I took Alvin with mine. Everyone who knew the guys knew which team was going to be walking off the court at the end of that game.