Blog
Ranking sports
Like most people on the planet, I am watching the World Cup soccer games.
I find myself engaged in watching games such as Ecuador battling Curacao. I have no ties to Ecuador, and I had to consult an atlas to find the location of Curacao. Despite having no allegiance to either country or its team, I found the match exciting.
Watching these athletes run up and down the field for 90 minutes, I figured that professional soccer must be the most physically demanding sport.
In 2004, ESPN conducted a study that intended to answer the question – which sport places the greatest overall physical and mental demands on elite athletes?
They convened a panel of eight experts. These individuals were coaches, journalists, former athletes, sports scientists from the US Olympic Committee and Kinesiologists.
Each of 60 sports was scored from 1 (low demand) to 10 (extreme demand) in ten dimensions:
| Skill | Meaning |
| Endurance | Sustaining effort over time |
| Strength | Maximum muscular force |
| Power | Explosive force production |
| Speed | Quickness of movement |
| Agility | Ability to change direction rapidly |
| Flexibility | Range of motion |
| Nerve | Courage and willingness to take physical risks |
| Durability | Ability to withstand punishment and fatigue |
| Hand-eye coordination | Precision and reaction |
| Analytic aptitude | Strategy, decision-making, tactical thinking |
The expert ratings were combined to produce a composite score that ranged from 0 to 100.
The ranking that resulted:
1 Boxing
2 Ice Hockey
3 American Football
4 Basketball
5 Wrestling
6 Martial Arts
7 Tennis
8 Gymnastics
9 Baseball
10 Soccer
Fishing came in last. Bowling and billiards were not last but were in the cellar of the rankings. No surprises there.
The study was criticized for not including some sports such as hurling. No surprises there either.
Using these criteria, I can see why soccer is not number one. Power and strength are essential aspects of boxing, but I don’t think you could say the same for soccer.
While soccer is only number 10, it is fun to watch. I was expecting the Ecuadorian or Curaçaoan fans to loudly chant “We’re number 10! We’re number 10!”
Soccer may be number 10 but the size of its fanbase dwarfs that of other sports. The World Cup is the most watched sporting event in history. It is estimated that 5 to 6 billion people will watch some of the World Cup. Remember that the population of Earth is 8 billion.
Side note. Apparently, the hardest thing to do across all sports is to hit a fastball.
A batter facing a 95-mph fastball has only about 0.4 seconds from the pitcher’s release to the ball crossing home plate.
By the time the ball is halfway to the plate, the batter must already have identified the pitch, estimated its speed and location, decided whether to swing, and begun the swing. The swing itself takes roughly 0.15–0.20 seconds, leaving very little time for decision-making.