Of the 6 major sports, does basketball require the least amount of skill?

Football requires the least amount of skill.

Baseball and golf probably the most, because it's only skill. In a sport like soccer you need to have a combination of skill, athleticism, intelligence and etcetera while in golf you really only need one specialized skill and that's that. It's very pure.

NBA centers are the least skilled

if anything, basketball the the second hardest.

i been around guys that dont play soccer that are REALLY good at it.

Obviously it's football, excluding a few positions. You can outskill an athlete in basketball, you just can't do that in a lot of positions in football.

guys stop mentioning baseball, it is not a sport, more like an activity or a past time

You got to laugh at people who think baseball doesn't take skill. Hitting a baseball is ALL SKILL. Try hitting a 90 mph fastball. Tell me that's not skillful.

To me, football is easily the least skillful for most positions. Just amazing strong athletes who can hit people, run fast, and tackle.

I guess by default golf is the most skillful, but its not a major sport, so remove it from the list. It's an activitiy.

[QUOTE=therammingman]NBA centers are the least skilled[/QUOTE]

Damn right, the only professional league where you can be drafted completely based on potential after picking up basketball 5 years prior.

[quote=sundizz]2. Soccer
If you have decent athleticism you can always play defense. I really am terrible at kicking the ball but can play great on the ball or help defense. This is a game with clear cut offense and defensive players so as long as you don't choose a position (forward) that requires mad skill you can play just fine. I played with varsity level players and most of them had no idea I never played soccer before. All I did was play defense and try to not do too much. I've played one on one soccer against people that have high school level of skills and beat them. Again, mostly luck, I was faster than them and it was a big field, and no goalie. It takes a little bit to get used to dribbling with your feet, but as far as sports go you can pick that up fairly quickly.

7. Golf
This sport requires the most skill in my opinion. I naturally have been able to get by, or do well at every sport I've ever played just a few times. Golf is by far the exception. It is impossible. The skill required to hit that ball properly is just unbelievable. Size, strength and every measure of normal athletic ability (coordination, wrist strength, explosiveness, etc) really have no bearing on golf. It is a pure skill sport.[/Quote]

I agree with what you are saying, but comparisons are wrong. Golf is not a team sport, thus I think you are comparing pro golf to a football game at the park (i'm talking about soccer). None of the things you mentioned were related to actual pro football.
IMO Golf is the easiest, and it's not even close. You can start at the age of 68, and be the GOAT at 69. Hyperbole aside, it really just needs some practice, and you're good to go. Of course the first time you play it you won't be good, but that's the case for every other sport. You can be a defender in a football game with your friends, that's because you can count on your teammates covering you. And this comparison to golf would be. . . rolling the ball to a 10 meter distance. Neither require that much of a skill.
Now playing golf on wide areas is as if you played football in actual stadiums, and against good players. In that case standing there as a defender you would be destroyed by guys faster than you, because it takes a lot to learn positioning, and off-side traps, and even when you do, you won't stand much chance if you aren't gifted with talent.

The other sports require so much more practice, and dicipline. Golf doesn't even require stamina.

To me I'd say it's:
Golf
Baseball
American football
Hockey (i may be overrating it, becasue i'm horrible at balancing myself on ice)
Football
Basketball
Tennis

Least skill required in order to play?

Easily Football. I known lots of kids who can't even caatch or throw a football properly, but they easily make the football team. You don't really need skills to be a lineman. You just have to be big.

Basketball, Soccer, Baseball all require skills of some sort for you to play.

The Football team is really easy to make.

Golf is not a sport.

Well, unless you count bowling a sport too.

I don't really think you can look and compare the various sports as a whole, a better comparison would be to break down all the positions of each sport, and rank them in terms of difficulty with the positions of the other sports. The sport that has the overall amount of difficulty in taking the average of all positions combined is the one that is most difficult sport overall.

[QUOTE=Eat Like A Bosh]Easily Football. I known lots of kids who can't even caatch or throw a football properly, but they easily make the football team. You don't really need skills to be a lineman. You just have to be big.

[/QUOTE]
Exactly this.

Want to play football? Eat a lot. Bam, instant lineman.

[QUOTE=Bigsmoke]if anything, basketball the the second hardest.

i been around guys that dont play soccer that are REALLY good at it.[/QUOTE]
You mean US good right?
Rest of the word, by the age 2 you're already kicking some ball around, so someone that don't play soccer have almost zero chance of being good at it.

It's football.

Basketball and soccer are high speed, non-stop games. At a decent level, you're going to need high coordination skills along with strong footwork, body control, and mental concentration.

Baseball is often regarded as the sport that requires the most skill, so that's definitely off the list.

Golf is probably pretty hard too. I mean, I've tried golf and can barely even swing the damn thing. I don't understand the game.

The exact opposite.

Easiest to Hardest: (4 Major leauges)
Baseball
Football
Basketball
Hockey

[QUOTE=sundizz]I am very very very naturally skilled at sports...just short.



2. Soccer
If you have decent athleticism you can always play defense. I really am terrible at kicking the ball but can play great on the ball or help defense. This is a game with clear cut offense and defensive players so as long as you don't choose a position (forward) that requires mad skill you can play just fine. I played with varsity level players and most of them had no idea I never played soccer before. All I did was play defense and try to not do too much. I've played one on one soccer against people that have high school level of skills and beat them. Again, mostly luck, I was faster than them and it was a big field, and no goalie. It takes a little bit to get used to dribbling with your feet, but as far as sports go you can pick that up fairly quickly.[/QUOTE]

This is a joke right? Defense is easy for a lame 3 on 3 pick up game, but for every organized game you need to have a good knowledge on how your team defense is going to work or you will get crushed very quickly. Football is all zone D and if your teammates don't have the knowledge of where to move and where to cover when situation changes you will be caught open quickly.

And one on one soccer lol how the hell is that. Shows that you have never played football properly. Forward is hardly the most skilled position in football, although you need great technique to convert your chances well. The playmaker probably has a job that requires higher knowledge and creativity.

:facepalm at the ppl who pick football

All I know is that hockey requires the most.

Of the 60 major trolls, does 28renyoy trolling require the least amount of skill?

[QUOTE=bagelred]You got to laugh at people who think baseball doesn't take skill. Hitting a baseball is ALL SKILL. Try hitting a 90 mph fastball. Tell me that's not skillful.

To me, football is easily the least skillful for most positions. Just amazing strong athletes who can hit people, run fast, and tackle.

I guess by default golf is the most skillful, but its not a major sport, so remove it from the list. It's an activitiy.[/QUOTE]

Hitting a baseball is probably one of the hardest things to do in sports at the Pro level.

Getting on base is even harder.

I am 6'2", I have a chance to score a basket against certain NBA players(short point guards for example). I may go 1 for 25 but I have a chance.

I have a much less chance of hitting a baseball by a Pro pitcher.

football because there are so many positions you can play.

Interesting topic, really interesting that despite this being a basketball site, basketball is not dominating the voting...

Making a basket is probably easier than anything else listed. Further, someone without any basketball knowlege or experience can still get out for a game and play without looking too foolish. Worst happens, you miss a shot (everyone does) your guys scores on you (so what, everyone is scored on).

But, to that end, since scoring a basket is so easy (compare to other sports, ball goes in 40-60 times a game, runs/goals/TD score 3-4 times a game) stopping the basket is insanely hard.

Further, the comparison between other sports is largely unfair. Baseball and golf are about fine motor skills. The position of the fingers when holding the ball, swinging the club. The gross motor..swinging the arms, jumping, are useful, but not primary. Basketball and football is all gross motor skills. Big, broad movements dominate--(though I'm sure R.Allen and R.Miller will tell you their finger tips are the whole game).

All that being said, ice hockey seems impossible.

[QUOTE=28renyoy]yet you see far more undersized players in the nfl than you do in the nba[/QUOTE]
I assume by undersized you just mean height.. you could easily flip that around and say basketball players are undersized a lot of times too in terms of weight[look at Durant dominating the league in scoring.. he would get broken in half in any true contact sport].

For skill most needed to least I'd put it :

Hockey
Baseball
Soccer
Basketball



Football

For football you can just be an athletic freak and get by on that purely. Most guys in the NBA are actually extremely skilled at dribbling the ball, shooting, passing etc.. all skills. A lot of the guys in the NFL can run and lift extremely well.. which really aren't skills. The QB is the biggest skill position in football though.

I wouldve said this discussion is pointless, but it does expose a lot of things in certain posters.

Basketball is one of the hardest.

[QUOTE=OKC Adonis]Hitting a baseball is probably one of the hardest things to do in sports at the Pro level.

Getting on base is even harder.

I am 6'2", I have a chance to score a basket against certain NBA players(short point guards for example). I may go 1 for 25 but I have a chance.

I have a much less chance of hitting a baseball by a Pro pitcher.[/QUOTE]
If you had a professional NBA player guarding you on the wing, you probably wouldn't even be able to put the ball on the floor without it getting poked away, much less actually get a shot off. Even if we gave you the shortest, worst point guard in the league, like Derek Fisher for example, he would still manhandle you.

And whose to say you would get a shitty PG on you? Thats like putting me up against the worst pitcher in the MLB. Chances are you would fail in both scenarios if you played an average pitcher/basketball player.

And to the example of being able to just throw it up and eventually it will go in, I could just stick the bat out for a bunt and eventually I would hit it.

Obviously Durant would hit the weight if he were a football player but didnt Randy Moss just finish up a 12 year career? He was tall in comparison to the people guarding him and he didnt get snapped in half. Wes Welker isnt dead. Desean Jackson is still unbroken, slender/skinny wideouts are in the league too.

[QUOTE=PowerGlove]Obviously Durant would hit the weight if he were a football player but didnt Randy Moss just finish up a 12 year career? He was tall in comparison to the people guarding him and he didnt get snapped in half. Wes Welker isnt dead. Desean Jackson is still unbroken, slender/skinny wideouts are in the league too.[/QUOTE]
There are way more low weight/BMI players in the NBA than in the NFL.. that was the point.

[IMG]http://www.bballcentral.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/kevin-durant.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2007/1011/nfl_g_moss_350.jpg[/IMG]

And Randy Moss isn't even close to Durants skinnyness.. Moss would actually be an average weight perimeter player in the NBA despite being one of the thinnest in the NFL.

Here is my list of major American sports, based on skill, hardest to easiest.


1. Golf - the entire sport is based on skill. I have friends who are shorter and weaker than me that consistently out-drive me, and out-play me.

2. Baseball - another sport that requires mostly skill. Speed, stamina, and strength are nice, but not required.

3. Hockey - they play on ice. Most people can't even ice skate, let alone play a sport while skating.

4. Basketball - requires a combination of skills using both the hands and feet. I would love to rank bball higher, but the sport is highly reliant on size and athleticism as well. That's why many claim Basketball has the greatest athletes in the World.

5. Football - the positions in football make the sport more specialized. Only the QB position requires as many skills as some of the other sports mentioned.

Golf is not a sport, its a game. Its as much a sport as bowling, shooting pool, or throwing darts. Are those sports too? :facepalm

[QUOTE=tpols][IMG]http://www.bballcentral.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/kevin-durant.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2007/1011/nfl_g_moss_350.jpg[/IMG]

And Randy Moss isn't even close to Durants skinnyness.. Moss would actually be an average weight perimeter player in the NBA despite being one of the thinnest in the NFL.[/QUOTE]

My point was Durant wouldnt look the same if he went to nfl.

[QUOTE=PowerGlove]My point was Durant wouldnt look the same if he went to nfl.[/QUOTE]
Durant is like 6'11 and he has very narrow shoulders.. he doesn't have a build to ever get big. Randy is only 6'4. If you saw Randy in person he could look like your average tall guy. If he wanted, he could be jacked as hell I bet. Durant on the other hand, would make you turn your head twice if you saw him in person. He's way taller and lankier. I dont think his build would last for one minute in the NFL.

You have to remember Moss was an elite sprinter.. like one of the best football has ever seen. And it was all natural. Durant could never approach his athleticism or speed. All he has on him is reach.

All sports require a good amount of skill. For sports like basketball and football you can pretty much get away with lack of skills by having supreme size and athletic ability. In basketball you can literally have no skills but as long as you are a 7 footer and you would play at the D-League at the worst. :oldlol: Size matters a lot in basketball. It takes a lot of skill at the same time but size is probably the most important thing.

Even though basketball and football may take the least skill, it still requires a lot. You can get away with having no or lack of skills in those two sports but I really doubt you can get away with that in many other ones.

[QUOTE=JohnnySic]Golf is not a sport, its a game. Its as much a sport as bowling, shooting pool, or throwing darts. Are those sports too? :facepalm[/QUOTE]

Yes, all those are sports too. Just because they don't require you to run around as much doesn't mean they aren't sports.

We can all find position/participants in each sport that dont have much skill.

[QUOTE=PowerGlove]We can all find position/participants in each sport that dont have much skill.[/QUOTE]

You saying golf caddy's don't have skill? Go watch Caddyshack!

im surprised.... not really LOL, that hockey hasnt been talked much on here. no one gives a shit about hockey but to be a defense man in hockey doesnt require much skill. learning to skate and hit and being 6ft plus. thats about it.

I think from a physical aspect, neither golf or baseball require much, at least not compared to football, basketball or hockey...or even soccer.

However, to be fair to baseball I think that sport requires the most mental skills out of all the other sports. Hitting a 99 MPH fastball isn't as easy as it looks. Same with trying to catch a line-drive as a baseman.

And to top it all, they play nearly every single day for 6-7 months (not incl spring training). They get maybe 4-5 days of rest in a month.

i'd say it depends on the positions in each sport. there are obviously a lot of unskilled big men in the NBA and a few who haven't even played all their lives that can still be effective at the highest level due to their size, while there are lightning quick guards with a ridiculous amount of skill in dribbling the ball, shooting, passing, etc

i'd probably say that baseball requires the most skill. it's pretty unforgiving because every single player has to hit (with the exception of the pitcher in the american league) along with playing defense. to be successful at a high level, you [b]do[/b] have to be pretty athletic. there are the occasional players that aren't too athletic and those are usually pitchers, third basemen, first basemen and catchers, but those are also some of the most skilled players on the field. i won't even get started on hitting, it's just ****ing hard and frustrating as hell :no:

[QUOTE=jlip]I've never played organized soccer. So from an ignorant outsider's perspective I'm wondering what skills are actually needed to play that game effectively apart from great footwork/ coordination?[/QUOTE]


ballcontrol is hugely important + tactical skill, soccer is a sport where you have to be born with a certain amoun of talent/skill because no matter how hard you train you won't get far otherwise