Worst sport

[BIG davie H]

good to see crown green bowls is not on the list, as i play every wednesday, what a sport

 

[Dr. Furface]

So I've got to go for golf, the game beloved of professional sportsmen in their time off, and overweight professional people who think they should get some exercise. I'm sure half of them keel over with shock when they first see themselves in plus fours. I can't for the life of me understand why it's televised: it might be a great game to play, but it's hardly an exciting spectator sport

I can understand this attitude, but for me, golf is one of the most enjoyable and fascinating sports there is - and I mean as a spectator! It's very hard to explain that to someone that isn't interested in it, but it's something to do with the beauty of the courses, the relaxing nature of the play, the lack of aggression, the skill of the shotmaking, the surprise of 100ft putts (or chip shots, or drives even) dropping into a 4 inch hole. It helps you to appreciate it if you play yourself, but it isn't necessary. If you've never been to a golf tournament, do yourself a favour and go to one - esp. The Open. It's a great day out, and considering that you can be there from something like 7am to 8pm, is one of the best value for money sporting days out you'll ever have.

 

[Roadkill]

Oh I can well believe it's interesting to watch so long as you understand it. I'd say much the same about sailing, in response to some of the comments about it above. But I don't think either of them makes particularly good TV.

I'd say the best value spectator sport is rallying. Pay a small parking charge, and then go and stand in the forest watching a spectacle like this:

 

[Donna Ferentes]

If I wanted to watch cars travelling sideways I used to be able to do it from an upstairs window in Blackbird Leys.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

I can't for the life of me understand why it's televised: it might be a great game to play, but it's hardly an exciting spectator sport.

Yes it is, when it's the last day of a major and it's close. For strung-out tension and changes of fortune there's not much to match it.

 

[Roadkill]

Yes it is, when it's the last day of a major and it's close. For strung-out tension and changesof fortune there's not much to match it.

To each their own. Personally I'd rather watch paint dry.

But then, I've said that about golf, snooker, darts, cricket, rugby, athletics and football before...

 

[zed]

Watching televised golf generally only works if you understand the game and have played it.

If you have played it to the extent where you have played competitively and can relate to the feeling of pressure and how an already extremely difficult game can get much, much harder ...then it becomes even more compelling.

 

[tarannau]

Watching televised golf generally only works if you understand the game and have played it.

If you have played it to the extent where you have played competitively and can relate to the feeling of pressure and how an already extremely difficult game can get much, much harder ...then it becomes even more compelling.

This is such a predictably specious argument. Pretty much any spectator benefits from an understanding of and experience with the game. But golf's hardly the trickiest game to understand - it's hitting a ball with a fucking stick for christsakes, albeit with a different range of sticks. Yes, there's more subtlety to it than that, but it hardly requires the instantaneous complex decision making of batting in cricket, nor the difficulty of understanding the penalty laws of rugby union.

Still, I love the ability of golfers to try and elevate their stick and walking game to a game of fearsome mental and physical challenge, themselves as the only folks who can really understand its subtleties. And there's Zed, right on cue, pretending that because he's played the odd game competitively he really does gain that special insight into how Tiger's really feeling the pressure. I think it's slightly more likely that only a golfer like Zed could understand the appeal of apparel like Parnevik's and those funny tassled shoes.




As this poll shows, Golf's still shit.

 

[zed]

tarannau.

Comments that echo how much you don't know about sport in general ..let alone golf.

You should stick to talking about needlework and shopping for shoes.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

In order to appreciate how pressure affects a player, why would it be more necessary to have played golf than, say, tennis? Or rugby league?

 

[tarannau]

tarannau.

Comments that echo how much you don't know about sport in general ..let alone golf.

You should stick to talking about needlework and shopping for shoes.

Laugh it off funny trouser boy. You play golf. It's about as sporting and exercise packed as darts and snooker.

Still, I'm a sedentary bastard these days, but I bet I can boast a more impressive sporting pedigree than most, including international honours in two sports (rugby and American Football). Even now I've probably got sufficient fitness to don those funny little shoes and walk around some greens chasing a ball. I'm hard me.

 

[ICB]

In order to appreciate how pressure affects a player, why would it be more necessary to have played golf than, say, tennis? Or rugby league?

Because Golf isn't a reaction sport, you have too much time to think and fuck yourself up.

Pool/snooker can give a similar experience, you have to put yourself into a certain mental space in order to make a shot and maintain a rhythm to your play. If you've ever played a game of pool for money in front of a crowded bar in a strange town you have some notion of what it's like to tee off from the first at a course you've never played before in front of a clubhouse full of members.

Tennis and rugby don't compare at all.

 

[tarannau]

What? And you don't think a kicker in rugby, standing in front of a howling gale and thousands of baying fans, has any conception of the mental space and the pressures needed to play golf? Or a line out thrower? Or a QB dropping back in the pocket, ignoring the blitzing runners and focusing on the pass.

Gold players make me laugh. It's hitting a ball with a stick, little more, little less. That's not to say that's there's not far more subtlety and difficulty to it than that, but it's nonsense to suggest that there aren't comparable skills between golf and other sports. The difference is that in many sports you have to achieve that mental space much more quickly and with far more threat of violence and injury. Even a decent tackler puts himself in the zone, shutting everything else out for a few seconds to achieve that perfect hit

I've played plenty of pool for money by the way.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

As it happens I'm currently playing an email chess game against a professional pool player.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

What? And you don't think a kicker in rugby, standing in front of a howling gale and thousands of baying fans, has any conception of the mental space and the pressures needed to play golf?

One might also consider a bowler in cricket or a pitcher in baseball. A javelin thrower or indeed almost any athlete in a field discipline. Professional shooting would be another.

 

[Kameron]

Nobody's mentioned showjumping and in particular... the dressage. Feck is that?!!

Dressage wins so easily. There is a sport in which the awarding of scores has even less to do with what the contestants actually do in the ring than that ice dance shit. There whole thing is a who is friends with who, who keeps their house at the right stable and who get the right judges friend to do the horses coiffure. Sad really, even sadder that I am aware of the 'sport' to that degree.

 

[tarannau]

One might also consider a bowler in cricket or a pitcher in baseball. A javelin thrower or indeed almost any athlete in a field discipline. Professional shooting would be another.

Aye, they feel the pressures of golf, but they're athletes as well.

Rather than a portly bloke pushing a ball around some carefully manicured greens, deluding himself that he's a especially gifted sportsman under unique pressure...