Whos the better athlete?

[Zenister 0]

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olympic baseballers disagree with you man. get over it.

very few 'olympic baseballers' make it in the MLB... the standard of play and average ability level is MUCH higher..

so far all you have listed are simple 'single skill' sports... requiring little more than simple precise repeition of the same action... sure they may be highly trained, fit athletes, but their focus is still on one very specific action over and over... in this regard baseball has more in common with golf.. it requires a MUCH wider skill set (as well as top level athletic abilities) to be competitive at a professional level... (well except maybe American League pitcher and DHs )

back at cha..

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Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[rehmwa 2]

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Hypothetically speaking, IN MY OPINION :....strength as well as stamina to win Tour de France as one spends to win a golf tournament - well, I simply don't agree with that.

I was equating skydiving to golf, not golf to cycling - based on a weird post. Try again.

Edit: Plus, the comparison really baits the girly men with complexes - try comparing RW to square dancing (looks like it only faster), FF'ing with mimes (striking a pose or two, how hard can it be), CrW with shriners go-cart drivers (no athletism just driving around), wing suits with heavy mattress nappers (how hard is it to not move? much like freefall video), swoopers with videogame players (no strength involved, just timing a couple really simple controls), you'll get a lot of responses. Point is, most "sports" have their challenges and it's hard to know until you've participated at more than just the recreational level.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[rehmwa 2]

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I have a very high regard for both of them and they play very different games. But Lance seems to be the more consistent, where Tiger's had good and bad years throughout Lance's extrodinary winning streak. And Lance has come back from a cancer that killed one of my brothers. Plus he's boning Sheryl Crow...

Sheryl Crow - ok, now I've completely lost my appetite. I thought Lance was cool. Well, she has $$$ anyway.

But Lance being at the top more consistently despite the cancer is the best argument ever. I agree with that. Being a "top" athlete (not just athlete) is about dialing in whatever game you have and being able to be consistent at it (at world class levels) over the long haul. Lance has that more than Tiger.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[champu 1]

I personally think that, collectively, every sport each individual here has ever so much has tried is less mentally demanding and requires less athleticism than any individual sport they haven't tried.

Also...

What each of you do for a living is, in reality, completely useless. Your day to day tasks could quite adequately be performed by a robot, or in most cases, left completely unattended and the balance of the universe would remain perched atop its fulcrum, exhibiting a sway so minute, its measurement would be impossible even by the most sensitive instrumentation imaginable.

Also...

Everyone you love or have ever loved is either dead or is going to die, and will be eventually be completely forgotten.

[Nightingale 0]

They're entirely different skill sets.

Tiger Woods uses his body for accuracy.
Lance Armstrong uses his for endurance.

Both require incredible control, practice, and talent. They're both great athletes.

[rehmwa 2]

nicely put - let me lob a couple water balloons here -

Tiger Woods uses his body for precision like skydiving
Lance Armstrong uses his for endurance. like foxy boxing

therefore, the triple jump is not a 'sport'

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[udder 0]

Wider skills sets....just means those baseballers are the jack of all trades. MASTERS OF NONE

"In one way or the other, I'm a bad brother. Word to the motherf**ker." Eazy-E

[Stumpy 256]

Here's a question - do you think that there is more of a physiological dependency for one than the other?
By this - is tiger's ability in any significant way dependent on his physiological makeup? i would guess that although there some traits that are preferable - height for example, they are not crucial and golf is more down to mental ability and technique? (I don't think TW is that tall is he?)
Whereas for Lance, a lot of his ability is due to his body type - percentage of slow/fast twitch muscle ratio's, VO2 max, leg proportions etc etc, things that can't be learn't or trained in, but that you have to have in order to be that good?

(not particularly aimed at zenister BTW)

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[RfukfreeflyingW 0]

Tiger is kinda tall hes like 6'2, not short by any strech, and yes his muscle to mental mix is what makes him so dominent, yes you can be good at golf, and not have the ideal body type, but just because your bigger doesnt mean you dont have muscle either. Golf just isnt dependent on being light, like cycling.

Tigers muscle allows him to be longer on drives, and irons, which is where his advantage really comes in.

but judging by the fact that ur saying your not sure how tall tiger is, im gussing you dont really watch or pay attention to golf. Try paying attention to it, and you will see how just a tiny thing can take you from winning a tournment, to not making the cut, and there isnt anything in cycling that can do that. even if your off alot in cycling one day, you can just make it up the next day, or over the next week. and if lances foot angle or boddy position is off by an inch, it wont make him loose the tour, where as you do that in golf all day, your going home on friday.

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-God, you are the perfect amount of dumb...

[RfukfreeflyingW 0]

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things that can't be learn't or trained in, but that you have to have in order to be that good

so your saing your only an athlete if your born that good, not if you can train/teach yourself to be that dominent?

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-God, you are the perfect amount of dumb...

[okalb 78]

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but judging by the fact that ur saying your not sure how tall tiger is, im gussing you dont really watch or pay attention to golf. Try paying attention to it, and you will see how just a tiny thing can take you from winning a tournment, to not making the cut, and there isnt anything in cycling that can do that. even if your off alot in cycling one day, you can just make it up the next day, or over the next week. and if lances foot angle or boddy position is off by an inch, it wont make him loose the tour, where as you do that in golf all day, your going home on friday.

And I can say the same about you. Judging by everything that you have said about cycling, I see how little you actually know about the sport. I respect how incredibly difficult golf is and I agree that Tiger is absolutely spectacular at what he does but you clearly have no understanding of competitive cycling. BTW Lance is known as the 1 millimeter man because if any part of his bike is off by as little as 1 mm including things like pedal angle or anyhing else, he feels it immediately and will have a much harder time riding.

To use something that you said earlier about golf, if cycling was as easy as you say, or was just about endurance, there would be a lot more people doing it. If it was as easy as you say, there would be no possible way for someone to have won the Tour de France 7 consecutive times.

Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

[kallend 1,623]

Golf is an athletic event? Could'a fooled me.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Stumpy 256]

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so your saing your only an athlete if your born that good, not if you can train/teach yourself to be that dominent?

Kind of but not exactly - i am saying that you are unlikely to become a top class rower unless you are six foot plus with lungs like a horse for example. I am not saying you are not an athlete, just that physiological makeup tends to dictate who will and won't be the next lance armstrong/steve redgrave/ carl lewis/ etc etc etc. I could have all the talent in the world (but i don't ) and row a boat 8 hours a day for 20 years, and still never beat steve redgrave for example because i am only 5'8". Thats a simplistic example but i think it applies more to the more physical sports than it does to golf.
(and no i don't play much golf - doesn't float my boat. Have nothing agaainst it and do happen to think that TW is an amazing sportsman, but not necessarily an amazing athelete)

(edited coz i pressed the wrong button)

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[RfukfreeflyingW 0]

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To use something that you said earlier about golf, if cycling was as easy as you say, or was just about endurance, there would be a lot more people doing it. If it was as easy as you say, there would be no possible way for someone to have won the Tour de France 7 consecutive times.

I never said being dominent at cycling was easy, I think its incredibly difficult to be dominent at any sport, baseball, football, golf, cycling, boxing, cricket whatever.

However a golf tourney is so short only 4 days, and the fact that there are 4 majors, at mostly different courses that you have to prepare for, couple that into the fact that every centimeter of ur body affect your golf swing, I dont see how its not the most difficult thing to master.

Lance prepares for 1 event, trains for it year round, if lance screws up, and has a bad ride, 2 days in a row, he has a 3 week tourney in which to make up time. you have 1 bad day in golf let alone 2, you probably wont get a chance to play on the weekend, not to mention if you do, and your 10 shots back, its hard to make that up, cause the weekends at majors are set up for even par scoring.

If tiger would only play in one major a year, and it was a 3 week long event, I'd say Lance was far better, but in golf, your preparing for a different course almost every week, and a different major once a month. that play to different strenghts.

There is just alot more factors that can fuck you over.

obviously cycling is more physically demanding on your body, but I think more then just exertion makes you an athlete. I said it in an earlier post.

If Lance were to ride 2 or more tournments with the best riders in the world, every year, and still dominate like he has, or even like Tiger has, I'd give the nod to Lance. Winnning 1 tournement a year in golf wouldnt even get you on ESPN. Hell winning 1 major a year barely gets you on the news.

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-God, you are the perfect amount of dumb...

[Stumpy 256]

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If Lance were to ride 2 or more tournments with the best riders in the world, every year, and still dominate like he has, or even like Tiger has, I'd give the nod to Lance.

Err... aside from this year where the only thing he has won is the T de F, he does. I guess the US is the same as the UK in that the Tour de France is all we see, but these guys are racing all year.

Edited to add: http://www.lancearmstrong.com/about_career.htm

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[RfukfreeflyingW 0]

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so your saing your only an athlete if your born that good, not if you can train/teach yourself to be that dominent?

Kind of but not exactly - i am saying that you are unlikely to become a top class rower unless you are six foot plus with lungs like a horse for example. I am not saying you are not an athlete, just that physiological makeup tends to dictate who will and won't be the next lance armstrong/steve redgrave/ carl lewis/ etc etc etc. I could have all the talent in the world (but i don't ) and row a boat 8 hours a day for 20 years, and still never beat steve redgrave for example because i am only 5'8". Thats a simplistic example but i think it applies more to the more physical sports than it does to golf.
(and no i don't play much golf - doesn't float my boat. Have nothing agaainst it and do happen to think that TW is an amazing sportsman, but not necessarily an amazing athelete)

(edited coz i pressed the wrong button)

well then thats not an athlete, thats njust genetic make up. true a guy thats taller can have a longer stroke of that of a shorter guy, but a true athlete trancends that difference. Other wise someone cant become great they are just made that way. You dont have to be the "perfect" body type to be dominent at your sport. look at the differences between greg maddex, and Randy Johnson, both comeplety different, and both found ways to dominate, its just adjusting to what god gave you. but I forgot baseball isnt a "sport" is it?

Body type can give people advantages or disadvantage, but a great athlete will over come those differences, and win. Your body cant be the "perfect" body for driving, long iron/short iron shots, putting, and chiping. You learn to play your strenghts and limit the use of what your not good at. Tigers not a great putter, he practices putting all day and night, to be one of the best out there, he woulda won the U.S. open this year if it wasnt for putting. but hes great with his Irons, so he trys to have a short iron approach so he's putting within 8 feet. He risks using his driver, knowing that about 4-6 times in a round its going in the rough, but those 4-6 times he plays for par, and the other 12-14 times he plays for birdie. He's prob not making a 20+ foot putt.

There are others that drive longer then him, put better then him, are more accurate with irons then him, but what makes him great is his ability to adjust to that, and limit his weaknesses.. Thats what makes lance great, Thats what makes any athlete great.

If it was strickly the tallest, best fit person was the best athlete, there would be no reason for training...

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-God, you are the perfect amount of dumb...

[Iflyme 0]

I don't think golfers qualify as athletes.

[jakee 1,254]

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even if your off alot in cycling one day, you can just make it up the next day, or over the next week. and if lances foot angle or boddy position is off by an inch, it wont make him loose the tour, where as you do that in golf all day, your going home on friday.

Look into what happened to Mickeal Rasmussen in the 2nd individual TT in the TdF this year. His body position was off by a few centimeters and he fell. Twice. Took him from a podium finish in Paris to 7th. This applies to any Alpine or Pyrrenean descent as well, to stay with the group you must push the limits of safety, "ten degrees off" as you put it would send a rider over the edge.

Besides, the idea that you can 'just make it back up' is just wrong. If a rider cracks in the mountains and gets a minute or two taken out of them what makes you think that he can just wake up the next morning and decide to ride minutes faster than his rivals on the next set of mountains?

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[jakee 1,254]

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Lances closest competitors wouldnt have dominence of their game even if lance was gone. the only reson people like VIjay, Ernie, gooson, and mickelson, arent considered as dominent players is because of Tiger. You take Tiger away, and they would be considered dominent golfers.

So if Tiger wasn't the dominant man in golf those four people you've listed would each be considered the dominant man in golf. Not quite sure if that makes sense to me but anyway, if Lance Armstrong hadn't returned to cycling Jan Ullrich would probably have around 5 Tour wins now instead of just 1, would that count as dominance? (Big Jan is generally considered to be the most naturally talented cyclist in the world, it is testament to Lance's phenomenal work ethic and mental strength that he keeps Jan at bay.)

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[jasonRose 0]

They key here is to define what an athlete is. Golf, in my opinion, is not a physicaly demanding sport look at most the beer guts you see in the Pros.

Some day I will have the best staff in the world!!!

[RfukfreeflyingW 0]

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They key here is to define what an athlete is. Golf, in my opinion, is not a physicaly demanding sport lokk at most the beer guts you see in the Pros.

Is wrestling a "physicaly demanding" sport? Cause some of them have some meat to their bones, and yes I do mean WWE and greco roman.

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-God, you are the perfect amount of dumb...

[jasonRose 0]

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They key here is to define what an athlete is. Golf, in my opinion, is not a physicaly demanding sport lokk at most the beer guts you see in the Pros.

Is wrestling a "physicaly demanding" sport? Cause some of them have some meat to their bones, and yes I do mean WWE and greco roman.

I guess I am talking from my personal experience which really isn't valid to topic.
When I play golf it is relaxing I never break a sweat, unless it's really hot, I never feel the physical demand of the sport. However I do see how mental concentration is key to the game but that goes with any sport and does not automaticaly make you an athlete, in my opinion.

Some day I will have the best staff in the world!!!

[okalb 78]

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Look into what happened to Mickeal Rasmussen in the 2nd individual TT in the TdF this year. His body position was off by a few centimeters and he fell. Twice. Took him from a podium finish in Paris to 7th. This applies to any Alpine or Pyrrenean descent as well, to stay with the group you must push the limits of safety, "ten degrees off" as you put it would send a rider over the edge.

Besides, the idea that you can 'just make it back up' is just wrong. If a rider cracks in the mountains and gets a minute or two taken out of them what makes you think that he can just wake up the next morning and decide to ride minutes faster than his rivals on the next set of mountains?

Finally someone gets it. There is so much more to cycling than sitting down and pushing pedals.

On one of the Alpine descents, Oscar Perrera (sp?) was pushing so hard to keep his lead he ended up riding off the road onto the side of the mountain at somewhere around 55 Kph. Luckily he was able to stop in time. Many riders have been killed riding off the side of a mountain. People don't think of pro cycling as dangerous. You would not believe how many pro cyclists are killed in crashes.

Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

[RfukfreeflyingW 0]

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They key here is to define what an athlete is. Golf, in my opinion, is not a physicaly demanding sport lokk at most the beer guts you see in the Pros.

Is wrestling a "physicaly demanding" sport? Cause some of them have some meat to their bones, and yes I do mean WWE and greco roman.

I guess I am talking from my personal experience which really isn't valid to topic.
When I play golf it is relaxing I never break a sweat, unless it's really hot, I never feel the physical demand of the sport. However I do see how mental concentration is key to the game but that goes with any sport and does not automaticaly make you an athlete, in my opinion.

and you are talking about recreational golf, Im betting ur golfing is riding in a cart for 18 holes, drinking some beer and shooting a 100+, like most recreational golfers. Theres a big difference when your talking about playing competitivly. If you played a 72 hole tournement, had to walk, and were capable of winning, thats impressive, let alone if you do it against the best in the world.

I like to ride my bike, and its relaxing, does that mean cycling isnt a strenuous sport?

people golfing for the hell of it arent athletes, just like people playing on a adult softball team, volleyball team, soccer club, or ride their bikes for fun arent. Because there is a big difference in all of those when you play it competitivly, or professionally for that matter.

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-God, you are the perfect amount of dumb...

[renee48323 0]

I agree hands down Lance !!! 7 Tours and Fighting Cancer .