A recent exchange with my esteemed fellow daddy blogger Jack (Jack Be Nimble) inspired me to post something that is guaranteed to get a nice (and probably endless) debate going on this page. I’ll grant you it is totally self-serving and I apologize to Jack for hijacking our debate for use as bait to lure readers to this site. It is a debate that is ongoing and to which I frankly, don’t see any resolution. In this case, though, I find its inconclusiveness fundamental to our health (mental and physical). The topic has everything to do with your innermost Id and that is why I bring it up here in our virtual “den”.

I am a sports addict and all the grey hairs on my head that are not due to my son’s daredevil actions are thanks mostly to suffering for my teams. There is always a preference in sports and each person will argue ad nauseam the merits of their own beloved sport or sports and even less objectively the merits of their own team especially if, as Jack points out, you are a Yankee or Red Sox fan (settle down… I’m just getting started with stoking the fire).

So what makes a sport better than another? Is there a true universal parameter? Which athletes are better all around (physically, mentally etc.)? Which are better at specific “tasks”? Are team sports more taxing on an athlete than individual sports?

Stamina, agility, power, sudden change of pace, sudden change of direction, the need for each player to play both offense and defense, full body coordination, timing, ball movement, footwork, hand/eye coordination, body movement, split second decision making, 360 degree vision of the field of play, positioning, constant movement to name a few of the traits that I think we can all agree make athletes great.

So who possesses them all, who does one better than the rest, what sport is most fun to watch, which has the most passionate fans, which has the fastest pace, which is the most fluid, which team sport player would fair better in an individual sport and vice-versa?

Before you launch into your diatribe answer these basic questions and then you can carry on with your sputtering (I am certain no one will change anyone else’s mind):
1. Which is your favorite sport (to watch, play, play on the Wii etc.)?
2. Which sport (team or individual) produces the best all around athletes?
3. Who do you think is the best athlete of all times?

Now feel free to rant and rave all you want about whatever you want concerning sports. I will suggest that we keep this about sports in general and not use this particular article to spit venom at each other’s Alma Mater or local steroid-using hero, but as I said it’s only a suggestion.

Keep it clean and nothing below the belt. Have at it boys!