And I must add an addendum to my spectator sport list: Professional Women's Figure Skating, especially when Kristi Yamaguchi and/or Katerina Witt is/are skating. Yum!

American football or racquetball.

actually you know what i redact my soccer comment, it certainly is simple and great but the greatest surely must be footraces

fucking timeless right there... straight up we have been doing that for as long as we had language and possibly longer. nothing like just running to see who's faster.

so footraces win.

Thucy, going along those lines - how about combat sports. I'm sure caveman were beating the hell out of each other for sport.

How about Racewalking?

Back awhile there was separation for personal and team sports, so I'll go along that.

For an individual sport, I love playing golf, but I would say singles tennis to be the best there. Its downright exhausting. Running seems too simplistic to be called the best sport. There is a technique to it all, but too much of it is just fitness. In tennis there are all sorts of spins you can put on the ball, placement, finesse, etc.

For team sports, I gotta go with rowing. Soccer is great and all, but you have to be on so much of a higher level of teamwork for rowing. 8 man and 4 man boats are what I row, and you have to be in perfect balance with the other guys on the boat, both in the strength of your pull, and how far you lean to the side. You also have to be perfectly in time with your strokes. All of that on top of the technique! There are no solo moments as in other sports, its just straight up teamwork.

Bocce. If it can’t be played on a concrete slab by old cigar-smoking Italian men in the North End, it doesn’t deserve to be a sport at all.

Bocce on concrete doesn't work mate. It chips the balls. Believe me, I know haha

Nothing beats soccer for emotion.

Hockey. No question.
Then soccer.

Worst: American Football

LOL!!! Nothing beats "Soccer" for emotion?? Oh...you mean that scared feeling you get when somebody wakes you up when you fall asleep watching a boring soccer game? The NFL....FOOTBALL American Style...is *by far* the best sport to watch in the world. They field the *best* athletes, not just in terms of agility, but in raw power and might. You watch a guy jump three feet into the air *KNOWING* that he is going to get *nailed*....and then he does a 360 in the air before landing on the ground and being crushed by a a couple of 200-300 pound guys....these dudes are modern day gladiators! Americna Football is, hands-down, the best sports ever. Soccer is for pussies.

I don't care for Football/Soccer myself, but support the idea of it being the best because of its simplicity and ease of access to all, from the pinnacle or organized sport to the dirt field outside a small village in a small country.

But I also think American Football is a great sport. It takes serious toughness and dedication to play at a high level, but it is also very much a chess match. Both with the coordinators trying to outguess what the other team will do, and each individual player. The QB and RB making reads, the defense making adjustments on the fly, all building up to the point where the action starts. And that is where technique and decision making makes or breaks you. You've got to be big and tough, but there is a lot more to it than that.

And College Football >>>>> NFL, otherwise known as the No Fun League.

Geofram, if I might ask, what do you not like about American Football? Is it just a reaction based upon it being called "football" in the U.S. when football in the rest of the world is a different sport? Or do you not like how the action starts and stops all the time? Or what?

For the record krellin, your post wasn't there when I started my post, so my NFL comment was directed at you specifically, just my personal opinion.

@Alderian: You bring up a *great* point! American Football is *WAY* more than a game of brutes. The ability of and offense and/or defense to adjust their game plan to an opponent is *critical* to their success! Football, again, by far, is the most evolved sport on the planet.

@ Alderian

I agree. College football is far more fun to watch.

@ krellin

Because I am a former player, I would agree that American football is the best sport in the world. However, I have a hell of a lot of respect for rugby players.

"Oh...you mean that scared feeling you get when somebody wakes you up when you fall asleep watching a boring soccer game?"

LOL

Baseball. It can be both unspeakably thrilling and deathly boring. Best of both worlds.

@Alderian
There's nothing I like about the sport. It doesn't even hold the few redeeming qualities of rugby. I don't like the culture. I don't like that a team is 120+ people with most never doing anything. It's just a terrible sport.

1. Baseball (quintessential America, we all played it and watch it, great summertime stuff)
2. Rugby (I played for 5 years, even in the US in the '80's, though not well)
3. Basketball (fun and fast, kills the winter blues)
4. Hockey (same, see above ... with Canadians and Swedes short on teeth)
5. Football (American style - just a sport version of war)

@Goldfinger: Obviously, you’ve never played bocce in the North End. They’ve got balls of steel. =D

Jello Wrestling.

For Playing: Lacrosse (Quickest game on two feet)
For Watching: American Football (Athleticism, strategies, the huge hits and big plays)

I like watching Lacrosse actually, never played it

It surprises me that basketball is not getting the respect it deserves. The athleticism and skill in the game is unparalleled. No sport has better athletes.

The only problem with basketball is that the NBA season is too long. If it were shorter and every game mattered more, it would be perfect. Can anyone here honestly say that they don't enjoy March Madness or the NBA playoffs? I would find that hard to believe.

No other sport is so highlight rich. Watch SportsCenter tonight... I guarantee you that at least 4 of the top 10 plays will be from the single finals game tonight, despite the fact that, what, 20 baseball games were played.

Hockey can't measure up because it doesnt have the best athletes. It just doesnt.

Soccer is honestly competitive, though. I just personally don't really like how random and sparse the scoring is. One team can dominate 95% of the game and lose 1-0. I know to some that is a draw, but to me that stinks.

I need more information to decide. Which sports takes the most lives of supporters? My guess is soccer, but let me know.

I don't like Basketball, I find that each individual score matters too little. Why would you have a shot clock that would compel the players to take a shot that may not be the best. Would basket ball work better if it was played in a larger field with perhaps 1 additional player and allow some contact between the players? (Like rugby with a tall goal?)

I also don't like how Basketball players are almost all a certain physical size (tall). Hockey players come in various sizes for various positions as do foot ball players. The average male hight in Canada (probably same in US) is about 5'10", how many basket ball players are under that average? I know that there are some hockey players in that range.

"I don't like Basketball, I find that each individual score matters too little."

That's how I feel about Baseball but with each game. 162 games? really?

Well at least in baseball the combined score for a game is usually less then 30. While in Basket Ball, it is usually over 120. The problem I have in Baseball is that there seams to be a lot of luck involved in it. I don't like watching baseball, but I do have to admit that it is palatable on the radio as I am doing other things.

sports on the radio rock the house. it's like, how could it get any more exciting? ;P