What sports are overrated? Underrated?

[UrbScotty]

What sports involve a lot of hard work and determination on the part of the players, but offer little reward or fame in the end? Or, vice versa?

Water polo and volleyball players, as well as cyclists, put in a lot of hard work to win, but how much glory do they get? Well, for cyclists, there is 'Le Tour,' but that's about it. Water polo players, from what I understand, may not even touch the bottom of the pool with their legs; they must keep swimming the whole period.

No offense to golfers, and trust me, I like golf ;-) but to be honest, I think pro golfers are a wee bit overrated. Golf is not a hard sport, compared to cycling or water polo or volleyball. I just see it as more of a recreational sport.

What's boggled me the most, however, is how popular boxing is, compared to wrestling. Not WWE hard-core wrestling or whatever you call it, but amateur free-style or Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxers throw punches hoping to knock their opponents down, while wrestlers use practically every muscle in their body to take their opponent down and hold them to the mat for a couple seconds. As for myself, I've never wrestled, but judging by what I've seen out there. I'd say wrestling is one of the toughest sports out there, if not the toughest. You never know what your opponent has planned for you next. Just watch a local high school or collegiate wrestling match and you'll see that those wrestlers are very focused and determined. And rarely do any of them get violent off the mat, compared to some boxers and ‘pro’ wrestlers in the last few years. They're fierce on the mat, but not off.

Anyway... What are your picks?

[Lestat]

1. Underrated: WWE Wrestling.

and women's beach volleyball.

Overrated: NASCAR and golf.

[Striker Davies]

17. Over-rated - NASCAR and Baseball.

Both are boring as hell. Less happens in baseball than even in cricket. A no-hitter is supposed to be exciting?

Under-rated - Rugby Union, Australian Rules Football, ODI (one Day International) Cricket

[Awsi Dooger]

19. Double bingo!

Baseball is organized procrastination and auto racing is dependent on a damn engine. How that qualifies as a sport I will never understand.

Golf is the most underrated becuase the average fan has no idea how difficult the sport is, at the level of the top professionals. They make it look so easy that simpleton viewers think only a few skills are required.

A lie sitting down in the rough plays completely differently than one sitting up. A ball in wet sand reacts totally averse to one in fluffy sand. The sport is a constant physical and mental challenge, with literally thousands of variables that must be weighed beforehand. And even the most minute swing flaw can derail the most gifted or brilliant, as Tiger Woods has learned for the past two years.

And then there's putting, a diabolical requirement that barely resembles the sport from tee to green.

[Striker Davies]

22. Agree! I took up golf five years ago....

at the age of 57, mainly for exercise. I've done several sports before to reasonable standard, particularly gliding, at which I competed at national standard and held RAF, Canadian and Australian instructor licences and I used to think that racing a glider over 300 miles was about as difficult as anything could get.

But golf just gobsmacked me by the degree of difficulty and the extent of athleticism required. Watching the top pros, either on tv or live (I've only been able to get to LPGA tournaments so far, the last two Australian Opens being in Sydney) is quite fascinating to see just how astonishingly good those people are.

[MrSlayer]

2. Overrated: Basketball Underrated: Hockey

[devilgrrl]

3. You got it!!!!!!!!!

:headbang::yourock::headbang::yourock::headbang::yourock::headbang::yourock:

[amandae]

6. I'll third that!!

I'd also throw in football as being overrated.

[SmileyBoy]

9. Naw. Football deserves its significance.

Football ROCKS!!!:P

[HuckleB]

26. Sorry, but its "significance" shows the power of good marketing,

and little else. Yawn.

[BigMcLargehuge]

4. Over rated: Football (SNORE... oh look an ad... SNORE)

Under rated: Judo, Tae Kwan Do, Kendo. Soccer (in the US)

[HuckleB]

24. Indeed. Football is the most overrated sport, by far.

[richmwill]

5. My choices

Overrated: NASCAR. Besides being boring as hell, the drivers are getting praise for something we do every day- driving!

Underrated: I'll agree with you and say amateur wrestling.

[kwolf68]

7. Lets see

Over-rated: Golf and NASCAR definately. NBA basketball is pretty bad too.

Under-rated: Not sure.

-Hockey can't really be considered under-rated, because even in light of the greatest sports upset in the history of modern man (the 1980 Hockey win over the Soviets), NHL still couldn't parlay that into anything substantive. Hockey is a niche sport...it's fun to watch if you have a rooting interest for a certain team and the playoffs are usually awesome, but it simply too regional and niche. I think as warm area places begin to add hockey rinks things could change, but there is simply too much to do in the warm weather regions and hockey will be hard pressed to break thru in a big way. It had its chance in the 1980s what with football going through labor disputes and the Olympic Miracle on Ice, but couldn't cash in and now the sport is in a financial mess.

I hate soccer so I won't choose that sport.

I don't think any sport is under-rated. We get them all pretty much shoved up our asses anyhow. A sport like Rubgy, Bowling, Cricket or something we don't know much about probably is an under-rated sport. Hell.

[SmileyBoy]

8. Overrated: Baseball. Underrated: Hockey.

Baseball has to be the most booooring sport of all time.:boring:

[LostInAnomie]

10. Overrated: Soccer Underrated: Shot Put

Why would I want to sit for hours watching a game that the final score might be 2:0 (and that is if it is a great team against a horrible one)? Booooooring.

I think shot put is underrated because people don't understand the difficulty in it. Not that is would ever be a big spectator sport.

[Kellanved]

18. the strange American fixation on scores

I just don't get it :shrug:.
So let's say a goal yields ten points: would that make a better game?
Hardly!, the fun with soccer is the flow, it is not weighted down by endless interruptions like Football or Baseball and it doesn't suffer from the abundance of scoring-scenes, like basketball.

[IrishBloodEngHeart]

11. Hockey is underrated in person

but on TV it deserves the low ratings it gets. Its just not a sport that translates well to TV. Football and Basketball are overrated, baseball is underrated.

[WindRavenX]

14. I agree

Basketball, to me, is the most overrated sport out there. I just don't get it.
Baseball is poetry is motion; truly the greatest sport every created.

[Mr. Blonde]

12. I am a major wrestling fan

and agree that it is very under rated. I don't know why it is that it didn't get the respect I feel it deserves, but that's the way the cookie crumbles I guess. The discipline it takes to be a successful wrestler is unmatched by any other sport. The entire football team at the U here are scared of the wrestling team because they figure someone has to be a little crazy to do what they do. You have to respect that I think.

I must defend golf though. Even though it isn't physically challenging the mental strain is pretty unreal.

[angee_is_mad]

13. boxing and boxing

especially after watching the fight tonight. I almost feel sorry for Oscar. Hopkins is going to have to kill him to win in September.

[AngryAmish]

23. Hopkins might kill him

I'm a big fan of Oscar, but Hopkins will wipe the floor with him. I already have a lot of money bet with De La Hoya marks and I am looking for more.

[neverborn]

15. Overrated: All.

[PurityOfEssence]

16. Damn. You beat me to it.

Useless waste of time.

Playing them, on the other hand, is a different matter. For this, Badminton is radically underrated.

[sundog]

32. I third that emotion...

--

[bushwakker]

20. NFL overrated - college football underrated*

[sasquatch]

27. The NFL is underrated;MLB is overrated

[HuckleB]

28. Dude! You've been drinking.

You got it backwards. Very backwards.

[sasquatch]

30. The hell I don't

MLB players are payed way more than football players. Football players can only play(at best)for 12 years, basaball players are usually in their prime after 12 years and can play for 5 more years at least.

[Sandpiper]

37. The reason MLB players make more

And always have is because MLB plays a 162 game season as opposed to 16 for the NFL. Consequently, MLB brings in alot more seat revenue.

[Qanisqineq]

21. overrated: NASCAR; underrated: hockey

[Michigander4Dean]

35. Right on (nt)

[HuckleB]

25. (in USA) Overrated: Football; Underrated: Soccer, baseball, cycling, rugby

[Bluzmann57]

29. Overrated: NASCAR Underrated: Wrestling and bicycling

Now having said that about Nascar, I do not think I could do it. The cars are going 160-200 mph literally inches away from each other and there has to be mental disclipine involved, as they are driving a lot of miles, as well as the aforementioned perils. Wrestling involves a lot of disclipine and sacrifice and cycling is exciting imo. And to all the baseball haters out there, I love it! A previous poster didn't seem to think a no hitter was exciting. Au contaire. A no hitter is not only a drama that keeps building inning after inning, it is also one of the rarest feats in sports.

[FuriousMNDem]

31. And a perfect game, too | n-t

[FuriousMNDem]

33. Absolutely right about wrestling.

You put in so much hard work just for an eight- or nine-minute match with someone who's also put in a lot of hard work. What do you get out of it? Perhaps some popularity, but not muich else.

It's not for the faint-of-heart. It can lead to many disappointments. If you ever wrestled in school or anything, you know what I mean.

Just go to www.amateurwrestlinghotos.com and look at all tough the competitiors are. It's quite a sport.

BTW, can anyone name two good Democrats who wrestled in high school? ;-)

[Michigander4Dean]

34. Two good Dems who wrestled in HS? Yep.

One's in your avatar, the other's in mine.

[Sandpiper]

36. Underrated: Soccer, Rugby, Gymnastics

When I say underrated regarding soccer and rugby, I'm speaking only of the US since both of the sports are extremely popular world wide.

Soccer players could run rings around football, baseball, or basketball players. Your average soccer player will run about 7 miles during a match.

Rugby is every bit as rough and rugged as American football, probably more so since they don't wear pads.

Gymnasts are pound for pound the best conditioned athletes in the world, but other than the Olympics, nobody pays a bit of attention to it, and it's also not considered "manly" in this country.