which sport requires the most thought?

[The Flying Tench]

To explain what I am getting at, most physical activities (such as walking along, accurately casting a bait, or playing the perfect off-drive) rely on the cerebellum as opposed to the cortex. So they don't require intelligence or thought as such. They require skill, which is a bit different.

 

Thought comes in in sport, I would think, when planning strategy. In cricket, where the bowler/captain place the fielders, for example. Or those discussions in the middle of American Football, which I don't really understand. Most sport, though, needs skill rather than thought - would you agree?

 

Seems to me that fishing needs both. The decisions as to where to fish and how are every bit as important as how quick your reflexes are or how accurately you can cast. Which is why we can spend so long gassing about it on AN!

[Newt]

No earthly idea about cricket.

 

Pool & snooker come to mind where you need to plan your next shot before taking the current one and often to calculate angles carefully before shooting.

 

US football needs a quarterback who can think, plan, and adjust quickly to conditions such as the formation of the defense when they come to the line when he may need to call out last second adjustments but the other players pretty much do exactly what he tells them to do so mainly skill for the others.

 

Fishing absolutely calls for thinking if you have enough experience to plan and execute your plan. Newish anglers need mostly skill and thinking about what is working and what is not so they can learn enough to plan at a later time.

[Ken Davison South Wales]

To explain what I am getting at, most physical activities (such as walking along, accurately casting a bait, or playing the perfect off-drive) rely on the cerebellum as opposed to the cortex. So they don't require intelligence or thought as such. They require skill, which is a bit different.

 

Thought comes in in sport, I would think, when planning strategy. In cricket, where the bowler/captain place the fielders, for example. Or those discussions in the middle of American Football, which I don't really understand. Most sport, though, needs skill rather than thought - would you agree?

 

Seems to me that fishing needs both. The decisions as to where to fish and how are every bit as important as how quick your reflexes are or how accurately you can cast. Which is why we can spend so long gassing about it on AN!

 

I have played most games involving hitting and kicking of a ball or other missile type objects, all of them require some form of thought and mental management.

 

For me the hardest by far was golf, firstly you plan the tee stroke for the best area for the ball to land in, course management.

 

After completing the stroke you then have delays before you can fully calculate your success, even a good stroke can result in a bad location due to many factors, keeping control of your emotions is absolutely vital.

 

On arriving at the ball one has to decide which is the best way to go from there bearing in mind that chance takes over on the position of the ball, sometimes a way ward stroke can result in a good lie and an accurate shot could result in being in a divot. Planning a stroke from a chance location requires a higher level of course management and emotional control than the tee stroke.

 

You are also responsible for managing your equipment, number of clubs in bag, type of clubs to suit course, knowledge of rules and local rules and last but not least presenting a accurately completed score card.

 

I and many others have witnessed potential winners loose it coming down the stretch, mentally it is an extremely tough game.

[saskcarp]

US football needs a quarterback who can think, plan, and adjust quickly to conditions such as the formation of the defense when they come to the line when he may need to call out last second adjustments but the other players pretty much do exactly what he tells them to do so think mainly skill for the others.

Peyton Manning couldn't out wit or out play the NE D though. What a team!!I can think of a sport that takes more thinking than skill. It's mostly played by yourself!

[Chris Plumb]

Does Chess count as a sport?

 

 

C.

[poledark]

Darts,,brain like a computer, precise acuracy, mental presure, concentration.

 

Snooker, planning several shots ahead,concentrating on the shot, precise placing of the cue tip and power applied, supreme accuracy.

 

 

Den

[chevin]

Darts,,brain like a computer, precise acuracy, mental presure, concentration.

Den

 

While being half p!ssed at the very least most of the time! Yeah, I think that you have a good one there Den.

[The Flying Tench]

Does Chess count as a sport?

C.

I don't think so because ...... where do you stop? There's poker, monopoly, even snap!

 

Having said which, chess is a fantastic game in my view!

[Ken Davison South Wales]

Darts, snooker, squash, table tennis are just a few examples of sports played in a controlled environment where conditions are the same for all players.

 

If a snooker ball has chalk on it pick it up clean it put it back, when you throw a dart at the board you do not have to worry about wind or rain, squash is under taken at speeds where one relies on skill and agilities with little time to think about the next shot.

 

Take Colin Montgomery without a doubt one of the worlds greatest strikers of the golf ball but his emotional control is very weak. He should have won several majors but has never been able to close it out down the stretch.

 

Anyone who has played golf will know it is the time before you hit the ball and the time between that strike and the next which counts and that is a long time to ponder on how to deal with the situation, if we are talking mind games then golf is the top contender.

[Newt]

Anyone who has played golf will know it is the time before you hit the ball and the time between that strike and the next which counts and that is a long time to ponder on how to deal with the situation, if we are talking mind games then golf is the top contender.

 

Are you talking about the game where a player takes a stick and strikes a ball, wanders toward the ball's landing place muttering some magical words ( %%##@**&^^%"]$%%##@**&^^% ) and upon reaching the ball, strikes it again and occasionally vary things by striking a patch of grass rather than a ball?