Quote: Original post by LessBread
I think he's talking soccer, e.g. "foot skills"

even still, aside from the fact that it would take time to get used to a soccer ball, a lot of them have incredibly quick feet. ironically linemen have some of the fastest feet you'll see around.

Quote: Original post by zedz
speaking of fitness, the best team sport for that would most likely be rugby sevens (they only play 2x7minute halves) which is long enuf if you ever get the chance to play :)

Out of curiosity have you ever played basketball? I've played a lot of sports: football (american), baseball, basketball, track, all in high school, some baseball in college, and then surfing, racquetball, mountain biking, etc after school for recreation, and I would say the toughest fitness-wise would be basketball. I'm not talking pickup games at the gym, but real games where you're in a tournament, with a full-court man to man press the entire game. We were always in good shape for football, but 'basketball' shape is a different beast.

I'd love to play rugby if I got the chance, it's a sport that has always intrigued me. I'm just curious if you have first hand experience with it vs basketball?

Quote: Original post by way2lazy2care

Quote: Original post by LessBread
I think he's talking soccer, e.g. "foot skills"

even still, aside from the fact that it would take time to get used to a soccer ball, a lot of them have incredibly quick feet. ironically linemen have some of the fastest feet you'll see around.

Yes, they do, but having quick feet is not the same as having foot skill. Linemen don't kick field goals for a reason...

Here's a story about a crossover player: Ohio State kicker Barclay finds success in life after soccer

Quote:
Chad Marshall, a defender with the Columbus Crew and the U.S. soccer team, was a world away from the Horseshoe when he saw his friend Devin Barclay celebrate a very different kind of Goooooooal! A field goal.

Marshall was in Bratislava, Slovakia, last Saturday with the U.S. soccer team when he watched online as Barclay, a former pro soccer player, kicked a 39-yard field goal in overtime against Iowa to send Ohio State to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 13 years.
...
Barclay's journey from soccer prodigy to MLS cast-off to Buckeyes hero is one of the more unlikely stories of this college football season.
...
Barclay was 17 when he signed with MLS as a Project-40 player as part of the league's development program. He also represented the USA on three youth national teams. Playing for four MLS teams in five seasons, his career was derailed by injuries. He was waived by the Crew in 2005, and his soccer career was over at age 22.
...

Quote: Original post by geo2004
Out of curiosity have you ever played basketball? I've played a lot of sports: football (american), baseball, basketball, track, all in high school, some baseball in college, and then surfing, racquetball, mountain biking, etc after school for recreation, and I would say the toughest fitness-wise would be basketball. I'm not talking pickup games at the gym, but real games where you're in a tournament, with a full-court man to man press the entire game. We were always in good shape for football, but 'basketball' shape is a different beast.

I'd love to play rugby if I got the chance, it's a sport that has always intrigued me. I'm just curious if you have first hand experience with it vs basketball?

I've played rugby union for 7 years, wrestled before that(one of the most physically taxing sports I'd ever done and I think many athletes would agree), and rugby 7s is quite possibly the most ludicrously fit-necessary sport ever. You literally sprint back and forth for 7 minutes as well as tackling. It's stupid hard. My first rugby game ever was after wrestling season when I could literally run 5 miles without noticing. I threw up half way through the first half.

Don't take my defending of football as me thinking football is the best sport ever. imo rugby>all in terms of skill, strength, endurance, and entertainment combined. I am just pointing out misconceptions about football.

yes LessBread is correct when I say football I mean soccer, quite why gridiron,rugby etc are also sometimes called football escapes me

>>Out of curiosity have you ever played basketball?

Only at school, like football I never liked it. Both are pretty boring to watch as well

rugby's nice to watch when it comes together (but can be boring to play)
eg 1 minute clip, worldcup semi final 24-24 and a minute to go


heres USA in the rugby sevens last year 3 1/2 minute clip


sevens is never boring to play, but is very tiring

touch rugby is another sport growing in popularity thats fun to play + usually involves mixed teams (men/woman on the same team)

see its so fun Ive pissed my pants

Quote: Original post by way2lazy2care
My first rugby game ever was after wrestling season when I could literally run 5 miles without noticing. I threw up half way through the first half.

Haha, that's awesome! (yea I know, I'm a messed up person. We always loved it when guys puked in football/basketball practice...don't really know why..)

zedz, I'll watch those clips when I'm home tonight. I don't see rugby clips often...

Quote: Original post by zedz
rugby's nice to watch when it comes together (but can be boring to play)
eg 1 minute clip, worldcup semi final 24-24 and a minute to go

sevens is never boring to play, but is very tiring

You thought it was boring because you were a winger. I played sevens but didn't think it was as tiring as regular 15's. Probably more due to the seriousness of the competition than the nature of the game.

As far as comparing it to basketball, Rugby is way more physically demanding. You have to run/jog continuously for 45 minutes. When you're not running you're tackling, sprinting, or actively resisting someone.

Hardest fitness sports from my experience were boxing, and then wrestling, and then water polo.

I would also put gymnastics up there but I was never strong enough to do it to the point of exhaustion.

Quote: Original post by zedz
quite why gridiron,rugby etc are also sometimes called football escapes me

They're all different variations of the game football. European football's actual name is Association football. I guess it really just depends on where you come from as to which one you think of as just 'football'.


Has anybody tried arena football? That looks pretty punishing...

Association is what the word soccer is derived from. I guess the pronunciation of the word "association" in some UK dialects sounded to American ears like the word "soccer" and the name stuck here.

Arena gridiron football is the same as gridiron football only it's played indoors (arenas) on smaller fields with smaller teams. The emphasis there is more on passing than running. The Arena Football League folded in 2008.