Sports you do

[mkreku]

As someone that has played basketball for 12 years, I can safely say that basketball is not devoid of any contact.

To my experience, there's even less contact in basketball than in football (soccer to the heathens in the west). Unless you play in a true bush league..

[julianw]

LIAR

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why don't you ask this guy?

 

http://img227.imageshack.us/my.php?image=b...en20kick8iq.gif

Edited January 23, 2007 by julianw

[alanschu]

As someone that has played basketball for 12 years, I can safely say that basketball is not devoid of any contact.

To my experience, there's even less contact in basketball than in football (soccer to the heathens in the west). Unless you play in a true bush league..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

If you play close to the net (low post) you can expect to spend the majority of the game bumping into opposing players jostling for position.

 

If you're guarding someone that has an excellent shot and is the focus of the offense, you can expect to run through many picks, often multple times per possession.

 

When defensive rebounding, players are supposed to put a body on their defender. It's called the box out and it helps to ensure that the team can get the rebound. Actually, rebounding in general can be pretty vicious.

 

 

Ironically, I find it the opposite to your assessment, in that it is the lower quality leagues that have less contact. Usually those leagues are more likely to be in it just for the fun. Each time I moved up into a higher quality league as I grew up, the games got more physically demanding. As I wasn't a particularly big kid in high school, pretty much every game had my arms being extremely sore from putting up arm bars and getting physical while playing defense.

[mkreku]

My experience with basketball (I played in an army league and a lower league after the army) was that in the army league, we had real referees. Move your feet in defense: foul. Ram someone on offense: foul. Too much wrestling under the basket: foul. The refs kept body contact to a minimum and except for a stray elbow here and there, I never got hurt.

 

Once I started playing in a lower (more recreational) league after the army, the refs were usually hurt players or people without any training as referee's. And the easiest thing to do in basketball is to use violence to stop the opposing player, which is what everyone with a huge beer belly did. They put out a knee when you ran past, put an elbow in your face when battling for the rebounds, basically anything to get an upper edge when they lacked the athleticism or stamina to play the game properly.

[Sturm]

Crosscountry is alright but not so much fun in the winter as your nose is all blocked and running so that makes it difficult to breathe, and having the sharp crisp air go down your throat, I remember 1 terrible race, an 8km doesnt seem like much but it was all up hall and in bushy terrain, Australian bush so not much fun, getting cut by trees and whenever there was a downhill part it was the muddiest and your feet basically got stuck in. After pushing yourself that hard for 8kms non stop you go weird after the race, I was hullucinating and I couldnt see through 1 eye, it just went all dark and one side of my body gradually went numb starting with my fingers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And that is why I smoked and drank during cross country.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Sounds like a plan..

 

LIAR

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why don't you ask this guy?

 

http://img227.imageshack.us/my.php?image=b...en20kick8iq.gif

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Ah but I already have

[metadigital]

Oh, I forgot informal sports, too. I used to go waterskiing every weekend; best way to blow away the hangover is being dragged behind a boat at 60mph. )

 

Also did a couple of weeks of snow-skiing (annual ski trips of a week each), though the snowfall in Australia is lamentable.

 

Also, I lived on the beach for most of my life, so I used to go surfing almost daily. Never quite had the stamina to go life-saving on Sunday mornings at 7am, though, like my nephews are.

[vesselle]

i like jogging and weight-lifting. with my schedule, i can pretty much do them anywhere, anytime.

 

V***V

[Weiser_Cain]

Bodybuilding

[Krookie]

Basketball is a pansy sport. So is soccer.

 

HEY HEY HEY HE TOUCHED ME, HE TOUCHED ME ON MY ARM! FOUL!

[Sand]

If you watch some NBA games its more like Basketbrawl than Basketball. Mixing professional wrestling with basketball could have interesting results.

[Krookie]

Are you serious? The NBA is probably the best example of fouls being called every 37 seconds.

[Volourn]

Anyone who thinks that basketball doesn't have contact obviously has never played, and/or watched. It's supposed to be non contact hence the existence of fouls, free throws, and the concept of 'fouling out'; but it isn't. Sure, some 'fouls' called are of the 'wussy' nature; but others are not.

 

Street basketball can get pretty rough espicially since calling touch fouls is extremely frowned upon.

Edited January 23, 2007 by Volourn

[alanschu]

My experience with basketball (I played in an army league and a lower league after the army) was that in the army league, we had real referees. Move your feet in defense: foul. Ram someone on offense: foul. Too much wrestling under the basket: foul. The refs kept body contact to a minimum and except for a stray elbow here and there, I never got hurt.

 

Must just be a different style of game over there than over here. Moving your feet on defense is how you avoid getting fouls on defense, because if you get into position before the offensive player, you're not going to get a foul. Though playing in any league without a referee is typically going to be more physical. The same could be said for any sport. When I talked about moving up leagues, it was moving through leagues that still had carded officials. The main reason why I didn't move past high school was because I lacked strength. It wasn't possible for me to take advantage of mental errors (such as not putting a body on me when rebounding) since the players were typically all very good. I was a wiry 160 pounds at the time, and was usually overmatched physically. I wasn't able to just get by with hard work, hustle, and determination like in high school, because there were enough other players that had those same attributes.

 

 

And even then, just because a foul is called on the play, doesn't suddenly mean that the physical aspect of those plays are suddenly irrelevant. Tell someone that gets into the lane to take a charge on Shaquille O'Neal that there's no physical contact in basketball. Sure, he draws a charging foul, but it's not like there was no physical play on the play. The Detroit Pistons of the late 80s played exceptionally physical, accepting the fact that they will get called on fouls, because it took the other teams out of their game. They'd get pissed off at the Pistons and retaliate. Watch any 1988 or 1989 playoff series involving the Detroit Pistons, and try stating that basketball is a non-contact sport. Just because it can be called a penalty, doesn't mean that the contact disappears. Hockey fans cheer the toughness and the contact of the hockey fight, but I don't see people claiming that the fight doesn't count because the players are penalized afterwards.

[Laozi]

To my experience, there's even less contact in basketball than in football (soccer to the heathens in the west). Unless you play in a true bush league..

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Yeah, Europeans are pretty famous for being really soft at the game of basketball, shying away from contact. It really is almost a completely different game over here.

[Surreptishus]

Wait... is basketball being confused for netball?

[Darth Drabek]

Like I mentioned earlier, I played basketball up until I was about 16 -- I played power forward in 7th and 8th grade, but then everyone seemed to grow a foot and I was still the same height. I couldn't play the low post anymore, so I spent my 9th grade year as a small forward before hanging up my Rec Specs.

 

A lot of the other players were one-sport shooters who shied away from the dirty work of crashing the boards, taking charges, and setting a good pick. That was my bread and butter, my niche, if you will.

 

My dad, who was a football guy through and through, always told me "You've got five fouls - use 'em." And he was right... I played over more talented basketball players because I played a physical game.

[alanschu]

To my experience, there's even less contact in basketball than in football (soccer to the heathens in the west). Unless you play in a true bush league..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

Yeah, Europeans are pretty famous for being really soft at the game of basketball, shying away from contact. It really is almost a completely different game over here.

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This image seems to carry over into hockey as well. I've lost track of how many times I've gritted my teeth at stupid people making dumb statements like "No team has ever won the Stanley Cup with a European Captain!"

[Laozi]

This image seems to carry over into hockey as well.  I've lost track of how many times I've gritted my teeth at stupid people making dumb statements like "No team has ever won the Stanley Cup with a European Captain!"

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I see what you're saying, but the preception is alot easier to see a basketball game when players often have to guard each other one on one. Dirk Nowitzki, I believe the 7 time European Basketball Player of the Year, playes on a team that really works hard at covering up his weaknesses on the defensive end. And while I'm sure there are a few hard-nosed EuroBallers, the truth is the games over there are much more like WNBA games then traditional U.S. men basketball. Players like Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic, and Tony Parker do bring exceptional offensive skill they all lack any sort of defensive presence like their american counterparts, like a Gilbert Arenas, or Dwight Howard, or Caron Butler. I'm not saying there are not American player who are the same way, but there is a lack of Europeans who do both.

 

Not to say either that afeminite athletes don't have a place in american society. Players like Eli Manning are really breaking ground for their thin-skinned brethren in american sports.

[Krookie]

Anyone who thinks that basketball doesn't have contact obviously has never played, and/or watched.  It's supposed to be non contact hence the existence of fouls, free throws, and the concept of 'fouling out'; but it isn't. Sure, some 'fouls' called are of the 'wussy' nature; but others are not.

 

Street basketball can get pretty rough espicially since calling touch fouls is extremely frowned upon.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I stopped playing basketball because of the lack of contact. As soon as I hit 11U hockey (thats when you can start checking), I started to think, "If a guy on the other team is going to score, why can't I just knock him out of the way?"

[alanschu]

You can. And depending on the coaching strategy, it can sometimes be encouraged.

 

 

EDIT:

 

Laozi:

 

It wasn't 100% clear, but I'm not saying that on the whole European players play a different, more finesse style of play. I'm sure it's pretty true for hockey as well. It's just the "captain" comment that irks me

Edited January 23, 2007 by alanschu

[Volourn]

Krookie, I don't think anyone is claiming that there's as much contact in baseketball as there is in hockey. For onething, you cna hit other players legally in hockey (ie. nodychecking). Technically, any contact in basketball is considered a foul though louts of 'incidental' contact is let go.

 

 

"If a guy on the other team is going to score, why can't I just knock him out of the way?"

 

You can only do this in certain specific ways in hockey as well. ie. You cna't just grab a guy and chuck him. You gotta give a clean bodycheck. Of course, one person's definition of clean is likely different from another's.

[Krookie]

I'm just making the point that basketball's "no/limited contact" rule is what drove me away from the sport.

[Volourn]

[Krookie]

[kirottu]

I used to play football, but I had to quit since I have certaing growth disorder with two of my nails.

 

Now I do some weight lifting, walking, and drunken dancing.