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Which Sport is harder: Baseball or Cycling?

Mar 19, 2009
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Admitted MLB Drug/ Steroid abusers:
Ken Caminiti
Bobby Estalella
Jason Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Armando Rios
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Jose Canseco
Tom House
Wally Joyner
Jim Leyritz
Paxton Crawford
Jason Grimsley
David Segui
John Rocker
Paul Byrd
Shane Monahan

Mitchell Report:
Ricky Bones
Alex Cabrera
Larry Bigbie
Jack Cust
Tim Laker
Todd Hundley
Hal Morris
Mark Carreon
Matt Franco
Rondell White
Chuck Knoblauch
Greg Zaunn
David Justice
F.P. Santangelo
Glenallen Hill
Mo Vaughn
Denny Neagle
Ron Villone
Chris Donnels
Todd Williams
Phil Hiatt
Todd Pratt
Kevin Young
Mike Lansing
Cody McKay
Kent Merker
Adam Piatt
Jason Christiansen
Mike Stanton
Stephen Randolph
Paul Lo Duca
Adam Riggs
Bart Miadich
Fernando Vina
Kevin Brown
Eric Gagne
Mike Bell
Matt Herges
Gary Bennett Jr.
Jim Parque
Brendan Donnelly
Chad Allen
Jeff Williams
Howie Clark
Nook Logan

MLB Positive Tests (Only since 06, many more now) :
Alex Sanchez
Jorge Piedra
Agustin Montero
Jamal Strong
Juan Rincon
Rafael Betancourt
Rafael Palmeiro
Ryan Franklin
Mike Morse
Carlos Almanzar
Felix Heredia
Matt Lawton
Yusaku Iriki
Guillermo Mota
Juan Salas
Dan Serafini
Eliezer Alfonzo
Humberto Cota
Henry Owens
JC Romero
Sergio Mitre
Kelvin Pichardo
 
Not really surprising for a sport that didnt have any drug testing, if anyone beleves NFL, NBA or indeed NHL are any better, then they are living in dreamland.

In football/soccer I believe drug taking is not widespread but happens more than their governing bodies would like to admit. Football fans like to label cycling as a drugs sport but football is ruled by money and is far from a level playing field either.

Athletics, sometimes I think they forget about the 70s & 80s, the Finns, Italians, blood doping, the Eastern Europeans all on steroids, hormones, records in distance running falling for fun in the 90s, no EPO tests, Balco affair, lots of athletes still getting caught.

I could continue with other sports but why bother. I would consider myself a big sports fan but it really annoys me that cycling bears the brunt of doping headlines. I dont believe it is any better or worse than other sports but is being treated unkindly because it is a minority sport in most English speaking countries, making it an easy target.
 
Mar 19, 2009
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You cannot compare the two from an athletic, or even a doping standpoint. Baseball is more hand/eye coordination, and some sprinting. Cycling is all about the arobic and anaerobic thresholds. The only comparison that you could make with the two is strategy. Cycling is a far more difficult ball of wax to roll, cuz you've basically have to think about chess moves when your body just wants to quit. I never really understood the haters of sports either, as a fellow athlete I respect and find beauty in all sport. Especially for the fact that most sports takes a lifetime to master, if and when a person gets to that point you notice little idiosyncrasies that define the athlete. Cool stuff.

I wonder if the UFC does any testing on its fighters? Prolly not.
 
Mar 19, 2009
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pmcg76 said:
Football fans like to label cycling as a drugs sport but football is ruled by money and is far from a level playing field either.



.

Drug cheating/ Abusing all Timers:

1.) Cycling
2.) Bodybuilding
3.) Track/ Field
4.) NFL football
5.) WWE or UFC
6.) WWF arena

Baseball? No tackling, no contact, no endurance. And drug testing is solid. And the players union are not liars, they openly point out the HGH test is a joke. Lance wont say it is though.

Hockey is not bad apparently.
 
Mar 19, 2009
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RDV4ROUBAIX said:
Cycling is a far more difficult ball of wax to roll, cuz you've basically have to think about chess moves when your body just wants to quit.

I wonder if the UFC does any testing on its fighters? Prolly not.

Physically cycling is harder. Talent wise MLB baseball players have FAR more talent at what they do then the average pro cyclist. Think of the number of kids that play baseball.

UFC must test for roids/ stimulants. But probably no EPO test and no hematocrit limit. Which is a joke because fighting is very aerobic. So is Hockey.
 
Mar 19, 2009
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BigBoat said:
Physically cycling is harder. Talent wise MLB baseball players have FAR more talent at what they do then the average pro cyclist. Think of the number of kids that play baseball.

UFC must test for roids/ stimulants. But probably no EPO test and no hematocrit limit. Which is a joke because fighting is very aerobic. So is Hockey.

Don't you think it's easier to become a pro ball player than a pro cyclist though? For cycling you really have to be a genetic freak, blessed with a big heart and lungs. For baseball you just have to be a top college player to get into the draft, or be a natural talent from Venezuela, Cuba, or Japan.
 
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RDV4ROUBAIX said:
I find that if loaded with a few pints, the average layperson can basically become a pro dart player.

Thats sound like a :cool: job.

I think the Pro ball players really have to be talented because there is so many damn baseball kids...

But Pro Cycling is a "crazies" sport for sure. Not many people even try to compete in bike races. I think Andrew Coggan made the point that most guys who race will never know their true funtional threshold (all out 1-hour watts) because they simply cannot take the pain.
 
Mar 19, 2009
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How many pro ball players compared to pro cyclists? Pro just meaning Major League U.S. Baseball. I'm guessing over 1000, really! 30 teams, 40 man rosters, yeah like 1200. The International peloton is about 300.

On a side note I grew up in the Ozzie Smith years.:)
 
it really annoys me that cycling bears the brunt of doping headlines. I dont believe it is any better or worse than other sports but is being treated unkindly because it is a minority sport in most English speaking countries, making it an easy target.

+!00. Really with you there on that one Pcmg76.

Anyone who thinks football (both soccer and NFL), NBA, MBL, tennis, boxing, etc. are completely clean are dreaming. Golfing legend Gary Player made the claim about two years ago that he heard from more than one valid source that even some golfers were using steroids. Golf??!? Yep, golf. It was assumed in the past that golfers had used various types of beta blockers that should be, but if steroids can help 40 year old guys from being fatigued, and that's the difference between tens of thousands of dollars, and there's no testing, someone will very likely try it. Same with HGH which reportedly helps vision.
 
For baseball you just have to be a top college player to get into the draf
A friend of mine was a great baseball player growing up, like super dedicated and the best player in school, went to all kinds of baseball developmental camps, etc. Then he moved to Arizona (to practice year round) to play college where things got tougher but he still played all right. He then made an attempt to play in the minors, and even on the single A level he didn't have it. It was impossibly difficult. So to "just have to be a top college player" is an incredible oversimplification.

The UCF does test it's fighters. Tim Sylvia popped + for steroids (confessed, and was suspended about a year). Josh Barnett also tested +. A few other guys too.
 
Apr 15, 2009
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I can give some good unbiased feedback on this question. Before taking up cycling approx 4 years ago I played baseball for 16 years (since I was 5 years old). I ended up representing Australia and had try outs with 2 major league teams (Braves & Padres) and payed over in Salt Lake City (US) for 6 months. Now I race (more like try and hang on!) my bike against some top domestic semi-pro's and visiting pro's when they are out.

I can honestly say the hardest thing I've ever done in sport is on a bike, hands down. Be it the dedication that's required in training or the will to continue pushing yourself when your legs are screaming at you to stop, physically baseball doesn't even come close. However, from a technical skill piece baseball has it all over cycling. The skill that's required to hit a ball moving at >90 mph from only 60 ft away, rarely ever in the same spot twice and is curving all over the place cannot even begin to be described unless you've played at that level. It is a sport that you really need to learn the skills at a young age to reach the highest level.

Physically you still need specific characteristics to make it in baseball. When I was in the states every second guy I was playing against were 6' 2", weighed in at around 100kg (of mostly muscle) and could run the 100 in under 11 seconds.

Really no matter what sport you play, to play at the highest level requires a combination of genetic characterisitcs and hard work.
 
In football/soccer I believe drug taking is not widespread but happens more than their governing bodies would like to admit.

Are you kidding? Listen before I got into cycling in the late 80's, I played high school footbal for 4 years. A considerable number of guys on the team were on "the juice" in the gym to be able to benchpress more at early season testing, and they continued throughout the season. Then other blokes I knew went on to the college level and told me that, there, steriod taking was a team affair. Then at the pro level.....It's cultural sir. As for soccer, I now live in Italy and am always hearing about how if soccer were tested as cycling is....The simple reason it is not, is that it is too huge an industry to be harassed and so becomes one of the untouchables. It's just all about money! Plain and simple. Cycling is a "poor" sport, with an obvious doping problem, therefore has become the fall guy for practically all professional sports so that a hypocritical corporate sponsorship base can satisfy the just as hypocritical offense taking of a moralistic public. In the end, doping is cultural in sports of the modern age. Believe whatever you want, however this is the reality we are dealing with.