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The two most viewed sports in the US, football and basketball, also have the biggest athletes. Basketball players are generally the tallest athletes and football players are generally the strongest.
Baseball, where hitting and pitching are skills that take a long time to master, is America’s past time but is not viewed as much as football and basketball. Tennis is the most popular racket sport in the US but I think there has not been a “short” Grand Slam Champion on the men’s side since Michael Chang in 1989 and he was 5’9″ so not that short.
Table-tennis is largely skill-based as although foot speed, hand speed, mind speed, and touch for the ball all matter, someone who is the most talented in those areas can’t reach the world-class level without around 10,000 hours of serious play. Deng Yaping of China, arguably the greatest woman’s player of all-time, was not even 5 feet tall. She was not initially accepted to the Chinese national team due to her size but finally was after always winning. When she played internationally for China, she would go years without losing a match even to her teammates from China. Olympic and World Champion Liu Guoliang of China was only 5’6″. Legends of the game like Belarus’ Vladimir Samsonov, Sweden’s Jorgen Persson, and China’s Wang Liqin are over 6 feet tall. Shorter players are generally weaker in the corners and taller players are generally weaker in the middle but it’s been proven that short and tall players can both reach the top.
Basketball is now becoming more skill-based due to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors, their 3-point success, and their NBA title. Stephen Curry is extremely skilled with his passing, dribbling, variety of finishes near the basket, and the quick release 3-pointer. Due to Curry and the Warriors’ success, now the 7-foot tall centers who would primarily play near the basket are now shooting 3-pointers. In the past, 7-foot tall centers like Shaquille O’Neal reached the top primarily with their size and strength. If O’Neal was the size of Stephen Curry, he would likely not be on a college basketball team as he is only successful near the basket. There is no doubt he had to have worked hard but he became one of the dominant players in the game mainly due to his physical gifts. There are and have been 7-footers in the NBA who are also very skilled like the San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan and reached the top. However, with the success of the Golden State Warriors and the 3-pointer, the NBA has changed in recent time to a more skill-based league. It is extremely hard to be a guard in the NBA but some players like Shaquille O’Neal’s physical gifts primarily led him to the top.
In football, the quarterback is the most important position and is largely a skill-based position. However, there are not many successful short quarterbacks as they need to see over their lineman and see the field so height is an advantage. Many other positions in football require great physical conditioning but their success is largely due to their physical size, strength, and speed. The New England Patriots won 5 Super Bowls mainly because of one player, their quarterback Tom Brady, as the other players on their roster kept changing.
College baseball is nowhere near as popular as college football or basketball and size doesn’t matter as much in baseball. Successful athletes from other sports like Michael Jordan and Tim Tebow tried their luck with professional baseball but were not successful. Although strength matters, no one becomes good in baseball without having played a long time but baseball is somewhat losing spectator appeal and is largely skill-based.
There are athletes who are extremely physically gifted who have been successful in basketball and football without having played a long time due to their height or strength. In skill-based sports like baseball, tennis, or table-tennis, this could never happen but these skill-based sports are also not as popular. In baseball, strength matters but hitting and pitching at the MLB level are skills that take a long time to master. In tennis, taller athletes generally have a better serve but no one becomes good in tennis without having played a long time. In table-tennis, good players can be of any size as it’s how good your skills are that determine your success more than anything else.
Since basketball and football are America’s two most popular sports, there is intense competition to make the NBA or NFL. Although size helps, the NBA is becoming more skill-based as the 3-pointer is now becoming the most valued skill for any player due to the success of the Warriors. The most important position of quarterback in football is mainly skill-based as one player led a team to 5 championships with totally different players around him during the different championships. Even though size helps in football and basketball, skill is of high value as well.
In Asia, skill-based sports are national sports for their countries such as table-tennis in China, badminton in Indonesia, and cricket in India. In the US, the sports mentioned are not popular. Most of my friends knew I played table-tennis and was good but no one ever asked to watch me play and no one really talked to you about it. Most people don’t understand table-tennis in the US and it’s not something people care about. In China, many millions understand table-tennis and watch with interest. Of course, US table-tennis is not as good as Chinese table-tennis but are Chinese and Americans totally different in their views on entertainment? My guess for the difference is only because of what’s shown on TV and media build-up. In India, people go crazy over cricket but here no one would care much unless you’re originally from India or another country where cricket is already popular. If you’re #100,000 in the world in football, you sometimes may have close to 100,000 people watch your team play. In table-tennis in the US, if you’re #100-#1,000 in the world like the top US players, not many that are not table-tennis people come to watch besides at the Olympic Trials.
No one thinks twice about killing an ant, mouse, or rat but if a dog, tiger, or lion is killed, there could be international uproar and news headlines made![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
