from askmen.com By Dennis O’Connell, Fitness Specialist
From sumo wrestling to rugby, these manly sports separate the men from the boys. Which is the manliest?
There’s something deep down inside each one of us that makes us real men. It’s something primal that is at our very core. We can’t name it or say exactly what it is, but we know it’s there. Blame it on too much testosterone, an excess of those competitive juices or even our natural animal instincts, but men like danger. Let’s face it, the rougher the better. So, we figured it would be a good idea to put together a list of the top 10 man sports out there. The man sports on our list may not be the most popular, and we’re sure we’ll meet with some contention from some of our readers, but we stand by our list because, whether or not there’s blood involved or the toughest athletes play them, men like them. Here it goes, guys, play ball.
10 – Sumo wrestling
Sumo wrestling may not be a big draw in these parts of the world, but in Japan it is the biggest game around. Imagine the force of two 500-pound monsters crashing together, over and over until one ends up either down or outside of the painted circle. Now imagine you got stuck between the two of them during impact. Your pals will be sliding you under the door when they return you to the wifey.
9 – Golf
Before you say anything, let us say that golf is not on the list for the same reason every other sport is. Golf is a real man’s game because you can go golfing with your buddies, have a few drinks while playing, talk business, shoot the breeze, and avoid having to listen to the girl nag you to death for five hours or so. And let’s not forget the 19th hole… Yes, golf is a man’s sport.
8 – Soccer
On the surface, soccer doesn’t look like a brutal sport. In fact, it isn’t that brutal. Sure, it isn’t easy to run back and forth across the field for 90 minutes straight, but have you every put yourself in front of a soccer ball during a free kick? That ball can take off your head or your “jewels” in a flash. One more thing: Hardcore fans of soccer take the game very seriously. During the 1994 World Cup, one of the Colombian squad’s defensemen scored an own goal and it cost his team the game. He was shot a few days after returning back to his native Colombia. Talk about the agony of defeat.
7 – Motocross
We had to include motocross because those guys are just nuts. They are flying around all over the place in the dirt, over hills and often over other riders. They have almost no protection and can get trampled in a split second. The worst part of it is that these guys make peanuts for a living and are not exactly superstars in the public eye. Flash quiz: Name last year’s World Motocross champion. If you couldn’t name him, that’s OK — we didn’t know either (in 2009 it was Antonio Cairoli).
6 – Mixed Martial Arts
MMA may not be a major sport in the same vein as football or baseball, but you have to give the competitors credit. These guys step into the octagon often not even knowing what style of fighter they’ll be facing. They can do almost anything save poke the other guy’s eyes out and bite, so the potential for damage is about as high as it gets. Add to that the fact that most fights end with either a knockout or submission and you’ll start to understand why the Red Cross stays close to the ring to collect excess blood.
5 – Rugby
Rugby is one of the wackier spectacles to watch. These guys go at each other in a similar way as American Football (don’t forget, we said similar, it isn’t the same thing) but without all of the padding. These players are pretty big, pretty fast, and definitely not pretty. You’re as likely to see teeth flying around the playing field as you are the ball. Give these guys some respect — they may not be the brightest but they’ve got balls of steel.
4 – Hockey
Think of football on skates. Take a bunch of big (preferably Canadian) guys with a lot of muscle, slap on some protective equipment and skates, then let them loose on the ice. Throw in a cup called Stanley and a little black puck, give them sticks and get the hell out of the way. Hockey is brutal; you can’t help but respect the true grit of hockey players. These guys get cut, lose teeth and dive in front of a puck coming at them at 90 mph with little or no regard for the physical harm that lies ahead, so long as the team wins. Hockey players are all real men because phonies are not allowed on the ice.
3 – Auto Racing
It doesn’t matter if it’s NASCAR, Formula One, CART, or any other racing league, these guys are driving at speeds that hit upward of 200 mph, and the slightest mistake can cost them their lives. No matter how good they are, they can all die in a split second. Think Dale Earnhardt, Gilles Villeneuve and Ayrton Senna. All of these great racers met their maker on the racetrack. We can’t imagine more of an adrenaline rush. Besides, which one of us hasn’t dreamed of speeding down the track at 200 mph?
2 – Boxing
Ali, Frazier, Hagler, Hearns, Chavez, Roy Jones Jr., Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Shane Mosley, Holyfield, Jake LaMotta, Manny Pacquiao, and the list goes on. They are real men — they are the fighters. It is called the sweet science, but there is nothing sweet about trading fists for 12 rounds (used to be 15 not so long ago). Boxing hurts, period.
These athletes lay it on the line each time they step into the ring. They really do get hurt (a few boxers die each year due to punches). Many more boxers retire with brain damage. That’s the price to pay for pugilistic glory. Just remember: If a guy goes down fast, don’t call him a coward; it takes a lot of courage to step into the ring and fight.
1 – American Football
It was a close call between boxing and football for the No. 1 spot, but we had to give the nod to football. When these guys are on the injured list, it’s because something is really wrong (they can’t find their leg, for example). These guys play despite injury all the time. Sure, they don’t play 150 games per year, but they give it their all in each and every game.
Football players have a savage intensity that is unparalleled in any other sport. Football is war. Football is brutal. We’ve all seen those devastating hits where it seems the player is down for good… Until he gets up and not only finishes the game, but scores the winning touchdown. We know baseball is America’s pastime, but football is at America’s heart. And it takes a lot of heart to be a football player.
