But I can appreciate the sentiment. Sigmachi, do or die? How about a little Taste of what you’re already good and used to? Yes, I mean balls in the face.

I think there is precedent for Olympic Dodgeball. I believe the ancient Mayans/Incans played a version, though methinks theirs was a bloodier, less playful iteration. It’s worth a trial shot. We have air pistol and curling for Jeesum Crow.

Speaking of Olympics, riddle me this: Given that Kobe and Lebron get 3 months to practice, could they beat the sexy volleyball duo that is May/Walsh?

Craig think he a mack.
Macaroni!

“Mama, watchyoo cookin?”

And there is speed and “football” speed. A test of pure running wouldn’t be too redundant.

And I think dodgeball is the ultimate test of manhood, not necessarily athletic prowess. So awesome.

Also, I like the Obstacle Course … are you thinking Japanese TV, as well?

I’d like to see them find a way to make them play 10 sports, but as an individual.

1. Running
2. Baseball
3. Basketball
4. Football
5. Soccer
6. Tennis
7. Wrestling
8. Swimming
9. Jumping (long and high)
10. Obstacle Course

Though, it is pathetic to watch an decathalete perform admirably in javelin, pole vault, etc. only to watch them suck wind for 800m and finish with the Broken Arrow Junior Varsity track team. If you can’t run, then why should you even be allowed to play with the other toys? Take a lap!

To add my own thoughts to the 8′ list above:

11. Physical Durability (get punched and kicked like boxers and MMA to test best chin, etc. again this is a skill that can be improved through training and repetition as well as some people have genetic advantage)
12. Response Time (have them respond to blinking lights to measure how quickly their brain processes … I think it DiMaggio that could see the laces on the baseball as it sailing towards home)
13. Mental Toughness/Willpower (what I’d love to see is a test that measures how fit someone is, their genetic advantage, diet, etc and then clears that from the board so that each person is started out at the same relative exhaustion or quantifiable suffering and then see who has the biggest will to continue to run, perform, and endure the pain. For me to run a marathon vs. a Kenyan is a comparison of fitness, I guarantee they’ll win, but I’d be the one enduring more pain. That factor I’d like to see measured).

There is an anti-American bias … 1972 Munich … Basketball Final … I can’t state this enough. Why is it that every organizing sports body (Olympics, FIBA, FIFA) was organized by the French? And then they jump out of NATO … even though they are surrounded on every border by NATO countries with USA tanks, planes, and soldiers to protect Europe?

That really chaps my hide.

There’s no way to uniformly evaluate an athlete’s ability to hit a curveball or take it to the hole because of the human factor. Perhaps if you come up with a way to get close, you can call that person the “World’s Best Sportsman.” Until then, you have to break it down into athletic elements that suggest the person could perform other athletic feats well.

I couldn’t come up with a legitimate #10 that fit the spirit of the list. Running stairs or something like that just doesn’t seem to fit.

I’m afraid basketball will suffer the same fate if we continue to win the way we have. (and did it bug the shit out of anyone else that announcers kept saying the US hadn’t won Gold in eight years, as if we didn’t deserve an invitation to the 2008 Games?!?! The Olympics only happen every four years, a-holes! We didn’t win Gold in one Olympics, and they act like we’re on a decade long win-drought. Peckers, the lot of them.) I think there many other so-called “athletic” endeavors that really are neither athletic, nor endeavors (discuss).

Brian Clay won the decathalon. Evidently, winning this allows the athlete to claim the mantle of “greatest all around athlete in the world”. Two things bother me about this. 1. He doesn’t actually play any sports, he just performs “feats”, 2. He has a day job.

To me, it ought to take more than just working out hard after your shift at the Home Depot to be considered the world’s greatest anything, save dork. I mean, Clay is in fantastic shape and is certainly “athletic”. But can he hit a curve ball? Take it to the rack in traffic? Catch a pass across the middle? Dig a May/Walsh hit? Bend it like Beckham? Putt from the rough? (sorry, too easy). I doubt it. Everyone knows that guy from pick-up games who is in great condition and looks good without a shirt who never-the-less sucks at basketball/soccer/flag football/etc. Having good lung capacity does not make you an athlete.

The Pentathalon ought to consist of 10 sports drills. What 10 components of sport should comprise the event to make the winner truly able to crow about being the world’s greatest all around athlete?