Most important position in a sport

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What do you think is the most important position in each of the team sports? Here's mine:

Hockey:
The goalie. On just about every shot he faces, his performance affects the score of the game. Plus he's on the ice for the entire game; he doesn't take shifts.
My next choice would be defensemen, then center, then wingers.

Baseball:
There's a lot of candidates here: starting pitcher, closer, shortstop, center fielder, lead-off hitter, the guy batting 4th in the lineup... but my vote goes to the Catcher. He has to call pitches for the entire game, so he plays a big role in defense and getting hitters out. He needs a good arm to throw out basestealers. And he gets his usual turn to bat and pinch in offensively.

Soccer:
I don't watch that much soccer, but I think the goal scorers are the key. With fewer number of chances to score, it makes it more important to have someone who could finish off the play in a goal.

Football:
I'm not a football fan either, but this has got to be the quarterback.

Basketball:
Even less of a basketball fan, so I have no idea. It looks like the five guys can switch court positions at will, and they can make their shots from anywhere (the professionals at least ).

 

Hockey:
The goalie by a country mile. When you have 20-30+ shots per game, you need someone who knows what they are doing between the sticks.

Baseball:
Haven't got a clue, but if it's anything like cricket then you're not going to get anywhere with crap bowlers/pitchers. So them.

Football:
Easily the keeper. A striker, midfielder and even defenders can make a mistake and get away with it more often than not. If your keeper ****s up, it's likely going to cost you the game when one goal can decide a match. After the keeper, I'd say the defenders. If you can't defend then you're not going to get very far, (unless your name is Brazil of course) when you leak goals left, right and centre.

American football:
Pfft, no idea. Probably that small kid who's got to catch the ball when there's some 20 stone fat guys just waiting to crash him when he does so.

Basketball:
Well, it can be anyone really. Are there even positions in basketball? They all seem to run wherever they want from what I can see. I couldn't name one position to be honest!

Cricket:
A toss-up between the batsman put at number 3 and your main strike bowler. If you have a dickhead at number 3, then you're going to have collapses more often than not. It's so important that when you lose an early wicket, you have a responsible and experienced batsmen coming in to settle things down. Just as important, when you're in a position when you REALLY need to take a wicket to get yourself back in the game, you need a strike bowler you can throw the ball to say "go on lad, go get me a wicket". If you've only got some crappy pie-throwers in your bowling attack then good batsmen wil rip you to shreds and without a good strike bowler to split up partnerships, you'll end up as rubbish as England are lately.

Rugby:
Either the 5 (lock) or the 10 (fly half). Without a good lock, your forward pack will lose the scrums, rucks and mauls so many times and so lose posession too much. Just look at how England have been since losing Martin Johnson to see the importance of that. Plus, if a team has a good fly half then they are half way there. A team can get away with a few donkeys in other positions if they have a fly half who knows how to use the ball and when and where to pass it, and when to kick. If they are also deadeyes with the kicks you're going to be able to keep that scoreboard ticking over (England won the world cup with the best lock in the world, the best fly half in the world and average players everywhere else).

 

In basketball, there are five official positions:

Point Guard: Often the shortest guy. A dribbler and passer. Examples: Magic Johnson, John Stockton, Jason Kidd

Shooting Guard: Scoring guard. Can usually both shoot and drive to the basket very well. Examples: Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant

Small Forward: A midsized player, often able to play on both the perimiter and on the block, close to the basket. A versatile player. Examples: Larry Bird, Tracy McGrady

Power Forward: Post-up player, grabs rebounds and can score in the post. Examples: Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett

Center: The bigman. Usually the tallest player. Does his work close to the basket. Examples: Shaq, Hakeem Olajuwon, Wilt Chamberlain

Nowadays though, not all teams use their players in this way. True centers are rare, the power forwards are getting quicker and are used more outside the paint, and the game is shifting more towards a guards game.

The most important position though, when you want to win a championship, is still to have a big center or power forward. Once the playoffs begin, the game slows down a bit, and gets more physical, which favours the centers. The inside players are able to shoot a higher percentage than the guards because they are closer to the basket, and that is a huge advantage.

 

Well I thought this was a good trhead idea, Blog!

 

Yeah, it came from thinking about who's the highest paid player on which team and whether he deserves it or not, based on how much influence he has on the outcome of the game.

 

Hockey- I don't watch much, but it has to be the goalie.

Baseball- Starting pitchers only pitch one out of five games and relievers don't play enough to make a huge difference individually. Personally I think the catcher is the most important, followed closely by the shortstop.

Soccer- The Keeper, one goal and your screwed.

Basketball- It depends on the level that you're playing at more than anything, but for most a solid post is the key to being successful, both on offence and defence.

Football- Tail back, it opens up the passing and a running game rests your defence which is huge.

[ November 24, 2006, 02:04: Message edited by: ChickenIsGood ]

 

I'd say any position as long as you can make friends with female cheerleaders...

 

Baseball: The Bullpen. If you don't have a decent bullpen your not going to win many ballgames. and the Bullpen just fills one position so I would feel safe saying its the most important. other than that though, yes it is the catcher. Catcher's direct traffic on the field, telling people where to throw the ball, lining people up, and a good one can pretty much control the game.

Football: Quarterback for offense, Linebacker for Defense.

Basketball: Powerforward

Hockey: I don't watch much but I would say goalie. They can't hit it past him they can't score

 

This is a difficult question indeed.

I will agree that it has to be the goalie for both soccer and hockey.

For basketball, it might be nice to say the center, and that's usually true, but teams have won championships in basketball with no-name centers. Jordan never had a great center on his team with him. At best his centers were average, and some years, quite below average.

For baseball, while pitching is extremely important, the thing is baseball teams use five-men rotations meaning you use a different starting pitcher for five straight games before you repeat the first pitcher again. It simply isn't practical to say he's the most important when he only pitches once every five days. That's why I'm inclined to go with a position player, and I'd go with shortstop.

Football really has to be broken into both offense and defense. The problem in making a decision here is that the roles of players are so varied. On offense, it would be difficult to make an argument for something other than runningback or quarterback, but at the same time, neither position would be effective without quality offensive lineman to block.

Defense is even more of a conundrum - how do you compare a defensive lineman for a cornerback? Still, it would logically follow that defensive players that are required to play both the pass and the run have the most challenging duties, which basically means you can narrow it down to safety or linebacker. I'd go with safety, and to be the most specific, free safety. The free safety lines up on the side that doesn't have the tight end, so in theory, he may have to cover the flanker or the slot receiver, or potentially even a runningback coming out of the backfield, and he is also essential in stopping the run. While linebackers also play both coverage and rush the passer, something has gone horribly wrong if your linebacker is covering a wide receiver. Typically, you want your linebacker on runningbacks or tightends. So, just for the difficulty of the position, I'd take free safety.

 

The fan. Especially the idiot fans willing to pay top dollar for EVERY DAMNED TRIVIAL ITEM. Those fans willing to over $1000 for a seat at a game are extremely important -- it gives an inflated worth to seats and allows management to up the prices. Anything bringing more money into the game is important -- it allows the players to be spoiled rich jerks who only think about getting the next monster paycheck.

 

Actually T2B, tickets, concessions, and merchandising make up a relatively small amount of most professional teams total revenue. The exact percentage vary be team, and vary greatly by sport. For example, a baseball team with 81 home games a year will generate much more revenue from tickets and concessions than will an NFL team that only has 8 home dates per year, even factoring in the cost of tickets being so much higher in the NFL than MLB.

I guess the point I'm making is that the vast majority of revenue for all of the major professional sports is not what they sell, but the TV contracts. For example, in 2005, the NFL collected approximately $8.4 billion in total revenue. Tickets and concessions sold at stadiums accounted for just $860 million of that total.

 

Very few sports (i.e. Golf & Wrestling) are non team sports. No position should be valued above another position. Team sports the whole team needs to play as a team or the team won't make it far in the league. Teams the fuse together well are successful. A great example is the New England Patriots when Tom Brady took over the QB role for the injured Drew Bledsoe. The team worked together week in and week out and won its first of three Super Bowls. Team sports require every working together to be successful. Every position has equal importance. i.e. In football a team that does not have a good long snapper, punter or kicker will not have good field position. In baseball a team with a bad pitcher, cather or shortstop might not play when well on defense, etc...

Every position is valued highly in team sports. Though the salary of a player in their league determines how much value that position may have compared to others. I know in Football QB, DB, Defensive and Offensive lineman are cashing in so there position are valued more than RB and Linebacker, who you use to cash in. I am not too fimilar with other sports as I only tend to watch American Football.

 

LMAO!!

I only play and watch football so I'll only comment on that. I'm with Barmy, the goalie, for the reason he gave.

Brazil has some pretty good defenders though, it's goalies they need. Dida is crap imo.

 

Well, let me add my thoughts as to who's most important for a footballteam, it's the playmaker, or the player with number 10. It usually is a midfielder with both defensive and offensive skills, leadershipqualities, unmatched passingskills, and a keen eye for creating or preventing situations on the pitch. He organizes the defence, puts the players in the right position and makes sure they stay there, and provides the strikers with perfect passes from which they can create scoringopportunities. Any team with such a type of player in their lineup has a better chance of winning a game than any team that hasn't got one. I'm talking about types like Zidane, Maradona, or Lothar Mattheus back in his days, those are the players that would make any team stronger.

 

Baseball - Catcher, followed by first base (yes I do play there lol). Seems to me like they're both heavily involved in most plays (ALL plays, in the case of the former) and don't often get replaced like the pitcher does.

Football - A good, experienced quarterback is deadly in the passing game, but I would have to go with running back in this one because a strong tailback adds a lot of versatility to your game. Receiver is less of a good choice because there are 5 potential ones (2 are running backs anyway) and more often than not you need a stellar quarterback for the receiver to get anywhere (although the same can be said for blockers). Tough choice.

 

Most important position in baseball? Catcher. Hardest to play? Center field, hands down. I have played every position and center field is the hardest, as every ball off the bat looks exactly the same... a ball hit 300 feet looks the same as a pop up when you are in center because there is no depth perception available. Plus, you need to range all over the place.