There are several “Big Time” sports that generate the most interest in our country. Today, the most popular happens to be football which displaced baseball a couple of decades ago. I believe NASCAR is second after also pushing baseball aside into third. Fourth would have to be basketball followed by ice hockey in fifth. After the big five, all team sports by the way, then I’d say golf, tennis and finally soccer round out the most popular spectator sports in the United States (Yeah, I’ll probably hear from a couple of die hard fans that think their sport of choice should be a little further up on the popularity rankings scale… As Jason Bourne would say, “So be it!”).

My question today is which of these sports generates the highest level of strategy? Think about this now… I always refer back to a game I was taught in my youth, chess.

My Dad would sit me down and go over how each piece of the chess set could move and then push me to play ahead one then two moves and so on until I was anticipating what my opponent might do based on the moves I planned to make possibly as many as five turns ahead. In this process you attempt to ‘set up’ your opponent by using deception, making him believe you are doing one thing while in reality you are doing another. This is the essence of strategy.

Now, with that in mind, once again review the list of sports given above. There is a measure of strategy in each of them, but which one uses the greatest amount of strategy?

Baseball? There is no doubt, baseball is a thinking person’s game. There is strategic thinking going on all the time. Some strategic moves may be as obvious as an intentional walk to get to a batter you believe you have a better chance against or to set up a certain situation, then there are some that are of a much more subtle nature. For instance, late in a tight game the manager of one team might have a right handed hitter step out of the dugout and begin to loosen up as if he will become a pinch hitter, just to see if the opposing manager will get a left handed pitcher up in the bullpen to possibly counter the move. Then the manager sticks with his hitter already in the game, just to see which pitcher might be used in the future. Then there is the pitcher with men on first and third and less than two outs who fakes a throw to third or first rather than throw the first pitch to a new batter who happens to be a good bunter, just to see if the batter starts to square around to bunt, thus giving his infielders a heads up…. Baseball is full of subtle strategic moves that less attentive fans miss while the game unfolds. Baseball is a game of statistics and these are used to form a book on each opponent and their players. Managers are constantly referring to the stats to come up with a means of defeating the opposing team. Which of my pitchers has performed well against the other team’s hitters and so on. Then there are the signals used between coaches and players to call for certain pitches to be thrown or certain defensive alignments to be used or for a hitter to hit away, take a pitch, hit and run, or bunt. Stealing an opponent’s signs is just a part of the game. Many times you’ll see a fast player out on first and the situation calls for a steal of second base. The manager might signal for a pitch out putting his catcher in a much better position to try and throw out the base runner if he thinks he’s picked up the other team’s steal sign.

Baseball has a lot of strategy involved.

Two timely hits by Kirk Gibson resulted in huge wins for his teams. Dodger Manager Tommy Lasorda used Kirk once in the 1988 World Series because of Kirk being hobbled. His game winning home run in game one set the stage for the Dodgers to win the series and evoked Jack Buck's famous line "I don't believe what I just saw!"... Lasorda gambled on a lame Gibson and won.

NASCAR? I’m a new fan of this sport and I’m sure others can speak to the strategies involved here better than me… You hear of such things as fuel strategy, tire strategy, playing the odds that the racing will continue under green flag conditions and determining when to pit when fuel becomes an issue. It seems to me that the ‘Car of Today’ and with the ‘Chase’ format installed, NASCAR has removed a fair share of the gray areas where strategic thinking once played a much broader roll. The ‘Chase’ format has brought a new strategy to the forefront, it’s called points racing and involves doing whatever it takes to qualify for one of the twelve ‘Chase’ positions through the first two thirds of the season so that you and your team stand a chance to win the Sprint Cup by generating more points during the final 10 races of the season than the other eleven qualifiers. Strategy definitely has a place in NASCAR…

Jimmie Johnson, two time NASCAR Cup Champion.

Basketball? I grew up playing basketball but was never very good at it (lead feet disease! LOL). I have a pretty fair idea of what’s going on out there on the court and in my opinion this sport leans much more heavily on the athletic skills of the individual performers than on using a lot of strategy to overcome an opponent. The game is played by great athletes basically working around a few plays designed to take advantage of an opponent and their weaknesses, but when it comes down to it, the individual’s ability to perform ultimately determines whether the team is successful. Strategy in basketball is almost spontaneous and this accounts for the number of timeouts in each game while the coaches attempt to take advantage of certain situations. Do you think basketball features a lot of strategy?

How many NBA Championships did Michael Jordon lead the Chicago Bulls to?

Ice Hockey? I’m really out of my league here and I’m sure there are many who consider this sport one of the most strategic, but I don’t happen to be one of them. I’d venture to say that there is more strategy employed in this sport than basketball, but I think it is similar to round ball when it comes to individual ability. It seems to me that a couple of excellent performers can strap a team on their back and make a run at the Stanley Cup. Sure the team has to have a good goalie and one or two good men on defense, but don’t all the teams have those? How much strategy does a team with a Sidney Crosby

The Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby

or a Pavel Datsyuk leading the way really need? Enlighten me, What do you think?

Stanley Cup Champion Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings.

Soccer? At least I’ve attended a couple of hockey games in my life, but soccer? I’m definitely not the person to discuss soccer as a game, let alone soccer strategy and yet I'm sure there is a fair amount of strategy going on, it's just that my untrained eye has a hard time picking it up. The game literally looks like a bunch of people running around chasing an elusive ball to me. Then suddenly one of the contestants breaks free, guiding the ball and attempts to kick it past a goal tender into the goal area to score one whole point! I mean all this running around may go on for half of the game before one or the other of the opponents actually scores a point! I see very little strategy here, it’s just survival of the fittest in my book…?

How about the individual sports, golf and tennis? I suppose you could say there is strategy involved in these two very different sports.

In tennis you try to exploit any known weakness in your opponent. They have a weak back hand shot? Force them to use their back hand whenever possible. They aren’t very quick? Consider using the drop shot more often. They appear to get winded easily? Force them to move laterally from one shot to the next, and so on… Yes, there is strategy in tennis, but I believe it’s about 20% forethought and 80% spontaneity.

Now Coach Jimmy Connors watches a protege'. 

One of the top women in professional tennis, Venus Williams.

Golf? This sport is so different. In the final analysis, it pits you against yourself. How well you can control your athletic ability and respond to all sorts of situations, but the strategy remains pretty much the same: Perform consistently regardless of what is going on around you. Block out the distractions and trust yourself to put all those hours of training and practice into play, one shot at a time. Each golf course presents it’s own set of circumstances, but in a competition all of the competitors are faced them equally. There really is no one to blame when things go wrong in golf but yourself.

I've felt like getting down and doing this many times... I've never thrown a club though!

Finally, what about football? If I had to choose a team sport that most closely resembles chess, I’d have to say that game is football. I believe this is true due to the nature of the game. It is the team sport where you line up directly across from your opponent. The game is run on a play by play basis like chess, but probably the biggest factor that brings about in-depth strategy is the amount of time from one game to the next. At the beginning of the season, football coaches first work their teams until they recognize their strengths and weaknesses, then they work to accentuate the strengths and eliminate the weaknesses. Once the season begins they study each opponent prior to actually meeting them on the field. They identify every one of the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and attempt to negate those strengths and exploit their weaknesses. Each team’s coaching staff develops a game plan for each individual opponent and they work their team, practicing what they intend to do during the game. Coaches will devise a set of plays that they will run early in a game just to see how their opponent’s defense reacts, then they will make adjustments while the game is being played designed to give the opponent the same ‘look’ but the play has actually been adjusted to take advantage of the opponent’s tendencies. This same procedure is being carried out by the opposing team’s coaching staff so each in turn works to not become predictable and so it goes. Coaches use signals to notify their team on the field of certain plays to run and they will sometimes shuffle players in and out to get their plays sent in. Professional football is now going ‘high tech’ using speakers in the quarterback’s and the defensive signal caller’s helmets so the opposition doesn’t have a chance to read their signals…

I like to think of the NFC Championship game back in the early 80’s when Bill Walsh sent his 49er offense onto the field with just under five minutes left in the game needing a touchdown to defeat Tom Landry’s Cowboys. Dallas knowing full well that young Joe Montana had a weak running game and would have to pass if the Niners were to pull out the victory, went to a prevent type defense with an extra defensive back. Walsh had his offense switch up and began running sweeps and off tackle plays with his ‘no name’ running backs. The 49ers ended up driving from their own 11 yard line all the way down the field with only a couple of passing plays. The drive ended with what has become known as “The Catch” with Dwight Clark snaring a Montana desperation toss under extreme pressure to the back of the end zone. The 49ers had dethroned the perennial powerhouse Cowboys to set up a dynasty of their own. Walsh’s strategy of running the ball when the whole football world thought pass was out of the box and his courage to think that way eventually led to five Super Bowl Championships.

49ers' Coach Bill Walsh is carried off the field after winning Super Bowl XVI

I could go on and on about the strategies employed in football… It is, bar none in my opinion, the most strategic of the “Big Time” games being played in America today…

So here is my list of the most popular sports in America today:

1. Football, 2. NASCAR, 3. Baseball, 4. Basketball, 5. Ice Hockey, 6. Golf, 7. Tennis, and 8. Soccer.

Next, here is my list of the most strategic sports among the most popular:

1. Football, 2. Baseball, 3. NASCAR, 4. Ice Hockey, 5. Basketball, 6. Tennis, 7. Golf, and Soccer.

Ohio State's Head Football Coach, Jim Tressel and USC's Head Coach Pete Carroll... I wonder what these two are cooking up for each other...

In many sports you can point to one person who has earned the title of "Best Ever". It might be based upon one sterling effort, like the all-time best time in the 100 meter dash, or the title might be earned over the course of a career's worth of accomplishments... There are those that like to separate a particular sport into eras and then handing out the accolades, and then there are those that like to compare a past great champion to the best individual participating in that sport at this time.

Over the last few days we've seen a couple of posts by people in the Fox Sports Community that brought attention to the individuals participating in various sports. jaguarjoe72  wrote a series entitled

The first in the series deals with the NFL... This was followed by Faces of the franchise-MLB  

and then Face of the franchise-NBA

These highlight certain football, baseball and basketball player's accomplishments that earned them consideration as to whether they had attained enough status to be deemed synonymous with the team they played for, and then there was a NASCAR post by RLGuido entitled

The New Kings ....... there is only one King

Now this last one is getting to the heart of the matter.

So, with this in mind, I'd like to pose a question...

Who are the all-time greatest performers in each of the following sports, or, to borrow from jaguarjoe72, Can we put a face on these sports?

1. Baseball - MLB

2. Basketball - NBA

3. Boxing

4. College Football

5. Golf

6. Hockey

7. NASCAR

8. Professional Football

9. Tennis, Men

10. Tennis, Women

Here are my astute selections:

He won 14 Grand Slam titles and 11 Grand Masters events... Nuf' said? 

10. Tennis, Women

Always the lady, She battled all challengers from the baseline and through pure willpower, she would put them away... Chris Evert!

18 Singles Titles and 3 Doubles Titles in 18 years of Grand Slam tennis defines her, Chris Evert the greatest women's tennis player...

All right, you've seen mine... Let's see yours!