Most tactically complicated sport?

[orange]

Not sure if this has been discussed here. Friend and I were discussing what is the most complicated/most strategy intense sport out there right now.

I have not played soccer/baseball much (or at least on the level where there are plays/etc (and I know there are), nor have I played many other sports at high levels.

However, he argued that it was professional football. He is a Madden junkie and talked about how complicated the game can be due to all the different schemes and formations in the game.

So, what, in your opinion, is the most tactically complicated sport? Any experience in the sports is great, or if you just know alot about it.

[TheRover]

Your friend is right and I don't think it is even close.

[prohornblower]

Of the four US Majors, I say football, easily. Baseball would be second.

[mbillie1]

I think baseball is the most complex, the pitcher/batter dynamic. I think soccer/basketball/hockey are somewhat less "tactical" as they are more fluid than football or baseball, which occur on something closer to a turn-based time frame. Also I'm fairly sure that curling is pretty tactically complex as well, although I realize that's outside the realm of traditional mainstream sports. Golf also, but it's more individual so, I'm not sure if that counts. I'd go as follows:

1) baseball
2) football
3) curling (why not)
4) tennis
4.5) golf?
5) soccer
6) hockey
7) basketball

[SammyKid11]

Of the four major American sports, it is FAR AND AWAY football. Nothing else comes even close. The amount of information players have to digest to have a clue what they're doing out there is enormous. The amount of times each of hundreds of plays get run in practice would boggle the mind of most sports fans. There is no chess match like it in the sports world that I know of (but again, I limit it to the four American majors, because I don't have enough knowledge of other team sports to know if there's more strategy involved in other games).

[adsman]

Cricket. One game takes five days, the captains can decide at any time to stop batting, weather can play a huge factor.

The other tactical sport would have to be Formula 1. The tactics there based on fuel weight, pit stops, safety cars, split-timing etc is just insane.

[kidcolin]

it's football by such a wide margin. That's why coaching staffs are so frickin' important in that sport.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

for US sports it's football and it's not close

[BellagioPlayer]

Lawn darts.

[slothinator]

Football over baseball, and it's not even close. Have you ever seen a football playbook? Devising and memorizing offensive schemes is too complicated for me to put into words. And my only experience is the high school level. College and pro play books are incredibly complex. Coaches have to coordinate 11 guys, each with an individual responsibility, and account for the 11 guys from the other team as well. Yeah, baseball has a lot of strategy, but nothing close to football.