Sports tall athletes play without basketball

This has been gnawing at my mind.

If basketball never reaches prominence, what sports would the emerging group of tall athletes gravitate to?
 
Sports where having a long reach is an advantage.

There is a decent number of tall boxers, for example. Perhaps baseball - with a longer arm meaning a longer swing.
 
My guess is soccer. It's the most popular sport in the world, being tall means having long legs (thus bigger stride), which means you can run fast, and also advanced height can help for headers inside the box.
 
Last edited:
I'm sure there are certain American football positions that height is an advantage in. There are definitely rugby positions where height can bean advantage.
 
The very tall (the 7 foot types) are rarely especially good athletes; height is such a big advantage in basketball that very tall players can get away with being somewhat less athletic. There are plenty of existing sports where being tall is an advantage, but not such an overwhelming one, such that six and a half footers are not uncommon and in some cases under six footers are rare. Boxing has been mentioned, and in American football both height and reach are advantages for many positions (tall quarterbacks get a better view of the field, and leverage means they can usually put a little more power into their throws, receivers with more height or reach can reach for and fight for balls, blockers and tacklers are harder to get around when they have better reach). It's also an advantage for baseball pitchers (again, the leverage is good for throwing harder), but is not, contrary to Anaytical Engine, much of an advantage for batters (perhaps because the larger strike zone is too much of a compensating disadvantage, or perhaps because the advantages of a good eye and good control of the bat are so much more important than anything else). Other than goalkeepers, height doesn't seem like a huge advantage in soccer (perhaps for the baseball batting reason that, even if it helps a little, other things help much, much more, so the much deeper talent pool of average height people contains many more of those with the needed exceptional skills).
 
Baseball for one. Being a tall pitcher has its rewards - there’s a reason MLB lowered the mound by five inches in the 1960s when they wanted to give hitters a chance, and there’s a reason 6’10” Randy Johnson was so damn tough to hit.
 
Rugby - Locks are typically 6'6 - 6'9 (198 - 206 cm)
Boxing - The current three top heavyweights in the world are all over 6'6
Volleyball - If it gains popularity I can see extremely tall athletes gravitating towards this sport, especially if it gains popularity
 
Football (soccer), as others have mentioned. Having a longer reach might be good for racket sports such as tennis or badminton. Maybe rugby? That tends to attract the bigger players which would be naturally suited to the throw-in.

Edit: sorry I don't see your post fiftyonefifty :)
 
You might see an uptick in particularly tall outfielders, first basemen, and pitchers (especially flame-throwing relievers) in baseball among the very tall. And don't forget hockey: Zdeno Chara of the Senators and Bruins demonstrated quite clearly the advantages enjoyed by a tall defenseman with a long reach.
 
I’m a rower, and I can tell you that height is wonderful for us as well. ‘Give me a lever long enough and I will move the world’ but it’s a boat.
 
Australian football, 5 or 6 key position players need to be tall, so much so my team is preserving with a useless player simply because he's tall.
 
Other than goalkeepers, height doesn't seem like a huge advantage in soccer

Centre backs are generally the tallest players on the pitch along with the goalie because height gives them an advantage defending crosses and set pieces (free kicks and corners). After a certain height though, I think the advantage starts to turn into the disadvantages that go with silly height - although they undoubtedly have an advantage in the air they're going to struggle with the quick movement that's needed to stay with modern smaller forwards. The best centre back in the world at the minute is Virgil Van Dijk who's about 6'4'' - I'm struggling to think of many outfield players much taller than that who've been considered World Class - Peter Crouch (6'7'') was very good up front for Liverpool among others but he was never realistically World Class (which I'd class as being good enough to start for any side in the world).

There was a fashion (especially in British football) for a while for a big man up front - it went with the rigid 4-4-2 formation and long ball game that became popular through the 1980s and early 90s when the theory that launching long passes forward from as early as possible and using a big, strong striker to win a header down to his smaller partner was the best way to go because it was the quickest way to attack and if you lost the ball it was as far away from your own goal as possible. Again though, once you get over a 'normal' tall player to basketball sizes you have to wonder how much football skill they're losing for an advantage that can be countered tactically with 'normal' sized defenders leaving you with Andre the Giant getting in everyone's way up front and achieving nothing.

Thankfully the fashion quickly died out among all bar the worst dinosaurs in the game (brilliantly satirised in the film 'Mike Basset' where an incompetent lower league coach becomes England manager by virtue of basically being the best one left who hasn't had a go. He tries all kinds of mad tactics and training regimes to try and curry favour with the press before ending a press conference at the World Cup with the line "Ladies and Gentlemen, England will play four, four fucking two" and becoming a national hero for getting to the semi finals) because it was absolutely fucking terrible to watch.
 
Top