Athletes.

All sports have them. But in order to excel at a sport, some require more athleticism than others. I have taken it upon myself to determine how much athleticism a sport demands. A few points before I start. Not all sports are included in this grading bonanza.

I only included sports that SLU offers, which cuts out football and for the most part, track and field. In addition, I left out any sport I have never played, which eliminates hockey, rugby and volleyball.

This is in no way a grade on SLU’s athletic programs or their athletes. These are very unscientific, very large generalizations on the sport, not any individual athlete.

When thinking of an athlete, I took into consideration things like endurance, agility, coordination, speed and intelligence. Keep in mind that anyone can play these sports, whether they have an athletic bone in their body or not.

Soccer

Strength, agility, endurance, speed, intelligence and coordination. Not only does a soccer player require all of these attributes, but he must excel at all of them as well. Soccer players don’t take breaks, they play for 90 minutes. The sport may put me to sleep faster than maximum-strength allergy medicine, but soccer players make some of the best athletes in the world.

Grade: A+

Baseball

Baseball is kind of a tricky sport to grade. It claims some of the best athletes of all time in players like Bo Jackson and Jackie Robinson, but you don’t need to be a good athlete to be a good baseball player. For every Griffey, Ichiro and Pedro, there is a Mo Vaughn, Matt Stairs and David Wells. Plus there is so much down time in baseball. They even have the Designated Hitter; a position that extends the careers of those men who can no longer play in the field. But I think the ability to throw or hit a 90-mph fastball has to count for something.

Grade: B

Basketball

Strength, agility, endurance, speed, intelligence and coordination. Just like soccer, all of these are vital to a basketball player. An average athlete in college or pro basketball is still a supreme athlete to the rest of us. However, basketball loses a few points to soccer because basketball takes breaks.

Grade: A-

Golf

Coordination, I guess. Intelligence, probably. Endurance, at times. I suppose you expend energy when you swing the club. It does take some endurance to walk the 18 holes.

But if you’re using a cart, the walking becomes a non-factor. I’m sure that being a good athlete helps you become a better golfer, but its not completely necessary.

Grade with cart: C

Grade without cart: D+

Tennis

120-mph serves. The ability to return a 120-mph serve. All that sprinting back and forth, and the fact that they have to stay mentally focused at all times make tennis a very athletic sport.

And I guarantee you won’t see a 36-year-old, overweight, slow of foot tennis pro as a Designated Server.

Grade: B

Cross Country

It would be easy to give cross-county a low grade. It would be easy to point out that it does not require a lot of agility, pure speed or coordination.

What would not be easy is running five miles just to warm up. I used to think of cross-country as a sport for kids who didn’t play other sports. While that maybe somewhat true, it does not make them any less athletic.

Grade: B-

Sports Columnists

What they may lack in agility, coordination, endurance, strength and in some cases intelligence, they make up for with an amazingly explosive speed. Especially when they see an entire team, upset with what they’ve written, coming their way.

Grade: D-

Grade when running for life: C+