Most Complicated Team Sport?

[toa$t]

you'll be smacking them clear over cow corner for six off a sticky wicket (am I doing it right?)

 

[INFaMaS]

the diagonal of a snooker table is about 13 and a half feet. the diagonal of a pool table is just under 8 feet. in terms of long shots, that's a huge difference. learning on a 12ft snooker table, i generally find shots on a 7ft pool table to be so much easier.

7ft is quite small for a pool table. Competition size is 9ft by 4.5ft, which leads to a diagonal of about 10 ft.

I have never played snooker but would like to try. I am in college now, but at my home we have a comp sized pool table. I became quite good at it actually when I practiced regularly. I would play snooker if it had any sort of following that pool does here, but alas, I'm stuck with pool.

 

[alasdairm]

Competition size is 9ft by 4.5ft, which leads to a diagonal of about 10 ft.

i wasn't aware of that. thanks.

alasdair

 

[MoonlapseVertigo]

Cricket is hard to understand because of all the unique and strange terms. When someone hears 'Offside square leg' for the first time, it's fair enough for a big old wtf. If you just understand the batting and bowling terms, which aren't too bad, you can enjoy it. Screw the fielding positions and such, they can be learnt if you really get into it.

As for most complicated, I'd go for rugby union. Just because it's a free flowing game during the important bits, where as in gridiron you get to stop and start after most plays.

 

[Pander Bear]

a continuous play sport can, IMO, never be as complicated as a sport that stops, like gridiron football. With footie or rugby, or basketball, there's less time for complex strategy since theres no time to rest.

 

[Infinite Jest]

^
Hmm...maybe. It's not as though you're just running around and improvising, though. Every rugby team will have dozens of moves memorised and rehearsed, just as a gridiron football team will. And remember rugby has stop-start set-pieces as well, which are actually the most important part of the game.

On the original question, I took it to mean complicated in terms of understanding the rules, and what's going on. In which case I'd say rugby, American football and (especially) cricket. Soccer, netball, basketball, golf - all relatively simple. Ditto baseball to my mind, though it's slightly more complicated than the others I mentioned. But try explaining cricket to someone who hasn't grown up with it - it's really quite difficult.

But then: just b/c soccer or basketball appear simple (run down the field/court, put the ball in the goal/hoop) doesn't mean that they actually are, and it's possible I am missing a huge amount of subtlety....

 

[eDDe9]

I used to play cricket at county level and still can't remember all the fielding positions

I find NFL and baseball pretty easy to understand