Here is my personal Top 5 most talented sports leagues in the world:
Home of two of the best soccer teams in the world (Real Madrid & Barcelona), and even though I feel a natural reflex to backhand anyone who pronounces the city Bar-tha-lo-na with the fake lisp I can’t argue that their squad isn’t loaded with talent. Ronaldo and Messi? And you surround them with the best from elsewhere in the world? Reality check: every country on the planet besides us plays soccer. That’s an incredibly deep pool of talent to draw from with a very limited number of roster spots.
Once wildly popular in all of North America yet recently dwindling down to the Versus network where I think they’re sandwiched between Slamball reruns and Curling, the NHL is still a profitable league that boasts some of the most nationally diverse talent in the world. And I mean nationally diverse as in players from different nations, because the NHL suffers from a serious lack of black, brown, dark brown, and yellow talent. Lots of potential greats have probably never even tried on skates.
So many minor leagues and so hard to get to and remain at the major league level. Talent pool that includes all of the Americas as well as Asia, and according to the Little League World Series Africa apparently as well. Small rosters also make it difficult to secure a spot in the rotation. Although if you’re a big fat guy with a decent OBP you can DH until you’re 50.
As terribly as many NBA owners have managed their own finances, the league as a whole has done a sneakily outstanding job of branding itself internationally. Chinese people love Kobe Bryant in a way that people from his own home town never could. The shit’s insane. Almost every continent on the planet plays the sport, and the rosters offer a very limited number of spots. Want an idea of how exclusive the Association is? A second-round NBA pick isn’t worth jack shit.
I hate to say it but a non-American league boasts to highest concentration of talent of any other league in the world. While the NBA can claim that almost every country in the world plays basketball, soccer can literally say that every country in the world plays their sport. It’s ridiculous. I just picture Brazilian soccer camps that look like the Shaolin temple from Enter The Dragon with a thousand kids all practicing their footwork. I can’t imagine how good that bulldog faced little shit Wayne Rooney must be at kicking that ball to be so dominant in a sport with so much competition. Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea are like vacuums that suck up the world’s best foot fairies. Big money = big talent.
Not on the list – NFL
Why the NFL isn’t on the list: 53-90 players on the roster at any given time means lots of people get the chance to “be on the team”, only 2-3 countries play the sport thus limiting the potential talent pool, also: punters, kickers, and longsnappers. Every father who loves their child should have them kicking goat heads and rocks until they’re in high school. The kicker who can consistently knock down 60 yard FG’s will be the owner of the world’s greatest job.
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