Ping Pong is not the best of all sports

It's all good, man. I hope the voters don't take the rule violation too much into consideration, as you've put up a decent fight for a sport as weak as ping pong =). Let's get into the final rebuttals and conclusion, and as my opponent said, no new arguments. 1. This first part is basically just a concession. One point for sure goes to T&F. 2. As I stated before, ESPN ranked sports on their difficulty. This difficulty is broken down into several categories: endurance, speed, power, strength, flexibility, nerve grid, durability, hand-eye coordination, and analytic aptitude [1]. Table Tennis outscores most individual track events in only two of these: hand-eye coordination and analytic aptitude (track far outscores ping pong in all 7 other categories) . Based on my opponent's arguments, this would seem to be the case. My opponent bases his argument for skill solely on two of the nine major skills of sports. Therefore, track outweighs table tennis from a skills standpoint based on the vast amount of other skills a track athlete needs. This is especially difficult for a decathlete like Ashton Eaton, who participates in a large amount of events, it is very difficult to combine the durability and endurance of the 1500m with the flexibility, power, and hand-eye coordination of pole vaulting and the speed and strength of the 100m dash. T&F therefore takes more skill as a whole than table tennis, regardless of if table tennis takes slightly more hand-eye coordination or in-game analytic ability (as I demonstrated before, much planning goes into track races). 3. Why yes, there is an old man who can handle it. This man is 100 years old and participates in masters T&F, doing the high jump, shot put, and weight throw [2]. There is also a 91 year old woman who competes in sprints, middle distance, throwing, and jumping [3], as well as many other old folks (about 900 over the age of 40 entered the Masters Indoor T&F championships this year [2]). Track not only is available to the elderly, it can help them lead healthier lives. Therefore this argument fails to affirm that ping pong is at all better than T&F. Animals: My opponent is verging into the subjective here. I personally don't think cats are that cute, nor were these cats actually playing ping pong. Most didn't even touch the ball. The cuteness of the animals does not have any relation to the sport. In addition, animals surviving is not immoral. Cheetahs eat only meat, and would die without killing and eating their prey. Actually, one doesn't need shoes to train in track, or even need to run on a track. David Rudisha, world record holder in the 800m, actually trained on a dirt track, barefoot, for most of his childhood and adolescence [4]. Really, all you need is a pair of track spikes for racing (mine cost around $40). Therefore, track is cheaper and more available than ping pong. Running actually doesn't normally cause joint pain, and actually can help alleviate it, especially in the knees [5]. It can also help reduce risk of cancer, as well as having many other positive effects [5]. The study on plaque in the arteries wasn't well explained in my opponent's article, so I looked it up. The study found that while 60% of runners tested had plaque buildup, so did 52% of the control group (the runners were also, on average, 5 years older than the control subjects) [6]. My source concludes that this study was a "negative study", one without significant statistical evidence to support its results [6,7]. It sates: "Obviously the "cause" of plaque build-up in the coronary arteries is multifactorial. "The authors can"t have it both ways: "running cannot be responsible in the runners yet not responsible in the controls" [6]. Thus, the study does not demonstrate a correlation between running and plaque buildup. The rest of this article refers to people who run alone through a park or the like to get in shape independent of a sport. It applies to running, but not Track and Field as a sport. Almost all T&F runners are on a T&F team or have a training partner or pacesetter. In addition, many T&F participants do not run, but do pole vault, jumps, or throws. My opponent essentially counters his own point when talking about a ping pong player being a sore loser as well. There is no statistical evidence to prove track athletes are sorer losers than ping pong athletes. My opponent also counters his own point about practice: "in Track and Field, you know it just means more and more PRACTICE" "In Ping Pong, however, you can PRACTICE deflecting different shots as well as creating your own different strategy to throw off the enemy." Both sports require practice to get better, hence the phrase "practice makes perfect." (Track, especially distance, requires you to think of strategies as well, as I proved earlier). 4. They aren't equal. I have demonstrated that track is more globally popular and more popular due to social media during the Olympic Games. There also are over 2,000 track clubs in the nation [8], 278 collegiate T&F programs in D1 alone [9], and over 1,000 collegiate track programs nationwide [10]. Track is therefore more popular. Injuries: The only thing my opponent's source talks about is a pole vaulter who had ankle problems. There is really only one problem, not varying problems, discussed here. Ping pong can cause other injuries than "table tennis elbow", such as head injuries (see video above....I love that video). http://www.youtube.com... Money: Once again, a concession. Another point for T&F. Conclusion: My opponent fails to provide any strong arguments for ping pong, and all arguments have been successfully rebutted. T&F better fits the definition of a sport (by taking more skill and physical ability and being more athletic in nature), is less costly, more popular, better for the economy, offers similar benefits to the elderly to ping pong, and even occurs in a rudimentary form in nature with animals. Track is obviously the superior sport. Thanks to my opponent, 9spaceking, for the debate. [1]http://sports.espn.go.com... [2]http://olympictalk.nbcsports.com... [3]http://www.nytimes.com...; [4]http://www.dailymail.co.uk... [5]http://www.runnersworld.com... [6]http://www.athletesheart.org... [7]http://htaglossary.net... [8]http://www.usatf.org... [9]http://www.thebestschools.org... [10]http://www.athleticscholarships.net...