Most important position in sports?

[YumiYumi_1988]

Chris Osgood has had a hall of fame career because of the defensemen in front of him. Did you see him play in New York and St Louis?

I'm not sure I'd call Osgood a hall of famer. And this coming from a Red Wings fan.

 

[Mr. Hyde]

Owner?

Winner! Or maybe GM.

 

[StanScratch]

In baseball, the pitcher could technically hold on to the ball forever, prohibiting any action on the field. Talk about power.
If a quarterback does it...people tackle him.

 

[izabelplayer]

quarterback because you have to wait to make a throw and you know at least 50% of the time at least one person is going to hit you afterwards or even before you throw it.

 

[John_8581]

You could have the one of the most talented quarterbacks in the league... for example, the ex-LSU alum Bert Jones, Baltimore Colts, 1973-1974. However without an offensive line, doing the run blocking the team won't go to far. Run blocking leads to pass blocking. The Colts finished the 1973 season 4-10; the 1974 season 2-12.

My pick on a football team then would be the offensive line.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

The goaltender in any sport (namely hockey and soccer) are the most important. No goaltender in history has ever won a game for their team, but it is impossible to win unless they are on their game. The same can be said about the quarterback in football.

 

[LukeEl]

Honestly it is a tie between hockey goalie and quarter back for football.

 

[GodsEmbryo]

On the bench

 

[Jagger69]

Baseball pitcher. A great pitcher can literally single-handedly win a game. See "Bob Gibson" or "Sandy Koufax" for more information.

 

[STDiva]

Baseball pitcher. A great pitcher can literally single-handedly win a game. See "Bob Gibson" or "Sandy Koufax" for more information.

If a pitcher wins every game he starts, but the teams loses the rest of the games, it doesn't really matter how good that single pitcher is. I'm not a baseball expert by any means, but how many starts does an "ace" get in one season? 40? 50 at most? That kind of devalues the position IMO.

 

[STDiva]

I'm not sure I'd call Osgood a hall of famer. And this coming from a Red Wings fan.

Top 10 in regular season and playoff wins. 50 shutouts. 2.09 GAA in the playoffs is pretty good. 3 cups. 2 as a starter. Lesser guys are in the hall of fame.

 

[Jon S.]

I would have to say that it is definitely the goalie (in hockey and soccer). Like has already been mentioned, a team wins and loses games based upon how hot their goalie is. If a goalie is in a slump, regardless of how well the rest of the team is playing, they will not win many, if any games. On the other hand, if a goalie is hot...like Halak was for the Habs last year in the playoffs, and even an average team can go far. The Habs didn't win it all last year...BUT, they definitely went a lot further than they should/would have had it not been for Halak.

The QB in football, though important, isn't as important, and can be overcome in ways that the goalie can not. For example, in Super Bowl XL, despite the fact that Ben Roethlisberger had one of the worst games at QB in Super Bowl history (22.6 QB rating...BY FAR the worst of any winning QB), the Steelers still managed to win the game 21-10. Their running game and defense (plus a 42 yard TD pass from a receiver) made up for a lousy game by Ben.

I'll take a solid netminder over any other solid position player in any other sport. I believe he is just that important.:2 cents:

 

[Violator79]

Defender is the most important IMO. If the offense fails, then the defense can hold the other team off. There's a saying: "offense gets the glory, but defense wins the game." Every time I play a game, I always play defense.

 

[maildude]

Left offensive tackle in football.

 

[hotrod808]

for me it is the national league pitcher because he can win a ballgame on his own by pitching a perfect game or no hitter and hitting a solo home run. no other position player can change the outcome of the game alone. as a quarterback you can throw for 8 touchdowns and you can still lose with a bad defense or you play very bad as a quarterback but have a superb defense and win it by an interception or a running touchdown. goalie is very important too but its unlikely that you affect the offense so you can have a great game and still lose it in a shootout. so for me its the nationalleague pitcher by far

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

Goalie. Can single handedly win or lose a game.

 

[hotrod808]

how if nobody shoots a goal?

 

[yes yes yes]

In north America, maybe. Very few people outside of north America gives a crap about American football.

:yesyes: :yesyes: :yesyes:

Chief Steward in race control at an auto race, who quite literally may have to make life or death decisions.

He sounds like an American Bernie Ecclestone. Or maybe not. :dunno:

 

[Jagger69]

If a pitcher wins every game he starts, but the teams loses the rest of the games, it doesn't really matter how good that single pitcher is. I'm not a baseball expert by any means, but how many starts does an "ace" get in one season? 40? 50 at most? That kind of devalues the position IMO.

The OP didn't qualify the question in that regard. In any given game, a baseball pitcher who is on his game has more influence over his team's ability to win than any other position in sports in my opinion. BTW, a typical starting pitcher in the major leagues will usually get 30-35 starts if he remains uninjured throughout the season.

 

[feller469]

you can run a wildcat offense and still win games, without a QB per se. Try to win a hockey game with a lousy goalie.

The Philadelphia Flyers had a skating five that could compete with the Bruins, may have actually been better, but Tim Thomas was much better than the Flyers net duo.

QB is important, but not as vital. Proof? Two words: Trent Dilfer.