text: do you think basketball is the most athletic sport. if not what is (give web sites that back up your thesis)?   hockey might be the most athletic sport.  it depends on how you define it, but my theory is this:  for baseball, players can play 3 hours in a roll.  basketball, they can usually play more then 35 minutes per game.  hockey, even the best player can only play 25 minutes or so, during a 60 minutes game.