Pro athletes on Twitter debate which sport requires most mental preparation

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Richard Sherman is widely known for his outstanding play on the field, but also for being both outspoken and eloquent off it. Sherman is not afraid to make his opinions known, even if they're controversial, and on Friday, he did just that with the following tweet.

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Richard Sherman @RSherman_25
I’m more convinced than ever that NO athletes have to be more mentally prepared than football players. Back me up 12’s!

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At first glance, Sherman has a pretty good argument here. Football has 22 players on the field at once, more than any other sport, and in order for plays to work correctly, all 11 on each side have to work in concert with each other.

Not only that, but there are around 50 or 60 plays run per team, per game, and the playbooks themselves are often massive, with thousands of plays contained within their pages. Just in terms of memorization of responsibilities, there's a whole lot of mental preparation to do, and that's not even counting what happens once you step on the field.

But as athletes from other sports chimed in with responses to Sherman's tweet, you started to see that there's just as much mental preparation required for them, as well.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. ?@DaleJr
Sure about that @RSherman_25? 43 racecar drivers at 200mph inches from each other takes it to a whole new level.

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Jose Bautista ?@JoeyBats19
Hey @RSherman_25 I have less than half a second to make a decision. Have to lock in. Baseball fans back me up.

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Caroline Wozniacki @CaroWozniacki

Hey @RSherman_25 & @JoeyBats19! Tennis players have to be mentally strong out on the court ALONE. Right tennis fans?

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Sean Soriano@ssorianoMMA

@RSherman_25 try fighting ! When its only you out there

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Marc Methot ?@MarcMethot3
.@RSherman_25 I think any athlete who excels at the highest level of their respected sport equally requires serious mental preparation. No?

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So which sport do you believe requires the most mental preparation? Football? Baseball? NASCAR? Tennis? Golf? Hockey? Another sport? I probably have to go with golf. I don't think any sport requires more mental toughness to be great than golf. Just look at how much of a psychological mess Tiger has become compared to his glory years. It's all between the ears in that sport.