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Do You Like Playing Offense or Defense Better?

Offense or Defense?


  • Total voters
    28

gromit

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For people who play sports, which do you prefer?

I personally like defense/midfield. I can see easily what the other team is going to do and anticipate/intercept, and I like to defend a player one on one, wait for (or force) a mistake, and then strike. Offense-wise, I enjoy being part of a good passing sequence, making a goal or assist, but I just don't seem to have that killer instinct to finish the play for a goal or point.



...putting the thread in 'other psychology' because I think it does have to do with an individual's personality, although not necessarily MBTI or enneagram.
 

RaptorWizard

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Left Midfield (when I played soccer years back) was definately the best for me. It allowed for space to create plays, to inlfuence where the ball goes, and to set people up. The wing is preferrable to the center because there's more freedom, less defensive responcibility, and more dynamic assaults, flanking the opponent. My prefference is Midfield>Offense>Defense.
 

JocktheMotie

Habitual Fi LineStepper
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I really like offense, or orchestrating and executing a precise attack. Plus it's always fun to score/win/kill/destroy. In soccer I'd be really bored on defense waiting to react, football I also didn't like defense too much, even though I was oddly better defensively in both sports.

Personally though, midfield is the best of both worlds so I'd always pick that if I could.
 

DiscoBiscuit

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Depends on the sport. For football, basketball, MMA, and golf I like defense.

On defense in football all you have to worry about is hitting the ball carrier, covering your man and minding the gaps. I was never a good enough runner to be a real offensive play maker. What I am good at is seeing the crease and smacking the hell out of whoever is running through it. Also sacking a qb is one of the most satisfying things ever. High school wanted me to be a QB, I'm a tall strong lefty, but my Dad never let me play for the school (didn't want me getting hurt) so I never got to see how that would pan out.

I'm mostly garbage at bball, except I can shoot, and defend in the paint. I can't dribble for shit.

In MMA I love to counter punch. I've got a pretty good chin and absorb damage very well, so it's ok if I get popped, and people usually way overexpose themselves when attacking. Learning to be evasive pays more dividends than being a bull in a china shop. That being said, I've got fairly good legs and really like to leg kick the other guy at the beginning of the fight to take his base away from him.

I probably competed in golf at a higher level than any of my other sports. For a long time I was pretty aggressive with my shots and drives, but as I grew in my teen years, I started hitting the ball farther, and began to swing too hard for some of my graphite shafts. This forced my to get really good with my steel shafted irons and wedges, which led me to become a more conservative player which improved my scores more than anything else I ever did. I didn't get a proper set of clubs (for my size, my old clubs were from my early teen amateur days) until I graduated college. I've been trying to get better with drive consistency, and my wedge play from the sand. I play my best when I'm conservative in my shot calling which some would call defensive.

For Tennis, volleyball, baseball/softball I like offense.

The first sport I ever played was tennis, and as such got very comfortable with a top spin heavy ground stroke cannon/attack the net style of gameplay. I'm a fairly aggressive person, and in tennis you can't really be aggressive while playing defense like you can in football or MMA. Being tall, and a lefty, I had a big serve and was holy terror at the net. My biggest problem in tennis is that I would push too hard and beat myself with unforced errors. I'm a better doubles player where the work load is split and the game gets more strategic. If I can get more patient in the point and really start to try and pick apart my opponent with smart as opposed to strictly aggressive play, I could be a much better tennis player than I am.

I love volleyball. You hardly have to run anywhere and if you have ups your golden. For a guy my size I've got quite a vertical leap, and being a tall left helps here as well. I wanna be at the net spiking the hell out of it and blocking the opposing teams play.

I started playing baseball young as well. If my arm wasn't busted I might have been able to pitch, but I prefer playing first base or catching. But what I really love doing is batting. From playing so many sports where I hit a ball (tennis, golf etc..) I've got really good eye hand coordination when I need to hit a ball with a stick of some kind. I'm also a lefty and big so I can hit it to the weaker parts of the field and also put balls in the parking lot.
 

Magic Poriferan

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If you're talking about the sort of sport that has teams and ball or some such, for some reason I don't like being on the defensive. Perhaps my rather impaired perception of geometry makes block and intercepting too much pressure for me.

If you're talking about a sort of pugilistic game, then I suppose I'm more defensive. In boxing terminology handle things like an outsider. Buy time, control distance, wait for good countering opportunities.

I can't resist throwing in a comment about formal debate. :D In debates, I prefer defense, and if it's a team debate, I especially prefer second negative position. You just get to tear into the other side's argument and that's all you need to do. I'm good at that.
 

gromit

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I really like offense, or orchestrating and executing a precise attack. Plus it's always fun to score/win/kill/destroy. In soccer I'd be really bored on defense waiting to react, football I also didn't like defense too much, even though I was oddly better defensively in both sports.

Personally though, midfield is the best of both worlds so I'd always pick that if I could.

Yeah I agree, if your team is a lot better then it's sooooo boring when the ball never crosses the half line.
 

Ivy

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Poll is now public- if you voted in the non-public poll you will need to vote again
 
S

Stansmith

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Defense is pretty easy, just be obsessively aggressive.
 
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I like defense, and I find the most entertaining games to be the ones that are low scoring. I played baseball and hockey, and my preferred positions were pitcher and goalie. I'm not sure pitching is really defense; it has the element of denying the other team, but it also has a very aggressive element that requires action and not just denial. I love the mindset and approach of being a goalie. You're part of a team but still set apart, and you're the last line of defense. I also liked that people didn't usually want to play goalie; that perversely made it more appealing.

I never played football, but I think that might be the one exception where I'd prefer offense or at least have no preference. Safety appeals to me, but so does quarterback for the decision-making aspect.
 
W

WALMART

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I liked playing defense in foosball more than offense. Defense requires a more dynamic state of mind, while on offense you're a pawn to the entire system.

In videogames, I always carry a shotgun, whatever that means.
 

Ponyboy

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Another vote for defense.
Baseball- Growing up I was one of the smallest kids around which led to everyone assuming I wouldn't be able to hit home runs so I was pretty much forced to make a name for myself defensively. I loved playing 2nd or shortstop the most. There was one day that nobody was willing to play catcher so the coach (my dad) made me do it. I was terrified of getting bowled over in some close play at home. Sure enough, it happened in that game. Despite getting knocked down hard, I held on to the ball and got high-fives from all my teammates! Also it not only didn't hurt but it was kind of fun too! From that day forward I fell in love with being the catcher. :)

Hockey- I was really fast and good at scoring but I preferred the grittiness of defense (mostly from what I learned in baseball). So against everyone's wishes/urging I stuck to my guns to play defense. I only played for a few years but, damn, it was fun!

Oh yeah....aside from the inside-the-park type, I never hit a home run so I guess they might have been right on that one! :cry:
 

Betty Blue

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I voted offence but i meant in chess, i rarely play actual sports and if/when i do it's generally not one of those sports. So umm... swimming, running... i don't compete either. I trained in gymnastics classes for six years as a child... but that's not really in line with the poll question either. I'd like to say I hang back until i see a good opportunity. So umm... whatever that option is...:unsure:
 

kelric

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It depends on the sport. It's not so much offense or defense, but more of a focus on behavioral roles. I am not a confrontational or aggressive person in general, and don't care at all for roles where taking action to confront another player is paramount. I prefer facilitator or free-action roles, but those where I can be maximally involved in the outcome.

For instance... I would be a terrible defensive football player -- I simply wouldn't have the "pursue and hit-em" mentality that's required. So although I never played football, I would almost certainly have wanted to play on offense - primarily as a distribute-the-ball quarterback (although my athletic skills probably wouldn't have allowed me to compete realistically there). Any sort of fighting sport (boxing, MMA, etc.) is simply not something I would ever participate in. I've studied martial arts, and enjoyed it, but it was always in a training environment, and never a competitive one.

I played volleyball for years, and preferred setting, when given the chance. I played a lot of tennis and racquetball in high school/college -- there I was fairly aggressive and offensive in nature -- but the nature of the sport precluded confrontation. In baseball I liked playing pitcher and/or catcher, but was pretty happy playing any infield position (I liked batting too). Had I played more soccer / hockey I'd prefer forward or, particularly, goaltender. Basketball's a bit tougher... probably point guard.

I guess... it depends. Nonconfrontational defense > offense > confrontational defense.
 

highlander

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I have always liked a combination of both. One on one sports (like tennis), I tended to enjoy defense in the sense that I just wait for the overly aggressive person on the other side to screw up while I calmly, patiently and strategically place shots to make them run all over the place.
 

93JC

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I played baseball and hockey, and my preferred positions were pitcher and goalie. ... I love the mindset and approach of being a goalie. You're part of a team but still set apart, and you're the last line of defense. I also liked that people didn't usually want to play goalie; that perversely made it more appealing.

My feelings are similar. I loved playing goal. I am of the belief that everything about a hockey team flows out from the net. The teams' styles of play, the pace of the game; everything follows from the play of the goaltender. The fate of the entire game rests in your hands.

And yes, perversely the fact that most people didn't want to play goalie made it more appealing. You're the only one on the team crazy enough to purposely put themselves in front of the very hard, very fast-moving projectile. At a bare minimum your teammates wear a cup, shin guards, gloves and a helmet. You don't wear shin guards, you wear pads. You don't wear gloves, you wear a blocker and catcher. You don't wear a mere helmet, you wear a mask. When you're in net you don't just wear 'equipment': you wear armour.

No one dares to enter your crease. It is yours, and yours alone. (Or else someone gets a lovetap to an ankle.) You rarely venture from your crease but you still have to follow every single play, every single man out there. You have to because there's no defensive partner to bail you out, no winger setting themselves up for a pass from you if only to deflect the other defence's attention away from you. You are the last line of defence. You are the last man standing. If you let one in you're not only letting the other team win, you're letting them crush your team's spirit. If you let the other team think they've got a chance at scoring and then steal that goal right from under their noses you can intimidate them like no body check could.

There's no better feeling playing that game than catching a glimpse of the face of an opponent as you make a save. There's no mistaking that look of frustration or dejection for anything else. The best is when you can tell they're thinking "Dammit! I can't believe he stopped that! How the hell am I going to beat that guy?!" You have become their worst nightmare. You have become the faceless warrior at the other end who is the arbiter, the one man who will decide, at will, who the victors shall be tonight.
 
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