How to judge an athlete

I have a buddy who will tell you that he is a superior athlete to all his friends because he is a better basketball player although he can’t hit a baseball, can’t throw a football, can’t run for distance, has never tried to ski, snowboard, golf, when he swims he looks like a water-rat, I don’t think he knows how to ride a bike, is a terrible bowler, is not particularly fast and gets beat by his fiancé when they play tennis. This doesn’t seem to deter him though especially when he takes his bows for his basketball prowess which he argues is the only real way to judge athleticism is whether you can hoist a three from beyond the arc .

It got me to thinking about what it takes to be an athlete, I will not try to convince anybody that snowboarding, golf, car-driving or bowling is a ‘real’ sport but I do find one way to just whether something is a sport.

Can you get athlete’s foot playing it?

Forget trophy’s, accolades, cheerleaders or banners, I have somehow picked up some nasty case of Hong Kong Foot and I can’t seem to shake it. In the last 24 hours alone I’ve found myself taking a pocket knife to the bottom of my foot as I scrape layers of skin off the bottom of my foot, and pounded the bottom of my arch with a mallet. I know what causes this stuff and I have showered at enough gym’s to have fought this before but never suffered as badly as I am suffering now. I even know a guy who has suffered from Athlete’s hand although I think that had more to do with his ‘dating’ activities but never have I heard anybody come close to tears from the pain.

I’m considering having my foot amputated
Help needed