Would A Canon Rebel XSi be a good Action camera?

Outdoor/indoor sports and animal photography. Which would be better the Canon Rebel XSi or the Nikon D5000? What lens would be the best for the Rebel? Also which one is more idiot proof?

IMO, the Nikon is a better camera. The best lens depends on what you intend on shooting.
Sounds like you need a fast zoom.

This is a great camera and I've had mine for about 18 months now and love it. Besides the standard lens, I got the 28-135mm lens, which I use the most. As far as idiot-proof goes, it's pretty simple but yet, you can do some wonderful manual settings with it.love the ISO speed and that I can also program it for specific setting and override the auto settings. Love the ability to frame my shots too. If you want some good advice, go to bestdslrcamerareviews.com and see what they say. They have lots of info.

Actually no dslr is "idiot proof". If you've never operated a dslr camera there's a learning curve that you need to respect before you'll be able to really operate it properly. If you intend using it on full auto all the time you'd might as well buy a point and shoot.

Actually any dslr camera is good for any kind of action - provided you have enough light. Action stops or "freezes" well at 1/1000 of a second. Any dslr will do that. But, given that shutter speed or even faster there has to be a lens with an f/stop that will support that along with enough light - as in bright sun. That high shutter speed doesn't allow much light to reach the sensor so what light there's has to be bright.

Of course if you buy a lens like the 50mm f/1.8 and use 1/1000 or even 1/500 you can pretty well stop action in the average basketball game or well lit football field.

If you're willing to learn how to use a camera like this then I highly recommend any Rebel. I shoot the 1000D and it's just excellent.

The D5000 has 2 more AF points, higher ISO - 6400 vs 1600 max and these two are the only advantages at speed. Oh, and 4 vs 3.5fps! The D5000 is really good!

Idiot proof.Come on. All cameras perform pretty much the same.

Here's a post called 'Buying a DSLR, what's important, megapixels, features, brand, price, quality and which one to buy - http://www.the-dslr-photographer.com/2009/03/which-dslr-to-buy.html

Good luck! The site has many more tutorials, tips, reviews and guides!