Sports that aren't, well, sports... (1 Viewer)

[PhilipW]

Any sport that has a judge determine the outcome is not a sport. Gymnastics, skating, and yes even boxing. It all has become too political. I wish they would get rid of them as a medal event. If they want them as exhibition, whatever floats your boat. But, to actually call these competitors the best all depends on who you know and who you ...

 

[nolesrule]

If it requires judges to determine a winner, it is an athletic competition. If it has an objective scoring system to do determine the winner between competing individuals or teams, then it is a sport.

DaveF, you can play golf while holding a beer. I've done it. I've also playedgolf while talking on a cell phone.

You will also break a sweat playing golf at room temperature. My brother has one of those Sharper Image golf games where you swing the club over a sensor and it determines angle and distance. After 9 holes, I was drenched and after 18 I was exhausted. And this was indoors with air conditioning. The only difference between it and a real game is no walking the course (or walking to/from golf carts).

 

[Jeremy Illingworth]

I came to post in my 'bowling at the Olympics?' thread but see a bigger, better one has been started.

I'm just a beer league bowler, but I think its a sport. It take much more skill than I have. I'd get sweaty if I didn't have to wait for four other people to go between my turns. And wait for Curtis to get back from the lounge; the only place you can smoke. I think curling is a sport as well.

But this bridge thing, I just heard about it today. If bridge is an Olympic sport (I hear we won) then bowling, golf and dominos should all be as well. I'm not trying to offend any bridge players, you would defeat me soundly, I just don't think its a sport.

I don't think what is sport can be defined by physical exertion, because, as was said earlier, its too subjective. Some guys at the bowling alley get really sweaty after half a game. They are really, seriously tired. Not to offend any lugers, but I don't thing luging is extremely physically demanding. Which doesn't make it less of a sport to me.

jeremy

I read on some web site (probably shouldn't mention the name here) that the site owner thought a large portion of the winter Olympic games were not so much sports as rich people's hobbies; he specifically mentioned luging and bobsledding.

 

[Iain Lambert]

Using your weight to make sure you round a corner at over 100 mph without your head making it the extra 2 inches it needs to go it impact into that wall of ice strikes me as pretty intense activity actually!

And the real answer is... Its a sport if the Sports Council agrees it is. They have a list of rules, but feel free to ignore them if they want something in (like Snooker) or out (like Counterstrike).

 

[Paul_D]

I don't care what anyone says..... DARTS isn't a sport. Just a bunch of tubby middle aged men chucking sticks at the wall, with a drunken announcer shouting ooonnneeee-hundered and eightyyyyyyyy! What a bunch of bull.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I've also played golf while talking on a cell phone.

Slightly off-topic here, but your cell phone wouldn't survive the round in our foursome. One guy from our group was chatting with his wife on the phone while I was trying to chip to the green. If there had been a pond at that green, he would have been fishing the damn thing out of the water.
I think the USGA should add a new rule -- a two stroke penalty for each use of a cell phone during a round of golf.

 

[nolesrule]

It was an important call. I had bought $1000 of furniture and then 3 weeks later, the company declared bankruptcy. I was trying to get the credit card company to reverse the charges on my card, and I am not going to tell them to call back at a later time when I have that much money on the line. Fortunately, everything was fixed with that phone call.

And if you are wondering why they called my cell phone, my cell phone is my home phone #. I had too much problems with ground line service so I cancelled it. It really stops those pesky telemarketing calls though.

 

[DaveF]

DaveF, you can play golf while holding a beer. I've done it. I've also playedgolf while talking on a cell phone. ... Golf can be physically tiring

Well, different reasons, but according to my system, golf is still a game (a difficult game, which I suck at, but a game all the same).
Paul - according to my system, Darts is a game, not a sport
Luge (or skeleton) -- I think you need to be in good shape to do it properly, and the physical exertion is probably fairly significant. However, one could drink a beer while doing it. But considering the personal danger of drinking a beer while plummeting at 80mph three inches above a rock-hard surface, I'll waive that rule and declare them sports
Bobsledding...now the driver is busy the whole time, but those guys in the back are just deadweight after the push-off. Notice you can't see their faces. I bet they got a cooler in there and are imbibing a refreshing beverage during the ride

 

[Bhagi Katbamna]

Why not bowling?

Anything that you do better, the more beer you drink isn't a sport.

 

[nolesrule]

regardless of beer drinking or physical exertion, anything that uses objective scoring is a game. Football is a game. Baseball is a game, hockey is a game. Golf is a game. Bowling is a game. Tennis is a game. In every case, it is basically the person/team that scores more/less points wins.

It becomes a sport when it is used for competition. Whether it's champions of the local youth tee-ball league or Super Bowl Champs or Gold Medal winners doesn't matter.

Just don't let a judge decide the winner because they gave a 5.6 instead of a 5.7 or a 5.5.

Golf and bowling require different sets of physical skills than football or hockey, but that doesn't make them less legitimate as sports.

 

[Hugh Jackes]

Let me throw some red meat to the hounds and suggest that auto racing be reconsidered as a sport.

Yes, it takes a certain skill level to hold the track, to feel the turns and the point at which centrifugal force begins to overcome the road handling ability of the tires and suspension, stategize your driving, and to judge when and where you can pass without endangering life and limb. But is the driver an athelete? Can't a driver who's 20 lbs or so overweight still drive with the same skill as a driver who's rail thin? I can agree that the driver may need arm strength to handle the wheel for prolonged periods, but I can't see how the tone or fitness (or lack thereof) of a driver's legs, tush, and gut have any bearing on his or her competitiveness.

By extension, does competing in a "sport" require that the competitor be an "athelete". Bowlers and baseball players can still compete when heavy. Defensive linemen in American football often are more heavy than then they are fit. They have endurance and strength, but if you saw a guy with a similar body type in a track suit down at the park, you probably wouldn't consider him atheletic. Are the football players atheletes? Was William "Refrigerator" Perry an athelete?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I do not think figure skating is a sport. While the skaters are very talented and athletic performers, any event where your score depends on (1) what country you are from, (2) what outfit you are wearing, (3) whether judges "think" you should win beforehand and (4) judges trade votes with each other is not a sport. Ballet is not a sport, so why is figure skating?
Sarah Hughes clearly had the best long program of the Winter Olympics, yet a couple of old eastern-bloc countries (including Russia) had her ranked fourth in that program! Why? Because she was from the wrong country.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Let me throw some red meat to the hounds and suggest that auto racing be reconsidered as a sport.

You may be judging all of auto racing based on a couple of fat NASCAR drivers.
Formula 1 drivers have a tremendous amount of strength. G forces of 4.5 try to pull their heads 90 degrees in every direction. These same forces drain blood away from the heart, requiring extreme cardiovascular health. Driving a racecar while doing this for 2 hours in 122 degrees heat in a firesuit requires extreme stamina, and the heart beats from 130 to 190 times per minute throughout. To achieve this level of fitness and succeed, the best F1 drivers perform fitness training from 4 to 8 hours a day. F1 ace Michael Schumacher has won several full-length triathlons; a side benefit of his F1 conditioning.
CART is almost as hard on the body, and Indy Car is close behind.
But hey, if you say it's not a sport, I guess you know.

 

[DaveF]

anything that uses objective scoring is a game ... It becomes a sport when it is used for competition

An interesting defintion, but what's the basis for it?
Pulling the primary defintions from the dictionary; scoring is not required. Competition is typical, but not mandatory.
Sport: Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
Game: A competitive activity or sport in which players contend with each other according to a set of rules.

 

[Mike Broadman]

By extension, does competing in a "sport" require that the competitor be an "athelete". Bowlers and baseball players can still compete when heavy. Defensive linemen in American football often are more heavy than then they are fit. They have endurance and strength, but if you saw a guy with a similar body type in a track suit down at the park, you probably wouldn't consider him atheletic. Are the fottball players atheletes? Was William "Refrigerator" Perry an athelete?

Strength is an athletic trait.

 

[Iain Lambert]

As for the 'weight isn't important in Auto Racing' suggestion, well, sorry. As great a driver as he was, when Mansell came back to F1 his additional weight gave him nearly a second a lap penalty over his collegue. F1 drivers are amongst the fittest of any sport.