What makes something a "sport"?

[KornGeek]

I got this idea from something I heard on the radio yesterday. They were creating a rules list for defining what makes something a sport. Being a morning radio show, they weren't taking it very seriously and the rules were designed to produce the results they wanted. (Rule 10 was that it can't be something they consider "stupid".)

There are activities that are easily defined as "sports", such as baseball, basketball, football (of any sort), etc.

There are activities that some consider "sports" while other's don't, such as figure skating, diving, race car driving, hunting, etc.

There are activities that generally aren't considered sports, but have been known to be lumped in with them (in television programming and such), such as poker, spelling bees, eating competitions, etc.

There are activities that are considered sports to few people if any, such as playing video games, stamp collecting, writing SQL queries, etc.

How do we determine if something is a "sport"?

 

[r937]

if you can see it on ESPN, it's a sport

otherwise, it isn't



r937.com | rudy.ca

 

[SantaMufasa]

Main Entry: sport
Function: noun
Date: 15th century
1 a: a source of diversion : recreation...(1): physical activity engaged in for pleasure (2): a particular activity (as an athletic game) so engaged in.

Mufasa
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[KornGeek]

r937,
ESPN has been known to show poker, spelling bees, and professional wrestling. However, it seldom (if ever) shows cricket. I think your definition isn't 100% accurate.

SantaMufasa,
While that's a good dictionary definition, I don't think it captures the essence of what makes something a sport. It includes many things that would generally not be considered sports, such as walking (a good form of exercise, but not exactly what I consider a sport), thumb-wrestling, hide and seek, and sex. These are all physical activities engaged in for pleasure, but hardly sports.

 

[dgillz]

ESPN shows things like darts, which most people don't consider a sport. I do.

Most people think the words "sports" and "athletics" as interchangeable. They are not. Fishing is a sport, but not an athletic event. (Although if you have ever tried to pull in a 230lb yellowfin or a 110lb amberjack, you'd probably disagree with me).

Just about any competition can be considered a sport like the spelling bee mentioned.

Wheather or not the particpants are athletes or the competittion is an athletic one is not a debate that everyone will ever agree on, but I am sure here at TT we'll beat up on it pretty well


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[cjelec]

What about: if the activity produces a winner or loser, then it's a sport

Do all sports have a winner or loser?

 

[r937]

if the activity produces a winner or loser, then it's a sport"

i suppose American Idol qualifies by that criterion


r937.com | rudy.ca

 

[cjelec]

I found the following from:

http://www.stanford.edu/~sehealey/sport.html

A sport is any activity in which all of the following take place:

1. An individual playing session is held between exactly two opposing players or teams.
2. The successful completion of a playing session results in a win for one player or team and a loss for the other or a tie between the two players or teams.
3. An integer score is assigned to each team corresponding directly to the number of times certain predetermined actions are performed by that team. The only judgment by any official regarding the score is whether these actions were performed. The winner of the playing session is determined by the final score.
4. The players regularly engage in rapid, self-propelled locomotion. Examples include, but are not limited to, running, skating, and swimming.
5. The duration of the game is limited either by time or by the completion of a preselected number of play units, the scope of which is determined by the completion of certain events during play.
6. The objective of the activity does not at any time directly involve physically harming an opponent.
7. The status of a solid inanimate object, movable by the force of one player, is of central importance when play is active. Furthermore, when play is active, the object is not physically attached to any player; and it is not rendered motionless, held, or contained by any player for an extended period of time.
8. No live animals, other than humans, are used.

 

[CajunCenturion]

A sport is an athletic competition where the winner is determined in large part by the skills of the participants.

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[rjoubert]

I think wikipedia has a better definition of a sport...

Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Used by itself, sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determiner of the outcome (winning or losing), but the term is also used to include activities such as mind sports and motor sports where mental acuity or equipment quality are major factors.

 

[r937]

interesting analysis here --

http://blogs.britannica.com/blog/main/2006/11/is-mountain-climbing-a-sport/

r937.com | rudy.ca

 

[Lunatic]

1) There must be physical activity involved besides simple endurance (sorry NASCAR, equestrian events unless you count the horse as the athelete - this does include Rodeos however).

2) There must be direct physical competition against another competitor or competitors (Sorry Cheerleading, Poker, and Darts). This includes activities like tennis where the ball is the object of contention.

3) Obviously there must be a set of standard rules (one for regular players and another for superstars) with an objective that allows for only one person/team to be victorious.

4) Special rule - Golf and Bowling are not sports. They are competative activities. Ultimately each person is competing against the course/lane and the person who does the best wins, but there is never any actual physical contestation going on between competitors.

5) The use of weapons disqualifies it as a sport (sport shooting, archery, etc) as while there is definately skill involved, something other than the individual is actually doing the work (much like equestrian events)

6) Events involving choreographed stunts, while amazing (such as parallel bars or rings in gymnastics) are not sports. While I think this is by far the toughest call (even more so than golf or bowling), Gymnastics and ice skating and snowboarding are ultimately based on subjective interpretations of choreographed skits. I have a hard time calling that a sport. Though a well reasoned arguement may be able to convince me otherwise.

I'm probably forgetting something and there are probably a few that fall through the cracks.

****

Ultimately, just because one may not consider it a sport doesn't mean it isn't:
A) Physically challenging
B) Enjoyable to Watch
C) Insane to be jealous of the ability of the indviduals taking part.

Ultimately however, in my view, sport is a competition of individuals against each other.

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[Lunatic]

Oops, I meant to say "Does NOT include Rodeos" I'm not sure where Rodeos fall. Probably rule 4 disqualifies them, as they are not directly competing against another compeitor but rather against 'time' and for 'style points' depending on the event.

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[AnotherHiggins]

I assume you've all heard that there are folks who want Chess to become an Olympic event. That strikes me as absurd.

[offtopic]
KG: if you don't consider sex a sport, you're doing it wrong #-) ;-) (-:
[/offtopic]

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[MallardVHS]

thumb-wrestling, hide and seek, and sex

Oops, my bad. You probably meant, like, different events...

Don

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[SantaMufasa]

Stanford's definition is entirely too narrow to be reasonable. Skiing, swimming, skating, et cetera certainly are sports, but 99.9% of the hours of participants in those sports do not qualify those activities as sports according to Stanford's criteria.

I would have little argument with Stanford's criteria if they defined a "sporting competition".

...(the definition) includes many things that would generally not be considered sports, such as walking...

Walking (if I am not mistaken) is (or at least, was) an Olympic Sport.

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[SantaMufasa]

And, depending upon how you "play" it, sex certainly meets all of Stanford's criteria...Re-read Stanford's criteria for a good laugh.

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[SQLSister]

The Stanford "Rules" are ridiculous.
Have to disagree about the definition as equestrian events are clearly sports - and ask the people who won the olympic medals in show jumping or dressage or 3 day eventing if they are physically challenging. I guarantee they are as I competed in horse sports for years.

And the ones about must be integer scores based on doing something a predetermined number of times and there must be an intermediate object that is moved between teams clearly are meant to limit sports to only ball sports. And if football, which I suppose we can all agree is a sport, were to change the rules so that a field goal was worth .5 and a touchdown worth 1 then it would no longer be a sport? That's stupid.

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[AnotherHiggins]

More regarding that Stanford guy's rules:

It starts off with, "A sport is any activity in which all of the following take place".

-The integer rule would discount tennis, wouldn't it? Love isn't an integer.

-In 4, swimming is pointed to as an example of an activity which consists of, "rapid, self-propelled locomotion". But 7 reads in part, "The status of a solid inanimate object, movable by the force of one player, is of central importance when play is active." What inanimate object is moved in swimming? The bathing suit? Wait! that doesn't count, because 7 also says that, "Furthermore, when play is active, the object is not physically attached to any player." So swimming is not a sport.

-How about lacrosse? That inanimate object in 7 also must abide by these rules, "it is not rendered motionless, held, or contained by any player for an extended period of time." So lacrosse doesn't count because the players run with the ball.

Hey, wait, doesn't that last bit also invalidate (American) football? The ball is held by runners. Yep, football isn't a sport, either.

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[Lunatic]

First, a general comment:

Using the Olympics as the determinate of the whether something is a sport doesn't work. The Olympics makes their decisions based on $, which is why Wrestling may very shortly be cut from the list and why Snowboarding half-pike is an olympic sport.

SQLSister -

I'm not denying there is strenous physical activity involved. While I myself have never taken part in equestrian events (due to a tramatic experience with a horse at a very young age), my very first webpage was actually for a nationally competative quarterhorse trainer and a number of my schoolmates competed (it is a competion even if I don't believe its a sport) and many more particiapted in Rodeo (which you'll notice is another competion I don't believe is a sport).

There are three 'rules' (or more aptly defined as principles) that I see that, for me, would prevent me from categorizing equestrian activities as sports.

1) The competition is either
A) Against the course (timed) and not influenced directly by other competitors (because there are no heats, only individual timed events); or
B) Based on the subjective opinions of judges as to who is the 'best'

2) Unless you count the horse as the athelete, the direct physical activity with the bearing on the event's outcome is performed by the horse, not the human.

3) Partially re-stating #1, the human does not directly influence the results of other humans. Like Golf or Bowling, one's performance does not directly lead to an increase/decrease performance in another. At the end of the day whoever beat the course the best wins. My thoughts on sport is that to be a sport, your actions have to directly contest another's. In baseball, a home run is the direct result of a batter beating a pitcher. In a race a 5 second lead in a marathon is a direct result of a runner being in the process of beating another, the goal isn't necessarily to run the best time possible, but to beat the 2nd best person - the competition is based on that individual next to you, not the course you are running.

And please, remember this an arguement about sports which might be the second most contentious topic out there (behind politics). I'm not trying to attack you, I'm trying to explain my thinking behind the logic I put forth to determine what is and what is not a sport.

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