This has been a question passed on through the ages. I was listening to the Carmen, Yurko, and Harry discuss this today because 59 year old Tom Watson almost won the British Open, so if a guy that old almost won a major golf event, is gol really a sport? Well, I am here to help answer that question. If something is to be considered a sport, it must fulfill all three of these qualifications:
1) It must be a skilled activity
This is of course very broad. A lot of things are skilled activity like poker, chess, and lumberjack rolling. However, this is the simplest base to set up the other two qualifications. This is also the qualification ESPN uses to show ANYTHING at 2 am
"Sports" Now Excluded
None
2) The activity must require athletic ability that limits regular people from doing it
Now what specifically constitutes "athletic ability" is purposefully vague. I do this on purpose because there are certain activities like baseball and golf that many people may not require the physical effort like soccer or basketball, but certainly requires a great deal of physical strength. Even big fat Bartolo Colon and Sidney Ponson have to have a certain degree (albeit very small) of athletic ability to be able to throw a baseball as hard as they do. It also takes a lot of strength to hit a golf ball as hard as people like Tiger Woods hit it. There's a reason the vast majority of people on the PGA tour are in very good shape.
The "limits regular people from doing it" can also be translated very loosely but I will explain what I mean. First, I mean from doing it professionally. I could probably spend a little bit of time if I wanted to learning how to play Texas Hold 'Em or chess. But I can't really teach myself how to throw an 80+ mph fastball and locate it. I also can't go out and teach myself how to jump a ramp on my bike or hit a golf ball 250 yards. These are athletic abilities that requires years of training just to become average.
This line is also meant to include age as an factor. As you grow older, obviously your body starts deteriorating. This means that you should lose your athleticism as you grow older. Even 40+ year old pitcher aren't the same as they were when they were 20. So when a 59 year old man goes out and almost wins a "sport" and remains competitive, that means that the activity is not excluding "regular people from doing it"
"Sports" Now Excluded:
-Golf
-Chess
-Poker (of any sort)
-Polo
-Hunting
-Billiards
-Bowling
-Boating
-Trampolining
-Archery
-Table Tennis
-Curling
-Car Racing
-Fishing
-Frolf
-Jew Frolf
Now for the final and most important point
3) You must be able to affect your opponents play during the activity
This means every single sport that is judged, is out. This also excludes a lot of Olympic games and a lot of physical activities that many people thought were sports. If you disagreed with my point of contention about golf in the last point, there's no disagreeing with this point. If you can not affect how your opponent plays their activity and your opponent is allowed to do their activity whatever it is they'd like to, then this activity absolutely, positively, is not a sport.
"Sports" Now Excluded
-Synchronized Swimming
-Any swimming
-Diving
-Track and Field
-Weightlifting
-Irish Dancing (sorry Colleen)
-Any dancing
-Mountaineering
-Surfing
-Anything in the X-Games
-Bobsledding
So now you may ask, "since you've essentially excluded everything in the Olympics, what is a sport?" Well here's the official list of everything that is a sport:
-Baseball
-Basketball
-Football
-Hockey
-Cricket
-Field Hockey
-Boxing
-Soccer
-Fencing
-Lacrosse
-Rugby
-Softball (barely)
-Jai Alai
-MMA or any other combat
-Volleyball
-Tennis
-Squash
Now don't get me wrong, just because something isn't technically a sport does not mean it's not hard and just because someone does something isn't a sport doesn't mean it's players aren't athletes. It just means it's not "technically" a sport. We may colloquially say those activities are sports, but they are really not.
So I don't care if you disagree with me on this, you're wrong.
how is table tennis and frolf not a sport????
ReplyDeletewe can play table tennis a thousand times in a row and i will destroy you a thousand times in a row. Because I have spent my life practicing, have better hand/eye, touch, agility, etc...Hence it very much is a sport. I dont like your statement "that limits regular people from doing it". everyone can do it, but to different degrees. Just because herstein can throw a baseball doesnt mean baseball is not a sport. I can agree with poker, boating, hunting, curling, fishing, even racing. But bowling, billiards, and especially table tennis are def sports. Figure skating is a sport. Maybe i just dont like you bashing activities that i highly enjoy
I have never disagreed more. This WILL be a podcast topic!
ReplyDeleteIf any normal person practices at table tennis, they can be good within six months. If any normal person (ie Herstein) practices their pitching for six months, they will still be pretty bad. And have you seen Herstein play baseball? he absolutely can not throw a baseball.
ReplyDeleteIf I can become good at table tennis now, it's not a sport. It requires has much athletic ability as a Wii game and thus does not qualify as an actual sport. Super Smash Bros requires good hand/eye coordination, doesn't mean its a sport
If Forrest Gump and all my uncles can become at something now (ie Billiards and Table Tennis), it's not a sport.
Does Billiards, especially at the professional level, really hard to do? Yes. But it requires little no athletic ability and my 50 year old dad can start training and become good at it now.
And figure skating is absolutely NOT a sport. Is it hard and require a great degrees of athletic skills? Absolutely. Are figure skaters athletes? Absolutely. But it's not a sport. it's just an athletic activity.
And I pretty much dislike most if not all the actual sports I listed except for baseball and football and I despise soccer SO MUCH, but I still consider them sports.
You may do many athletic activities, but you don't do sports
you can practice table tennis for a million years and you will not approach professional level. So real tennis isnt a sport either? Anyone can become great at tennis? This is like the craziest thing i've ever heard. How is soccer a sport and the others are not? Anyone can play soccer! All you do is run. You dont even need to be a great kicker. All defenders do is stay in front of the guy with the ball. that does not take more skill than table tennis. How is hitting a baseball different from hitting a brazing, spinning, ping pong ball?
ReplyDeleteAlso, the argument on practice. Ray Allen and Ben Gordon are much better 3 point shooters than Lebron and Kobe. Is it because they practiced shooting more than those 2? No, they are naturally gifted in a skill conducive to playing baseball.
Like i said, i greatly disagree on this issue. I think you are diminishing incredible skill by stating that it can be learned. It actually cannot. I will never be a great artist or musician regardless how much i practice, just like you will never be a better mathematician than me by simply studying like crazy
we need more opinions on this. where the frick is DME and cubsfan?
I entirely agree with dmitry. Frolf, for instance, takes a lot of skill. Balance, power, wrist motion, accuracy, angles of motion, etc. all go into a shot. Sure, you can pick up a disc and throw it but to be truly good at the game, you need to develop a lot of technique and practice that separate you from novice level. I've seen guys drive that shit 400+ ft. Thats a skill that clearly separates them.
ReplyDeleteand practice alone will not help you in things like table tenis or frolf. YES, it will help you IMPROVE, but you will not become great w/out hand eye coord, etc
ReplyDeletedont forget angular momentum/torque for frolf. only real life app of ang mom outside of rockets and sattelites and nuclei. minor things like that
ReplyDelete1) I absolutely said tennis is a sport
ReplyDelete2) There are many ACTIVITIES you may like that are athletic or require some athletic abilities BUT THEY ARE NOT SPORTS.
3) If I can practice at frolf I can guarantee you I become pretty good at it. And any activity that is considered "athletic" that I can do well is absolutely not a sport
4) You can absolutely suck at playing an instrument and practice and become good. I personally have absolutely no natural musical talent, no one in my family has anyone musical talent, yet I practiced all the time and now am an above average drummer.
5) The same arguments you are making about frolf are the same ones you can make about video games. If I put the right angular momentum and use the right force on a Wii controller I can bowl a 300 in Wii bowling. Is Wii now a sport?
6) Again, just because something is not a sport does not mean it's not hard, fun, requires athletisism, or takes skill, it's just not a sport.
7) Do you think NASCAR is a sport? That requires skill. That requires practice. That requires strategy. Is that a sport? Because my mon could probably be a good NASCAR driver right now.
These are all the same arguments you're using for just activities you like to do that happen to also be played outside.
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The problem is that your putting too much emphasis on the connotation of the word "sport". You think that because something's is not a sport it's automatically a diminished activity and somehow on a lower figurative level as other activities that are classified as sports. That's not necessarily true. I'm sure every professional biker is in better shape some many baseball and football players are in, but that doesn't mean biking is a sport. Now are bikers athletes? Absolutely. Are some baseball players like Sidnety Ponson atheltes? Eh, not really. But you have this notion that because I say biking is not a sport and football is, you get this warped notion in your mind about the connotation of the word "sport" I am absolutely not diminishing any activities that are hard or challenging or athletic, but you made that illogical jump.
And frolf is ABSOLUTELY NOT a sport no matter what definition you use