What constitutes a sport?

[SlowwHand]

I was just thinking that was a quick smoke.

[Drake Tungsten]

Oh, and to say boxing and T&F arn't sports can't be right. Your making up a spurious catagory of 'competition' when it's just not needed.

Boxing and track & field aren't sports. They're people fighting and running, competetively. Hence, they are "competitions"...

[SlowwHand]

Close, Drake. Really close.

[Locutus]

A sport should require more than 30 seconds worth of exertion at a time, so American football isn't a sport either. Not that there's a whole lot of exertion involved in a bunch of fatties feeling each other up...

[Imran Siddiqui]

0.1/10

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

Oh, and to say boxing and T&F arn't sports can't be right. Your making up a spurious catagory of 'competition' when it's just not needed.

Boxing and track & field aren't sports. They're people fighting and running, competetively. Hence, they are "competitions"...

So isn't basketball just a collection of poeple competitively trying to get a ball though a hoop more often than another collection of people?

BTW T&F is far from just 'running'. Thats what the 'field' means in Track and Field.

What makes basketball a sport and the 4x100 relay not one?

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
My three criteria:

1. Must be played by teams

2. Outcome must be decided by points scored (no subjective judging like in gymnastics or ice skating)

3. Must have aggressive physical contact between members of opposing teams

An athletic activity must meet all three tests to be considered a "real" sport.

Banger car racing? Played with two teams, with aggressive physical contact and the side with the most 'kills' wins.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Locutus
A sport should require more than 30 seconds worth of exertion at a time, so American football isn't a sport either. Not that there's a whole lot of exertion involved in a bunch of fatties feeling each other up...

9.9/10

[Drake Tungsten]

So isn't basketball just a collection of poeple competitively trying to get a ball though a hoop more often than another collection of people?

The real question is how often people play basketball in a non-competitive fashion. People engage in running or fighting all the time in situations that have nothing to do with athletics. Boxing and running are the competitive versions of everyday activities...

Sports like football and basketball, on the other hand, exist for no other purpose than athletics. People do play them non-competitively, but it's usually as practice for a future game. Compare that with running. How many people who hit the treadmill are preparing for a competition in the future?

Banger car racing?

I have no idea what this is. If it meets the tests, though, I'll accept it.

[reds4ever]

Drake, you're having to make increasingly long-winded and mangled explainations in order to exclude these activities from being 'sports' when the easy and obvious conclusion is that they are sports.

I don't know about the US but in the UK a lot of people play proper football 'just for fun', its called a 'kickabout'

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

Banger car racing?

I have no idea what this is. If it meets the tests, though, I'll accept it.

It's a motorsport similar to a demolition derby.

[vovan]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
People engage in running or fighting all the time in situations that have nothing to do with athletics. Boxing and running are the competitive versions of everyday activities...

It seems there is sort of an implied fourth rule there: a sport is something people won't engage in other than for the sake of playing the sport.

Then this makes me wonder: what about paintball? It meets the three requirements you outlined in the beginning of the thread, yet fails this implied rule quoted above.

[Dauphin]

I'd thought of paintball, and I extended to the logical conclusion of what about wars. Almost meets the definition if you take it loosely on the points scored issue.

[Drake Tungsten]

Then this makes me wonder: what about paintball?

There's no physical contact in paintball, as far as I know.

It's a motorsport similar to a demolition derby.

Also no physical contact.

I don't know about the US but in the UK a lot of people play proper football 'just for fun', its called a 'kickabout'

Just kicking a ball around isn't soccer, just as throwing a ball around isn't football; you call it a 'kickabout' or 'playing catch' because it's a different, non-competitive activity. If you said "I played soccer" or "I played football", on the other hand, people will assume you played a competitive game.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

It's a motorsport similar to a demolition derby.

Also no physical contact.

Oh. It that case American Football isn't a sport because they have all that protective clothing meaning there is no physical contact.


Sideswiping someone else's car is physical contact in my book. You feel the effects on your body.