Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

theres bowling, pool/billiards, ping pong i;m sure there more that i cant think of...i just dont consider any of these sports because they dont really require any athleticism

well, then I suggest you play a SERIOUS game of pingpong

Golf must be the ultimate non sport.

basically pingpong has no rule...but table tennis has...and yes, it is a sport...

wuTa I suggest you take a look in a dictionary : sports aren't compulsorily based on athleticism...Some are, but that's your definition, and if we follow it we could conclude for instance that going to the gym, doing exercises to develop one's muscles, or doing body building could be considered as sports.

Here's the definition from my dictionary : "Physical activity practised in the way of game, struggle and effort, which suppose a methodical training, the respect of a set of rules and disciplines." (Le petit Robert Dictionary)

Please don't try to think you are smarter than History and all the people who have thought hard about defining the concept and the various sports.

sorry 'boot that GP; overhere we use pingpong and tabletennis as synonims

WWE wrestling isn't a sport. Ideally wrestling in and of itself is a sport, but WWE can't be considered a sport because although they physically compete....the outcome of the match is predetermined for plot reasons.

WWE is entertainment television...not a sport. Most Extreme Elimination on Spike TV is more of a sport than modern wrestling.

i know what the definition of sport is...like you said this thread is based on my definition of a sport and i expected people to argue there points against it but i think your takin it lil too seriously.....to me a sport must require at least some athleticism i dont see any with the things i mentioned...body buildying is a sport by the way

i agree with link that pro wrestling isnt a sport its entertainmen but i disagre with amity about golf i use to think it wasnt a sport but i cant golf worth a shi*t...and it takes at least some athleticsm to drive a golfball 300+ yards

bowling, pool, and ping pong are every bit a sport as badmiton and golf.

They take hours and hours and hours of practice, and they require controlled usage of your muscles in order to compete.

The better people get at the 3, the more competitive the sport becomes. Billiards in your friends garage or game room would be similar to playing horse in basketball...professionals could beat you without letting you even hit the ball.

i really don't consider figure skating a sport.

or golf.

or billiards. I just kinda know what I consider a sport.

You see, I would look upon that a different way... I'd say that WWE Wrestling isn't wrestling, period. For if you consider Greco-Roman wrestling, well,...this is a sport !

I like pool a LOT... and bowling...and table-tennis.. they're all very much sports..

the only sport I have some problems with considering a purely PHYSICAL sport is chess... though when it comes to mental sports, that's of course number one

Oh, don't worry I don't take that too seriously...but what I'm seeing is that this week people are really eager to question everything in this forum...

But please go ahead, give us a definition, in order to create a real civilized debate...

I dunno about WWE, but I do consider Sumo to be wrestling. Not a lot of people of the western world consider Sumo a real sport. I think it should be regarded as a sport.

WD => I don't know about the rest of the Western world, but here it is absolutely unquestionable that Sumo is a Sport...

Is a very traditional sport. Is expanding more in America. I was watching ESPN the other day and it seems that more wrestlers are getting into Sumo. I think that there have been Sumo Champions from Hawaii, but I'm not really sure.

you make a ton of good points but just coz it requires hours and hours of practice i really wouldnt consider it a sports...i look at fishing as a hobby not a sport but you can say that requires hours and hours of practice...some people who hunt say thats a sport because you have to control you muscles to hold a gun and hunting is the furthers thing from a sport (unless you hunting with a bow, than you can probly make an argument)....have you seen bowlers or pool players..not too many muscles i know you dont have to have mucles to be good at a sports but if you ask me you have at least be in shape

up to this point i have yet to see a fat bowler ...

really? i've seen quite a bit...there not like fat fat but there definetly outa shape at least from what i've seen but i dont watch alot of bowling but from what i've seen i defenitly say that at least half could use a trip to the gym or a jog

In my home town, they've had the national bowling championships for the past 3 years. i don't go to the lanes and watch, but i catch some of Mr. Webber on TV.

It takes some considerate arm strength to throw a ball down a lane accurately enough to throw strikes consecutively. If throwing a ball down a lane with precise aim isn't a sport....then what the hell is baseball?

Sports are competition. hell arm wrestling could be considered a sport. As for Billiards players....i'd love to see you go one on one with a professional. It's about angles, ball placement, spin...a lot of factors.

Everything you've mentioned so far might not be a sport to you because you don't do it competitively, but it doesn't make it any less of a sport. Instead of leisurly kicking your friends butts around, you should try going against some real competition. You go head to head with a pro bowler or pool player...and from knowing you...your competitive nature would make you try harder and harder until you got good at it. Isn't that what a sport is?

listen....i'd be the 1st to admit that these bowlers or pool players good kick my ass at what they do they would KICK MY ASS!...but throwing a baseball 90 mph or a curve that can break 8 inches aint the same as throwing a bowling ball...just coz its competitve dont make it a sport....if you took the syncranized olympic team and threw them agains me and some friends they would kick my ass but i dont see the how its a sport...horseshoes is competitve too and i know someone whos always kickin my ass in it but just coz i'm always the last one out there trying to beat him dont mean i'm gonna consider horseshoes a sport

please watch you language...and I think you're still obliged to give a definition...you can't just say "this is a sport...that one too...oh no this third one isn't". You have to base your opinion on other arguments that the fact that 'it "kicks your ass"'.

Dont care much for those two "sports" particularly so i won't defend them.

but damn those horse shoes are fun when you're drunk!

i dont think your even reading my posts...i said that bowlers and pool players dont requre alot if any athleticism and if you wanna call something a sport you need athletes wich requires athleticism

I've been reading your posts...That isn't a real definition, but if you consider that it's ok, then I'm ok with it.

So I definitely think that a sport does not compulsorily require athletes (at least athletes the way you understand it). My point is that the athletes we know today are only an evolution of the idea of an athlete, that has been existing for more than 2500 years now... If you just take one sport player from 1900 for instance, he absolutely does not look like the packs of muscles we can see nowadays...The particularity of a sport is that it can be a hobby, and even both a hobby and a sport at the same time... I think your problem is that you're suggesting that sport is only professional sport (with huge amounts of money at stake, medias,...). Well to me the great thing about sport is that it's universal and you don't need to be an athlete to practise one.

man i never said anything about to be a sport you need to have large amouts of money or media or whatever if thats wht your getting from my posts than your waaaay of...i said before tha althletes dont have to have mucsles but i would at least think they would have to be in shape you dont need to be ripped to shreds to be in shape..i've made my agruments about what i consider sports and hwat i dont and i agree that there are sports that are also hobbies and sports at the same time but if you take something like fishing some people are gonna say that its a sport or a hobby or both i say its a hobby and not a sport because there is no athleticism involved with fishing....if you wanna play sports even as a hobby your gonna need to require at least some athletism

I've never said you did. What's more I never said that either.

When I evoke this it is to emphasize the idea that " a current athlete" (or athleticism) is obligatorily influenced by those (money, media). My point is to show you that what you're calling 'athletes' or 'athleticism' are totally relative concepts. There was a time people shouldn't need to be really athletic to practise any sport...

Well I don't know about fishing, but it is generally considered as a sport when it come to competitions.

and just coz its competitive that dont make it a sport...at least to me it dont...almost anything can be competitive like i said horseshoes is competitive but horseshoes aint a sport and just coz its competitive that dont make it a sport

from what I hear (and think), the only thing you consider sports are
1) the things YOU like playing
2) the ones you have to be ultrafit for (having less than 4% bodyfat)

and from those two, I can easily say, if they are true, you're way off

nope that aint the case at all..if thats what your takin from my posts than your off....i fish sometimes but i dont consider it a sport so thats somethin I like to do but dont consider it a sport, bowling can be fun but i dont consider that a sport either.....football (american) lineman are far from having 4% body fat and there athletes even soccer/football players dont have 4% body fat and there athletes... like i said before you dont need to be ripped to shreds to be an athlete

some people would consider pool/billiards a sport....that means you would have to consider the best pool players to be athletes....what is so athletic about shooting pool?...playing cards is competitve too and it takes practice to be good at that...are you gonna tell me player poker is a sport or that poker players are athletes

Aside from chess, I think that most of the above are sports. They all require movement and activity, ability and timing, good judgment and anticipation. I thing the only reason chess would even be considered a sport is because it is a GAME.

Non of y'all mentioned fishing or race car driving. I don't consider those to be sports, and yet, they both occupy their fair share of the cable broadcasting time slots. They even broadcast nationwide Spelling Bees on ESPN--is that a sport? Certainly not, but it is a competition.

Yeah, I saw that right after I posted. I would be embarassed, but there is alot of content in the thread, so I can live with myself. Thanks for bringing to my attention, though.

Poker isnt a sport, its gambling. Chess isnt a sport, its a board game. Racing any type of motorized vehicle isn't a sport, its driving.

Pool and Bowling ARE sports, sports for fat people. They require much more than just pressing a pedal or moving a game peice, but they aren't sports that you run around getting all sweaty over. They require a good amount of hand eye co-ordination, just like every other sport. Archery is a sport, and you don't run around in that one. I dunno if fishing is a sport...all you do is sit there and drink beer, waiting for something to bite...

Ha! You're so funny sometimes. I guess DRUNKEN fishing could be a sport.

"oh, man! How the hell did that one git away?"

race car driving is more of a sport than pool or bowling...they drive at 200 mph have and to make decisions in less than a second or there dead, not to mention the reflexes they have to have i dont even like race car driving and i think its more of a sport than pool or bowling.....what reflexes to you have to have in pool or bowling? none....your right that most of the pool players and bowlers are fat and athletes can be fat but these guys arent even in shape so are you gonna tell me these guys are athletes?....jus coz theres hand eye co-ordination dont make it a sport...you need hand eye co-ordination to play darts and darts aint a sport...aint even close to bein a sport

I was just getting to racing...personally, I don't think of it a sport. Yes, WuTa, you're right, they do need to make split second decisions or they're dead, but in some ways, that's no different from just driving. A kid comes running after a rolling ball in the evening, the lighting is poor so you can't really see him, and then suddenly you do, and you've gotta screech to a stop--that's not much different than NASCAR or Formula-1 racing. However, supposedly racing it the number one viewed "sport" on TV over in the US (I'm not sure how accurate that is)--and if that is the case, I'm fairly sure that's just for the crashes.

Anyways, car racing doesn't involve physical prowess, and in that case, I don't think qualifies as a sport.

Traditional "pub" games should not be considerred sports.

Darts and Snooker/Pool? Sports?

I do not consider anything to be a sport when the champion competes with a dinner jacket and/or a beer belly.

If these games are sports, then I think we should see Computer Games tournaments on Sky Sports too.

People laugh at video games, but seeing the likes of Snooker, Darts and even POKER on Sky SPORTS is OK?

This world is arse-backwards.

You just contradicted yourself there. Maybe you wanna change that ?

no i didnt i just didnt explain....look at offensive lineman there fat but there still in shape...i agree that i highy doubt that nascar is the #1 sport and i dont know if i would conisder it a sport but its defintly more os a sport than bowling or pool...makin spit second decisions goin 160 mph is a little differ than makine a spilt second decision goin 25mph to avoid a kid

red superfly- i couldnt agree more

You can't be fat and in shape at the same time. being fat IS being out of shape.

Point, wu Ta--the offensive lineman is a perfect illustrative point. It IS possible to be fat and in shape--Football is a great example. The size makes you impassable and immovable, but you have to have agility, strength, and endurance to play the game--especially on that level. Would anybody tell Charles Haley, Leon Lett or Warren Sapp that they were fat? Not if they valued their lives!

^

Anything that you depend on a motor to do most of hte work for you isn't a sport. Now if they PUSHED the cars, it would be a sport. Not a good sport, but a sport nonetheless.

Explain to me how pool, chess, and bowling ARE sports.

Did any of us say that they were? I don't remember reading any posts adamantly stating that they were. That doesn't men they're not here, I just don't remember seeing any.

there are posts were people argue that they are sports but there mostly on the 1st page

This discussion can last forever....


MWAHHAHAHaHAHa

cause most are to stubborn

I'll just say it as easy as possible as I see sports:
everything that was mentioned here is, ... just not chess, that's more of a mindgame instead of a physical game
and some sports (like ie fishing), I don't consider them that hard as a sport (I mean, what I know from fishing is taht you mostly sit and do nothing, not being active)

i'm not sure if i understood are you saying that fishing is a sport even though it requires no activity and the chess is a sport coz its a mind game...chess is a boardgame not a sport....alegebra can be a mindgame and there are a ton of other boardgames that require use of the mind and there just boardgames like chess not sports

POKER! not many people would think this is a sport and being someone who played football, baseball, basketball, and i snowboard its hard for me to call it a sport.. but it is competitive, takes some skill, and some luck, and requires a lot of endurance for (turnament games) so it does have a lot of sports like qualities

guys....calm down... a hundred years ago football wasn't much of a sport... the world evolves around us so u better start to accept the changes... everything mentioned here in this thread is a sport.. it's there in international competitions that bring in bilions of eur...uh...dollars every year.. .video games are starting to become quite popular at high cost/reward competitions too.... the world isn't backwards, it's moving forward and some of u are standing still... that's all

As a sidenote though..while everything is a form of entertainment and competition, the word "sport" usually refers to something implying athlethic capabilities...

exactly....poker is fun to play and competitve unless your losing but there are not athletic requirements to play it which is why i wouldnt cosider it a sport

But...poker just isn't a sport and has never been considered as one.

Motorsports are sports for sure. You have to have some sort of physical attribute that makes you win. Superbike riders need stamina and strength to hurl the bike from left to right on chicanes, keep steady on the bike, and to actually stay on. They need to be the lightest they can be. This goes for F1 drivers, who have all the physical stress of freakin astronauts.

Motorsports deserve their name.

Sport implies physical activity married with some sort of tactical element or strategy. Motorsport definitely falls under this.

Snooker, Pool, and all those other fatboy games are just, well GAMES. They have the tactical element but require no physical element whatsoever. By definition alone, they are not sports.

Athletes sweat after hours of gruelling running. Darts players sweat after sitting down with a glass of water.

In fact, some video games should be considerred sports, seeing as many actually offer physical, skillful, and tactical elments.

However, seeing as video games are new, they are seen as controversial. I seriously don't understand how people can tolerate professional darts players, yet a person who is amazing at Counterstrike is called "sad". Again, it's probably because of ignorance.

Dancing Stage Megamix is more of a sport than darts.

awh...but a sport does not imply only athletic capabilities. poker is as much a sport as..let's say..chess is. or playing darts.
some imply phisical coordonation, some only mental...and some both

But chess isn't a sport either !

The definition of the word "sport" used to be anything that you could bet money on. So when people went to see a horse race, for example, and they bet on it, they were participating in a sport even though they weren't the ones out there on the track.

Where does this definition come from ? That's absolutely wrong to link sport & Money !

it is a considered a sport..or so i knew.

hmm..i find it hard to believe

Some do, but well you can play chess without using your hands. Everything happens in the head. That's not the case for motorsports, soccer, sumo,...

sport :
n 1: an active diversion requiring physical exertion and
competition
2: the occupation of athletes who compete for pay
3: someone who engages in sports
4: (biology) an organism that has characteristics resulting
from chromosomal alteration
5: (Maine colloquial) temporary summer resident of inland Maine
6: verbal wit (often at another's expense but not to be taken
seriously); "he became a figure of fun"
v 1: wear or display in an ostentatious or proud manner; "she was
sporting a new hat"
2: play boisterously; "The children frolicked in the garden";
"the gamboling lambs in the meadows"; "The toddlers romped
in the playroom"

there.... from #1 only soccer, biking etc are sports... but if u look at #2 everything else in this thread is...

The n.2 doesn't make sense...until a few years ago, the main French rugby league's players hadn't a statute of professionnal players (though they were really good, played in the international games, etc) The idea that sport is compulsarily bound with money is properly an British/American one. You can take 2 athletes and make them compete to deliver a pizza as fast as possible. Does this make pizza delivering a sport ?

(super confusing, isn't it ? )

I guess it does

2 guys delivering pizza is not a sport...i dont know where u got that definition but if i were u i'd buy a new dictionary

golf is the pussy sport. it is not a sport at all.

www.wordIQ.com wuTa

i don't know what are we debating over....
what do WE consider sport? or what ARE considered sports?

because whether we like it or not, chess poker, snooker pool, etc....are considered sports.

thats messed up that defintion should be changed...this thread is suppose to be about what I consider a sport....no actually its about what WE consider sports

we'll never agree, though. 'sports' is merely a word....with no relative meaning. it has a fixed definition....on which we should agree

No, it's true... Of course it's not anymore, but I still find it interesting.

snooker, pool no probs, but I really never heard of chess as a sport, let alone poker. I don't see why is it so important to make these games become sports...I consider chess as an "higher" activity than a sport, because I think the mental part is more important than the physical one, and yet I don't consider it as a sport (I use the verb consider because, in spite of the fact I've never heard it was, some of you seem to be sure of the contrary)


Once again I think what we need is one real clear definition (not a gadget found on the net)

hmm..must say..i don't know if poker is considered a sport. just assumed. BUT..about chess....i think i heard it over dinner sometime. and be sure my reaction of not considering it one, was the same. but...if it is...i guess it is.

I have a theory.......

There are sports, games, races, fights and passtimes. For example:

football, rugby, basketball are sports

pool, snooker, baseball, cricket are games

swimming, running, are races

boxing is a fight

fishing, golf are passtimes.

Anything in which a machine is involved is not a sport or a game. Anything with animals involved is not a sport or a game.

sport involves loads of physical effort and skill
games involve a little physical effort and skill
races are timed
fights are self-explanatory
passtimes are for strange people

What about field events?

Shot put is not timed like sprinting and distance races. It takes physical effort and some skills.

Swimming takes physical effort and you can't tell me that it isn't a skill to learn perfect forms.

I think your definitions are a little flawed.

Also, under your definitions, wouldn't golf be a game? A little physical with a lot of skill.

Myth: I agree that golf is indeed a game.

Field events are sports.

Anything that involves doing something faster than others is a race, therefore swimming is a race.

So... sprinting is not a sport, but throwing a heavy ball further than somebody else is? That doesn't make much sense. Are you sure racing isn't just a subcategory of a sport? That would make more sense.

Please carry on here.

Myth, OK, I've had a think.

I have decided that sport requires the control of both the body and something else. i.e, a ball, a hammer, a javelin, a pole etc. The extra level of difficulty that comes from controlling things like balls, as well as the body makes the difference.

However, this leaves the jumping events.......

If you don't sweat, it's not a sport

So in that case, a 400 meter dash is not a sport, yet a 4X100 meter is a sport because you have to pass a batton. I still see your definition as flawed.

well I suppose if the US could control the batton as well as they do their bodies they would have won gold at the Olympics instead of Britain. So the batton adds the extra level of difficulty necessary to make it a sport.

still canna decide what the jumping events are.

Originally posted by ElectricBugaloo
i really don't consider figure skating a sport.

or golf.

or billiards. I just kinda know what I consider a sport.

excuse me?!? let see you go out there on a pair of blades and do a triple axel you've just ticked off a figure skater. i get so tired of people saying that it's not a sport, it takes every muscle in you body just to stand up, let alone skate. and i know guys that skate too.

Its funny watching these so called sports like ping pong Yes its on TV and the funny thing is they get sweaty playing it

well i won't ..because motor sports require a great deal of physical fitness.
golf is considered a sport...term which doesn't have only physical efort as a requisite. take chess or poker for that matter. mind sports....still sports.

besides. on one side you say that golf isn't a sport because it doesn't challenge you physically and on the other, you admit that tiger woods got in shape due to lifting weights ...i didn't quite catch any form of sarcasm (if any) there

chess, poker.............that's taking the piss.

motor racing is as much to do with the car as the driver. You need top class of both to win. Thus the true skill of the driver can become almost irrelevant. Also it's just a race.

Tabl tennis is a sport, no doubting it at all. Physical exertion and control of a ball.

after to-ing and fro-ing, I conclude that golf is a sport. It certainly has the skill level and to be played properly needs physical exertion. A fat slob is as likely to win the Golf Grand Slam as they are to win the Tennis Grand Slam.

Any American Sport is not a sport as they are the only ones that play them Only joking Yanks

Originally posted by baracustastic
chess, poker.............that's taking the piss.

motor racing is as much to do with the car as the driver. You need top class of both to win. Thus the true skill of the driver can become almost irrelevant.

this doesn't make sense...you contradict yourself

What I mean is that you can have the best driver in the world but if the car is crap he isn't going to win.

So if the car is crap the driver is irrelevant. Not very sporting.

yeah, that's true....though it's more complicated

Boxing isnt.dont see how they can a a contest of two people trying to hurt each other can be called a sport.

I agree Mr. Parker

Boxing is a fight.

so a fight is still a competition between two (or more) competitors.

and no, that does not mean that two brokers fighting over the stock market is considered practicing a sport...but you get my point

Nah, my definition of a sport requires the control of both body and something else, ball, pole, club etc. Boxing is just body.

A fight aint a sport.

the definition for the term sport is a given fact and not something that differs for every individual.

bit of a pointless thread then.

After all if sport is sport is sport, how can a sport not be a sport?

it can't....but it can be questioned, and reasoned.
and i didn't open this thread, as you can see.

fact is, there are certains disciplines that are called sports in one system or another that will remain so, regardless if one agrees or disagrees.
to that extent, this thread is indeed pointless, but one can only so much accept......he then must dispute it

what on earth did you just write?

something worthy of the title flawless logic

well, they televised the national spelling bee on ESPN the other day. I don't think I'd classify that one as a sport.

If it's in the Olympics, it's a sport. Except synchronized swimming.

i think we could go on forever and ever on this topic and we'd still not reach any slight form of a conclusion.

so it's best to think what they may on this.