What Constitutes A Sport? My Simple Definition

[Yavin4]

Every year around the 4th, Nathan's hot dogs on Coney Island sponsors a hot dog eating competition. Some go as far as saying that these competitions are a sport. Inevitably, an argument ensues about what is and what is not a sport. Is golf a sport? Is ice skating a sport? Why can't food eating be a sport?

So, what constitutes a sport? My simple definition is that a sport requires a certain level of physical exertion and it must include an element of defense. To be a sport, you should have the ability to physically stop your opponent from winning and you are required to physically overcome your opponent's efforts to prevent you from winning.


Everything else is either a competitive exhibition or a game. Golf is a competitive exhibition of skills, same for track and field, swimming, and ice skating. Those are not sports.

[PDittie]

1. If you can get hurt playing it

Choking on a hot dog, or having your feet fall asleep while plaing poker don't make the cut.

[HuckleB]

2. Very limiting definition that doesn't match the history of sport.

[Yavin4]

3. Hmmm...not quite...

Historically, sports have been used as a substitute for real conflict, which implies an offensive and defensive strategy. My definition keeps with the original intention of sports.

Today, everything is being called a sport from competitive eating to playing video games. These activities should not be considered sport.

[HuckleB]

5. Nope.

Races of all types have a long history in sport, and you eliminate them with your very limiting definition.

[Ravenseye]

7. Actually

There is evidence that some of the sports of the ancient Egyptians included both track/racing, as well as Fishing. These kinds of competetions for thousands of years have been used as substitutes for real conflict. Just saying...see my other post though about definitions...

[Reverend_Smitty]

4. I agree that is a really limited definition

I don't necessarily think bowling or competitive eating are sports but swimming and track and field, c'mon, they are sports...if you used your definition then the original olympics with the exception of wrestling would have no sports in it. I'm fairly certain that they had events in it like discus and foot races

[Yavin4]

9. Okay, Then Using Your Definition of Sports

Competitive Hot Dog eating is a sport. No? If track is a sport, then why can't gluttony be a sport?

[Reverend_Smitty]

11. because the ancient Greeks didn't participate in competitive eating...

you were talking about the historical nature of sport in another post and I would say that the ancient Greeks pretty much wrote the book on sports

[Jack Rabbit]

12. But they did participate in track and field

And Yavin said in the root post that track and field is not sport.

[Reverend_Smitty]

13. exactly, thats what I'm saying...

I believe that track and field is most certainly a sport

[Yavin4]

14. Ancient Greeks Didn't Play Ice Hockey Either

So is Ice Hockey not a sport?

Why should we let the ancient Greeks decide what's a sport and what's not a sport? Track and field is a competitive exhibition of skills. I'm not saying that they're not athletes. Not saying that somehow track and field are invalid. All that I'm saying is that they're not sports.

Because if you let competitive exhibitions become sports, then competitive eating and playing XBox video games also can become sports.

[Hav]

16. .

Dude, you were the one who started to link the correct definition for sport to the historical meaning.

And yeah, by your definition, playing XBox can be a sport, too..by playing a sport. You have to defend and attack and you have to counter your opponent's tactic.

[Yavin4]

18. A Certain Level of Physical Exertion

That phrase in my definition eliminates video game playing as a sport. You should actually have to burn a few calories in order to play.

[Ravenseye]

6. I generally agree with you.

The definition of sport in the dictionary always includes three things.
1) Physical Activity
2) Set of Rules
3) Often directly competetive

Further dissection of sport generally separates into two categories. Opponent and Acheivement.

Opponent Sports are what you probably think of when you think of sport, and so do I. Football, Soccer, Hockey, and other Team Sports all are opponent sports. When two teams or people actively face off against each other in a physical activity, with rules, competeing to win.

Acheivement Sports are things that you probably don't consider sports according to your statement. I generally think of them as games or racing myself, but I understand that they're just a separate phylum of sports. Any kind of timed race, weightlifting, golf, archery, etc. They still have to have physical activity and a set of rules, but they're indirectly competetive. I don't normally consder these sports, but they aren't games either.

Some would argue that certain racing sports like Nascar or Short Track Speedskating are Opponent sports moreso than Achievement sports, and I wouldn't argue. You can interfere with an opponent therefore you are directly competetive, but perhaps it belongs in an entirely new phylum.

Games I would argue lose the physical activity portion. For instance Chess is a game, not a sport. There is mental competition, a set of rules, and it is directly competetive, but there is no physical exertion. A quadraplegic can effectively play the game. Games would have no physical exertion.

[northzax]

8. I'd add something

and remove the whole defense thing for reasons many people have said. I think that an impartial observer, newly intoduced to the event, should be able to watch and figure out who won without needed to be told.

[Jack Rabbit]

10. I don't agree

A definition of sport that excludes track and field seems woefully inadequate. If that isn't sport, nothing is. It would be better to include a junk sport like competitive hot dog eating than exclude track and field.

Of course, I'm the fellow posting the chess news here once a week. I regard chess as a sport. Although in America newspapers often put chess or bridge columns on the same page as the book reviews, in many other places it's on the sport page with soccer and tennis.

Ravenseye's post seems a better definition of sport than Yavin's, although in chess the activity is more mental than physical. Nevertheless, the physical condition of the player has an effect on his game. This is why chess player make sure they get plenty of exercise. It is as important to their training routine as recognizing a tactical opportunity. This week, a strong American player won a particularly difficult and crucial game in 117 moves. That game ended after midnight and he had to play again at 10 o'clock the next morning. He had a winning position in that game, but failed to drive it home. What it because he was too tired? He also had a round scheduled for the afternoon, and in that game settled for a very quick draw. He was in line for the tournament championship; the draw put his position in the standings in jeopardy.

In that same tournament, another player lost two games in a row and came back to win his last two. By winning his last two games, he won the title of International Master. He thought the first of those two wins was a test of his will and he was personally more satisfied with it than an earlier win against an established grandmaster. This is what he had to say about it:

It's odd that beating Kleiman would overshadow that (beating Fressinet). But beating Kleiman was a test of character as opposed to a test of skill. I think we've alluded to the fact earlier that my skills have never been in question and people have questioned other factors, but having lost both games yesterday… that was… and to come back and beat Kleiman this morning with black the way I did… that proved character and it overshadowed beating Fressinet.

Those thoughts are the thoughts of one who lives in the world of competition, where the difference between winning and not winning may be, as Mr. Tate says, "a test of character." They are the thoughts of a sportsman.

[Yavin4]

15. Chess is a Game, Neither A Sport nor A Competitive Exhibition

It's just a game.

[Jack Rabbit]

17. That is a statement

Can you elaborate on it?

[rinsd]

20. What about Chess Boxing?

http://site.wcbo.org/content/index_en.html



The World Chess Boxing Organisation (WCBO) has taken the patronage of this new sport under its wing. It propagates the spread of chessboxing to all five continents. Upcoming stations planned for chessboxing events in 2006 are Cologne and New York. August 2005, the first chessboxing gym opened in the Berlin district of Mitte.

The task of the WCBO is to train people in the no. 1 thinking sport and the no. 1 fighting sport, and in the combination of both. In the future new training methods will be developed in cooperation with experts from both sport worlds, sport scientists and neurologists.

One of the goals of this new sport is the old ideal of a healthy mind in a healthy body: mens sana in corpore sano. During a chessboxing fight the control of aggression plays a big role. That's why WCBO's motto is: "Fighting is done in the ring and wars are waged on the board".

[Jack Rabbit]

21. I've heard of this; I don't know what to think of it

Just a couple of notes:

Dr. Max Euwe, who was the world chess champion from 1935-37, was also the European heaveyweight amateur boxing champion.

The current European heaveyweight boxing champion, Vitali Klitschko, is a chess enthusiast and a good friend of classical world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik.

[TroubleMan]

22. Wow....a sport based on a Wu Tang Clan song

Nice.

Reminds me of the Biathlon in the Winter Olympics. You get your heart rate up with exercise, then you have to calm down to concentrate.

I'd rather see and MMA/Chess combination, because MMA is very cerebral as well (it is now...it wasn't always).

[MrSlayer]

19. I agree but would add that physical contact is a must.

If no one gets hit, it isn't a sport.

[TahitiNut]

25. So, baseball isn't a sport?

OK. It's a game, I guess. :eyes:

[MrSlayer]

27. So I take it you've never seen a takeout slide...

on a doubleplay or a catcher get run over at the plate? Baseball has some contact, not a lot, but enough to qualify as a sport. It was way more physical back in the dead ball era but still retains some elements of it. Baseball is a sport.

[Awsi Dooger]

23. Not a good definition

You think there aren't tactical elements in track and field that are the equivalent of defense? That's why they have so-called rabbits. That's why a runner will fan wide on a turn to force the runner who is trying to pass him to go even wider. That's why a distance runner or marathoner will intentionally slow the pace if he knows he can outsprint his nearest rival at the finish. It would be difficult to watch a Tour de France stage or short track speed skating race without appreciating the team work and strategy involved, even though technically it's merely a timed event.

Tons of other examples. They don't necessarily even involve competitors doing the event side by side. A pole vaulter will try to intimidate his competition by passing at lower heights to see how they respond, physically and tactically.

Your so-called exibition of skills also completely overlooks that the skill level is influenced by other competitors. Tiger Woods may not be able to physically move his opponent's golf ball, but just look at the scoring average when other top players are paired with him during the final round.

[Yavin4]

29. Distance Running Is A Sport

But the 100 meter dash is not a sport. Again, a sport needs to have an element of defense. Distance running, speed skating, and the Tour de France are all sports because they have an element of defense.

[fishwax]

30. well, strategy over a meet involves similar strategies even for sprints

Perhaps any single race of, say--100 hurdles--has no defense (or perhaps it does, and someone more familiar with the strategy can illuminate that), but since a single meet will involve more than one race, the pace of earlier races impacts what a runner might have left in the tank for later races. Generally speaking, times get quicker as heats advance. Runners who have been challenged in earlier heats might not have as much left in the tank when they get to the finals.

[SixStrings]

24. Anything that has 'judges' is not a sport.

Gymnastics/Ice skating? - Definitley not a sport.
Bull riding/Rodeo (or anthing similar)? - Definitely not a sport. Animal abuse? Yes, but not a sport.

You get the drift.

[Jack Rabbit]

26. Boxing?

Just wondering.

[H2O Man]

28. Right.

Boxing is THE sport.