People on digg.com have been submitting stories about cars under the sports category. Not even racing (which isn't a sport anyways) but stories about new cars. So it looks like the internet needs to be reminded of what it takes to be classified as a sport (as defined by those people in Dickens Room 11, and other enlightened people).1. It is an athletic event.
2. There is an obvious defense involved.
This will clear up alot of confusion. For example all the events in the X-Games are athletic competitions, and not sports, since there is no defense. Most Olympic games are athletic competitions. Poker is a game, since it takes no athleticism, and has no obvious defense. Chess is a game, it has a defense but no athleticism.As the definition stands ping pong is at the low end of the sport spectrum, and can include things such as rugby and boxing.
Also this gets rid of alot of things people call sports, such as: figure skating, base jumping, car racing, running, weightlifting, chreeleading, bowling, poker, fishing, golf, etc... Although if they do add defense to the events, I will gladly reconsider their classification, and I may even watch it.It's a win win win.
10 comments:
What about pool/billiards? You play defense in the professionally-played games (8 ball and 9 ball), and you have to have some athletic prowess to hit the ball hard, with english, etc. Although you don't break a sweat. Where does this fall?
I dunno. I think figure skating is defying personal physical limits and most certainly the laws of gravity. Just look at the pic you posted. She lost this defense.
@think: I don't really think in pool there is an obvious defense, there is defense, but it is the same sort of defense that exists in racing. Also it fails in the athletic competition area too, although this could be argued...
@kat: no obvious defense in figure skating. A force of nature can not be the defense. Also a third rule that i didn't state in the article (because it isn't really needed) is that a sport can not have subjective scoring.
Here is a good test to see if there is an obvious defense: Ask an average person if the competition has defense. If the answer is a definite "Yes" it does. If the answer is a thought and then "well... I could see where..." then no, it doesn't have an obvious defense.
Another way to put it is that you don't need to point out the defense in a true sport.
I would think of a sport more like physical. Figure skating, they need to be in shape, its physical. I wouldn't call it a sports game though, like football, hockey... poker...no.
So wait... by obvious defense, do you mean:
1. guarding against the success of your opponent; OR
2. arguments to justify this activity's very existence?
Interestingly, I once addressed the same subject here, around the time of the last Winter Olympics.
guarding against the success of your opponent ...(?)
As in, the opposite of offense.
That is correct.
Too bad. The second definition is funnier.
That is true. Then anything can be a sport, such as walking to school.
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