What "sports" aren't?

uberwolf

related to another thread. I though it merited a thread of its own.

Syncronised swimming. What is that about and why are there olympic medals for it?

tHE vAGGABOND

archery - like WTF is that about

Tazzle

In fairness, synchronised swimming looks fairly forking hard, I'd give anyone a medal for doing it.

uberwolf

sex is hard if you make an endurance sport...

is it just a macho thing by me then that reckons girly sports shouldn't get in the olympics?

Sparks

Originally posted by tHE vAGGABOND
archery - like WTF is that about

Archery, like Target Shooting, is not really a spectator sport.
Personally, I don't think that's a bad thing....

Exit

In my book, a sport is only a sport if it involves athletic ability. Therefore, golf, snooker, darts, motor racing, etc. are not sports. That's how I see it anyway.

Sparks

Originally posted by Exit
In my book, a sport is only a sport if it involves athletic ability.

Which means you need a definition of "athletic ability" that isn't "how good someone is at sports"...

mike65

Beach Volleyball as an Olympic sport!

Mike.

Exit

Something that involves an athletic use of the body. Football is a sport because a footballer uses their whole body, wheareas darts requires a fat bloke to use his arm a bit. He's not exactly athelic is he?

You know what I mean.

Sparks

Originally posted by Exit
Something that involves an athletic use of the body.

And you've still to define "athletic".

Football is a sport because a footballer uses their whole body, wheareas darts requires a fat bloke to use his arm a bit. He's not exactly athelic is he?

Target shooting requires me to use my entire body to a far greater degree of control than a footballer does - but most people would not say it was particularly athletic since I don't run around during the competition and the point is to be able to stand perfectly still in the same position sixty-odd times.

You know what I mean.

Actually I don't, it was a genuine question.

Exit

Do I really need to define the word 'athletic' for you?

From dictionary.com
- Of or befitting athletics or athletes.
- Characterized by or involving physical activity or exertion; active: an athletic lifestyle; an athletic child.
- Physically strong and well-developed; muscular: an actor with an athletic build.

I guess the second one applies most to this discussion. I just don't see darts as involving physical exertion.

Edit: Another definition found - "vigourously active"

Sparks

Originally posted by Exit
Do I really need to define the word 'athletic' for you?

Yes, if you're going to say that that's what defines a sport...

- Characterized by or involving physical activity or exertion; active: an athletic lifestyle; an athletic child.

I guess the second one applies most to this discussion. I just don't see darts as involving physical exertion.

So basicly, you're saying that if it involves moving about a lot, that's a sport?

Well, guess what? I don't agree Target shooting, for example, is not only a sport, it's the oldest event in the modern olympics, it is the most difficult sport in terms of the technical details involved, it requires the most discipline and control of any sport in the olympic programme, and if anyone thinks that it's just "standing still", then I'd suggest they try it themselves (thus joining one of the world's largest participatory sports).

But you don't go running around in the middle of a match. (Unless it's biathlon or modern pentathlon or tetrathlon of course).

Gillie

Hey I play darts and let me tell you its tough!
Trying to stand still with ten pints in you and still having to aim at a small target....
Wait a minute. I just proved your point!

By the way FYI. You have to be fit to play golf. Using your whole upper body there!

Sparks

Originally posted by Gilly2003
By the way FYI. You have to be fit to play golf. Using your whole upper body there!

You also have to be quite fit for target shooting, it's just a different kind of fitness. And before anyone giggles at that, look at Sonia O'Sullivan and an olympic weightlifter and then tell me that there's only one kind of fitness

Target shooters need aerobic fitness combined with flexibility, balance and endurance, as well as a level of physical control that most people think only exists in works of fiction. For example, medical studies have found that the shooters you see in the Olympics and World Championships, are firing at the same point in their heartbeat cycle every time, deliberately, because that's when the body is most stable (it's the point where the heart is relaxed and the blood is entering the atrium).

oneweb

Darts and curling.

Um, why?

Sparks

Originally posted by oneweb
Darts and curling.
Um, why?

Because the over-forties need sports too.
(Mind you, I'll stick to shooting, but some people don't like the idea).

Zab-Rab

Originally posted by Exit
In my book, a sport is only a sport if it involves athletic ability. Therefore, golf, snooker, darts, motor racing, etc. are not sports. That's how I see it anyway.

Strap yourself into a race car and try drive it 100% for even 15minutes and you'll think different. If you were even a passenger in a F1 car you'd most likely collapse of exhaustion within 15laps. F1 cars exert forces of up to 6g on the drivers many times per lap! If that doesn't call for physical strenght and endurance then I don't know what does. Its a well known fact that F1 drivers are amoungst the fittest sportsmen in the world. Schumacher did a training session with some top Italian soccer team and the manager reckoned he was fitter than any of the teams players!

I'd rate driving a F1 car for 90mins non stop is a LOT more demanding that a footballer who rns then stops then runs, and that doesn't iclude the 15mins break or stoppage's for injuries, free kicks etc etc.

Sundy

Originally posted by Exit
In my book, a sport is only a sport if it involves athletic ability. Therefore, golf, snooker, darts, motor racing, etc. are not sports. That's how I see it anyway.

idiot.

From dictionary.com
Sport
-Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
-A particular form of this activity.
-An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.
-An active pastime; recreation.

if you had bothered looking up sport you would have seen it covers just about anything other than sitting doing nothing

Exit

I'm the idiot? You're the one claiming that...

jumping up and down is a sport.
walking to work is a sport.
cutting the grass is a sport.

They're all active pastimes/recreation.

Hell, **** is a sport in your book too, isn't it?

The thread was about what sports aren't really sports even though they are considered so. Not 'what is sport?' If you had bothered to read the thread properly, you'd have seen that.

Zab-Rab

I take it that since you didn't make a smart arse reply to my post you concede that motor racing is a sport!

Either that or you can't think of a well rounded argument to challenge me on it.

As you were!

Exit

No, I still don't consider motor racing to be a sport. But you do. So nothing I say is going to persuade you to change your mind, so why would I bother?

Anyway, astronauts go through far more rigourous feats of endurance which require psyhical strength. Is space travel a sport too? The only thing that separates the two are a set of rules.

Sundy

Originally posted by Exit
I'm the idiot? You're the one claiming that...

jumping up and down is a sport.
walking to work is a sport.
cutting the grass is a sport.

They're all active pastimes/recreation.

Hell, **** is a sport in your book too, isn't it?

The thread was about what sports aren't really sports even though they are considered so. Not 'what is sport?' If you had bothered to read the thread properly, you'd have seen that.

yes jumping up and down is a sport its called High Jump!

And my post points out that anything can be considered a sport, regardless if you have an athletic abilty or not!

And i guess you could make **** a sport if you wanted too, i have a funny feeling the attendances could be quite high at ladies events!

Zab-Rab

If 22 grown men chasing a leather sphere from end end of a field to the other is a sport then why isn't motor racing?

Both require skill and high physical levels - So tell me what the difference is? Surely sport is competing against others?

Whats the difference between say ski-ing,cycling and motor racing except the vehicles ?

Or maybe skiing/cycling aren't sports either? You have yet to put forwarda any argument!

Zab-Rab

Originally posted by Exit
In my book, a sport is only a sport if it involves athletic ability.

Something that involves an athletic use of the body

Well race drivers require athletic ability as I've already stated and they use they're legs,arms and head in order to drive so that covers the use of the body aspect.
In fact if you look at it a driver uses more of his body than a footballer(whats a non goal keeper player use his hands for ?) so maybe by your values a driver is actualy MORE of a sportsman than a footballer?

But what I really think the problem with you is ignorance - you have no idea of whats involved in competing in some of these so called 'non sports' and so just instantly dismiss them. Its a pity the billions of people around the world who watch motor racing dont agree with you.

midget lord

hey maybe sport is a sport as there is sport involved. I.e. participants participating against eachother. Unprecedented.

zAbbo

Didnt bother reading half this thread, but who said Motor Racing wasnt a sport, gah i hate watching Forumla 1. But you got to admire the endurance level those guys have. As was probably already stated the amount of G-Force those guys hit, along with the high concentration required not to smash your ass through the barriers. In terms of Physical Fitness, id say they are all very very fit, compare that with football which doesnt require as high a level of concentration.

Exit

Originally posted by Zab-Rab
But what I really think the problem with you is ignorance - you have no idea of whats involved in competing in some of these so called 'non sports' and so just instantly dismiss them. Its a pity the billions of people around the world who watch motor racing dont agree with you.

But the same applies to you. You haven't stated what you wouldn't count as a sport. But the fact is that if you said darts, there's a lot of people who'd disagree; if you said synchronised swimming, there'd be a lot of people who'd disagree; if you said figure skating, there'd be a lot of people who'd disagree, etc. and all because they're either fans or practitioners of these sports. You're only arguing about this because it happens to be something you're interested in and you didn't like someone slagging it off.

Concerning motor sport, I agree that it involves a lot of concentration. But if you're parked at a traffic light, and a car pulls up and eggs you on to race him, and you both do, does that make you athletes partaking in a sport?

To be honest, this isn't even a subject I'm immensely interested in, so I'll back out of this argument. I accept that you have valid points, but I just don't agree with them

Zab-Rab

Your ignorance and stupidity astounds me! To even compare a pair of spotty faced teenagers in muppet mobiles to F1 is bordering on severe stupidity.

Not able to make valid arguments against what I did say you are trying to make an argument out of what I didn't say - - - Hope you don't damage your nails as you scrape the bottle of that barrell!

Big Ears

from now on the only way to know if a sports realy a sport is by consulting me because i am of higher inteligence than yee all .(if i made any spelling mistakes its just a test for u to point them out

pickarooney

I wouldn't count anything that has no head-to-head contest element, and depends on a judge's interpretation of the participant's performance, so figure skating, gymnastics and probably boxing are out.

Imposter

Originally posted by pickarooney
I wouldn't count anything that has no head-to-head contest element, and depends on a judge's interpretation of the participant's performance, so figure skating, gymnastics and probably boxing are out.

But isn't a referee a sort of judge then too? After all he could disallow a goal/point/whatever and as a result decide the outcome.

pickarooney

Yeah, I thought about blind linesmen and tennis line judges, but they're only there to interpret and arbitrate, not to pull numbers out of their arses and decide the winner.

Big Ears

pickarooney u are right about gymnastics and figuere skating , but boxing is one of the greatest sports there is .