What defines a sport?

Bozman
Bozman Posts: 2,518
edited December 2011 in The bottom bracket
Purely down to a few arguments raised by SPOTY.
Would/should horse racing be classed as a sport if you weren't lowed to gamble?
Golf....it's a walk in the park
Cycling - if you don't race, it's not a sport!

Comments

  • Cycling isn't a sport, it's a way of life.

    :D
  • DIESELDOG
    DIESELDOG Posts: 2,087
    Something that you eat at the end of the "Sport".

    Love n hugs

    DD
    Eagles may soar but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

    www.onemanandhisbike.co.uk
  • graham.
    graham. Posts: 862
    Well. The best definition Iv'e heard is based on the relative fitness of the spectators to the players, ie which group has the higher level.

    So. Football, cycling, swimming. = Sport.
    Snooker, darts, bowls. = Game.
    Graham. :D
  • nevman
    nevman Posts: 1,611
    Something that can be objectively measured eg timed,highest score etc
    Short track ice skating= sport
    Ice dancing/synchro swimming=not sport
    Games, doesnt neccessarily mean it isnt a sport but its hard to draw a distinction between say darts and chess,table tennis and table football?
    Err,its quite complicated isnt it?
    Whats the solution? Just pedal faster you baby.

    Summer B,man Team Carbon LE#222
    Winter Alan Top Cross
    All rounder Spec. Allez.
  • Bozman
    Bozman Posts: 2,518
    I apologise for the way the post was written, 1 to many in the pub lastnight, the subject was brought up because of the Alan Brazil comments and a few ideas came out but there was no definative answer.
  • Chrissz
    Chrissz Posts: 727
    Sports are institutionalised competitive activities that involve vigorous physical exertion or the use of relatively complex physical skills by individuals whose participation is motivated by a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors.

    J J Coakley 1994 Sport in Society: Issues and Controversies pp21

    Not a perfect definition but it can be used to argue that some things are sports, while others are activities :)
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    I think anything competitive where there is a defined set of rules and that depends on physical ability is a sport - so if you wanted you could turn standing on one leg for the longest into a sport. I'd say darts is a sport, table football is a sport - chess is a game, going for a long walk is neither unless I'm racing someone else in which case it is a sport.

    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • pb21
    pb21 Posts: 2,170
    sport Pronunciation (spôrt, sprt)
    n.
    1.
    a. Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
    b. A particular form of this activity.
    2. An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.
    3. An active pastime; recreation.
    4.
    a. Mockery; jest: He made sport of his own looks.
    b. An object of mockery, jest, or play: treated our interests as sport.
    c. A joking mood or attitude: She made the remark in sport.
    5.
    a. One known for the manner of one's acceptance of rules, especially of a game, or of a difficult situation: a poor sport.
    b. Informal One who accepts rules or difficult situations well.
    c. Informal A pleasant companion: was a real sport during the trip.
    6. Informal
    a. A person who lives a jolly, extravagant life.
    b. A gambler at sporting events.
    7. Biology An organism that shows a marked change from the normal type or parent stock, typically as a result of mutation.
    8. Maine See summercater. See Regional Note at summercater.
    9. Obsolete Amorous dalliance; lovemaking.
    Mañana
  • Smokin Joe
    Smokin Joe Posts: 2,706
    Anything that appears on the back pages of the newspapers.

    All this "My pastime is a sport, yours isn't" is just pure snobbery.
  • Kenny Powers plays real sport.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De7rbB2bteE
    "A cyclist has nothing to lose but his chain"

    PTP Runner Up 2015
  • Somebody down the pub said that if you have to change your shoes to do it/play it/ride it etc, then it's a sport.

    And if you don't, then it isn't.

    Sounded like a decent argument, but then I may have been a bit worse for wear at the time..... :wink: