SuzukiSavage.com - What is a sport?

WebsterMark

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What is a sport?
04/11/17 at 13:34:00

Golf is a topic on another post which reminded me about a story I read this morning.

After The Master's this weekend, two morons on ESPN were discussing how golf was not a sport. I didn't bother finding and listening to them because I clearly don't need to devote any of my brain cells listening to people so stupid... But a few years ago, I got into a discussion about what constitutes a sport and I developed a litmus test of sorts.

The idea is to develop the fewest number of criteria for an activity to be classified as a sport.

An activity is a sport if:

1) It can be made into a competition between you and at least one other person. (Jogging, sailing, fishing are not sports, they are activities. However, they can be sports if you are competing against someone by jogging or sailing for example)

2) You must physically practice to improve whatever the physical aspect of the activity is. (sorry, but despite the fact Poker is on ESPN, it's not a sport. by definition, number 2 means the activity must have a physical aspect to it)

3) Men and woman at the highest levels of the sport, can never compete against one another because men would always dominate.(this one takes some thought as to why it's a vital component of the definition of a sport, but it's critical)

That's it. If it meets these 3 conditions, it's a sport. If it doesn't, it's an activity.

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oldNslow Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 2679 Rochester, NY Gender:	Re: What is a sport? Reply #1 - 04/11/17 at 14:07:33 “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” Ernest Hemingway To be a sport it had to have the potential to kill you, according to EH. Otherwise it was just a pastime,regardless of the skill involved.
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pg Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 5273 In Transit	Re: What is a sport? Reply #2 - 04/11/17 at 14:56:00 oldNslow wrote on 04/11/17 at 14:07:33: Ernest Hemingway To be a sport it had to have the potential to kill you, according to EH. Interestingly enough, did you know his father, sister, brother, as well as himself all committed suicide? Best regards,
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verslagen1

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Re: What is a sport?
Reply #3 - 04/11/17 at 15:01:18

oldNslow wrote on 04/11/17 at 14:07:33:

“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”
Ernest Hemingway

To be a sport it had to have the potential to kill you, according to EH. Otherwise it was just a pastime,regardless of the skill involved.

Then sailing is a sport... you could drown, the mast could break impaling you, anything with speed is a sport, cycling, horse racing, running (I die every time I run), all motorsports (bar stool etc), boxing (and other forms as well) and many more forms of deadly sports then EH has identified.

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Serowbot YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline OK.... so what's the speed of dark? Posts: 28387 Tucson Az Gender:	Re: What is a sport? Reply #4 - 04/11/17 at 15:42:30 If golf is a sport, so is billiards... that just don't seem right. What about darts?... Bar games really shouldn't qualify, but they seem to.. PS... That thing with a kettle and brooms really, really shouldn't be in the Olympics... What a travesty...
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raydawg Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 11551 pacific northwest Gender:	Re: What is a sport? Reply #5 - 04/11/17 at 17:55:37 Well if death be part of sport'n then I would suggest "bar hopping" In today's world you have no idea what it is that's game
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WebsterMark Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 12854 Gender:	Re: What is a sport? Reply #6 - 04/11/17 at 19:12:03 focus peope, focus! EH was an fool. A marginal writer at bet.
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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: What is a sport? Reply #7 - 04/11/17 at 19:58:33 Dang, Mark, that's funny.. A sport is anything that that tests your prowess at some physical activity. Flog is certainly a contest. People have to do all the flogging things, just watch Caddy Shack. Chess, cards, bored games.. not sporting, there is no physical aspect to the contest. Pool is a sport, loads of skill involved.
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oldNslow

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Re: What is a sport?
Reply #8 - 04/11/17 at 20:22:08

WebsterMark wrote on 04/11/17 at 19:12:03:

focus peope, focus!
EH was an fool. A marginal writer at bet.

You can certainly dispute Hemingway's' definition of what a sport is, but he was neither a fool nor a marginal writer.

Four of his novels show up on this list:

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4643.Best_Twentieth_Century_American_Novels

There are a lot of other lists complied by other people. At least one, usually more than one, of his novels shows up on just about every one of them. That's some pretty good company

And that's just his novels. Many of his short stories are considered classics of that genre. He also wrote a couple of memoirs - "A Moveable Feast" and "The Green Hills of Africa" that are pretty good.

Why not just say you don't care for his stuff and leave it at that ?

Quote:

The idea is to develop the fewest number of criteria for an activity to be classified as a sport.

His criteria was ONE. Can't get much fewer than that.

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WebsterMark Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 12854 Gender:	Re: What is a sport? Reply #9 - 04/12/17 at 05:25:47 Then Russian Roulette is a sport....?! Oh geez.... I used a smiley face.... im turning into Sew..... i'm going back to bed...
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Serowbot YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline OK.... so what's the speed of dark? Posts: 28387 Tucson Az Gender:	Re: What is a sport? Reply #10 - 04/12/17 at 09:47:07 WebsterMark wrote on 04/12/17 at 05:25:47: Then Russian Roulette is a sport....?! Oh geez.... I used a smiley face.... im turning into Sew..... i'm going back to bed... Gimme' that back...
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WebsterMark Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 12854 Gender:	Re: What is a sport? Reply #11 - 04/12/17 at 10:27:28 I originally started defining what a sport is because I did not consider NASCAR to be a sport. It does meet all 3 of my criteria so far. Darts? No idea, do men and women compete equally?
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Serowbot YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline OK.... so what's the speed of dark? Posts: 28387 Tucson Az Gender:	Re: What is a sport? Reply #12 - 04/12/17 at 10:40:38 NASCAR Is advertising at 200mph...
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