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Anonymous
To be a sport, an activity must:

1) be a competition
2) require endurance and/or strength
3) not have bullshit judging categories like "artistic impression"

What does /sp/ think of my definition?
>> Anonymous
she better be careful not to cut her hand. sharp skates are sharp
>> Anonymous
>>307834
I'd say you're spot on. Of course you could always argue its not a sport if there is no one looking to knock you on your ass.
>>307838
Not really
>> Anonymous
you were good until that 3rd thing. Because in your definition, Golf is more of a sport than Gymnastics. Which is just not true at all.

FACT: Most of us trollfagz and anonfags couldnt iceskate for shit let alone do the twists and jumps and shit.

Not all sports have to be fun to watch, you know.
>> Anonymous
To be a sport, the activity must:

1) not be mma
>> Anonymous
>>307863
It's not the jumps that are the problem. It's the fact that you have to pose in a certain way and make up a dance routine to match your music. Once gymnastics and skating become purely degree-of-dificulty-minus-deductions, then they'll be sports. Some of gymnastics is already there.
>> Anonymous
>>307863Golf is more of a sport than Gymnastics

That's correct. Golf is competitive, popular, and most of all objective.

Gymnastics isn't really much more of a sport than ballet or cheerleading.
>> Anonymous
Back during the "sport or not a sport?" threads, some anon posted qualifications something like this:

A sport is:
1) Athletic. Must involve some kind of skilled physical competition, cannot be wholly a matter of the mind.

Chess is not a sport, it is a game.

2) Competitive. A sport must define winning and losing cases by comparison between multiple competitors.
Running a mile is not a sport, it is an activity. Beating 25 other runners in a mile run is a sport.

3) Objective. A sport must result in clear outcomes for the competitors, not rely on ruling bodies/judges to determine outcome.

Basketball, which ultimately awards points for players putting the ball in the opponent's basket, is a sport. A Slam Dunk Competition, which requires a panel to grade the difficulty of dunks, is performance art.

4) Popular. A sport must be popular enough to ensure there is difficulty and excellence in the competition.

A game you just invented with your buddies is not a sport. Football or soccer are sports.
>> Anonymous
That definition makes Guitar Hero a sport. We need a
4) Guitar Hero is not a sport.
>> Anonymous
You are missing one of the most important elements of a true sport.

In any sport, competitors/teams must be acting simultaneously, and there must be a concept of defense, ie. one team/competitor must have the ability to prevent their opponent from achieving his goal.

This rules out golf because there is no concept of defense, you cannot physically prevent a player from making his shot. It also precludes track and field and swimming and many other olympic events for the same reason.

Also this precludes any event where competitors take turns competing. Ex. gymnastics, dancing, diving, and many other olympic events.

Olympics =/= sports. The olympics have athletic competitions, but most of their competitions are not sports.
>> Anonymous
>>307901
Your 4th rule is squishy and completely objective. What is popular in one area may not be in another. Does this mean that football is a sport in USA but not korea?

Also, SOMEBODY invented all these sports, and he probably did it with his buddies at one time or another. So again, #4 is not a reasonable rule.
>> Anonymous
>>307902
>>307902
>>307902
>>307902
>>307902
>> Anonymous
>>307913
>Does this mean that football is a sport in USA but not korea?

No, it means gridiron football is a sport, because it has attained popularity somewhere. Swimming isn't popular up at the North Pole, but that doesn't preclude someone up at the North Pole from considering swimming to be a sport.

>SOMEBODY invented all these sports, and he probably did it with his buddies at one time or another.

But until that sport catches on, it is not yet a sport. Much like how a land isn't a country until it has a bunch of people living there and governing it.
>> Anonymous
>>307902
I lol'd
>> Anonymous
>>307902
Guitar Hero is more of a "competition" than a sport, unless you're playing in lame-o battle mode.

That being said, we might as well add that rule anyway, just to make sure.
>> Anonymous
>>307930
The problem is popularity is still completely objective. How popular does something have to be? Be covered on national television? Or how about very popular in a local township? For instance, over in the UK there is a township which every year, chases a circle of cheese down a hill, it is a very popular event there, is that a sport then?

I also disagree with your #2. You say running a mile is not a sport but somehow if you add additional runners in it becomes a sport? Those runners have no effect on what any other individual competitors are doing, everyone is just running their hardest. In fact, what if each individual runner ran the track by himself and his time was recorded. Best time wins. Is that a sport? IMO it is not, and neither is running everyone at the same time, because it is the exact same thing. A true sport should rely heavily on the existence of an "opponent" to even make sense.

Ex. In basketball, if you take away the opposing team, the game reduces to triviality. If we said okay, we are going to determine the winner by the following, For the first 30 minutes, the lakers get the court by themselves and can try to score as many baskets as possible. In the 2nd 30 minutes, Celtics get the court by themselves and try to score a many baskets as possible. Whoever scores more in that time wins. Is this game representitive of basketball? No, not even close. Same with hockey, football, soccer, etc. Without an opponent the game cannot be played and still be considered the same game. But with running, swimming, diving, gymnastics, golf, etc, if I take away the existence of an opponent, the game remains the exact same. There is still a clear definition of good and bad (Running faster / Better executed dives / taking less strokes in 18 holes), where as in true sports, removing the opponent reduces any goal in the game to a triviality (You could score 1000 times on an empty, undefended net in an hour, but that is meaningless).
>> Anonymous
>>307910
>>307910

You are a fucking retard.
>> Anonymous
>>307958
>The problem is popularity is still completely objective.
I thought you were being sarcastic at first. Now I think you're just confused.

Do you mean "Subjective?"
>> Anonymous
>>307965
Yes sorry i meant subjective
>> Anonymous
>>307960
Yes. he is a fucking retard
>> Anonymous
>>307958
tl;dr
>> Anonymous
>>307960
How is having a concept of defense retarded? Look at any major sport anywhere in the world, defense is something they all have in common

Basketball, baseball, football, hockey, field hockey, rugby, soccer, tennis, volleyball, takaew (look it up), etc. All of them have defense, all of them are undeniably sports. The only people who deny these are sports are people who make up arbitrary rules like "Well it is not a sport because it isn't popular in my country", "I have never heard of it so its not a sport" or equivalently "No one cares about it so its not a sport", and other equally irrelevant remarks. Whether you like something or not does not effect whether something is a sport, an idea lost on most people in /sp/.

Most Olympic events are not sports. They are merely a bunch of individuals doing one thing, and the person who can do it best is the winner. If they were doing it by themselves it would not be considered a sport and the fact is they essentially are doing it by themselves, and their results are just being compared with others. That makes it a competition, not a sport.
>> Anonymous
>>308014

Wait, what? If you do it by yourself it's not a sport? That's one of the most retarded things I've ever heard on /sp/. Which is fucking saying something.

So, Michael Phelps, he's just swimming down a lane by himself, therefore, not a sport. Usain Bolt, just running down a lane by himself, not a sport. EVERYTHING IN TRACK AND FIELD, just doing it by yourself, not a sport. Did you even think about what you're saying?
>> Anonymous
>>308016
Yep that is exactly what I am saying. Track & field, not a sport, swimming not a sport, gymnastics not a sport. They are all just competitions revolving around a particular skill. There is no offense and no defense, ergo not a sport.

Swimming or running fast, throwing far, jumping high. These are all just skills. Sports are not an exhibition of a set of skills. Sports require some of these skills, but they are much more then just one or two skills put on parade. Is Wayne gretzky the best because he could skate the fastest or shoot the hardest? No.
Was MJ the best cuz he could jump highest or shoot shoot more accurately then anyone else? Nope.

The thing is, unlike most people here, I am not trying to lay down a set of rules that will allow the events I like to be called sports while disqualifying the events I don't like. I love golf, I wish it was a sport, but it is not. I think Bolt and Phelps are amazing at what they do, but that doesn't make running or swimming a sport.
>> Anonymous
>>308014
Well most of those are team sports. Is mountain climbing a sport? It's one of the most manly and physically exhausting activities you can do, but it's all time based like running or swimming.

Wikipedia says: The term "sport" is sometimes extended to encompass all competitive activities, regardless of the level of physical activity. Both games of skill and motor sport exhibit many of the characteristics of physical sports, such as skill, sportsmanship, and at the highest levels, even professional sponsorship associated with physical sports. Air sports, billiards, bridge, chess, motorcycle racing, and powerboating are all recognized as sports by the International Olympic Committee with their world governing bodies represented in the Association of the IOC Recognised International Sports Federations.

Which is bullshit because chess isn't a sport.
>> Anonymous
>>308025

I'm going to have to agree with>>307960up there.

I'll give you credit for actually trying to explain your point, but i can't work out if you are genuinely retarded or a particularly intricate troll.
>> Anonymous
>>308029

Perfect example of what I am talking about. 1) No mountain climbing isn't a sport. Yes it takes a lot of talent and skill to do in various fields, but that doesn't qualify it as a sport in my book. Being an astronaut also requires a lot of physical training and endurance, pushing the human body to its threshold, but I never hear anyone calling Neil Armstrong one of the greatest athletes of our time, despite beating the soviets in a "race" to the moon.

I like though how you cited Wikipedia's definition as a sport, but then said "which is bullshit because chess isn't a sport" basically admitting you only want a definition that suits events you like and disqualifies others. As I said, seems like the whole point of this thread is so people can say "hah, my country's gold medals are worth more then your country's because these are sports and those aren't."
If you look at it objectively, you realize hardly anything in the olympics is a sport, although America still probably one most of the actual sporting events if it is any consolation.
>> Anonymous
>>308032
I have still yet to see any argument against mine. Most likely do to the fact that you know it is true, but you don't want to admit that most of your country's gold medals were in non-sports like everyone else's. Like most anonymous posters on the internet, when you have no valid argument you are reduced to name calling, surprised no one has used fag yet.

The funny thing is the best argument against mine is "Well the Olympics is for sports only, so by definition anything in the Olympics is a sport" but nobody wants to use that because then they would have to admit the "sports" they want disqualified are valid.
>> Anonymous
>>308052
Thread spectator here. I agree with your arguments and your definition of a sport, but using it to say "USA got more gold medals in things that mattered" is bullshit. The Olympics are about athletes. China still won.
>> Anonymous
>>308049

Not wikipedia's definition: the IOC's. An astronaut isn't creating the force, the rocket is, unlike running and swimming. That's why sailing and nascar isn't a sport, the drivers don't creating the force. Chess isn't a physical sport because it's, well not physical. To me everything competitive is a sport, whether it's against another or the record books.
>> Anonymous
>>308056
Edit: nascar and sailing isn't a physical sport.
>> Anonymous
>>308055
Thank you, and yes I agree, olympics is about athletes aka. people who participate in physical competitions and hence china won. I am not using my definition to say USA #1, my point is that a lot of people ARE just using their definition to fit their point of view about things they like and don't like.

>>308056
That is cool if that is your definition, I am just giving my definition and listing why I think it is good. I welcome people to poke holes in it but most people aren't, instead resorting to calling me a retard because 1) they can't see any holes and 2) More importantly they don't want to admit that the events they are interested in are no more a sport then ones they aren't.

I would like to address one thing in your other post I did not mention, you said most of the events I listed were team sports. Although not all were I believe there is a reason for that. I feel that sports should be more then just an exhibition of a set of skills like most olympic events are. There should be aspects of a sport that can't be individually measured (one example might be offensive awareness). It is harder to develop a game with only individuals that does not dissolve down into a mere exhibition of skills, because there are far fewer unknowns. There are far less opportunities for strategic play and other non-measurable skills, when there are fewer unknowns. When there is only one individual competing at a time, there are no unknowns. When there are whole teams of people, there are many unknowns, many opportunities for strategic play and innovation, many ways that which a person whose measurable skill set is sub-par to his opponents may in fact triumph because he has other assets. This to me is part of what differentiates between sports and physical competitions.