What's a sport?
In today's paper, our Rob Daniels unilaterally declared in his column that poker is not a sport. While I am one of the many addicted to watching the World Series of Poker on Tuesday nights on ESPN, I have to agree. It's a game.
But my real question is this: What makes a sport a sport? Does a score have to be kept (eliminating judged contests like gymnastics and figure skating) or is there a minimum level of athleticism required (possibly eliminating bowling, but let's hope not). What do you think?
Comments (3)
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Same question comes up in this context -- why is synchronized swimming a sport while modern dance isn't? Both require incredible athletic ability -- far more than baseball players need. But both would require subjective judging.
Gymnastics is a bit purer than sports with "artistic expression." Sure, there's judging, but you could make the point that the judging in boxing is just as subjective (and, in practice, more error-prone).
The question of whether poker is a sport is best answered this way -- I'd rather watch Celebrity Poker Showdown than the World Series of Poker. Can you think of any sport that meets that criteria?
Posted on August 4, 2004 10:11 PM
I think that both are required to be a sport. I rule out gymnastics, figure skating, and diving. We have seen judges take medals and championships out of the hands of true winners too many times. So, the first part of my definition of a sport is that it is decided by the competitors, not judges.
The second part of my definition is that athletic ability is required. This includes competitions from basketball to handball, and rules out hot dog eating (sorry, Kobayashi)and chess. Competitions like golf and auto racing probably make it by a nose, but others fall in a gray area. I think poker fails to make the cut.
Posted on August 17, 2004 4:11 PM
Trying to find a definition for what is considered a sport is extremely difficult. However, if you try and define it by eliminating judging, you won't be left with much. Think for a minute about how many sports have some sort of subjective judgement. Obviously there is figure skating, gymnastics, and diving, but there is also any sport that involves a referee. Referees have the potential to be biased, which means they have subjective judgement. Therefore, by eliminating all subjective judging, you are basically left with races (photo finish) and high jump (the bar either falls or it doesn't).
Posted on February 9, 2006 1:45 AM