Joe Elder
Published: February 4 2004
I was sitting around the house watching TV the other night when a thought popped into my head.
Maybe we could hash it out and finally end the debate.
What makes a sport a sport?
Sport historians define a sport as having either a ball or a puck. That is a fairly common assessment of what constitutes a sport. Given that definition, some still argue whether soccer is indeed a sport or simply a crochet match masqurading as a sport.
Does physical exertion constitute as a sport?
Ask my mother after she has washed, dried, and folded 14 Jimmy Buffet T-shirts and she would petition the Olympic Committee to add laundry to the winter games. (Yes, I am a parrothead. Don’t hate.)
Some make the claim that uniforms are necessary for a sport to be official. But if that were so, then the guys at Super Lube would call themselves “The Grease Monkeys,” team together and change the oil in a customer’s car in 10 minutes or less. Should stand out employees get million dollar endorsments from Castrol?
One thing that is universal is the fact that all sports have a strategy, which is one reason I don’t understand why PJC does not actively recruit local highschools for the Chess Club’s next season.
Maybe we should look at things that are called sports and really aren’t and see what they have in common.
Mall walking, is SO not a sport. Poker, although it is very enjoyable to play and I do like watching it on the Travel Channel, is not a sport. For that fact, no card game is a sport. NASCAR is not a sport. Driving really fast in circles is not a sport. Wrestling is cool – who doesn’t like to hear the Rock’s new catchy line? The WWE calls it sports entertainment, but it’s not a sport. Hunting is not a sport either. If shooting things is a sport, I suppose serial killers are at the pinnacles of their game. From looking at this list of non-sports, I don’t think it has made things any clearer.
No matter how you slice the pie, the debate over what is sport and what’s not will always rage on. I have no idea if there is a common thread that makes sports, well, sports. So for all you NASCAR fans out there, go ahead and keep calling it a sport. For all of you out there who believe wrestling is real and a sport, good luck. I would say what makes a sport a sport is what you personally believe and feel. However, you’ll never convince me that NASCAR is a sport.