Sport or not?

Sport or Not?

June 15, 2007

By Gary Gambino

The Joe Pesci character in "My Cousin Vinny" just loves to argue. So do I. A dozen or so years ago, I jotted something down on paper, almost tongue-in-cheek, and sent it to my sports-loving friends in cyberspace (back then, $400 PCs and broadband connections weren't ubiquitous as they are today). To this day, it has generated more feedback than anything else I have written.

The premise is simple. An activity is not a sport if:

* It is rehearsed and not practiced. That eliminates professional wrestling, the "American Gladiators" stuff that was popular circa mid-90s, and any boxing match promoted by Don King.

* Crowd noise has to be present. This eliminates the "rich person" endeavors of tennis and golf as well as the decidedly "working-class" activity of bowling. Crowd noise is an integral part of the sports experience. Eliminate it and you eliminate the legitimacy of said activity. Sorry, Tiger!

* The athlete has to do the majority of the work. Accordingly, horse racing as well as auto racing is adjudged not to be sports (try telling this to a rabid NASCAR fan, of which there are many in my 'hood; they can be quite unreasonable)

* Pursuant to the Olympic "Skategate" controversy, any activity that is judged purely on subjective criteria is also not a sport. Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports agrees with me on this point.

Isn't the NBA next? I hope it doesn't come to that.

What do you think?

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There is crowd noise during tournament golf, just not when a player is getting ready to shoot.

"You da man!" and "Be the ball!" are frequent calls from the gallery. And you should go out with recreational
golfers to hear the trash talking that occurs on the course. Enough to make an alterboy blush.

Doesn't the crowd quiet when the home team comes to the line of scrimmage so the receivers and linemen can hear
audibles at the line? By your standard football wouldn't be a sport and that's just wrong.

You really need to reconsider your position on golf. Especially since you are wrong.

A Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community
Dave Walker: June 15, 2007 11:04:53 AM

I have to agree with Dave on this one. Golf is a sport. The crowd only remains silent during the swing. Also golfers, I believe, are among the most skilled athletes on the planet. A naturally athletic person can pick up a football, or swing a baseball bat or even slam dunk a basketball and most of them would be hard pressed to make par from the women's tee. There aren't any crossover success' from other professional sports to golf. I'm not saying Tiger Woods could hit a 90mph fastball or Lefty could hit a three, I'm just saying that just because their game requires the utmost concentration doesn't mean it's not a sport. That's all.

Aaron Blaylock: June 15, 2007 12:08:15 AM

The #1 not-a-sport

I'll consider hunting a sport the day I see a headline reading, "Deer 7, Hunters 3".

Gary Simon: June 18, 2007 7:56:32 AM

Not too bad... I think in the most general sense that covers most things that I personally would not deem a sport. I offered this (more tounge in cheek) not too long ago: http://makeapoint.wordpress.com/2007/01/23/sport-not-a-sport/ Here are some others that I noted that I think surely void an activity from being concidered "sport"... Things that detract/disqualify from the possibilites of being a sport: - sub.1 Enibriation “adds” to the experience or even enables higher scoring - sub.2 Any performance which scores points for appearance or style - sub.3 If anyone has ever successfully competed at the highest level while wearing a custome - sub.4 Adendum 1/23/2007 - Anytime the activity/event can also be described as “art”… automatically disqualified as a sport.

majaxn: July 20, 2007 1:47:16 PM