other sports

[qtpie57]

everyone and their own opinions...

[PVJunkie]

A sprots PURIST would say that ANY sport that is at the mercy of human perception/opinion is not a sport..........it is an activity. If it is not decided by objective means it is too flawed to be a sport and must be an activity.

Having said that............gymnastics is NOT a sport, Diving is NOT a sport, cheerleading (dont get me started on this one) is NOT a sport.........etc etc etc.

Now, I am not taking away from the athletic demands of these activities...........however, competitively, I cannot respect the manner in which the outcome of contests are decieded. Whats the old joke.......and a 2.0 from romanian judge (funny stuff, but true).

[rainbowgirl28]

According to my Sports In Society textbook, sports are defined as "institutionalized competitive activities that involve rigorous physical exertion or the use of relatively complex physical skills by participants motivated by internal and external rewards."

[PVJunkie]

1. Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
2. A particular form of this activity.
3. An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.
4. An active pastime; recreation.

NOW beyond this vague definition there are subjective and objective sports/activities. Throwing darts is an OBJECTIVE/Skill........Gymnastics is a SUBJECTIVE/Physical.............the sports purist sees the subjectvie measure (use of judges/officials) as a flaw in the system. Officials have historically been far more reliable than judges. But NOT always (how important is the spot of the ball in football, how a ref calls fouls in basketball) if an official can change the outcome of the game, and since they not participants, it has then become subjective............. CONFUSING hungh.........basically if it does not involve time, distance or score (where MOST of the time the official cannot change the outcome) it is not a true PURE sport.

[ashcraftpv]

i'll admit it....I was in marching band in high school(but i played football at the same time too, so lay off ). It does require a certain amount of coordination and physical exertion, but I would not call it a sport by any means.

Its a musical performance with coordinated movement, that's all.

[bjvando]

does SURFING, or SKATEBOARDING count????

[PVJunkie]

Subjective - Proceeding from or taking place in a person's mind rather than the external world: a subjective decision.

Objective - Uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices: an objective critic.


ALL activities fall somewhere in the spectrum of things. Basketball and football live all over the spectum. Sometimes its all about the points and other times the official makes a "bad" call and that changes the outcome of the game. If the outcome of an activity is completely judged subjectively.........the purist says it is an activity. On the opposite end of the specrtum, activities that judged objectively are sports....................


None of this has anything to do with the level of athletic ability the activity requires to be good.

[Lord of the Poles]

By the definition that we seem to follow...NO, they don't count...because both Surfing and Skateboarding are goverened by what a judge thinks they should receive for their scores...not really how they did.

[swtvault]

Under defintion, Surfing and skating arent sports. But in my mind they are sports. Those are two of the hardest, and most skilled activites you can do. If you dont believe me try paddling out in head high seas and you will understand exactly what I mean.

[mcminkz05]

too bad we dont have surfing here in michigan.. i guess im stuck surfing the snow, which isnt TOO bad.

[rainbowgirl28]

In my class we basically agreed that everyone disagrees on what should and should not be considered a sport

I am going to school for 6 years to learn stuff like that

[njvaulter]

I finished my last season of soccer. I also love to snowboard.