What Is The Most "not-sports" Sports?

[kleong 0]

Sports is normally associated with sweat, power and energy. So in your opinion, which is the sports that should not be categorised as sports? For me, dart is definitely not a sports. I mean, there is no sweat, no power and no energy involved. No offence but dart should be scrap off from the sports list.

[Mordent 0]

Sports is normally associated with sweat, power and energy. So in your opinion, which is the sports that should not be categorised as sports? For me, dart is definitely not a sports. I mean, there is no sweat, no power and no energy involved. No offence but dart should be scrap off from the sports list.

Yet the first result from wiktionary is:

 

(countable) Any athletic activity that uses physical skills, often competitive.

No mention of sweat, power or energy there. Darts in my mind is a valid sport (albeit one that I wouldn't choose to watch). Using your definition of sport, a fair number of recognised sports would certainly be discounted, such as snooker. Let's not also forget motor sports, which require next to no sweat, power or energy on the part of the sportsperson (staying PC, of course), though I'm not saying it's childsplay to control a however-many-hundred-horsepower engine while travelling at silly-miles-per-hour.

 

If we instead use wikipedia's definition of sport:

 

Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determinant of the outcome (winning or losing), but the term is also used to include activities such as mind sports (a common name for some card games and board games with little to no element of chance) and motor sports where mental acuity or equipment quality are major factors.

I find the first sentence of that definition pretty much sums up my views on what a sport is, so I find it hard to discount any of them as a "not-sport". Edited August 22, 2009 by Mordent (see edit history)

[Nameless_ 1]

Sports is normally associated with sweat, power and energy. So in your opinion, which is the sports that should not be categorised as sports? For me, dart is definitely not a sports. I mean, there is no sweat, no power and no energy involved. No offence but dart should be scrap off from the sports list.

If this is what you really think, then these other "sports" will then not be considered as a sport in your definition...
Archery
Horse-Riding (The horse is running, not you)
Yoga/Pilates??? (I don't think it is counted as a sport in the first place, but anyway...)
Fishing
Bowling

But I don't really know what the definition of "sport" really is, as it is a broad term with many variations on it's exact meaning. I mean, what does good-sport mean? It means that you don't really mind when you lose, or it could also mean other things.
But generally, it's definition is generally accepted as a competitive activity that requires physical movement.

But OK, let's choose Dart. What does Dart have that is different from Flower Arranging? They both use arms, they both require minimum physical movement. What makes "Dart" a sport and Flower Arrangement NOT one?

Well, here a a few things that I would like to point out:

1) Dart can be competitive. While it can also be a leisure activity like Flower Arranging, it can also be used as a competition game thing while Flower Arranging can NOT... I mean, have you seen any Flower Arranging competitions lately, if any at all? I think not. So, that's my first point.

2) OK... now let's compare Archery and Dart. What do THEY have in common? Well, I must say that Archery requires more physical strength than Dart, but just like what your definition said, it does not give you sweat (maybe cold sweat from nervousness, but you get that in Dart too...) or makes you have exhaustion, but they apart from that, Dart and Archery requires accuracy. So, the more refined definition os sport will be anything that requires HUNTING skills.

So... let's go back into the ancient times. What do people used to do? Well, I'm not sexist or anything, but women would do household activities, like clean up, cook and raise their children and offspring, and men would hunt and care for the family by protecting them from wild predators and beasts by killing them and giving the tribe and family food.

Now, what do we associate the term "sport" with? Men activities or female activities? Well, obviously men ones.
So, we can safely say that the term "sport" is related and associated with what the male part of the population used to do... hunting.
And what does hunting require? Let's list them out (feel free to add more in your post if you have anymore categories)

- speed (this can be seen in most "sports" like running, cycling, rowing, swimming, horse-riding and so forth)
- team work (well, you obviously don't need a team to do flower arranging... you can see this in our modern day "sports" like rugby, soccer, hockey, waterpolo, tennis, netball, volleyball, basketball, rowing... and so on...)
- accuracy (like, target practice when they shoot animals. You can find this ability in sports like archery and dart and bowling...)
- endurance (you can find this ability and factor of "sports" in marathons, tri-atheletes, and so on...)
- strength (you can find this ability in "sports" like weight lifting...
- agility (you can find this ability in the "sports" taekwando, judo, boxing and samurai wrestling.)

That's all I can think at the moment. But after my analysis, I'm sure most of you agree that the definition of "sport" is any physical activity related to the pre-dominant male activites that they used to do in the old ancient times, maybe even before the Stone Age, where they ("sport") consists of abilities and factors that influence the success of a hunt...

In short, it is anything that is related to HUNTING animals for food and for protection of the tribe or family.

[Ne0n 0]

If this is what you really think, then these other "sports" will then not be considered as a sport in your definition...Archery
Horse-Riding (The horse is running, not you)
Yoga/Pilates??? (I don't think it is counted as a sport in the first place, but anyway...)
Fishing
Bowling

Actually I do alot of that duren the week including fishing.
Fishing should be made a sport because alot of people do it and sometimes you have to walk far distances.
If you are fly fishing or even course fishing you have to move your arm alot!

The same as bowling I think it should be classed as exercise maybe not sport though.

Archery, That takes alot of care and consideration

Phoneix

[Nameless_ 1]

Actually I do alot of that duren the week including fishing.Fishing should be made a sport because alot of people do it and sometimes you have to walk far distances.
If you are fly fishing or even course fishing you have to move your arm alot!

The same as bowling I think it should be classed as exercise maybe not sport though.

Archery, That takes alot of care and consideration

Phoneix

Do a lot of what? Everything? Or just one of the "sports?"
I don't know about Bowling not being considered a sport. I mean, if Archery gets to be considered a "sport" why not Bowling? They're the same (or very similar). They both require accuracy, and they both require the physical motion of moving the arm. Why archery and not bowling then, huh?

While archery might be initially used for hunting and bowling may not (you can't "bowl" an animal to death of course, as they will probably run away before the ball reaches them and the dirt ground that will most likely be filled with grass and shrubs and trees and other plants will most likely block the ball's path), bowling is just a variation of practicing the accuracy component of "hunting" (read my previous post on this matter) and should be considered a sport in my opinion.

If bowling isn't to be considered a sport, then neither should archery or dart-throwing. Horse-riding may be considered differently as the horse DO do sweat and get exhausted (as well as their riders), and yoga slash pilates should be considered as just excercise and not actual "sport" itself. But then... don't the "warmups" that you do before you do proper "sport" be considered as sport as well?

So in general, excercise is also the same as "sport".

[Ne0n 0]

Do a lot of what? Everything? Or just one of the "sports?"I don't know about Bowling not being considered a sport. I mean, if Archery gets to be considered a "sport" why not Bowling? They're the same (or very similar). They both require accuracy, and they both require the physical motion of moving the arm. Why archery and not bowling then, huh?

Well actually yes I didn't take that into mind. They do both take on accuracy and as you said the physical motion of the arms and body.

So in general, excercise is also the same as "sport".

hhmm.. In some ways yes and no.

Phoneix.

[Nameless_ 1]

Well actually yes I didn't take that into mind. They do both take on accuracy and as you said the physical motion of the arms and body.


hhmm.. In some ways yes and no.

Phoneix.

What do you mean by
"hhmm.. In some ways yes and no."???

This is what I don't understand... well, maybe I do. A bit. I should change that into something more understandable, like...
Excercise that requires you to incooperate "hunting skills" like accuracy, endurance, agility, speed, strength and all that should be classified as "sport", while other excercises that don't require any of them will just be known as excercises.

But then, doesn't all excercises incooperate all, if not at least SOME of these skills? Then they should all be classified as "sport" then.

[The Simpleton 2]

This is a pretty interesting discussion and I think all the "sports" that we have now should continue being categorized as they are now. It's just easy to understand that something that you're doing, and something that you enjoy doing and something that the people around you enjoy watching is called a sport. After all these years calling some 'boring' sports something else wouldn't be nice, because every person has some particular opinion about some particular sport. So that person may consider other popular sports to be "not-sports".Sorry to go a bit off-topic,and sorry if you feel that I'm hijacking this topic () but I would like to add another simple question - which sport do you think has an inappropriate title? I would say American football, because it doesn't involve a lot of kicking, does it? Just a little of course but not all of it. And yet when you type out "football" in google the first result is for this kind of "football" Now reading this I'm sure a lot of 'football' fans will type back furiously, and this is exactly what my answer to the first question means. Everyone has a different meaning to sport, and not everyone cares what can be called a sport or not. There's a lot of fun and enjoyment involved so let's not bother too much why something is called a sport and why something is not!

[kleong 0]

Hmm.. that sounds like quite a far bit of activities that should not be labelled as sports. Bowling, archery, darts, fishing, horse-racing (and also dog racing), *BLEEP* fighting, cricket fighting, snooker (billiard, pool), etc. I would label them as leisure activities rather than sports.

[Jess123 0]

Fishing, wait is tha even a sports? Well if it is, I don't think it's the least sportiest. (if that's a word)Also badminton that can sort o b called a non-sport i guess

[networker 0]

If things such as Snooker and golf are considered sports then I think chess shouldbe considered a sport too. If chess is considered a sport, then why not checkers,and then snakes and ladders? It's all relative. I guess how much t.v viewership any one game can getdetermines if it's a sport.lol. If it's on espn then it's considered a sport.I mean, they even have these things on t.v sometimes wherechopping down a tree is considered a sport.The dictionary defines sports as a physical activity defined by a set of rules.That seems to cover a lot of ground. It could boggle the mindas far as what is and what isn't a 'sport'.

[sheepdog 10]

Recently I've seen a lot of ads about different high stakes poker games, tournaments, etc, and it appears the media is pushing these as a "sporting" event. I think thats just stupid. Nothing at all like what I would consider any type of sports. Sports should be some sort of physical contest. Even flipping flap jacks is more physical than shuffling cards. What will be the next big sensation to hit the sporting world, finger twiddling contests???