What Constitutes a Sport in Your Opinion?

DEFTLEFTHAND

LighterGuy wrote: »

Haha. Remember watching this years ago
'The Sarge' really did give the (well what can be classed as now) developmental guys loads :pac:

Ya I say alot of supposed 'tough guys' went in there thinking they could hack it, but it found out the hard way they couldn't.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

Father Damo wrote: »

UFC isnt a sport.

It certainly is not! MMA on the otherhand, most certainly is. Educate yourself.

Why don't you believe it's a sport?

kowloon

Kevin Duffy wrote: »

A game becomes a sport when you compete.

+1, it's all about competition.

Dictionary seems to imply it needs to raise a sweat, not sure where that leaves Chess or F1:

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

amacachi

kowloon wrote: »

Dictionary seems to imply it needs to raise a sweat, not sure where that leaves... F1

LOL.

wilkie2006

ArtSmart wrote: »

sad. nothing worse than an onlooker pussy.

Or a passive pussy, for that matter.

AskMyChocolate

If you can drink a beer while you're doing it, it's not a sport.:pac:

AskMyChocolate

brummytom wrote: »

Anything that requires doing something that doesn't need to be done.




I hate sport.

And finally the mystery of Brum's virginity becomes all too clear.

Although, it doesn't explain why he plays the accordion.

Zebra3

What Constitutes a Sport in Your Opinion?

Riding around on horseback chasing a fox with a pack of bloodthirtsy hounds. :rolleyes:

Pride Fighter

Father Damo wrote: »

UFC isnt a sport. Although it is funny to hear how hyped its fans get in defending it as if it has any type of merit, it is somewhat concerning that underpants playground fighting that 7 years ago was only watched by burberry wearing illiterate scrotes has now become somewhat mainstream and is even threatening real sports like boxing.

Still, I have a feeling it is a fad and will die off eventually.

You obviously dont have a clue about the sport of mixed martial arts, which is one of the most athletic sports around.

AskMyChocolate

JohnP199 wrote: »

:rolleyes:
Don't tell me you're one of those who thinks that all a race car driver does is sit down and turn a steering wheel? F1 is one of the mostly physically demanding sports which requires drivers to be a the peak of physically fitness. I dont think there's too many footballers out there who I fancy to win if up against Jenson Button in a tri-athlon.

Do you remember, many years ago, there was a tv programme called superstars? It involved sports-stars partaking in several different sports events. It took off in a lot of different countries and the winners competed in international superstars.

Anyway, one year, our bloke was a lad from the army, and Jodi Schechter beat him in the fitness test. They were a mile ahead of the rest.

But, our lad got scammed, cos he was doing his squat thrusts properly, but Schechter had invented a sliding method. Shocking.

There'd still only have been the two of them in it.

amacachi

And that was back in the day when they actually drank the champagne after the races and wouldn't be seen near the pitwall without a cigarette in their mouth. :pac:

Father Damo

Pride Fighter wrote: »

You obviously dont have a clue about the sport of mixed martial arts, which is one of the most athletic sports around.

Here they come :pac:

To compare UFC to the art of boxing, oh jesus. If we were to break it down to art forms

Hip hop- Its like comparing Eric B and Rakim to the Black Eyed Peas
Dance music- Its like comparing Underworld and Prodigy to DJ Sammy and Cascada, or the new Dubstep "artists"
Rock- Its like comparing The Clash to Busted.

All of the first mentioned were pioneers in their field.
All of the second mentioned are comedy acts.

Eric B and Rakim rapped unbelieveably intelligent lyrics. The Black Eyed Peas talked about their slapper lead singers "humps"
Underworld and Prodigy produced dance music. DJ Sammy and Cascada produced god knows what.
The Clash produced guitar music. Busted were Boyzone but with dancing on stage with guitars syncing to music someone else made.

UFC fought fights. So did Mu Ali, Frazier, Tyson, Collins, Dunne, Mayweather, Pacquaio. With class. And proper rules. I fought UFC. When I was 12.

In the playground.

Mind you, I managed to keep my trousers on.


Pathetic.


Do you see the contrast? UFC boys always come up with vague replies about rules but never explain them. Its a knacker sport completely devoid of class, merit or characters.

randylonghorn

Father Damo wrote: »

UFC fought fights. So did Mu Ali, Frazier, Tyson, Collins, Dunne, Mayweather, Pacquaio. With class. And proper rules. I fought UFC. When I was 12.

In the playground.

Mind you, I managed to keep my trousers on.

Kids box(ed) in the playground too, at 12 and earlier.

And generally kept their trousers on.

There will always be a difference between squabbles in the playground, using whatever style of fighting, and trained / professional practitioners.

Tbh, I know SFA about MMA, so I have no axe to grind here ... but your're not making your argument.

Pride Fighter

Father Damo wrote: »

Here they come :pac:

To compare UFC to the art of boxing, oh jesus. If we were to break it down to art forms

Art of boxing? Boxing is a fine sport, but to use a proper analogy boxing would be the equivalent of checkers where as mixed martial arts is the equivalent of chess.

Hip hop- Its like comparing Eric B and Rakim to the Black Eyed Peas
Dance music- Its like comparing Underworld and Prodigy to DJ Sammy and Cascada, or the new Dubstep "artists"
Rock- Its like comparing The Clash to Busted.

All of the first mentioned were pioneers in their field.
All of the second mentioned are comedy acts.

Eric B and Rakim rapped unbelieveably intelligent lyrics. The Black Eyed Peas talked about their slapper lead singers "humps"
Underworld and Prodigy produced dance music. DJ Sammy and Cascada produced god knows what.
The Clash produced guitar music. Busted were Boyzone but with dancing on stage with guitars syncing to music someone else made.

Irrelevant nonsense.

UFC fought fights. So did Mu Ali, Frazier, Tyson, Collins, Dunne, Mayweather, Pacquaio. With class. And proper rules. I fought UFC. When I was 12.

In the playground.

Mind you, I managed to keep my trousers on.


Pathetic.

You're showing extreme ignorance here. UFC is a mixture of grappling and striking and is a far more interesting sport than boxing IMO. I have seen a few boxing matches but compare the undercards of the 2 sports and you'll see its clear MMA is a far superior overall.

Do you see the contrast? UFC boys always come up with vague replies about rules but never explain them. Its a knacker sport completely devoid of class, merit or characters.

UFC boys?? That is like calling the game of soccer the premier league, there is more to it than the top league. You're showing you have not got a clue what you're talking about.

Knacker sport?? UFC/MMA has a set of rules. It is also a far safer than boxing. Between 1900 and 2000 1,000 people have died in a boxing ring. And since the year 2000 5 people a year die in the boxing ring. MMA, which has a 90 year old history, and existed in Japan and Brazil prior to the UFC has had 3 deaths in 90 years. And those were in poorly sanctioned bouts with no athletic commissions.

Devoid of class, merit or characters?? The actual UFC fighters are mostly well educated, and brimming with class. Rich Franklin has 2 masters degrees and was a teacher. Chuck Liddell has a degree in accounting. Randy Couture a degree in German. About 70% of the UFC fighters from America have a college degree and were on athletic scholarships for wrestling. The UFC fighters without degrees are excellent people as well, just look at Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva who are excellent role models for people. What characters does boxing have? Mike Tyson who has been convicted of rape.

I think I've answered all your points and shown them up for what they are. Complete nonsense.

The Davestator

The best definition ive heard is that a sport is a sport if you have to change footwear to partake. It's not perfect but when you think about it, most sports do use specialist footwear.

Almaviva

I dont see mention of an essential characteristic of sport - that a contest is decided by the independent fundamental aim of the sport: taking less time, scoring more goals, jumping or throwing something further, etc.

Nothing that requires 'judging' of the performance to determine the winner is a sport: gymnastics, synchronised swimming, figure skating, etc are not sport. Impressive physical skills requirng strength, training, coordination for sure - but only in the manner of a circus act. They are not inherently competitive activities. So horse racing is a sport, dressage is not.

Paparazzo

Pride Fighter wrote: »

You obviously dont have a clue about the sport of mixed martial arts, which is one of the most athletic sports around.

Ahh come on, the only thing obviously about his post was it was a troll, and you took the bait hook, line and sinker!

Lord TSC

LighterGuy wrote: »

An argument can be made about darts... and even poker....
But professional wrestling is a sport. Yes, its fake. Yes, its predetermined. But what they do in the ring is physical. Full body range movement and can be physically demanding.

It is a sport.

Even as a massive wrestling fan, I wouldn't call it a sport, no more than I'd call Lost a documentry.

It's sports entertainment, a soap which involves sporty activity but isn't actually a sport in and of itself. It requires skill and athelticism (depending on the style worked, granted), but it definitly isn't a sport in terms of being able to play it with friends, bet on it, etc.

arybvtcw0eolkf

LighterGuy wrote: »

An argument can be made about darts... and even poker....
But professional wrestling is a sport. Yes, its fake. Yes, its predetermined. But what they do in the ring is physical. Full body range movement and can be physically demanding.


It is a sport.

It isn't its shite a sport, for crying out loud :rolleyes:

Is darts a sport?.. Well its competition based, there is a lot of sportsmanship shown - yup, IMO its a sport.

For me a sport has winner's and losers, they're not all athletes participating of course - Darts & Golf spring to mind.

It might also have referee's and rules to keep it sporting, as an example Jigoro Kano took all the deadly elements from Jiu Jitsu and other Japanese martial arts to create Judo as a sport.

But WWE, pro-wrestling is an entertainment, athletes clowning around, and doesn't belong in any sporting forum anywhere.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Father Damo wrote: »

UFC isnt a sport.

Correct - UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championships) is a promotion.

MMA is a sport.. Sometimes the ignorant confuse what is a sport and what is a promotion.

I'll make it easy - The Heineken Cup a promotion - Rugby is a sport.

Arpa

The definition of sport is unclear. Does it mean an active/physical game? Or does it as its origin suggests, from French "disport" mean anything that is a past-time or activity that gives pleasure. In that sense, needlework could be a sport. Could we say some things are just games and some are sports?

I think it's too vague to say what is and what isn't. My rule of thumb is, if it's exciting to watch, exciting to play and there is a lot of skill and training necessary to play it professionally then it is a sport.

People may disagree but I do a checklist:

Darts - Exciting to watch - No
Exciting to play -Can be
Skill Involved - Yes
Sport? = No


Wrestling is an odd one. As in WWE or whatever it is. I see it as more of a theatrical show.

Football -Exciting to watch - Yes
Exciting to play - Yes
Skill Involved - Yes
Sport? = Yes

This is obviously open to millions of individual interpretations, but it works for my own little world.

jack presley

Arpa wrote: »

The definition of sport is unclear. Does it mean an active/physical game? Or does it as its origin suggests, from French "disport" mean anything that is a past-time or activity that gives pleasure. In that sense, needlework could be a sport. Could we say some things are just games and some are sports?

I think it's too vague to say what is and what isn't. My rule of thumb is, if it's exciting to watch, exciting to play and there is a lot of skill and training necessary to play it professionally then it is a sport.

People may disagree but I do a checklist:

Darts - Exciting to watch - No
Exciting to play -Can be
Skill Involved - Yes
Sport? = No


Wrestling is an odd one. As in WWE or whatever it is. I see it as more of a theatrical show.

Football -Exciting to watch - Yes
Exciting to play - Yes
Skill Involved - Yes
Sport? = Yes

This is obviously open to millions of individual interpretations, but it works for my own little world.

Do you have a pulse?

Arpa

jack presley wrote: »

Do you have a pulse?

What? Is that meant to be funny? Why can't someone just give an opinion n something on boards without some smart ass answer reply?

What's your opinion? Do you have an opinion relating to the thread?

arybvtcw0eolkf

Arpa wrote: »

Wrestling is an odd one. As in WWE or whatever it is. I see it as more of a theatrical show.

Wrestling is not an odd one at all, its only odd that people confuse wrestling with the WWE - which is a promotion.

Sumo, Judo, Greco-Roman, Free Style, Sambo, Turkish oil wrestling, Pankration and a hundred other styles come under the term 'wrestling'.

Robdude

My Definition Of A Sport....

1.) Must be physical in nature (Chess, for example, is not a sport)
2.) Must involve direct competition (Gymnastics, for example, is very physical in nature, but the actions of the guy you compete against does not impact your competition in any way)

Arpa

Lauren Tasteless Stinker wrote: »

Wrestling is not an odd one at all, its only odd that people confuse wrestling with the WWE - which is a promotion.

Sumo, Judo, Greco-Roman, Free Style, Sambo, Turkish oil wrestling, Pankration and a hundred other styles come under the term 'wrestling'.

I said "as in WWE". Meaning the wrestling which is WWE. If it's scripted, it's a show and not a sport.

The others you mentioned are grand, although I'm dubious about Turkish oil wrestling. Sounds like an excuse for pseudo homo eroticism to me.

ImpossibleDuck

Omackeral wrote: »

Pherekydes wrote: »

Tiring out my triceps by playing 8 minutes of darts wouldn't make it a sport.

When I started out driving my arms used to kill me. That didn't make it a sport.

Jensen Button might disagree.... (Not saying I do, though!)

Precisely. Motorsport is a sport and all you do is sit there and turn a steering wheel.

(Yes, I know there's a lot more to it. I follow F1 intensely.

MagicSean

A physical feat which is theoretically useful in the real world but if applied directly would be useless.

For example, the javelin. Theoretically the ability to throw something very far should be a useful trait. In reality, the ability to throw a stick is not useful at all.

Capt'n Midnight

There are three sports. Hunting, fishing and shooting. The rest are mere games.

peteclarke

Lauren Tasteless Stinker wrote: »

Correct - UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championships) is a promotion.

MMA is a sport.. Sometimes the ignorant confuse what is a sport and what is a promotion.

I'll make it easy - The Heineken Cup a promotion - Rugby is a sport.

You must be ignorant so.
I'll make it easy - The Heineken Cup is not the promotion, it's a competion which is run by The ERC

Logical Fallacy

Father Damo wrote: »

UFC isnt a sport. Although it is funny to hear how hyped its fans get in defending it as if it has any type of merit, it is somewhat concerning that underpants playground fighting that 7 years ago was only watched by burberry wearing illiterate scrotes has now become somewhat mainstream and is even threatening real sports like boxing.

Still, I have a feeling it is a fad and will die off eventually.

Why would you not classify it as a sport? I see you doing a lot of comparisons that imply you don't like it, which is fine, but you don't seem to be able to say why it doesn't meet the criteria of a sport.

Edit : For the people saying a sport needs to be physical, do not understate the required fine tuning of the central nervous system in order to get very fine skill based tasks done.

csallmighty

If you are knackered after playing for an hour straight you can call it a sport

grenache

Sport is something that involves high levels of physical movement and not standing in the one spot. Therefore i would not classify darts as a sport, but bizarrely i would think of ballet as a sport.

eoins23456

chess boxing ftw!

StaticNoise

Darts is by far the most intensive and underrated sport in the world.
It combines physical strength, determination, focus, and copious amounts of booze consumed by overweight punters.

Love it.

castletownman

I appreciate 100% people's arguement that darts is a sport, and I also take on board those of the view that it isn't. While sport could probably be defined as any exertion that requires physical or mental fortitude, and indeed pre-preparation, I think one has to take longevity and popularity into the equation. This is where darts falls down imo.

Bear in mind, that only for the intervention of Barry Hearn, who glamourised the game of darts by introducing entrance music, hot walk-on women, and the now famous darts theme tune (and the banning of alcohol on the oche), darts was in threat of being nothing more than a recreation one would partake in in a pub, in their garage/bedroom etc*. You can say that snooker, cricket, baseball and sports such as them are boring to watch, but they have such a big following that they will never be in need for the massive re-vamp that the Darts witnessed in the 90's.

To be honest, the long and short of it is, that only for Barry Hearn, and the Sky Sports money, and the ban of drinking on the oche, there wouldn't be a debate whether darts is a sport or not. It would be regarded as nothing more than a pub game.

Still great entertainment though. Have found myself throwing darts everyday since Christmas.

*Look at any footage of the darts from the 80's and see the difference between then and now, in terms of professionalism and the general atmosphere.

strobe

If you can smoke whilst doing it without knocking the ash off of your cigarette then it's not a sport in my book.

LighterGuy

Lauren Tasteless Stinker wrote: »

It isn't its shite a sport, for crying out loud :rolleyes:
Is darts a sport?.. Well its competition based, there is a lot of sportsmanship shown - yup, IMO its a sport.
For me a sport has winner's and losers, they're not all athletes participating of course - Darts & Golf spring to mind.
It might also have referee's and rules to keep it sporting, as an example Jigoro Kano took all the deadly elements from Jiu Jitsu and other Japanese martial arts to create Judo as a sport. But WWE, pro-wrestling is an entertainment, athletes clowning around, and doesn't belong in any sporting forum anywhere.

As I said in my previous post. If anyone wanted to argue if wrestling was a sport or not based on the fact is fake ... thats cool. I understand. But lets move away from wrestling for a second.

You say darts is a sport because, as you say there are winners and losers. So thats the definition. Fair enough.

Then by that very same defintion anything that has that is a sport.

fancy a game of connect 4?
fancy a game of checkers?
fancy a game of snap?
fancy some Call of Duty on xbox live?
... they'd all be 'sports' too.

I think the words sport and competitive game get mixed up.

colly10

Ficheall wrote: »

I'll bite.
What is your definition of a sport then?

Hard to define but sports require a physical skill, chess doesnt, poker doesnt and other board games don't. They are games, not sports

keano_afc

Its sport if you have to change your footwear to play. That was always my thinking.

StephenHendry

yes darts is a sport. take a read here op

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darts

http://www.phillydarts.com/DartsOfficiallyRecognizedAsASport.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/mar/25/sport.paulkelso

44leto

This is actually a tough question I think. Sport is a game usually with rules involving an endeavor which may require skills which is competitive.

pickarooney

Is bowling a sport? I would say so but could understand anyone who didn't think so.

Beefy78

Omackeral wrote: »

No. No it's not. I know its physical, its damn physical. The bumps those lads take are breathtaking. I've watched Pro Wrestling my whole life and consider myself a big fan of it but it is not a sport!! It's predetermined.

You cant bet on it. Actually maybe that's the answer I'm looking for...

You can sometimes. Bet365 opened a book on the Royal Rumble in 2002 but got taken to the cleaners when everyone (other than me) lumped on Triple H to win at something stupid like 7/1.

I seem to recall one of the bookies taking bets on the title matches at Wrestlemania four or five years back as well.

Auvers

castletownman wrote: »

While sport could probably be defined as any exertion that requires physical or mental fortitude, and indeed pre-preparation, I think one has to take longevity and popularity into the equation. This is where darts falls down imo

huh have you ever played darts for 2 hours in a match? you need lots of mental fortitude or else you will be beaten

and its a tiring sport try standing up and walking up and down to the same spot and tell me your not knackered by the end of the match

Pherekydes

Auvers wrote: »

huh have you ever played darts for 2 hours in a match? you need lots of mental fortitude or else you will be beaten

and its a tiring sport try standing up and walking up and down to the same spot and tell me your not knackered by the end of the match

Haha. It's tiring because they are so unfit. That's no reason to call it a sport.

Logical Fallacy

Pherekydes wrote: »

Haha. It's tiring because they are so unfit. That's no reason to call it a sport.

What about something like archery or shooting????

I honestly don't know if i'd consider them sports or not. Games of skill i guess??

c_man

In regards to the Pro-Wrestling, it's all decided before the match who'll win etc. (I'm open to clarification on this). If that's the case how on Earth could it be considered a sport?

Beefy78

I think only one person has made the argument that Pro Wrestling is a sport. I love Pro Wrestling but it's no more a sport than Die Hard is.

c_man

Beefy78 wrote: »

I think only one person has made the argument that Pro Wrestling is a sport. I love Pro Wrestling but it's no more a sport than Die Hard is.

If there were a Die Hard obstacle course, well I'd consider that a sport