Arena The We're Bored So Let's Talk About Whatever Arena Thread

i think usain bolt is a tremendous athlete. i wish he played sports.

 

Yep and IMHO you got major stones to get into a weapon (car) going 200 MPH and drive bumper to bumper for a couple hours. Only people with bigger stones are Formula One racers. That is just insanity and it's the one race I never been to that I always wanted to see. I been to a NASCAR race and I been to the Indy 500 even though I am at best a casual fan of both but I never been to a Formula One event so it's on the bucket list. I particularly to see one in another country.

 

My rule of thumb for "is it a sport"


Do I say "Why the **** is <sports channel> showing this" when it's on TV.

Track and Field and Gymnastics, in.

Poker and Bowling Out.

So, for the record, since it includes a ball, tom includes bowling where I do not, and excludes Track and Field, where I do not.

 

nope, no defense in bowling so it's out. i told you my definition is narrow.

 

So would MMA fighters like Ronda Rousey.

 

i'm not trying to be controversial. i don't think fighters or runners or cyclists or mountain climbers or speed walkers are unimpressive because they don't play sports. i just think they don't play sports.

 

I think you passed that point when you said track and field wasn't a sport.

 

meh, i gave my definition of sports knowing that most wouldn't agree. i like it though because it eliminates a lot of the grey area like whether speed walking is a sport or bowling or poker or eating hot dogs, even though it also eliminates a lot of things that most other people agree are sports.

 

It's a matter of categorisation, in the line of Kant and Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer actually used sports as an example to describe categorisation.
I guess tom's definition of sports is "competitive ball games". That's very narrow. But if you take the meaning of words like "sporty" and "sportsmanlike" into account, it makes sense. Just a matter of what you base your definition on.

Similarly, one could argue rap is not music

 

I do appreciate the simplicity of your stance (and admit I missed the "play defense" portion initially).

 

i think it's a fun discussion and one i've had with others before, which is how i eventually arrived at my definition. i just can't find any other metric for determining what is a sport. it can't be physical exertion, otherwise things like aerobics and hammering rocks would be sports. it can't be danger, adrenaline junkies do all kinds of stuff that no one would probably call sports. so i'm left with my stance as simple and limiting as it might be. again, i would stress that i think many runners, high jumpers, gymnasts, etc. are very impressive athletes, i just don't consider those activities "sports".

 

I don't find a lot of fault in your definition. Because, while I want to include, say, athletics and swimming, I don't want to include, say, Chess and Poker.

i want to say the crucial element is an objective way to declare a winner, be it through a pre-defined way to score points, or an objective way to declare a superior effort, such as less time to finish the same task, or covering more distance with the same opportunity. While that means Gymnastics and Diving (subjective scoring of points) are out (I'm okay with this) and MMA and Boxing (again, you can go to subjective judges for scoring) possible are out as well (I'm mostly also okay with this) ... I'm not sure it actually dismisses, say, Poker, Darts, and Rifle Shooting.

And, while you could throw in an additional qualifying line such as "through the physical exertion of athletic activity" you are now going down the rabbit's hole of what an athletic activity is, or how much physical exertion is needed to qualify.

It's a fun discussion to have, but I definitely struggle to find one that is inclusive enough, but not overly exclusive.

tom - you include a puck to allow for the Hockey caveat without a ball, would you also allow a Frisbee caveat to allow something such as Ultimate Frisbee?

 

yeah, ultimate frisbee definitely fits the spirit of my definition. balls happen to be used in most sports, but it doesn't have to be a ball. but yeah, it's really hard to narrow it down without going down one rabbit hole or another.

 

standard definition is

an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.

something like darts or poker dont really use any physical exertion, so wouldn't count even in this very lenient definition.

imo to exclude a host of sporting events, a large section of the Olympics for example, seems excessive; I mean what 'borderline'' sports are we even talking about? bowling?

 

i don't think it's excessive because it's not like i'm saying swimming and running and pole vaulting are inferior activities and no one should watch them. i have always loved the olympics. i just put those things in a different box than i do sports i guess. i don't even know why really, it's kind of pedantic, but arguments happen over whether such and such is a sport and this is the way i deal with it i guess.

 

Are we all in agreement then that competitive eating is not a sport even though I find it truly fascinating at times?

 

So wait do the 49ers play sports since they have no defense?

 

solid burn. my only counter is thirty years old gifs.

 

I still blame the downfall of the 49ers on getting rid of their uniforms back then. How do you mess with perfection? It's like the curse of the Honey Bears. Until the 49ers go back to the old jerseys, they won't win anything just like the Bears will not win another Super Bowl again until they bring back the Honey Bears.

 

we were so close with harbaugh, jed york is just terrible. i wouldn't mind those unis back either though.