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'Whoopee cushion' stops play at Masters (and what is 'sport'?)

"XYZ is not a real sport" reminds me of the really specious attempts to kick rap and hip-hop out of the musical arts. Either way it's ignorant bullshit.
 
NoXion said:
"XYZ is not a real sport" reminds me of the really specious attempts to kick rap and hip-hop out of the musical arts. Either way it's ignorant bullshit.
Click to expand...
I agree. However, sometimes the word 'athlete' can be overused. Not all sportspeople are athletes. The Scottish woman who won gold at the Olympics for curling wasn't really an athlete. She was popping out for a fag between matches. But the BBC coverage referred to her repeatedly as an athlete.

For some sports, you really need to be as fit as possible to do well. For other sports, you just need to be fit enough.

As for defining 'sport', I think the simplest definition is 'a game that involves a test of a physical skill'.
 
NoXion said:
"XYZ is not a real sport" reminds me of the really specious attempts to kick rap and hip-hop out of the musical arts. Either way it's ignorant bullshit.
Click to expand...
Yes it's EXACTLY the same as they're clearly absolutely identical propositions.
 
What is the difference between a game and a sport?


​
  • SPORT is what one's servants watch on television; game is what one shoots.

    [Name illegible], Yanworth, Glos.​
  • THE USE of the word 'sport' has changed historically, but these days it is often felt that the need for physical prowess differentiates a sport from a game. Chess, being relatively cerebral in comparison with rugby, would be regarded as a game; fishing, being relatively passive, might be better classed as a recreation. Games and sports are both rule-bound competitive activities in which efficient means of victory are sacrificed for less efficient means (e.g., not being able to move a knight diagonally in chess, not running in a walking race, not being offside in football). But if physical prowess, rule-boundedness and competition are the key characteristics of a sport, why isn't ballroom dancing regarded as one? And if the Olympics are games, what are all those sports doing in them? Such problems result in others arguing that because 'sport' seems to cover everything from ice-dance to boxing, it cannot be reduced to any essential essences which make it a definable category or group of activities. So the answer is probably that sports and games are what you and various institutions (usually the media) want them to be.

    John Bale, School of Human Development, Keele University, Staffs.​
  • YOU CAN smoke while playing a game but not while playing a sport.

    Nicholas Pritchard, Southampton.​
  • I understand that 'sport' was originally what we now call blood sports namely hunting and the like. It was a demanding physical activity carried out for a thrill. Only when someting becomes a contest is it a 'game' e.g. seeing who can shoot the greatest number of 'game' birds. Athletic activities were introduced as 'field sports' as a cheaper and safer way of encouraging physical prowess. Later field games such as football and cricket were added to the repertoire in the public schools.

    Martin Pitt, Sheffield​
  • I reckon that the key difference between a sport and a game is that a sport requires physical exertion which is not compulsory in a game. Also, a game is essentialy competitive while a sport need not be. Individual series of a sport can be described as a game, e.g. "a game of football".

    Remi Adeseun, Lagos, Nigeria​
  • It seems to me that the difference between a game and a sport is the need for continuous movement.

    A chess game consists of singular movements not necessitating an immediate follow up. Even though american football is seen as single plays, if a catch is made the receiver must then run with it and the defence must change their focus from the quarterback to the receiver.

    The debate I always find myself in is whether golf is a game or a sport. I have always contended that it is a game because each action is singular. One stroke has no physical relation to the next.

    Cocky, Tokyo, Japan​
  • A game becomes a sport when you have to pay to watch it.

    Adam McCully, Edinburgh, Scotland​
 
Thing is, there might be sports that you don't think are very good sports. That's why some people don't like counting something like snooker when it's really not easy to justify including golf if you exclude snooker.
 
I used to love a round of golf and can attest to its difficulty. It demands a high level of skill if you are to do it well.

Why on earth people would pay large sums of money to watch it I really don’t know.
 
dessiato said:
I used to love a round of golf and can attest to its difficulty. It demands a high level of skill if you are to do it well.

Why on earth people would pay large sums of money to watch it I really don’t know.
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Crazy golf must be a sport too. And the claw crane in amusement arcades. They take physical skill to operate.
 
editor said:
You're wrong anyway. It's a traditional pub game.

The Rules / Instructions of Shove Ha'penny

Shove Ha'penny Rules. Traditional pub game Shove ha'penny or Halfpenny - comprehensive instructions for friendly play from Masters Traditional Games
www.mastersofgames.com www.mastersofgames.com
Click to expand...
So is darts.

Ok, add in an aspect of excellence. If something can be played competitively then it can be a sport.

Crazy golf's definitely a sport. :cool:
 
littlebabyjesus said:
Yeah. The phrase 'competitive sport' is kind of a tautology. If it's not competitive, it's not really a sport.
Click to expand...

Things can be competitive without being a sport, though.
Was discussing this at last poker night - I wouldn't count poker as a sport.

Not until people start wearing logos, anyway.
 
How about DJing? That definitely takes real and challenging physical skills and dexterity, and there's often logos plastered around. And it can be competitive too.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
Ah you've never watched poker on Channel 5? Logos all over the place.
Click to expand...

That's what I meant, when I play it, not a sport, but when they play it: sport.
Maybe.

I have an alternative theory that anything that can be played by passing notes under a door can be a game, but not a sport.
It kind of falls down (no pun intended) with Jenga (and shove ha'penny, as editor points out).
 
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