Is Marching Band A "REAL" Sport?

[EllisDee]

@RickJay

I disagree with the notion that sport must require both competitors to be on the field at once or to directly impact one another’s performance.

The 100-metre dash, for instance, could theoretically be run one runner at a time. It wouldn’t be as exciting but it would be essentiaqlly the same thing. But it would be absurd to claim sprinting - maybe the most fundamental sport there is - isn’t a sport.

I completely disagree. Sprinting is not a sport. Sprinting is a competitive athletic event. That’s why the greatest ever are listed in Guiness’ book of World Records, instead of the Sprinting Hall of Fame.

Such a definition would also exclude weight lifting and long jumping. If your definition even threatens to exclude sports as obvious and basic as long jumping and weight lifting, you need a better definition.

Weight lifting and long jumping are not sports, either. They are competitions.

I keep going back to the definition I was taught in university. A sport is

• A contest of physical skill
• Played for its own purposes
• With a defined and objective criteria that determines a winner

You may object to my definition in that it excludes activities like sprinting and long jumping. Using the same tactic, I object to your university’s definition because it includes competitive eating.

Marching band isn’t a sport.

hehheh, at least we can agree on something.