# Is Marching Band a Sport? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 5, 2008, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marching-band-a-sport/440146 "2008-03-05T04:17:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marching-band-a-sport/440146/21 "2008-03-05T20:57:55Z")
[QUOTE=ASAKMOTSD] Slight tweak - DCI is marching band for people that are too old for high school, but not yet ready for college. [/QUOTE] Huh? I thought it was for essentially people going into HS senior year through quite a bit later. [QUOTE=Pleonast] I don’t know what Academic Decathlon is, but presuming it’s some sort of academic competition, I would call it a sport. [/QUOTE] Yes, it is an academic competition. And I wouldn’t. Just a difference of opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marching-band-a-sport/440146/22 "2008-03-05T21:07:41Z")
Cleaning the house may drain you physically, but its not a sport. And if you wear slacks while participating, its not a sport. ---
**Author:** ![Donovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@Donovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donovan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marching-band-a-sport/440146/23 "2008-03-06T20:53:44Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] Dangit, why isn’t there a clip of this on YouTube? [/QUOTE] Looking for [this](http://youtube.com/watch?v=FNsqpIfzeAQ&feature=related) ? ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marching-band-a-sport/440146/24 "2008-03-07T15:47:23Z")
[QUOTE=Donovan] Looking for [this](http://youtube.com/watch?v=FNsqpIfzeAQ&feature=related) ? [/QUOTE] “The marching band refused to yield…” – Don McLean, American Pie ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marching-band-a-sport/440146/25 "2008-03-07T16:19:55Z")
[QUOTE=Yllaria] Ahem. UC Davis’s Picnic Day would not be the same without the Battle of the Bands, and that’s a competition with no judge. The bands take turns playing. No song may be repeated. Last band standing wins. It generally takes all day. It also generally comes down to Davis vs Humbolt. You never know what you’re going to hear. My personal favorite was the Theme from Rocky and Bullwinkle. Not sure that makes it a sport, but judges are not necessary. [/QUOTE] You mean this is an endurance contest? I wouldn’t personally call that sport. But what happens if a song is repeated? Who says that band is eliminated? ---
**Author:** ![hawksgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed655f/32.png) [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marching-band-a-sport/440146/26 "2008-03-07T17:33:21Z")
[QUOTE=glee] You mean this is an endurance contest? I wouldn’t personally call that sport. But what happens if a song is repeated? Who says that band is eliminated? [/QUOTE] Everyone. All the other bands and some of hte audience are keeping track. I don’t know what would happen if they refused to leave. Someone else would probably start playing in their turn. ---
**Author:** ![hawksgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed655f/32.png) [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marching-band-a-sport/440146/27 "2008-03-07T17:47:28Z")
And it isn’t just stationary playing either. [http://youtube.com/watch?v=culmx94\_npQ&feature=related](http://youtube.com/watch?v=culmx94_npQ&feature=related) there’s a lot of “horn moves”, dancing, and such. Its like this, but for about 8-10 hours. It might not look like much, but it is pretty exhausting after about the first half-hour or so or after the excitement wears off. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marching-band-a-sport/440146/28 "2008-03-07T19:13:23Z")
[george carlin] There are only three sports: Football, baseball, and basketball. All the others are “activities.” [/gc] ---
**Author:** ![hawksgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed655f/32.png) [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marching-band-a-sport/440146/29 "2008-03-07T20:30:22Z")
Just to clarify, I don’t care if marching band is a sport or not. It’s fun; that’s all I care about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marching-band-a-sport/440146.md?page=1)