### Author:  [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/3 "2000-04-06T04:26:00Z")
Ok, (trying to turn this into a debate, because the dictionary is just too boring!) 🙂
I myself have gotten into a pretty good discussion (ok, drunken bull session) about whether golf was a sport. It’s more fun when you can fall back on your own ideas about what consitutes a ‘sport’ vs. a ‘game.’
My opinion: golf is definitely _not_ a sport. Rather, it is a “competitive leisure activity.”
Or would you rather go back to the dictionary? We can, you know.
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### Author:  [@The\_Tof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tof)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/4 "2000-04-06T07:08:00Z")
OK… I have thought about this many a time… mostly when watching those lame late night espn shows. Usually when they show pool, chess championships… and there are many many categories that fall into this gray area-- Although, I think my bottom line is that most sports are games. (i.e. Let’s go to the Football game… the sport “football” is defined through the game.) Although, I will admit that I don’t think this fits all definitions. (Is any form of racing really a game? I can’t think of that qualifies as above.) Likewise, there are clear games that are not sports-- Monopoly, Solitaire. ahhh, hell, I’m all confused now.
Just a few cents to toss around… I think i’m more confused then when I started writing though. hehehe…
Screeme
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/5 "2000-04-06T09:31:00Z")
I would think (total WAG) that they are two separate parts of the same entity.
Football, for example, is a Sport. The actual match you go to watch or participate in is a Game.
Over time, the word Game has been used in reference to the Sport, but in reality they used to have that clear separate division.
Golf is a Sport. I know this because it is on TV on Sunday afternoons, a definitive clue.
* * *
[The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/)
- **Shadow of the Pigeon** -
Weirdo of the Night
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### Author:  [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/6 "2000-04-06T11:08:00Z")
I’ve always liked George Carlin’s routine about this very subject. His thesis, and I’m paraphrasing from memory here, is that some activity is a sport only if there is a good chance of significant bodily injury. Hence, while football and hockey are definately sports, golf and chess are not. They are merely games. \
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What do you want for Christmas, Crow? I want to decide who lives and who dies!
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### Author:  [@Doctordec](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctordec)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/7 "2000-04-06T13:26:00Z")
A game is a competitive physical activity that you can drink beer and smoke while you do it. It’s a sport if you can’t. It’s easy !
Bowling=Game
Golf=Game
Pinball=Game
Tennis=Sport
Football=Sport
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“If it’s free, it’s for me !”
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### Author:  [@cmetzb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmetzb)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/8 "2000-04-06T13:47:00Z")
Ok Dr.,
Is fishing and hunting considered a sport or a game?
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### Author:  [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/9 "2000-04-06T14:32:00Z")
Sport is a hunting dog. Game is ehat he hunts.
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Sig! Sig a Sog! Sig it loud! Sig it Strog! – Karen Carpenter with a head cold
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### Author:  [@Bucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bucky)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/10 "2000-04-06T14:43:00Z")
I would call something a game is it has rules and there can be a winner and its primary purpose is entertainment/enjoyment. So, competitive piano playing is not a game, since piano playing exists for itself more than for the competition.
Sport, to me, does not cover activities which are not primarily physcially based. I don’t consider auto racing a sport nor its practioners athletes. To do so expands the definition much too far. yes, they need reflexes and it helps to be in some kind of shape, but the same is true of college debate (and I wouldn’t call that a sport).
My smart-ass definition of deciding if something is/is not a sport is that if we can exchange my equipment for yours and you still win it is a sport. So skiing, basketball, football, etc. are sports, but racing a car isn’t. It’s not a foolproof definition, but it works for me most of the time.
Bucky
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### Author:  [@Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazoo)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/11 "2000-04-06T14:52:00Z")
My two cents–a sport requires some sort of physical exertion that can be enhanced through practice and exercise. Golf is most certainly a sport. Bowling’s on the cusp.
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“In this life you must be oh so smart, or oh so pleasant. For years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.” -Elwood P. Dowd in “Harvey”
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/12 "2000-04-06T15:01:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by Gazoo:
> \*\*My two cents–a sport requires some sort of physical exertion that can be enhanced through practice and exercise. Golf is most certainly a sport. Bowling’s on the cusp.
>
> \*\*
## By this definition, TAG would be a sport.
Gee, I don’t think any of us expected him to say that.
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### Author:  [@Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazoo)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/13 "2000-04-06T15:14:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by adam yax:
> \*\*
> By this definition, TAG would be a sport.
> \*\*
Well, if Ballroom Dancing can be an olympic sport, I have no qualms about including Tag. Hell, I might get the gold! 😉
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### Author:  [@VileOrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VileOrb)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/14 "2000-04-06T18:47:00Z")
I have also had several bull sessions on this one. I believe that they, sports and games, are intersecting sets. Football is a game and a sport. Cross country skiing is a sport but not a game. (hijack: are there any other words with a double-i other than as a plural like radii? And did the word ski come from the common eastern european name ending? Oh all right, I’ll start a new thread I’m in an inquisitive mood.) Monopoly is a game but not a sport. Most of the bull sessions I have been involved in on this subject started by my objection to the phrase, “Olympic Games”. I’m not sure if all the Olympic competitions are sports but I know they’re not all games.
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If men had wings,
and bore black feathers,
few of them would be clever enough to be crows.
- Rev. Henry Ward Beecher
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/15 "2000-04-06T19:05:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by Doctordec:
> \*\*A game is a competitive physical activity that you can drink beer and smoke while you do it. It’s a sport if you can’t.
> \*\*
THAT all depends on how determined you are. At the last NYC Dopers Meeting in Central Park, **Eve** went out for a long pass and **manhattan** took a flying leap, trying to intercept, and when they collided both of them must’ve flown ten feet through the air.
And neither one of 'em spilled a drop.
* * *
Uke
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### Author:  [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/16 "2000-04-06T19:50:00Z")
My definition has always been that “if you keep score and/or determine a winner, it’s a game”.
So a sport (which I have always involved physical activity) can be a game and a game can involve a sport, but there are sports that aren’t games and games that aren’t sports.
So, if I’m just off on a ski vacation, it’s a sport.
If I’m competing in the Olympic downhill, it’s a game.
* * *
“Sometimes I think the web is just a big plot to keep people like me away from normal society.” — Dilbert
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2000, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/17 "2000-04-06T20:38:00Z")
I think that in this case Encylopedia Britannica is of more help than the dictionary. I just posted this in another thread, so I’ll repeat it here.
[Encyclopedia Britannica on sports](http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/5/0,5716,114945+1,00.html)
[/quote]
sports
recreational or competitive activities that involve a degree of physical strength or skill. At one time, sports were commonly considered to include only the outdoor recreational pastimes, such as fishing, shooting, and hunting, as opposed to games, which were regarded as organized athletic contests played by teams or individuals according to prescribed rules. The distinction between sports and games has grown less clear, however, and the two terms are now often used interchangeably.
[/quote]
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### Author:  [@Doctordec](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctordec)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2000, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/18 "2000-04-08T02:01:00Z")
## Hunting=Game You don’t even have to pop the Marlboro out of your lips to sqeeze off a shot. But you may want to hold your Bud between your knees lest it throw off your aim. I’d say also that if a fit person can get out of breath doing it, it’s a sport. Running=Sport Swimming=Sport Sex=Sport Marbles=Game
“If it’s free, it’s for me !”
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### Author:  [@Lexicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lexicon)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2000, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/19 "2000-04-07T05:11:00Z")
At family night, we all got into it about this very subject.
What we came up with was this:
“A sport is a competive activity that requires some modicum of physical prowess which can be enhanced through practice. It must have some professional or amateur organizational play, and be regulated officially. Anything else is either a game or a leisure activity/hobby.”
So, from our way of thinking, it goes like this:
Golf=sport
Bowling=sport
Ping-Pong=sport
That retarded olympic event where one guy slides an iron ball on the ice and the guys chase along in front of it with little brooms=sadly, sport
chess=game
darts=sport
pool (billiards)=sport
And so on, you get the idea.
Thoughts?
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Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2000, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sport-vs-game/9915/20 "2000-04-07T10:50:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> That retarded olympic event where one guy slides an iron ball on the ice and the guys chase along in front of it with little brooms
That would be Curling.
* * *
[The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/)
- **Shadow of the Pigeon** -
Weirdo of the Night
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