What, exactly, constitutes a "sport?"

In My Humble Opinion
1

I got into a discussion with some of my students yesterday about the difference between a sport, a competition, and a game. We couldn’t come up with any definitions that seemed to delineate these activities clearly. Everybody agreed that baseball, for example, was all three. But what about auto racing? Or horse racing? Chess? The example that stumped everyone, and provoked the most discussion, was cheerleading. It is definately a competition…but is it a sport? I don’t think it can be called a game, either.

So I ask the Enlightened Brethren (and Sistren) of the SDMB…what is the difference between the three?

2

I’ve thought about this for a long time, and I think this is what I’d consider a sport; any competition that, at a professional or semi-professional level, requires a high level of physical conditioning.

Not that I’d steadfastly stick to even that definition.

3

I don’t think that there is any rule that you can come up with to clearly distinguish the three of them, because they seem like they’re part of a larger group.

The way I see it, it would be like asking what the difference is between a pet, a dog, and a Poodle.

4

IMHO, I think any activity that scores are determined by objective means is a sport, and any activity where participants are judged would be a competition. In a sport the team that scores the most goals, or the runner who makes it to the finish line first wins, however, in a competion, the skater who impresses the judges the most wins. But i wouldnt say that athletic ability determines whether an activity is a sport or a competition. In relation to sports vs games, a sport is sort of a game that requires more athletic ability, but there are those middle of the orad ones, like pool.

5

[hijack]This seems as good a place as any…

Can someone tell me what the deal is with ski jumping? The last Winter Olympics clued me in to the fact that there is a judged component to each jumper’s score, which just seems absurd to me. Here we have a sport/competition that has an easily quantifiable score - distance. You jump further than me, you win. I jump further, I win. Nope, that’s not the case. Not only do I have to jump further, but I have to make sure I do it more aesthetically pleasing than you do (or at least pleasing enough to not lose).

In my opinion, the world of ski jumping should reward the guy/gal who can get the farther. Flap your arms, fart, flail about like a windmill, I don’t care. Whatever gets you to a point the farthest than any other person that day, you get a hunk of gold.

What has this world come to?

[/hijack]

As per the OP, I agree with WCOT@. But I’m unsure as to how I would classify a game. Certainly, chess is a game, and not a sport (per my definition). Could it possibly be a category that is defined by exclusion (if it’s not a sport or a competition, but has a winner, it’s a game)?

6

I found a quote relative to sport/game that I think goes to the OP… not sure about competition …

"If you can smoke while you play it, it’s a game. Otherwise it’s a sport."

7

Munch - That’s sort of like the difference between competing in Show Jumping and Hunt Seat riding. In Show Jumping, a rider is judges solely on how clearly they go (not bringing down any fences) and how quickly. In Hunt Seat you’re judged on how you look going over the fences and how you ride your horse. They are two different disciplines. However, generally the most successful show jumpers are those with the best technique.

8

The definition I learned was:

A contest of physical skill played for its own intrinsic purpose that determines a winner through an objective criteria.

Chess is therefore not a sport, since it is not really a test of PHYSICAL skill. Billiards, however, is a sport.

9

I smoke and wear glasses when I play pool :cool:

10

That would mean that several of the Olympic “sports” don’t really count as such. Figure skating, diving, acrobatic skiing, gymnastics… They’d fall under your definition of “competition” but not “sport”, because they’re all judged subjectively (Yes, there are guidelines, but we all know how easily the judges can be influenced). Can we still call the participants athletes?

In my mind, I’ve always figured that if you break a sweat or it wears you out, it’s a sport. And all sports are a form of competition.

11

I can get behind that.

12

Disclaimer: The following response is my method of defining these terms, and is not intended to be read as being what I think are the only way to define them, merely one system that I think would work well.

They’re not distinct. I would say that sport is a specific subdivision of game, which is a subdivision of competition, which is a subdivision of activity. Thus all sports are games, and all games are competitions, but the reverse is not true. This is not hard and fast, though, and has some exceptions.

I would define a competition as any activity in which one person’s achievement is judged against another’s. An art exhibit or a county fair is a competion, but not a game or a sport. A job interview is a competition.

A game would be characterized by a standarized set of rules, equipment, and venues, simultaneous or alternating participation by the contestants in the same venue, the ability to directly or indirectly affect your opponent’s play, and a scoring system involving at least some objective component to determine a winner. Monopoly is a game, as is Baseball.

A sport is a subset of game that would involve all of the above conditions, in addition to which the contest would need to primarily involve some test of physical ability, be in strength, speed, stamina, endurance, balance, eye-hand coordination, etc, and must have wide-spread participation.

A couple of things to emphasize in these definitions. To be a game, it would have to involve at least some objective measures, but by no means all.

Given these definitions, let’s examine into which categories some activities would fall. Keep in mind that these are cumulative; by these definitions, all sports are games, and all games are competitions, but not all competitions are games and not all games are sports.

Art exhibit: Competition
Darts: Sport
Chess: Game
Jogging: Physical activity
road racing: sport
cheerleading (at a sporting event): physical activity
cheerleading (at a cheerleading competition): sport
bodybuilding: competition
fishing or hunting(when done competetively): competition
fishing (done for recreation): Physical activity
auto racing: sport
bridge: game
roofball (an activity invented by my brother and I that can only be played at our childhood home): game.
bowling: sport

13

It has always been thus, and thus it shall remain, as long as the FIS (the International Skiing Federation) continues to be the most conservative sport federation on this or any other known world. They’re still getting used to the idea that girls can jump, without the world coming to an end or any of the delicate creatures dying in the process.

At least the aesthetic criteria are pretty clear-cut: stay as still as possible, don’t let your skis wobble, and get as close to a Telemark landing as you can. All skiers are working towards the same “perfection”, so the judge’s individual preferences are not supposed to matter. (In the past they have, and standards have changed, but let’s not complicate this more than we have to.) And distance counts for more than aesthetics. Unless the guy who jumps the furthest falls, he usually gets the most points for that round. Note that it’s the total points over (typically) four rounds, not the score for an individual jump, that determines the winner.

14

just a quick response…

under the definition i described…
participants in both sports and competitions are athletes, because they both require physical skill to perform the required tasks… but i think i poined that out when making the distinction between the two.

on second thought, maybe pool was a bad description of a middle of the road sport, auto racing would be a better description…

15

I agree with many of the above. To me, meeting any of the criteria below would disqualify an activity as a sport:

1- No sweating or chance of injury. Sorry chess & poker, this means you are a game.
2- Subjective judging. Sorry gymnastics, you are a competition.
3- People in their mid-teens competing at the highest levels. Sorry any number of “sports”, but I just can’t take you seriously if a 15yr old can be ranked in the top ten. Try harder.

I know there are more, I’m trying to came up with examples. I guess I would exclude golf on the “chance of injury” clause, but I’m still up in the air on that one. Auto racing qualifies, I’m going to assume sweat there. OTOH, I would only include horse racing if you consider the horse to be the “athelete”, not the little dude on top. Hmmm… seems further consideration is required…

16

What about ballet?

17

Yep. This is why I threw it out to the board. Every time we thought we had it nailed down, it slithered away. :smiley:

18

[QUOTE=BlackNGold]
I agree with many of the above. To me, meeting any of the criteria below would disqualify an activity as a sport:

2- Subjective judging. Sorry gymnastics, you are a competition.
[\QUOTE]

I disagree with you here. Most sports have some form of subjective judging. Football: Spotting the ball. Forward Progress. Did the ball break the plane of the goal line? Basketball: Charging or blocking? Soccer: Yellow cards, red cards. Did the goalie move early? Baseball: Balls and strikes, the most important aspect of the game, is entirely subjective. If a game has officials making judgement calls, it has subjective judging.

I’d make the criterion whether there were some objective criteria involved in scoring and determining a winner. Gymnasitcs certainly qualify in this regard.

Anita Nall and Janet Evans were both world champions and held world records in their mid-teens. By your criterion, women’s swimming wouldn’t be a sport, but men’s would. That’s just silly.

19

with regards to number six’s comments about subjective judging… i would go as far as to say that most or maybe even all activities that involve an officiating party judgement calls are being made, and it is possible to make a bad call. But on the other hand regardless of the skill of the pitcher or the attempted pitch, a strike’s a strike, and a ball’s a ball.

20

So according to your definitions if me and my mates decided to have a, ahem, masterbating competition because it is demonstrating physical skill and the results are determined not by judges, but by “fastest first” it means it would qualify as a sport?