What is and is not a sport?

I guess I'll just have to trust you never to use the word "gymnasium" again when referring to "real" sports.

 

My off-the-cuff definition: Has a winner and a loser, both of whom use physical ability that they hone with practice.

 

I wholeheartedly endorse this opinion.

Bottom line: sports are competitive athletic endeavors where winners are determined by objective means, not "judges" giving subjective opinions. I can perhaps give Boxing/MMA a pass to the "no judges" rule because it is possible to knock the other guy out and win without leaving it to the judges. But any judged endeavor that involves artistic points, musical scores or frilly outfits is expressly non-negotiably out.

 

AMEN! Gymnasitcs and figure skating take a lot of athletic ability but a true sport does not determine its winner via a panel of judges using subjective measures that are expressed as numbers to make them appear to be objective.

BTW, a boxing match that goes to a decision is not a sport either...

 

Interesting discussion and is a very subjective thing. When it comes to my opinion, it totally depends on what we're talking about. Cheerleading, while it takes athleticism, isn't a sport to me. However, things like gymnastics or even figure skating are sports.
The cheerleading as sports discussion didn't even get started until relatively recently. If it's something like that, where the discussion of whether it's a sport didn't get started until lately, then it's not a sport.

 

Change the rules of the "sports."

Give someone a list of dives to complete (on the day of the event) with a set standard of size of maximum splash.

I thought ski jumping was about distance?

 

Under this definition I guess that means 1-meter and 3-meter diving as well as synchronized swimming aren't sports either.

 

The Spelling Bee is also on ESPN. Is that a sport too?

 

Montgomery Brewster bet on field hockey $50,000 on Loyola over Notre Dame.

 

Believe we've got a broken sarcasm detector here.

 

In these threads, "not a sport" always means "I don't want to cover that crap.'

 

And/or "I don't want to watch it on TV."