Your "How's that a sport?" moments

[NightmareExpress]

You don't seem to understand that intelligence and skill are physical abilities. Also, the best e-sport pros are actually in decent shape, because they exercise to keep their head clear. People like Idra and WhiteRa are not unhealthy.

You can think without acting, whereas to act you must think. Skill is mostly dictated by how often one does the latter.
On their own, skill and intelligence are not physical abilities but an indicator/measure of physical and mental potential/standing. They come as a result of physical ability.

And two people in shape for eSports in comparison to entire rosters and organizations dating back hundreds of years for conventional sports. I'm liking those numbers.

 

[Ishal]

Hoo boy this was a fun thread to read.

I like how the more obscure sports are classified as "not-sports" by a lot of people. Those are the ones that are always more interesting to me. Cliff diving I've always enjoyed because its one of those fringe "sports". I just love how they cast themselves from a cliff and hold a perfect form as they fall. That takes guts.

I tend to find most team sports boring. American Football and Basket Ball never clicked with me, and their fans never seem to click either.

I suppose NASCAR since its dreadfully boring. I think a lot of folks who like cars like F1 and NASCAR and not for the competitive aspect of the actual drivers. I've heard in NASCAR the drivers lose tons of weight do to sweat being in their so long in those suits. E-sports.. eh. I'm neutral on that, I don't think physicality is necessary for something to be called a sport. To me its always been about an individual or group of individuals taking time to master their craft and abilities at something, then competing against similar individuals. In that respect e-sports is a sport.

 

[ReadyAmyFire]

I'm actually surprised there's been so little people saying motorsport isn't a sport. I was all ready to jump to its defense and everything.

It requires a certain kind of fitness I suppose, dealing more with muscle fatigue and sheer heat. Kazuki Nakajima trained by playing tennis then running 10km in his race suit and helmet, in a tropical country, and he was crap.

They also have stupidly strong hands, I shook Lewis Hamilton's once, he almost broke mine

 

[Flatfrog]

Dressage, for me. It's less about the skill of the rider, and more about how much cash they have to spend on a horse. If the horse decides that maybe it just doesn't want to perform that day, you're shit out of luck.

Plus I can't take their little horse dances seriously. It looks ridiculous.

Ridiculous or not, you're wrong about the skill level. It requires a huge amount of skill to control a horse that precisely, it's absolutely not just down to the horse. And incidentally the same applies to the post above you regarding motor racing.

OT, I think it's kind of an empty question because it just depends on your definition of sport.

 

[Denamic]

You don't seem to understand that intelligence and skill are physical abilities. Also, the best e-sport pros are actually in decent shape, because they exercise to keep their head clear. People like Idra and WhiteRa are not unhealthy.

You can think without acting, whereas to act you must think. Skill is mostly dictated by how often one does the latter.
On their own, skill and intelligence are not physical abilities but an indicator/measure of physical and mental potential/standing. They come as a result of physical ability.

Something tells me you didn't think this through.
By this logic, pro-gamers got their skills through physical ability.

And two people in shape for eSports in comparison to entire rosters and organizations dating back hundreds of years for conventional sports. I'm liking those numbers.

Excuse me for not making a complete list of people who are in shape.
At least I mentioned two people, which is infinitely more than what you mentioned. I'm liking those numbers.
Let's not be infantile.

 

[Cazza]

It seems like whenever a competition has enough of a following it's called a sport.

I bet if enough people wanted to roll down grassy hills sideways it would be called a sport. Now does make it a good sport? Maybe not to some but you get my point.

Not quite always rolling down a hill but it's pretty damn close haha

Spoiler: Cheese Rolling

I thought someone would prove an example of something like this. I had a feeling that what I was thinking of was a real thing.

Nobody said a sport has to be serious or extremely competitive. I would call that a sport. It's a competition with a following.

 

[Thaluikhain]

IMHO, to me, a sport is any physical activity where it can be impartially decided who the winner is.

For example, if the winner is determined to be "first one to reach point B from point A", then that's fine, anyone can read the rules, look at the results, and work out who won.

Likewise, if it's the person/team with the most points from doing X,Y and Z. You can tell who that is. Maybe some referees to keep an eye of things and make sure the rules are being followed, but otherwise the spectators could independantly determine who has won, even if the points system is strange and convoluted.

When you need expert judges to give marks, especially when you need a bunch of them because they can't all agree, then, IMHO, it's not a sport.

What about Boxing or MMA? The outcome can be VERY impartially decided, but many times, judges are required. Are they sports?

If the judges are required, IMHO, it's not a sport, at least in that particular instance.

 

[NightmareExpress]

You don't seem to understand that intelligence and skill are physical abilities. Also, the best e-sport pros are actually in decent shape, because they exercise to keep their head clear. People like Idra and WhiteRa are not unhealthy.

You can think without acting, whereas to act you must think. Skill is mostly dictated by how often one does the latter.
On their own, skill and intelligence are not physical abilities but an indicator/measure of physical and mental potential/standing. They come as a result of physical ability.

Something tells me you didn't think this through.
By this logic, pro-gamers got their skills through physical ability.

I thought it through a bit too much, actually.
Physical ability can be defined as simply being able to do things.
Skill comes out of that, and intelligence has a plethora of definitions on it's own. So to an extent you are correct, if not only because physical ability is a blanket term that can cover even a state of vegetation so long as the individual has control of their limbs and me being somewhat lenient in regards to semantics.

At least I mentioned two people, which is infinitely more than what you mentioned. I'm liking those numbers.
Let's not be infantile.

Wayne Gretzky, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Muhammed Ali, Johnny Wilkinson, Tiger Woods.
Six stars to two, and I didn't really need to list anybody famous. Even a minor league team could probably suffice. I'm not being infantile, I'm just saying that in broad comparison you'd be having to do a lot more research for far less results.

 

[Creator002]

While my opinion may be a little invalid since I don't watch often, I'm going to say wrestling. As in the WWE. To me, if feels like a soap opera broken up by people fighting every now and again. I know that they have to train and the matches are quite physical, but more than 90% of the time, it just feels like people threatening and mocking each other for ten or so minutes.

Also, different topic, but there was this in a recent match (taken from WWE.com): "Heyman couldn't resist twisting the knife anyway, needling The King of Kings with crass quips about his wife, Stephanie McMahon."
Well I happened to watch that part of the show at a friend's place. Want to know what the "crass quip" was? It was something along the lines of "Whoever wins the match gets your wife."
Well now. I know trash-talking is a big part of sports, but really? To make the prize of a wrestling match someone's wife? Christ, I'd like to see a video game try that.

 

[King Aragorn]

While my opinion may be a little invalid since I don't watch often, I'm going to say wrestling. As in the WWE. To me, if feels like a soap opera broken up by people fighting every now and again. I know that they have to train and the matches are quite physical, but more than 90% of the time, it just feels like people threatening and mocking each other for ten or so minutes.

Also, different topic, but there was this in a recent match (taken from WWE.com): "Heyman couldn't resist twisting the knife anyway, needling The King of Kings with crass quips about his wife, Stephanie McMahon."
Well I happened to watch that part of the show at a friend's place. Want to know what the "crass quip" was? It was something along the lines of "Whoever wins the match gets your wife."
Well now. I know trash-talking is a big part of sports, but really? To make the prize of a wrestling match someone's wife? Christ, I'd like to see a video game try that.

Considering everyone it's scripted, it's why no one bothers. I don't know how to explain it in words, but in a game, it actually ''is'' in the universe, but in here, it isn't....
I don't think there should be a difference between both, but it's my speculations as to why.

Hope this makes even remote sense.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Wow. Not that I expected a strong acceptance of sports on a gaming site, but I mean come on. If it's competetive and a very clear test of skill wherein one party proves they're better than the other at something, calling it "not a sport" seems kind of ridiculous. That said, how the hell did curling become a thing? Explaining it to somebody makes you sound like a 5 year old.

Spoiler: Seriously, try to put to words what you're seeing right here

 

[Raikas]

Snip

Now this however, is done properly. and trust me, you are completely exhausted after half a minute.
Takes precision, concentration, definite skill and a whole lot more

He didn't say it wasn't exhausting, he said it was more dance than fight - dancing is exhausting and takes precision, concentration and skill as well, so that doesn't actually disprove his point (and there is actually a decent amount of skills cross-over between certain martial arts and certain types of dance).


Personally, I'm okay with judged patterns/dance/gymnastics/etc. as sports - but if someone isn't then at least this is consistant.

If it's competetive and a very clear test of skill wherein one party proves they're better than the other at something, calling it "not a sport" seems kind of ridiculous. That said, how the hell did curling become a thing? Explaining it to somebody makes you sound like a 5 year old.

I'm with you on the defining parts of a sport, but curling is actually a hell of a lot harder than it looks. Still boring as anything to watch (although I know people who follow it), but totally competitive and something that takes skill.

 

[Creator002]

Considering everyone it's scripted, it's why no one bothers. I don't know how to explain it in words, but in a game, it actually ''is'' in the universe, but in here, it isn't....
I don't think there should be a difference between both, but it's my speculations as to why.

Hope this makes even remote sense.

Yeah, but there presents the problem, at least from my perspective. In the WWE's universe, that comment was made under the guise of Heyman's character (not his actual self) and this makes it "in universe" of the WWE's storyline and lore. In a game, it's the exact same context, but instead of it being ignored, the developer and publisher, as well as gamers by association, would get a ton of flak from multiple places (mainly media).
But as I said, it's a different topic to the OT, so, while this may warrant discussion, this thread isn't really the appropriate place. If you, or anyone, wants to open up a new thread somewhere, or just want to say something to me direct via PM, go ahead. I don't want my post to be the cause of a thread derailment.

Also, if this comes off as pretentious or as if I'm trying to avoid discussion, I'm sorry. That's not my intention, I just can't word it better without accidentally setting such a tone.

 

[King Aragorn]

Considering everyone it's scripted, it's why no one bothers. I don't know how to explain it in words, but in a game, it actually ''is'' in the universe, but in here, it isn't....
I don't think there should be a difference between both, but it's my speculations as to why.

Hope this makes even remote sense.

Yeah, but there presents the problem, at least from my perspective. In the WWE's universe, that comment was made under the guise of Heyman's character (not his actual self) and this makes it "in universe" of the WWE's storyline and lore. In a game, it's the exact same context, but instead of it being ignored, the developer and publisher, as well as gamers by association, would get a ton of flak from multiple places (mainly media).
But as I said, it's a different topic to the OT, so, while this may warrant discussion, this thread isn't really the appropriate place. If you, or anyone, wants to open up a new thread somewhere, or just want to say something to me direct via PM, go ahead. I don't want my post to be the cause of a thread derailment.

Also, if this comes off as pretentious or as if I'm trying to avoid discussion, I'm sorry. That's not my intention, I just can't word it better without accidentally setting such a tone.

And yes, I totally agree. But it probably stems from the fact that A:
Wrestling being actual people rather than digital, I guess that could have some sort of ''impact'' on the situations, and the fact that gaming has lots of stigma formed behind it.

Oh well, just thought i'd add that last bit, now, OT:
An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others.
That's the official definition of sports. So in my eyes, most things fit this criteria, so they're sports.
eSports...that's a bit tough. I can't really say their sports tbh.

 

[aba1]

Racing. Not like track and field, I get that. I mean auto racing. I just don't get how that is actually a sport. A competition, sure. But a sport?

Also, e-sports as a genre. Sorry, League of Legends, I enjoy you, but you're not a sport.

I don't really consider video games a sport either. That isn't to say I don't think they take skill or are incredibly competitive I just don't see them as having a physical component to make them a sport. I just consider them to be a highly competitive game which doesn't make them any less or more than a sport just different is all.

 

[aba1]

'eSports', although I'm not sure if they're really considered sports or they're just called that to give them some validation.

Pro gaming I can understand, But don't compare sitting on your ass playing video games to actual sports.

Not every sport has to be physical.

Definition of sport XD

"an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment"

Don't get me wrong I think star craft etc take a LOT of skill but they are not a sport. They are competitive games and there is nothing wrong with that, it does not make them less than sports only different.

 

[Darkasassin96]

For the longest time I thought I didnt like any sport. They all just seemed kind of pointless to me. Its not even like I am physically unactive, I workout and jog but they never held any appeal to me. I played soccer for a year, and football, I never had any fun playing them or watching them. It was something I couldn't put my finger on for the longest time, then I discovered the MMA and it all became clear. To me a sport has to give you a reason to want to win other than a big old number reflecting badly on you. These people are getting the shit kicked out of them and the whole sport is trying not to get the shit kicked out of you. If there is no physical danger to yourself then why would it be entertaining. So then I started searching for sports outside of hitting people that could also pose that kind of danger. The only one I could find was that game the mayans played where if you lost your head was chopped off and used as the ball. So the only sport I consider a real sport is one that involves actual physical danger to yourself. Boxing doesn't count because those gloves are comically oversized. and they wear helmets, which kind of defeats the purpose.