Your "How's that a sport?" moments

[Yuuki]

Whoever said cricket isn't a sport, how dare you! It's one of the most technically complex sports in existence, especially for the batsman. He has to calculate the ball's speed, line, length, bounce, swing/spin, while factoring in pitch surface, dryness/humidity, ball age/condition, etc all less than 0.5 seconds and hit it with a piece of wood that is 4 inches wide (while making sure it doesn't go to one of the 11 people who can potentially catch it)...it can take literally DECADE or more to master! The conditions/factors constantly change in every match, even the ground size can vary!

What I think is really weird as a sport - diving. I see how it's somewhat related to gymnastics, but the scoring system completely flies over my head.

Another thing (slightly OT) I don't get is what classifies as an Olympic sport or not. There are some absolutely ridiculous sports in the Olympics (e.g. Soccer, WTF?) that would make an ancient olympian seriously wonder what the hell happened.

 

[RedDeadFred]

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.

Fully agree with you about e-sports.

Racing does actually require some physicality for dealing with G-forces and having amazing reflexes. Sure it's not as much of a requirement as some but I still think it's a sport.

For me, it's gotta be darts and curling. This is coming from a Canadian btw, a guy who is supposed to be proud of curling. More of a game of strategy and precision.

I think sports need to be physically demanding. You should be able to work up a sweat.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Golf. Seriously Golf. I know it takes skill, it's a very hard game, but seriously, it's not a bloody sport. Sports to me involve breaking a sweat.

I have a rule. If I can turn up to it in chino's and a pink flat cap, and no-one calls me a prick, it's not a sport.

As you've already taken Golf, I'm going to go with Darts. I actually despise Darts more, but Golf is just the more prevalent one.

Honestly, whoever went to a pub and thought "The beer and conversation is nice, but what would really make this night out complete is if I could spend the whole thing standing up, doing maths!" is not someone I want to have a drink with. Even if I did, Professional Darts is a fucking ridiculous affair, where obese men in shirts even larger and more ludicrous than they are take it in turns to demonstrate their prowess with their wanking wrist, which is usually decorated with some gaudy signet ring, because they think their upholding some kind of traditional 'London Geezer' culture that was outmoded and embarrassing back in the fucking 70's.

On the opposite end of the scale, Professional Arm-Wrestling is rib-crackingly hilarious, and we need to see more of it televised.

 

[Saladfork]

1) Bobsled

Seriously, what is this? The factors that determine who win are a) the design on the sled (and I think olympians all use the same design), b) the weight of the sledders, and c) The speed at which you push your sled during the 4-5 seconds before you jump in. Why is this a sport?

2) Figure skating

Yes, yes, figure skating is a highly physical activity that requires coordination and a great deal of fitness, but again, why is this an olympic sport?

In things like Hockey, or Fencing, or even skiing, there is an empirical, objective way to determine who won (who got the most points, who was the first to the finish line, etc.) but in figure skating, how do you judge who did better? The crazy thing is I've heard that the choice of song plays a factor. What does the choice of song have to do with determining who is the better figure skater!?