It's an age old problem. I discussed it at lunch today with four other engineers. They helped me codify my feelings about the word. This is still in flux, but I wanted to post here so Aaron could have an audience to respond. Victoria, as Aaron's nemesis on this one, you are also invited to comment.
- Player-player antagonism I put this one first, because it seems to be my most severe requirement. You must be able to directly affect the other players. Mind games don't count.
- Objective score No judges! Some sort of inarguable point system. Ties are OK.
- Physical finesse It's hard to think what this rules out: most games require a skill.
- Intense physical exertion Some activities have long-term wear and tear on the body, but a real sport will make you sweat and breathe heavy.
- Extended endurance And not just briefly! A sports event – and each player's participation in it – needs to last.
Some popular non-sports:
| Antagonism | Objectivity | Finesse | Intensity | Endurance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poker | ☑ | ☑ | ☒ | ☒ | ☒ |
| Laned sprint | ☒ | ☑ | ☑ | ☑ | ☒ |
| Any lane race: swim sprints, fields sprints, hurdles, etc. – the lanes rule out antagonism. | |||||
| Laned distance | ☒ | ☑ | ☑ | ☑ | ☑ |
| Boxing | ☑ | ☒ | ☑ | ☑ | ☑ |
| Judges' decisions are not inarguable. Fight 'til one can't fight. | |||||
| Golf | ☒ | ☑ | ☑ | ☒ | ☒ |
| Pool | ☑ | ☑ | ☑ | ☒ | ☒ |
| Arm-wrestling | ☑ | ☑ | ☑ | ☑ | ☒ |
| It's a tough fight, but it's a matter of minutes before it's over. | |||||
Obviously I'm being severe in requiring every quality of an activity in order for it to qualify as a sport. It's just a way to start understanding the different parts of it, in my mind. And there's something to be said for varying degrees of each quality – but not here and now.
I must speak to baseball since Aaron likes it, I don't, and it's a particularly tricky analysis. Antagonism, objectivity, and finesse are easy yeses. But intensity and endurance – it's harder to convince me. The pitcher definitely has to endure, but there's not so much intensity. Stealing a base definitely requires an intense sprint, but endurance is not a common concern for a base-runner. The variety within baseball positions means the team as a whole has to have these things in some combination, but no player needs them all. On the other hand, they play everyday. So there's seasonal endurance, but that's a much longer period than I have in mind. American football shares many of these considerations.
Maybe you'll make some claims about sports I didn't cover in the comments? Or – surely not – disagree with me on some I did.
4 comments:
It's hard to think what this rules out: most games require a skill
Tug-of-war. It's got all the others -- endurance is iffy, but you could just do multiple matches -- but the lack of finesse prevents it from being a sport.
Also: hi, how's it going?
Um, I believe that when someone plays poker in a tournament for as many hours as you are awake for a few days, that this may count as endurance. I forget when or for how long they get to sleep. I could look it up but I came here on a whim before attempting, again, to go to sleep toni... This morning.
Since my mind is shot I can't recall if it's specifically physical endurance or mental, because you can get worn down mentally in poker and have it all end pretty quick. Once your morale is gone, it's basically over unless you retain some judgement before you go broke. Or if you "get lucky." And wouldn't it count as physical if you needed to sleep? Gah, sorry. I'm wordy as hell right now. And confused. And starting sentences with "and."
I think your endurance category is too vague, whats the cutoff? Do we throw out table tennis because of the length of time?
Also I don't necessarily agree with the antagonism clause. Mainly because I consider Golf a sport and I am not a fan of Baseball.
Also since I believe in cycling you can't legally hit the other person, wouldn't that negate the antagonism?
For endurance, I think physical conditioning should be an issue in the occasional match, e.g. Tennis. How often does a table tennis player lose because they got tired? I think two players are differentiated by conditioning pretty frequently in pro tennis – so that's an extreme example.
For races that aren't lane based, you can wrestle for position – also an extreme example, but it's non-zero.
That's an interesting case for poker, Stace. Where does mental exhaustion blend with physical? I dunno.
Seth: footwork? Grip? Ehh...
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