Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of blogging about sports. Probably more than I ever have. I guess that’s where my mind is at right now. We’re in the stretch run of the MLB season, college & pro football are both getting started…from a sports perspective, this is my favorite time of the year.
To which, a discussion this week on the definition of sport. I was asked by a friend to explain my position on whether or not NASCAR was a sport. I scoffed, “No way is NASCAR a sport. A skill, yes. But not a sport.”
Amazed at my dogmatism, my friend asked my opinion on cheerleading. I quickly dismissed this, too. “Not a sport.”
My friend replied, “You know, some people would disagree with you, Jason.”
“Well,” I said, “then they would be wrong.”
From this position of arrogance, I will attempt to provide the ultimate definition of sport so as to clear up any misconceptions you all might have.
A sport is an athletic activity requiring physical & mental exertion in a competitive context within a framework of rules. At the end of this competition, a winner must be declared on the basis of skill & merit, not chance.
Is football a sport you ask? Only the greatest sport EVER!
What about baseball? Absolutely!
Basketball? Yup.
Boxing? Man to man pugilism is perhaps the truest form of sport.
Hockey? I guess so, but they lose points for wearing skates.
Soccer? As much as I hate to admit it, it’s a sport.
Tennis? Yeah, but it’s kind of a girlie one.
Golf? Yes, it’s a sport. (Granted, it’s not as physically demanding as boxing or football, but that doesn’t negate the athleticism necessary to play golf competitively. Hey, they still have to walk to course. Except for Casey Martin.)
So what about NASCAR? Well, to begin with, it’s not an athletic activity. If it were an athletic activity, the drivers would race each other…on foot. NASCAR drivers rely too heavily on their equipment, namely their cars, for it to be considered true athletic competition. Now, to be fair, each sport will necessarily rely on a certain amount of equipment — balls, bats, pucks, rackets, etc. But here’s my point: Tiger could probably win a tournament using my clubs (even though they’re left-handed), but I wouldn’t put any money on Dale Jr. at Talladega in my mini-van. Driving a car around a track at that speed is certainly a skill. But then again, so is flying an airplane. I don’t see a lot of Inside the Cockpit programming on ESPN2 these days. And let’s face it: these guys aren’t exactly the most athletic guys around. I mean, have you seen Tony Stewart?
This begs the question: Is horse-racing a sport? Yes…for the horses. But for the jockeys? Come on. Give me a break.
Sport is different from skill. Throwing darts, skill. Pitching horseshoes, a skill (although a very helpful one).
There’s also a difference between sport and game. Checkers, game, not a sport. Pool, a great game, but not a sport.
Based on my definition, I guess you could include cheerleading as a sport IF they were cheering at some kind of competition or something. But it still doesn’t feel right to call it a sport.
I’m up in the air on bowling. I like it, but it’s probably less physically demanding than NASCAR, so I might have a hard time defending that. But then again, if cheerleading is a sport….
Ah, who cares. Cheerleading’s not a sport but bowling is. There you have it, folks. Feel free to tell me how wrong you think I am.
already & not yet 
Based on your opinion, does this mean we can hope for an uprising and ESPN will be forced to quit showing Poker? That has seriously been a pet peeve since poker has gotten so popular lately. I yell and scream at the tv when I see poker on the ESPN’s and my husband just laughs. And I do agree, NASCAR is not a sport.
I would even question boxing. If they do not KO the other fighter. Anything that can be “judged” is questionable. IE: Figure Skating, Gymnastics. You are competing for a score that is subjective to a judge. I think the truest sports are the ones where there is a clear cut winner by looking at the score, time, etc…
Waiting on you to comment on my top ten video games kennysimpson.blogspot.comI know a shameless plug…
What determines ‘athletic’? Look at John Daly, seriously, you would think walking 18 holes on the PGA tour would have some effect on the ol’ spare tire. NASCAR is a sport based on “physical & mental exertion in a competitive context within a framework of rules. At the end of this competition, a winner must be declared on the basis of skill & merit, not chance.” Now to define athletic you would have to be involved in a “physical & mental exertion”. Sure Tiger could play with your clubs and I could “run behind that Denver o-line” – isn’t that what you said in drafting their running back for fantasy football. So then does that discount football as a sport? You say “have you seen Tony Stewart?”, well, have you seen John Daly, Warren Sapp, David Wells, Keith Traylor, Buster Douglas, and hmmmm who else is fat, oh yeah, Jerod Lorenz. And everysport aside from track relies too heavily on their equipment otherwise how would you play baseball with out a ball, bat, glove, football w/o ball, helmet, pads, golf w/o clubs, ( I haven’t seen anyone playing with a shovel and bat). Do we call church softball a sport? Not a whole lot of athleticism displayed there. Weak argument.
I agree with you in saying that cheerleading is not a sport. Even though they have competitions, as Kenny mentioned, the outcome is based on judgements, not a goal made, etc. But, I have to say this is the first year we have found some actual athletes on the cheer squad. It takes physical exertion to tumble, flip and twist your body while flying through the air at high speeds. As shameful as it feels to say it, we’ve actually recruited most of them for track!
I would actually say nascar is closer to a sport than boxing or other sports where judging is needed. But do not think it or golf would qualify. They are skills, not sports. Yes there are fat men in football, but I’d rather take on John Daily, Tony Stewart, than the aforementioned group of football players.
aforementioned – nice word
I think another way you can look at defining a sport is the skill involved. As hard as I try, I could never successfully hit against Randy Johnson.I could never get hit by Ray Lewis and get up to talk about it.I could never drive a golf ball as far as Tiger Woods.I can’t score a goal in soccer, I can’t even ice skate, and to do a flip in the air or hold a girl for 2 minutes above my shoulders…nope, never could do that either.But come on, I drive a car every stinking day. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. I even take care of my own car, The NASCAR guys don’t even put their own gas in their cars.I think Physical and Mental exertion is a good way to look at it. Lots of people go on Sunday Drives, these guys just do it faster and do it for money.No one will ever convince me that NASCAR, Truck Series, or any other kind of auto racing is a sport. I will have to say though that after being a teacher at a school where there was a top notch cheer program, that I do believe that certain groups of cheerleaders are athletes (the ones that cheered for us at FCS when we were there as the Sixth Man, no way).
Wait, you think football is the greatest sport ever?
Kenny, I get what you’re saying about boxing being judged. But the idea that we’re gonna get two dudes and let them wail on each other until one of ’em gets knocked out…that’s like the truest definition of sport. No team, just you and your opponent. But it does stink when they have to go to the score cards.And by the way, I did weigh in on your video game post. RBI Baseball, baby.
Jon, I get what you’re saying. And like I said in my original post, each sport relies on “equipment” to a certain degree. But with NASCAR, the outcome is determined more by vehicle performance than driver’s physical ability. Thus, not a sport. I’ll admit the Tony Stewart jab was a low blow. I was wondering how long it would take before David Wells’ name would enter into the equation. Don’t forget Cecil Fielder either. Dude weighed 350 with one foot on the scale.
Jamey, you’re right, cheerleading ain’t a sport. You can have athletes that cheer, but no way is it sport.
Lane, I’m with you man. NASCAR’s no more a sport than riding your bicycle through your neighborhood. Scott, I’m caught up in euphoric state because the NFL returns tonight. Football is the second greatest sport behind baseball.
So would the Tour De France be a sport. I think it would.
I don’t know. It’s definitely more of a sport than NASCAR, but you rely on the equipment pretty heavily there, too. The difference, however, would be that the bike is powered by physical exertion, not gas. So yeah, it could be a sport.
I think a distinction on equipment is needed here. As stated above, equipment is necessary in EVERY sport…even track, but especially field. However, the equipment in sports tend to be equal in their ability to do their required task. The difference is in who uses the equipment. Tiger’s clubs are just as good as any other person’s on the tour. He just uses them with better precision. This holds true for all sports I can think of.NASCAR, on the other hand, separates itself from this discussion by relying too much on the equipment being used. Sponsorship has everything to do with the kind of car a driver has at his (or her) disposal. Yes, it’s true that you still need someone with skill to drive that car (i.e. I couldn’t take Jimmy Johnson’s car and do with it what he could), but my guess is that two equally talented drivers will be separated by the better car. Therefore, NASCAR is NOT a sport because the car, and not the driver, makes the difference.
Good analysis T.H.
TH has been known to be rather analytical.
Man, my clip art for this post is pretty hideous.
Oh I don’t think the clip art is hideous..from a graphic designer’s point of view, my first thought was how retro it was.
Cool. I’m glad you liked it. Sunny said it looked bad.
I’m tired of people trying to defend NASCAR as a sport by saying, “Oh, but it’s really hard. I’ll bet you couldn’t do it!”. Well, you know what, giving birth is really hard too, but I’m not about to call it a sport.There’s only thing I think you are missing from the definition (and let me know if you think I’m wrong on this). There should be a clear cut, INDEFINATE winner. It should not be based on JUDGEMENT. Therefore, I don’t think that diving, gymnastics, cheerleading, and figure skating are sports. Oh, and syncronized swimming? Are you kidding me?Now, you will say that boxing falls under that category, but not so fast my friend! Ever heard of KOs and TKOs? Uh huh… That’s a MAN’S sport, doggy. Don’t knock it.