As defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary sport is a physical activity engaged in for pleasure, or a particular activity such as an athletic game.
However I must say this question of "exactly what is a sport" has come up more than once in my home and the best definition I’ve found was that of my older brothers:
A sport is something that cannot be beat whereas a game can.
What this means is that the major professional sports (football, baseball, basketball, and I guess I’ll even throw in soccer) fall under this preferred definition as a sport.
In these sports the object is not to beat the game but to beat the opponent. However a game like golf or bowling is just that, a game. In these games the object is not to beat the opponent it’s to beat the game.
In golf there’s par: you get under par, you’ve beat the hole; stay under par the whole course, you’ve beat the course.
In the case of the video game, even when played with an opponent, because you’re still playing the game itself it’s not a sport.
Most games are made with the intent of the human playing the computer, this is the case in most war games or role playing games where the goal is to beat the game.
You can point out that in most fighting games and sport games you can play an opponent but even in those a bulk of the game is intended for the human to play the computer.
That’s why arcade mode comes before versus and dynasty modes are made so elaborate because those are the intended paths of play.
Where this definition becomes tricky is in the case of something like poker, it’s easy to make the argument that the object of the game is to beat the opponent, making it a sport under this definition.
However I can’t bring myself to allow this particular game to be called a sport. So I’ll adapt my definition, if only to keep poker out of the sport category, and change it to…
A sport is a physical activity or game that cannot be beat.
This eliminates poker, and pretty much any other game you can play by yourself. So there you have it the official Ken Sheehan definition that makes things like football, soccer, and badminton sports and defines games such as poker solitaire and golf as just that.
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about 1 month ago
Interesting definition, although still arbitrary. Under your definition walking, breathing and sleeping just became sports. Not physical enough? OK, how about dancing, sit ups and clapping?
Oh, and who's to say shooting under par is "beating" golf. The ideal golf score for 18 holes is 18...and it's not yet been done and I dare say never will on a real golf course. Par is just a number, but nobody beats golf just like nobody beats skiing or surfing--it's always possible to do it better.
from about 1 month ago
Well played. Although I will point out that speed walking is an olympic event, and even though I'm pretty sure it's not what you meant figure skating is refered to as ice dancing at the olympics. And if par is just a number then what purpose does it serve? And if being under par isn't beating the course than how do you know you played well?
from about 1 month ago
How do you know when you do anything well: you compare your achievements to others. If you break the world speed walking record is that beating walking? If you make every shot in a basketball game is that beating basketball?
Oh, and you may not be aware that not just ice dancing, but real ballroom dancing was also an Olympic demonstration "sport" a few years back. And they've even discussed having chess in the Olympics. I daresay that defining a sport as something included in the Olympics is even a bit dicey.
from about 1 month ago
Well, technically breaking par in golf actually is beating the course. The "ideal" score in golf is not 18. That would just be a perfect score.
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