Sports
2006.01.12–Alfred, Ohio. Sports are pretty peculiar. Team sports are even more so. The primary definition is:
- sport
- An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.
The key points to this are: physical exertion, skill, rules, and competition.
The earliest known sports were the famous games in Ancient Greece known as the Olympics. Track events if you will. How fast can a person run in a short distance, for a long distance, over hurdles? How far can you jump, how high, how high with an assist from a pole? How far can you throw a javelin, a weight, etc. How fast can you swim, using various strokes? Note that in each event, there is little or no physical contact. Except for a relay race, each participant would compete as an individual rather than a team (though I’m fairly certain they represented various regions). Each pass the definition of a sport.
Eventually someone added a ball to the equation and golf was born. Team sports really took off with the ball. Baseball, basketball, soccer, cricket, volleyball, and many others quickly come to mind. In each, the rules and customs of the sport limit physical contact with opponents. These will also pass for sports when played properly.
I’m OK with most winter sports such as downhill skiing. Ice skating seems a little iffy to me as I find it very difficult to be objective in the scoring. I think it more of an art but won’t quibble about it if you insist that it is a sport. I do appreciate the physical exertion and skill required to do it well.
Polo is probably a sport even though horses are involved as the skill of the rider would need to be at least equal to that of the horse.
Horseback racing is stretching the definition and would be doubtful in my mind because the horse is doing the majority of the physical exertion. The jockey no doubt have some skill in handling the horses but I think their lack of weight is the primary advantage they add.
Auto racing also seems to me very questionable since the car is doing the exertion (sorry Lisa). The drivers no doubt have skill and exert themselves but I think the car itself probably outweighs the skill of the driver.
Skeet and target practice have similar problems. There is not much physical exertion involved.
If the rules or customs include deliberate harm to another, I can’t call it a wholesome sporting activity even if the rules allow for it. That leaves out a few common activities that are generally considered sports.
- hunting
- boxing
- football
I KNOW that this will inflame some readers but it is the way I think and feel. Feel free to disagree. Hunting with a gun, bow and arrow, or fishing rod just doesn’t seem any more of a sport to me than setting a trap or casting a net. Boxing should be outlawed in my opinion. I’ve already commented on football elsewhere. Now that I’ve got your attention, let me really get you going.
Team sports as played in the local schools around here are teaching our children dreadful lessons. I have seen children (my own included) sit on the bench without any chance of playing, even in elementary school, because the coach wanted to win a game. I have known coaches who teach their children to cheat in order to win a game. Losers are treated with disdain in this society. I find that utterly disgusting.
I never played in an organized sport but recall exerting myself as a child. When I attempted to make a large jump to cross a creek and slipped or fell, my peers would come running to see if I was OK. There was honest concern about my well being if I failed. Once my safety was assured, a good laugh might follow and we would try again. If someone pushed, tripped, or otherwise cheated to make me fall, that would have been considered very ill mannered and against the unwritten rules of our game. New playmates for the day would be found.
