What makes someone an athlete? - Bilge

J joefla70 Tiki Socialite Fort Lauderdale Joined: Jan 17, 2005 Posts: 368	J joefla70 Posted posted on Wed, Feb 8, 2006 12:05 PM I have a few more "activities" that some call sports, but which are not. Individual synchronized swimming. Its bad enough that there is synchronized swimming in the olympics, but INDIVIDUAL synchronized swimming?!?! How is that SYNCHRONIZED? I thought the whole idea was to compare how well the two swimmer/dancers moved in SYNCRONIZATION with each other. If there is just one, where is the synchronization??? Moveover, any "activity" that is done to music is NOT A SPORT! This brings to mind the next activity that is not a sport... Cheerleading. Ok, cheerleading is activity peformed by people who are cheering along others who are actually engaged in a sporting event. If cheerleading was actually a sport, there would be cheerleaders leading cheers on the sidelines to cheer on the competing cheerleaders. Some people seem to have the opinion that if there is physical activity that someone can judge whether a person/team does better than another, it is a sport. I disagree. That would make miming a sport. That, of course, would be ridiculous. My overall rule of thumb for sport / not a sport is the level of objectivity. The more an activity is a pure sport is if it does not need to be judged. For example, in track and field the winner is determined by how fast he/she runs, how high he/she jumps, etc. There is nothing left for judges to determine. The first person to cross the finish line is the winner, plain and simple. Even boxing is less of a sport when it is left to judges to determine the winner. The only way boxing would be pure sport is if the winner was determined only by knockout. To me, activities such as gymnastics, ice skating, diving etc. are at the other end of the spectrum and are less of a sport because the winner is determined solely by judges. Of course, sports such as Football, Hockey, Basketball, Baseball, Soccer all include some aspect of judging (refereeing) because the calls made by the refs can affect the outcome of the game. And because of this, are not as much of a pure sport like, say the 100 meter dash, etc. [ Edited by: joefla70 2006-02-08 12:20 ]

I have a few more "activities" that some call sports, but which are not.

Individual synchronized swimming. Its bad enough that there is synchronized swimming in the olympics, but INDIVIDUAL synchronized swimming?!?! How is that SYNCHRONIZED? I thought the whole idea was to compare how well the two swimmer/dancers moved in SYNCRONIZATION with each other. If there is just one, where is the synchronization???

Moveover, any "activity" that is done to music is NOT A SPORT! This brings to mind the next activity that is not a sport...

Cheerleading. Ok, cheerleading is activity peformed by people who are cheering along others who are actually engaged in a sporting event. If cheerleading was actually a sport, there would be cheerleaders leading cheers on the sidelines to cheer on the competing cheerleaders.

Some people seem to have the opinion that if there is physical activity that someone can judge whether a person/team does better than another, it is a sport. I disagree. That would make miming a sport. That, of course, would be ridiculous.

My overall rule of thumb for sport / not a sport is the level of objectivity. The more an activity is a pure sport is if it does not need to be judged. For example, in track and field the winner is determined by how fast he/she runs, how high he/she jumps, etc. There is nothing left for judges to determine. The first person to cross the finish line is the winner, plain and simple. Even boxing is less of a sport when it is left to judges to determine the winner. The only way boxing would be pure sport is if the winner was determined only by knockout.

To me, activities such as gymnastics, ice skating, diving etc. are at the other end of the spectrum and are less of a sport because the winner is determined solely by judges. Of course, sports such as Football, Hockey, Basketball, Baseball, Soccer all include some aspect of judging (refereeing) because the calls made by the refs can affect the outcome of the game. And because of this, are not as much of a pure sport like, say the 100 meter dash, etc.

[ Edited by: joefla70 2006-02-08 12:20 ]

Post #213476 by joefla70 on Wed, Feb 8, 2006 12:05 PM