What is a Sport?
Every now and then, I like to get under the skin of my golfing friends by making the argument that golf is an activity rather than a sport. I maintain that, while there are certainly athletes who golf, not all golfers are athletes. Of course, that all depends on how one defines sports and athletes. I always thought that a good measure was whether a casual player of any game could hold his own against a person who played the game professionally. And, by that measure, golf doesn’t qualify as a sport, because a reasonably proficient weekend player could beat a pro on any given hole. However, a casual baseball player couldn’t come close to hitting a major league slider, and a twice-a-week tennis player would be hard-pressed to return a Roger Federer serve.
Another dividing line between a sport and an activity might be whether a retired player could come back and win. Golf? Yes. Tennis? Baseball? Football? Very unlikely. There’s a reason there are no senior leagues in the latter three. So, is golf a sport and are golfers athletes? (Or for that matter, dart throwers or billiard players?) And, on the broader questions, what defines a sport and an athlete?
I’ll wait in the clubhouse for your answers.
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Comments:
Apr '11
Re: What is a Sport?
Hemingway, I believe, took it a step further when he commented that there are only 3 real sports: bullfighting, mountain-climbing and motor racing. Everything else is just a game.
Jan '11
Re: What is a Sport?
And what of dance? Wasn't Einstein who said, "dancers are the athletes of God."?
Sep '10
Re: What is a Sport?
Golf is a bit like dance, though dancers have to be in shape. There are no fat ballerinas.
May '12
Re: What is a Sport?
Everyone knows that golf is a tax.
Jun '10
Re: What is a Sport?
For me, golf isn't a sport...it's a recurring nightmare.
Jan '11
Re: What is a Sport?
That picture; it's worth a thousand...doughnuts.
Re: What is a Sport?
drlorentz
There are no fat ballerinas. · 0 minutes ago
You're forgetting East Germany's Helga Weitzman, who, though weighing 340 pounds, was universally lauded for her performance in Swan Lake, despite her tragic tumble in the last act that killed three other dancers.
Edited on July 15, 2012 at 7:04pmJun '12
Re: What is a Sport?
I have a rather different view, a sport is any activity where a competition is involved, it is not the level of performance or atheletic prowess that defines whether an activity is a sport or not, it is the element of competition.
Thus dart throwing is an activity, until I and another decide to throw darts to determine who is buying the next round and then it becomes a sport.
Golf, in the same fashion is an activity when I go out to the range and hit balls, or work on a shot on one or more holes, but if I make wagers with someone else, or my round is measured against someone elses, for a prize, be it monetary or just a title, then it becomes a sport.
May '10
Re: What is a Sport?
The category of sports is one of those fuzzy sets that drives pedants nuts (cf. art, jazz music, &c.). You know it when you see it. It can be argued, but no conclusion can be reached.
Golf is a sport because we call activities-where-you-compete-by-hitting-a-ball-with-a-stick sports.
May '10
Re: What is a Sport?
I had this conversation, again, just a few days ago. As I told my friend:
A sport can't have asynchronous multiplayer. It must be direct, live competition.
Golf can seem like a sport because it's physical and your competition is right there beside you. But if golf is a sport, then so are croquet and ping pong; so is pinball if another player is waiting his turn.
How about this? If you're not exhausted after a couple hours of playing, it's not a sport (or you need to lay off the Doritos).
Re: What is a Sport?
At least golf (at the pro level anyway) requires some physical activity. Walking 18 holes on a hot Sunday can be draining even if they aren't carrying their own bags. So yes, I think golf is a sport. Car racing? Absolutely not. All the work is being done by a machine. Those guys are not athletes.
Jan '11
Re: What is a Sport?
Ludwig Wittgenstein started the second (and more important) stage of his legendary career by trying to define "game." He wanted to come up with a single set of qualities that would uniquely identify a game. He couldn't. Some games have competition, some don't. Some games involve strategy, some don't. He couldn't come up with a rigorously canonical set of qualities that absolutely define a game.
Instead, the set of qualities from one game to the next functioned like a family. The games didn't belong to any hard-and-fast group, they just shared what Wittgenstein called a "family resemblance" to other games.
That was the revelation that caused Wittgenstein to question a basic philosophical assumption of western civilization: namely, that a word is a name for a fixed set of qualities. Wittgenstein's theories sparked a revolution in philosophy.
So, Pat, I'd say you're in pretty good company ...
Jul '11
Re: What is a Sport?
Golf is a game, it's not a sport. If walking equals competing, then when I get up from my cube for a fresh Diet Dr. Pepper at the vending machine 100 yards away, then I'm playing a "sport".
People "compete" at chess, too. They do not live with the notion,however, that dire physical contact might occur if they screw up. Mountain climbing isn't competitive (usually), meaning you're not racing against other climbers - but that is certainly a sport.
Golf is a game. PS: You don't have to walk if you rent a cart, or rent a caddie. What other sport lets you rent a personal coach for the afternoon to discuss every single shot you take? Was Pat Riley out on the floor telling Magic to pass to Worthy every step down the court?
Bonus: I changed something in my swing mechanics late last week, and now I'm hitting it 25-50 yards farther, and lofting the ball much higher. This makes Grampers here happy!
Jul '11
Re: What is a Sport?
Aaron Miller:
How about this? If you're not exhausted after a couple hours of playing, it's not a sport (or you need to lay off the Doritos). · 25 minutes ago
Oh, sure, talk down the economy by bad-mouthing Doritos. What will happen to migrant Dorito-picking work if we stop eating them? If we don't have the Doritos jobs that Americans won't do available to the less well-off, then Lays has won.
Dec '10
Re: What is a Sport?
Aaron Miller: ...
Golf can seem like a sport because it's physical and your competition is right there beside you. But if golf is a sport, then so are croquet and ping pong; so is pinball if another player is waiting his turn. ...
Is there a suggestion that pinball is not a sport? Then explain the requirement for getting just the right spin and momentum on the ball, followed by the need for exquisite eye-finger coordination. Let's not forget the brown-pop. Elite pinball is played in dark taverns with peanut shells on the floor, rowdy music on the jukebox, and big buckets of ice filled with long neck brown-pops ... not a game for amateurs.
Oct '10
Re: What is a Sport?
They pull some heavy G-forces on every corner, including eyeballs-out negative G braking going into the corners (more in Formula 1 than oval track racing). From what I've read, this requires one to be in seriously good shape to endure it and stay at the top of one's game throughout a long race. It's obviously different from running marathons or playing baseball (which are at least as much different from one another), but I don't think any of them could be done at the top level by somebody who was not an athlete.
Jun '10
Re: What is a Sport?
Golf is a sport.
Let's see any of you hit a wedge into a green and get it to back up 30 feet. Look's easy on TV. I've played golf for decades and never once has that happened to me. Being able to do that requires a perfect ball strike. [The club must strike the ball and the fairway at precisely the same time and on the right plane].
Then there are sand traps. How have they worked out for you?
Par three. 205 to the pin, but the ball must carry 195 over water, and there's water behind the green too. Tell me the guys and gals who can land that shot consistently aren't athletes playing a sport.
Seven-foot downhill putt, hard break to the right. Master's on the line. I can't make that putt if 25 cents is on the line.
The problem with golf is that she (golf is definitely a "she," but in the same sense that Maggie Thatcher is a she) is unforgiving. You pay for each mistake.
I love golf. The problem is that she doesn't love me. But she is a sport.
Edited on July 15, 2012 at 7:46pmJun '10
Re: What is a Sport?
With respect...you may be confusing auto racing with this:
Jun '10
Re: What is a Sport?
I've already made my case that it's a sport, but here are two of my favorite golf quotes:
Nov '10
Re: What is a Sport?
A friend took me to a driving range once. Eventually, I whacked a ball successfully, whereupon he pronounced me a "natural". That's how they hook you. It's like a cult.
Now, pool on the other hand is a true sport. It's played on a green field, and in effect combines the javelin with the shot-put. It's essentially a track-and-field event.
Edited on July 15, 2012 at 8:00pm