What is Sport?

[Archibald Desmond Deus]

Recently, I have been hearing odd things about what is considered a sport. For example, I recently was informed about the 'sport' of professional cupstacking. For those of you who don't know what that is:

I don't care how fast that kid can stack cups; I will never call him an athlete, and I will never consider this a sport. By all means, stack as many cups as you please if it makes you happy, but I will never call you an athlete. These are the same people who want to make Bridge (The Card Game) an Olympic Sport.

http://www.worldbridge.org/IOC/IOC.htm

There needs to be a solid line about what is considered a sport and what isn't.

Which leads to the question, what is defined as a sport exactly?

I define sport as something that requires years of physically exhausting training to be able to do at a professional level. I'm not talking about constant repetition of the same thing. I doubt those kids lift weights, run sprints, or do anything but stack cups for HOURS. Things like Soccer require your body to be in amazing physical condition to just compete with most people.

[Cochise]

I agree with ya. If you don't physically benefit from it its probably not a sport.

[King Kobra]

Hunting is a sport, and I think shooting darts and even Poker are considered sports in some way, so we could consider sports as something that actually needs both mental and physical effort, not just crap like cupstacking.

Hell, even Toilet Throwing could be considered a sport…<_<

[Refii]

@Cochise:

I agree with ya. If you don't physically benefit from it its probably not a sport.

You're trippin, is eating food a sport Breathing? Sleeping?

By the way, I think you mean "peace" not "piece" in your sig

[Archibald Desmond Deus]

@Kaimei-Karasuhebi:

Hunting is a sport, and I think shooting darts and even Poker are considered sports in some way, so we could consider sports as something that actually needs both mental and physical effort, not just crap like cupstacking.

Hell, even Toilet Throwing could be considered a sport…<_<

I don't define hunting, shooting darts, or poker as sports.

Hunting is ambiguous as it depends on what you're hunting and what you're hunting it with. If you're tracking an Elk on foot with a compound bow, I could see it as a sport. If you're hunting clipped-wing quail with a shotgun it's not a sport.

Throwing darts and target shooting just rely on hand-eye coordination and good eyesight. It's not something that requires intense physical preperation and constant training. You just repeat the same motion, shooting the target, over and over again. Is it an amazing and worthwhile skill to have and practice? Absolutely. Is it a sport? I say no, and I do realize sport shooting was in Olympics (not sure if this is true today). But then again so is Curling which barely qualifies as an activity.

Poker and card games are the farthest thing from sports. Just because it's shown on ESPN doesn't make it a sport. It does require intense, mental concentration, but most sports require that too. There's really nothing physical about card games, despite Yu-Gi-Oh's claims.

@Refii:

You're trippin, is eating food a sport Breathing? Sleeping?

Professional eating has been up for review several times in the Olympics. I will probably never qualify it as a sport, but I will say Akira Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut are both in really good shape.

[Tsuchirinhon]

"Sport", as defined in the dictionary: an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.

If it involves any sort of physical skill, it's a sport. This includes stacking cups, driving a car, etc. After all, what's the difference between stacking cups at BREAK NECK SPEED and kicking a ball at BREAK NECK SPEED?

[King Kobra]

@Archibald:

I don't define hunting, shooting darts, or poker as sports.

Hunting is ambiguous as it depends on what you're hunting and what you're hunting it with. If you're tracking an Elk on foot with a compound bow, I could see it as a sport. If you're hunting clipped-wing quail with a shotgun it's not a sport.

Throwing darts and target shooting just rely on hand-eye coordination and good eyesight. It's not something that requires intense physical preperation and constant training. You just repeat the same motion, shooting the target, over and over again. Is it an amazing and worthwhile skill to have and practice? Absolutely. Is it a sport? I say no, and I do realize sport shooting was in Olympics (not sure if this is true today). But then again so is Curling which barely qualifies as an activity.

Poker and card games are the farthest thing from sports. Just because it's shown on ESPN doesn't make it a sport. It does require intense, mental concentration, but most sports require that too. There's really nothing physical about card games, despite Yu-Gi-Oh's claims.

Professional eating has been up for review several times in the Olympics. I will probably never qualify it as a sport, but I will say Akira Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut are both in really good shape.

Anyways, my point is that you could define sports as anything involving a competition, being either physical based or something as ridiculous as to see who can stackup more tea cups…

It's not the sport what mainly helps the player physical condition, but the training they do before hand, so yeah, the thing of getting benefits is not a must for most sports. You could get benefits from hunting, but if you never prepared yourself, then I doubt you could get too far with the hunt..

[Cr4zy]

People say video games are a sport because it has to do with reaction time. Oh, and there's Wii Sports.

[Local-chan]

SPORT? SPORT!? dons hunter cap and loads shotgun Sport is where you get to shoot things and watch them run around a bit ol been. THAT is Sport.

oh and pip pip and all that.

[Cochise]

@Refii:

1. You're trippin, is eating food a sport Breathing? Sleeping?
   [/LIST

   By the way, I think you mean "peace" not "piece" in your sig

   Ya could be right about that misspelling but it looks fixed now.

   I think sleeping and eating should be a sport. I think eating is a sport to some.

[Yoska]

@Archibald:

But then again so is Curling which barely qualifies as an activity.

Hey, don't diss curling. It's one of the few sports I bother to watch.

Anyway, sport is… I think the good key words are: skill, competition and physical activity.

[Mister_Anbu]

NASCAR, INDY racing, whatever other car racing shit out there should not be considered a sport. Keeping in shape does not = sport. Millions of people in America aim to stay fit, and aren't considered athletes. Racing shit disgusts me.

Golf is not a sport. It requires immense skill to be good, but everyone golfs and everyone has potential to do well. It is a competition of skill, not athletic ability.

Some of the shit you guys already mentioned shouldn't even be brought up. -.-

[Ms. Suave Debonair]

Sport is the act in which the end result is someone winning and someone losing. It is like a competition but a competition ends with the victor gaining something at the end.

[Archibald Desmond Deus]

@Cyringohn:

"Sport", as defined in the dictionary: an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.

If it involves any sort of physical skill, it's a sport. This includes stacking cups, driving a car, etc. After all, what's the difference between stacking cups at BREAK NECK SPEED and kicking a ball at BREAK NECK SPEED?

Kicking a ball at break neck speed requires years of training, intense physical regimes, and strict dieting to be decent at it.

Cupstacking requires the same amount of skill it takes to be really good at video games. Good eye-hand coordination and nimble hands. If that's all it takes to compete at a professional level, it's not a sport.

I agree with Mister ANBU on both counts concerning golf and auto-racing, both are skills, not sports. Golf, while a difficult skill to master, is still a skill and not a sport due to the lack of athleticism involved. And while a person does have to be fit in order to compete in auto-racing, the machine's performance is much more important than your own.

[Tsuchirinhon]

So, for it to be a sport, you have to practically break your back at it? How about "No."

Throwing darts is a sport, and it requires much less physical prowess than football [soccer], baseball, and many other things. A sport isn't defined by how much you sweat or feel the need to puke after playing.

[Rai]

How about, anything that is written as 'sport' in the public is a sport?

Don't use the word 'sport' for stuff like that. I could as easily say Naruto is not an anime where OP is. That's not true. Both are known to the world as anime [or manga.. WHATEVER!].
If I was to try to rephrase it to what I'm trying to say, it'll be something around "What do you like about sport which will make it worthwhile and useful to take part in/watch?"

I know I'm digging too much, but I'll try to say it again in different words.
Sport is a word defined already by [asshole-ish] people, and it's meant to be used that way. Go check the dictionary or something. By that, Cup-Stacking is indeed a sport to all. Again, the OP-Naruto is a good example.

EDIT:
Ah, I didn't read the other posts and went immediately into Reply.. sorry if it was said already.

[KrnxAJa]

Roshambo is a man's sport.

[supaluigi]

If the enjoyment factor increases when drunk, whether participating or viewing, it's a sport.

[Archibald Desmond Deus]

@Cyringohn:

So, for it to be a sport, you have to practically break your back at it? How about "No."

Throwing darts is a sport, and it requires much less physical prowess than football [soccer], baseball, and many other things. A sport isn't defined by how much you sweat or feel the need to puke after playing.

I said on a professional level, and to some extent, it does depend on how much you sweat. I've always believed sports to be high athletic contests that require a lot of physical prowess. Dart throwing, cupstacking, and video games all require hand-eye coordination and eyesight, but nothing else. I'm not saying these things don't require skill, but that's just what they are, skills not sports.

How I define the two is that a skill requires nothing else but repetition of a single action in order to get good at it. (i.e. Free throw shooting is a skill, not a sport. It is a facet of a much larger sport).

A sport requires extensive training in many different areas. Basically, it requires shaping and sculpting a body in a specific way in order to play competatively.

@Yoska:

Hey, don't diss curling. It's one of the few sports I bother to watch.

Exactly what part curling intrigues you?

[Ramza]

no matter how much u disagree based on ur opinions on the term "sport"…cupstacking is a sport...

u can say its a crappy sport or w/e...but its still a sport
and yes...golfing, fishing are sports too...

u dont have to sweat to say its a sport...its like saying playing baseball on a cool day...the whole class didnt sweat at all...does that mean baseball is not a sport?

[Yoska]

Wait, I have yet another awesome and a pretty accurate key word to add to my list. It's "doping". So… skill, competition (if there will be a price, the better), some sort of physical activity and possibility of doping makes up together a "sport". @Archibald:

Exactly what part curling intrigues you?

It's really fun to try to predict what a team will try next. Especially if you have people to watch it with you. Few other sports I nowadays something end up watching are tennis, sumo, (female) beach volleyball and starcraft.

[Refii]

@supaluigi:

If the enjoyment factor increases when drunk, whether participating or viewing, it's a sport.

Speaking of which, "drinkin is a real man's sport"

[Moria]

I'd say a sport is something that has all these qualities
Tests your mind
Tests your body
Gives you physical and mental benefit
Is good for you
Eating is not a fucking sport unless you say "OMG I'm gonna test my mouth width and my minds capacity by shoving 50 donuts down my throat!" And then you wonder why you gained like 10 pounds. Fishing is more of a relaxing activity, unless I guess if you are reeling in a large fish. Golf requires a bit of strength and mental ability (hitting the ball and aiming it towards the hole), but still if you want to get excercise, its not that best to golf. As much as I hate NASCAR, it is somewhat of a sport, sitting on your ass for like 10 hours isn't good for you, but driving for that long in a really hot suit and car on a hot day can really test you and make you sweat.

[Master O]

Just out of curiousity, by any of the definitions mentioned in this thread, are any of the billiards considered sports? (9-ball, 8-ball, Snooker, etc..)

[Ms. Suave Debonair]

Yes they are, like I said earlier, sport is where the end result is someone winning and someone losing, which happens in Snooker, Pool etc…

If someone wants to argue Snooker isn't a sport, I'll beat you with my cue.

[Master O]

@Bad-Beat:

If someone wants to argue Snooker isn't a sport, I'll beat you with my cue.

Outside of England, most of its former colonies, and China, I doubt many would even know what snooker is. :sad:

But, look on the bright side, you have a lot of beating and snookering to do!

[roamingwyoming]

My mom, my brother, and I had a gigantic argument/discussion about this several months ago. In the end, we decided to put activies into three different groups: sports, games, and competitions.

In sports, your opponent is actively trying to prevent you from winning. In hockey, football, tennis, speed skating, racing, cyling, baseball, etc., your opponent can cut you off, steal the ball from you, make it hard for you to return a serve, or any other various activities that prevent you from scoring/winning/whatever. Sports are usually very physical.

In games, you may have an opponent, but they can't directly and instantly influence what you're doing. For example, darts is a game, not a sport, as people can't come up and shove you or something in an attempt to make you miss the target. Games also usually consist of a turn-based system (unless you're playing a solitary game), and in most cases require more thought and skill, rather than physical prowess. Darts, golf, bowling, checkers, chess, poker, pool, etc., all fit into the turn-based category, and either into the skill/thought category, or both.

We decided to place misc. things in the category of competitions, mainly because we were tired of thinking. These things require almost purely skill, as you don't have to plan ahead for what your opponent might do to counteract one of your moves, and don't usually impliment turns. Rather than multiple people/groups all taking several turns like in a game, each person/group does their own thing and is finished. Cup-stacking, eating, marching band, figure skating, javelin, discus, and other such activities would be placed in this group.

This is just how we decided to categorize things, and it seems like our ideas differ from most of the other ones I've seen posted up here thus far.

[Gorlom]

roamingwyoming… what about olympic events such as longjump, 100 meter dash, polevault and discus throwing...? they dont seem to fit into your definition of sports as noone is activly preventing anyone..

im more inclined to call those things sports over soccer, baseball and basketball which are all fun games when at amateur level where it really doeesnt matter who wins and everyone partakes just for fun.
(still consider them sports though. just saying which i consider to be more "sporty" then the other)

[SteveRessel]

Hell, SPORT is anything people want to define it as.

Some jackanus foo's already got Pluto renamed as a dwarf planet, and John Edwards is said to be the first female president if he wins, as Bill Clinton was the first black president in the press.

You can rename anything these days, and if it is publicized enough and people repeat it like retards, it is fact. Sad. But true.

[roamingwyoming]

@Gorlom:

roamingwyoming… what about olympic events such as longjump, 100 meter dash, polevault and discus throwing...? they dont seem to fit into your definition of sports as noone is activly preventing anyone..

im more inclined to call those things sports over soccer, baseball and basketball which are all fun games when at amateur level where it really doeesnt matter who wins and everyone partakes just for fun.
(still consider them sports though. just saying which i consider to be more "sporty" then the other)

Hmm… I suppose I'll have to add to the competition description that they can also be very physical. At times...

In longjump, polevault, discus, javelin, shotput, etc., each person takes their three turns (or however many are usually allowed), and is finished with that event. There's no going back and taking another turn after your opponent has done something, and therefore I would consider them all competitions.

As soon as I posted previously, the idea of the 100 meter dash came to mind, and my mom and I conferred on that for a moment. Although is it a race (such as cycling, NASCAR, horse racing, and the like...), each person is in their own lane unable to interfere with what the others are doing. This to me is much like the eating competition (except waaaay more physical), in that everyone's competing at once, but sort of... solitarily.

I suppose I would say that anything that could be labeled as a 'simultaneous time trial' could fit under competitions. Therefore, I don't call any of those things sports. In all actuality, you could create another group for some of those things and simply call it 'athletic events', but we never got quite that far in our discussion.

[Mister_Anbu]

@Bad-Beat:

Yes they are, like I said earlier, sport is where the end result is someone winning and someone losing, which happens in Snooker, Pool etc…

If someone wants to argue Snooker isn't a sport, I'll beat you with my cue.

That is way too broad. Rock paper scissors, Madden 2008, cookie selling competition, etc. Those have a winner, and they have a loser. You're definition of a sport is completely off the rocker. And whatever the hell Snooker is, I'm going to say it's not a sport just to stick it to you. That's right, I'm willing to take it to the next level.

A sport is whatever you want it to be. If you want to call rock paper scissors a sport, then I'll be damned. Go ahead. Just don't try arguing with me that it requires physical talent and a natural instinct for the game.

[Ms. Suave Debonair]

@Mister_Anbu:

That is way too broad. Rock paper scissors, Madden 2008, cookie selling competition, etc. Those have a winner, and they have a loser. You're definition of a sport is completely off the rocker.

Well Madden is a video game of a sport. You are playing American Football, which is a sport. Rock Paper Scissors can be seen as a sport, though maninly it is used in competition circumstances, I bet if you speak to people you attend RPS tournaments professionally they'll tell you it is a sport.

Winning and losing is how I see the definition of sport because there is no real true definition of sport. Sport doesn't automatically require it be physical or athletic.

Those two were once World Champions of Darts. They don't look very athletic do they? But they are still classed as sportsman.

[Cochise]

Looks like that gold watch is going to be swallowed up by that wrist.

[Rai]

@roamingwyoming:

My mom, my brother, and I had a gigantic argument/discussion about this several months ago. In the end, we decided to put activies into three different groups: sports, games, and competitions.

In sports, your opponent is actively trying to prevent you from winning. In hockey, football, tennis, speed skating, racing, cyling, baseball, etc., your opponent can cut you off, steal the ball from you, make it hard for you to return a serve, or any other various activities that prevent you from scoring/winning/whatever. Sports are usually very physical.

In games, you may have an opponent, but they can't directly and instantly influence what you're doing. For example, darts is a game, not a sport, as people can't come up and shove you or something in an attempt to make you miss the target. Games also usually consist of a turn-based system (unless you're playing a solitary game), and in most cases require more thought and skill, rather than physical prowess. Darts, golf, bowling, checkers, chess, poker, pool, etc., all fit into the turn-based category, and either into the skill/thought category, or both.

We decided to place misc. things in the category of competitions, mainly because we were tired of thinking. These things require almost purely skill, as you don't have to plan ahead for what your opponent might do to counteract one of your moves, and don't usually impliment turns. Rather than multiple people/groups all taking several turns like in a game, each person/group does their own thing and is finished. Cup-stacking, eating, marching band, figure skating, javelin, discus, and other such activities would be placed in this group.

This is just how we decided to categorize things, and it seems like our ideas differ from most of the other ones I've seen posted up here thus far.

You can just go ahead and rename your 'sports' category in a different name, and put all those categories as 'sports categories', because that's what they are.

About Rock Paper Scissors and around that, I can't say if it's a sport or not, but there's a way to do that with some research.
If you can be a pro with it, which means, make that your profession, then it's most definitely a sport. I didn't see one, but as long as you can find a series of tournaments grouped together featuring pros, then RPS is a sport.

I said it and I'll say it again, 'sports' is a word chosen to group similiar stuff together [obviously], in a way ANY person will know what the fuck you're talking about when you ask him "what's your favorite sport?". For ANY person to know that, there needs to be a written meaning by dictionaries and crap.
And therefore you can't argue about it. People can go ahead and say they despise with their soul Cup Stacking and are ready to kill anyone who plays it, but they can't say it's not a sport simply because it is. It's as ridiculous as saying a medicine isn't a medicine because you hate it and it's working worse on a certain group of people.

[Mister_Anbu]

@Bad-Beat:

Well Madden is a video game of a sport. You are playing American Football, which is a sport. Rock Paper Scissors can be seen as a sport, though maninly it is used in competition circumstances, I bet if you speak to people you attend RPS tournaments professionally they'll tell you it is a sport.

Winning and losing is how I see the definition of sport because there is no real true definition of sport. Sport doesn't automatically require it be physical or athletic.
http://www.stylusmagazine.com/images/popplayground/041122_01.jpg
Those two were once World Champions of Darts. They don't look very athletic do they? But they are still classed as sportsman.

That doesn't explain the cookie selling competition, art competitions, who can swing the highest, etc. There is a winner and loser in almost anything involving competition. You are just blending the two into one.

@Rai - You're just looking at it and saying, "Well, if there's a professional level, then it is a sport." Bullshit. Lawyers, doctors, dentists, etc are all considered professionals. They are not sports. The core basis of your argument is completely invalid.

There is a fine line between a competition and a sport.

[Rai]

@Mister_Anbu:

That doesn't explain the cookie selling competition, art competitions, who can swing the highest, etc. There is a winner and loser in almost anything involving competition. You are just blending the two into one.

@Rai - You're just looking at it and saying, "Well, if there's a professional level, then it is a sport." Bullshit. Lawyers, doctors, dentists, etc are all considered professionals. They are not sports. The core basis of your argument is completely invalid.

There is a fine line between a competition and a sport.

….That was only part of it, look carefully. Whatever the dictionary decides is sport, I was referring stuff such as RPS.

[Ms. Suave Debonair]

@Mister_Anbu:

There is a fine line between a competition and a sport.

Which is easily crossed all the time. Competition, usually results in the winner obtaining something from the victory, where as sport can just be a leisurely or social activity. If you had a cookie making contest just for fun it is normally just a game but if there is a prize for the winner then it is a competition. I blend the two because there really isn't any difference between them.

Sport, competition, challenge, dare, bet, event, game. They are all things where people strive to achieve something, if it is to win then I classify it as a sport.

[Mister_Anbu]

….That was only part of it, look carefully. Whatever the dictionary decides is sport, I was referring stuff such as RPS.

So you rest all of your faith based upon the folks that write the dictionary. I have nothing further to address at you.

Which is easily crossed all the time. Competition, usually results in the winner obtaining something from the victory, where as sport can just be a leisurely or social activity. If you had a cookie making contest just for fun it is normally just a game but if there is a prize for the winner then it is a competition. I blend the two because there really isn't any difference between them.

Sport, competition, challenge, dare, bet, event, game. They are all things where people strive to achieve something, if it is to win then I classify it as a sport.

It seems that your mind will not be swayed. In any case, I still believe it is completely off the rocker to classify anything with a winner as a sport. The field is immensely broad, and a field so broad could contain many things that not only do not require athletic ability, but do not require any form of skill. Each to his own I guess.

[Rai]

@Mister_Anbu:

So you rest all of your faith based upon the folks that write the dictionary. I have nothing further to address at you.

I rest all my faith based upon those who invented the word decided to give the meaning for it. I really don't get you. The meaning is already written down, you can't just discuss it giving it other meanings.

[Mister_Anbu]

@Rai:

I rest all my faith based upon those who invented the word decided to give the meaning for it. I really don't get you. The meaning is already written down, you can't just discuss it giving it other meanings.

Impressive, you managed to type up something that forces me to take back what I said about being done with you. What you just wrote sir, and I believe this to be appropriate since you seem to love definitions, is the definition of ignorance. Enjoy being close minded. I mean, considering there's only one dictionary in the whole world, thats right, only one. One dictionary. Did I mention there's only one dictionary in the whole world? Anyways, seeing as how theres only one dictionary, then the word sport is defined by the people who created and publish that one dictionary. That's right, its the only dictionary in the world and you know what? Those people that publish that dictionary probably also invented that word that has only been around for several centuries. I mean, who the hell played sports in the ancient times? Granted, it's feasible for the person that invented the word to be alive for several centuries, it would be impossible for them to live several millennia. Good thing sport hasn't been around for that long. It's also impressive that every culture in the world has agreed on the set definition for sport. YOUR EYES SHOULD BE BURNING BY NOW. Oh yeah, sorry to everyone that is a wife by legal status, you no longer have any rights. Your husband dominates you, it was written down. Minorities? Nope, you have no rights either. In fact, your property belongs to us. It's preposterous that every man should be able to own property. Elites only. If you haven't gotten the point yet, this whole post was a string of redundant sarcasm. Ideas are subject to change, and change is the root of progress.

[Archibald Desmond Deus]

What defined as a sport in a dictionary, and what should be considered sport and who should be defined as athletes are completely different things.

Running, jumping, lifting, throwing, etc. are the basis on which we judge human athleticism. Real sports take these basis and put goals behind them thus making them athletic contests. They require painstaking effort and sacrifice to be able to do. Cupstacking requires you stack cups again and again and again. There's no variability there.

Athletes have to train, diet, and sculpt their bodies so that they can perform the athletic basis to their fullest. Take football, linebackers, quarterbacks, runningbacks, etc. all need to define their bodies in different ways in order to play, sculpting their bodies specifically to that position. Soccer, baseball, basketball, tennis, they're all the same way. All are sports revolving around the athletic basis that humanity has used to survive since the day we existed. That is what defines an athlete, and that is what defines a sport.

[King Kobra]

The only freakin difference between fishing and something as ridiculous as "let's see who can catch the biggest bug" is that a crapload of persons decided that the first was good enough to be a sport. <_<

So yeah, if a bunch of people wanted cupstacking to be a sport, then it Is considered as a sport, no matter how crappy it may be, so it just the power of the masses, but of course, if you don't consider it a sport, then you have all the rights to laugh at it's deportive potential.

Hell, beetle fighting is a freakin sport in some part of Asia, and you can't say that training hercules beetles could be considered as a very athletic activity.

[Archibald Desmond Deus]

@Kaimei-Karasuhebi:

The only freakin difference between fishing and something as ridiculous as "let's see who can catch the biggest bug" is that a crapload of persons decided that the first was good enough to be a sport. <_<

So yeah, if a bunch of people wanted cupstacking to be a sport, then it Is considered as a sport, no matter how crappy it may be, so it just the power of the masses, but of course, if you don't consider it a sport, then you have all the rights to laugh at it's deportive potential.

Hell, beetle fighting is a freakin sport in some part of Asia, and you can't say that training hercules beetles could be considered as a very athletic activity.

Considered a sport, but this thread is about what different people consider sports and what aren't. Your point is completely valid though as mass appeal does make certain activites a sport in the eyes of some and some not.

I take it you have some relation to entomology from your post.

[Sanctum]

Rugby, Hockey, Football and Lacrosse are all sports?

Yes, then I don't care about anything else.

[Paradox]

I've always viewed sports as something that gets you involed with a group of people with similar interest's and is physically active.