Today I ran across a blog item by Brad Dickson formerly with the Omaha World-Herald. In the piece, he decides which activites are “Real Sports” and which ones are “Not Real Sports“. You can read it here; it is worth your time and effort.
https://www.braddicksononline.com/sports/2019/3/15/realsport
Back in 2001, I took a shot at something similar writing about what activities were sports and what participants were athletes. You can read – or reread if you have been around here that long – my take on this subject here.
If this were a high school English class, you would have to “Compare and Contrast”. Fortunately for all of us, this is not a high school English class…
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
Both are really good. I would add only one thing. If music is played while athletes (or not) are doing their thing, it ain’t sport.
Doug:
An excellent criterion…
Jack, I will agree with your column 100%. If you can quantify results it is a sport. If it needs judges or has an “artistic component” it is a wonderful athletic exhibition. Of course, as a bowler I might be a bit biased…
PBA Pat:
Welcome aboard…
Bowling is most definitely a sport. Only when my grandson bowls with the “rails up” and is able to knock down a half-dozen pins without having any interaction with either of the rails would I quibble about the true nature of the recorded bowling score for such a game. I am a firm believer in making various sports more “achievable” to young players – as opposed to sending them out there with a sink or swim mentality. Hey, I spent a lot of my time officiating 9-10-year old girls basketball games. We all made more than a few “excursions” from the standard game rules to accommodate the players’ abilities in those games. Everyone had fun; everyone learned something about the game; no one got hurt. SUCCESS!