It's not a sport if you can't play it

[Cowabungaa]

Um most sports are not games.

Your Jock of a class mate is mixing up his words. What he meant to say is "it is not a game if you cant play it"

Sports = Athletics


But Baseball, Football etc are games of an athletic nature, which is why it is also a sport.

You pretty much said what I was going to say. Sports like bobsledding, swimming or running are indeed sports, but they're not games; they're technical sports with little creative freedom. But they're definitely competitive achievements, with an athletic component to boot.

He's indeed just mixing up his words, but I see where he's getting at. I just wonder the hell people are raging so idiotically against him here.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I'm surprised his head hasn't exploded already, seeing as you were doing calculus at the time, and the guy clearly has the mental capacity of a watermelon.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Your classmate is a moron. Once again it is proven that anyone who enjoys baseball is a moron.

 

[Vivi22]

Being able to "play" something doesn't make it a sport, it makes it a GAME. You compete in a sport, you play a game. Now go and tell him that baseball is a children's game and see how he reacts.

This pretty much. Sounds like the guy is equating the term sport with game which isn't the case at all. Sports can be games, but not all of them are. Just like games can be sports, but clearly not all of them are (like Monopoly or Jenga).

 

[Simon Pettersson]

Baseball and things are games. Sport is any type of physical activity... I think. I'm the least active person ever so don't quote me on this.

Nope sport is any kind of hobby you can compete in.

E-sport is getting more and more popular, and Chess is also a very popular sport.
Even Rock, scissor paper is a sport ....

 

[spartan231490]

I've heard people use that definition before, I actually think it's kinda accurate. I would define the "Sports" that you can't play as something else. I don't try to convince people that rifle shooting is a sport, it's a hobby. This doesn't make it any less fun or any less acceptable to spend time on, it's just an argument that the current usage of the term 'sport' is to broad and needs to be narrowed.

 

[Yopaz]

This guy seems to have a very odd definition of what a sport is, sport is defined as an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature. I'm not going to call him stupid for this, he's just wrong. I would love to know how he got this idea in his head.

I think he believes that something is only a sport if there's a ball or a moving object - like baseball, hockey, golf, etc.

here is an argument you can use against this guy, you can play a musical instrument, both competitively and for entertainment but thats not sport

That's actually a very good point.

OT: that guy is stupid, ignore him.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

...the aforementioned baseball player said "That's not a sport. It's not a sport if you can't play it."

Tell him that he is confusing the word "sport" with the word "game."

(From reference.dictionary.com)

sport: an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often (but not neccessarily) of a competitive nature

game: a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators

A sport is defined by its employment of skill or physical prowess, so of course bobsledding is a sport, along with a lot of things that aren't really "played," like swimming, gymnastics, car-racing, archery, and fishing.

A game is defined by its pursuit of amusement in a competitive setting, which includes everything from certain sports to board games and video games.

So yeah, tell him that baseball is both a sport and a game, but something doesn't have to be a game in order to be a sport.

 

[TheLastSamurai14]

I can play with myself, I guess fapping is a sport now xD.

Fucking hell, you beat me to it (by a whole night, no less). I was going to post this if no one else did.

OT: Your classmate seems to have a fundamental misunderstanding of the topic, which I find kind of odd for someone so interested in what amounts to a children's game. Slap some sense into him, I say.

 

[him over there]

A sport is an athletic competition, usually involving equipment. So of course bobsled is a sport, and luge, and swimming and NASCAR.

 

[ShadowStar42]

In my Calculus class, there's this guy who sits behind me who plays baseball and such. He's been kinda vocal about things like sports, and today the class watched a video about bobsledding and skeleton (looks that last one up if you have to). Now, even though I still have no idea how it tied into the lesson for that day, it was pretty interesting. But the aforementioned baseball player said "That's not a sport. It's not a sport if you can't play it." You can't "play" bobsled, he said. You can't "play" swimming, he said. I (and several others in the class who heard him) think that's a load of bull.

What are your thoughts? Agree? Disagree?

By the way, I'm not trying to demonize the guy, I just think he's pretty dang wrong on this one.

This is something my friends and I discuss with some frequency, and I agree with the guy in your class in general. Personally I see a difference between Athletic Exhibition (Dance, Acrobatics), Athletic Competition (Racing) and Sport (Soccer etc).

For me a sport has to fill 4 criteria

1) The primary energy must be expended by the competitors
2) There must be direct competition between at least 2 competitors
3) Judging cannot be subjective
4) High level competition must require greater athletic ability than low level competition

That being said I don't hold Sport higher than I hold the other categories so it's mostly just a semantic argument. But I would describe Bobsledding and Skeleton as Athletic Competitions.

 

[Aurgelmir]

In my Calculus class, there's this guy who sits behind me who plays baseball and such. He's been kinda vocal about things like sports, and today the class watched a video about bobsledding and skeleton (looks that last one up if you have to). Now, even though I still have no idea how it tied into the lesson for that day, it was pretty interesting. But the aforementioned baseball player said "That's not a sport. It's not a sport if you can't play it." You can't "play" bobsled, he said. You can't "play" swimming, he said. I (and several others in the class who heard him) think that's a load of bull.

What are your thoughts? Agree? Disagree?

By the way, I'm not trying to demonize the guy, I just think he's pretty dang wrong on this one.

Um most sports are not games.

Your Jock of a class mate is mixing up his words. What he meant to say is "it is not a game if you cant play it"

Sports = Athletics


But Baseball, Football etc are games of an athletic nature, which is why it is also a sport.

Sports are not necessarily athletics bucko. Ever heard of.... MOTOR SPORTS?

OT: Well that guy is to sports what a snobbish nerd is to games/comics/movies/what-not.

Actually Motor Sports does take a certain amount of athletic skills to be good at, but that is just me grasping at straws. But still you can't "play" motor sports either, and therefore it still debunks that guys argument

 

[Dys]

In my Calculus class, there's this guy who sits behind me who plays baseball and such. He's been kinda vocal about things like sports, and today the class watched a video about bobsledding and skeleton (looks that last one up if you have to). Now, even though I still have no idea how it tied into the lesson for that day, it was pretty interesting. But the aforementioned baseball player said "That's not a sport. It's not a sport if you can't play it." You can't "play" bobsled, he said. You can't "play" swimming, he said. I (and several others in the class who heard him) think that's a load of bull.

What are your thoughts? Agree? Disagree?

By the way, I'm not trying to demonize the guy, I just think he's pretty dang wrong on this one.

Um most sports are not games.

Your Jock of a class mate is mixing up his words. What he meant to say is "it is not a game if you cant play it"

Sports = Athletics


But Baseball, Football etc are games of an athletic nature, which is why it is also a sport.

Actually, what he probably meant by "play" was "compete" (and it could be argued that competition is a form of play). One wouldn't consider working out or training to be a sport, weightlifting or long jump however is.

 

[Aurgelmir]

In my Calculus class, there's this guy who sits behind me who plays baseball and such. He's been kinda vocal about things like sports, and today the class watched a video about bobsledding and skeleton (looks that last one up if you have to). Now, even though I still have no idea how it tied into the lesson for that day, it was pretty interesting. But the aforementioned baseball player said "That's not a sport. It's not a sport if you can't play it." You can't "play" bobsled, he said. You can't "play" swimming, he said. I (and several others in the class who heard him) think that's a load of bull.

What are your thoughts? Agree? Disagree?

By the way, I'm not trying to demonize the guy, I just think he's pretty dang wrong on this one.

Um most sports are not games.

Your Jock of a class mate is mixing up his words. What he meant to say is "it is not a game if you cant play it"

Sports = Athletics


But Baseball, Football etc are games of an athletic nature, which is why it is also a sport.

Actually, what he probably meant by "play" was "compete" (and it could be argued that competition is a form of play). One wouldn't consider working out or training to be a sport, weightlifting or long jump however is.

True, but play and compete ere very different words, with very different meaning. But yeah all sports has an element of competition in it. But still you cant play all sports.
In fact only team sports are played really...

 

[CommanderL]

In my Calculus class, there's this guy who sits behind me who plays baseball and such. He's been kinda vocal about things like sports, and today the class watched a video about bobsledding and skeleton (looks that last one up if you have to). Now, even though I still have no idea how it tied into the lesson for that day, it was pretty interesting. But the aforementioned baseball player said "That's not a sport. It's not a sport if you can't play it." You can't "play" bobsled, he said. You can't "play" swimming, he said. I (and several others in the class who heard him) think that's a load of bull.

What are your thoughts? Agree? Disagree?

By the way, I'm not trying to demonize the guy, I just think he's pretty dang wrong on this one.

but you do play video games you should tell him that to watch him rage

 

[Reggie Rock]

Baseball and things are games. Sport is any type of physical activity... I think. I'm the least active person ever so don't quote me on this.

Nope sport is any kind of hobby you can compete in.

E-sport is getting more and more popular, and Chess is also a very popular sport.
Even Rock, scissor paper is a sport ....

No. Just no. If we go by this near everything is a sport.
E-sports are not sports. They are E-sports. There's a different name because it's a seperate thing.
Chess is not a sport. It may be a challenging competetive game, but it is in no way a sport.
I'm not even going to get into how retarded that last line is.

 

[Dys]

In my Calculus class, there's this guy who sits behind me who plays baseball and such. He's been kinda vocal about things like sports, and today the class watched a video about bobsledding and skeleton (looks that last one up if you have to). Now, even though I still have no idea how it tied into the lesson for that day, it was pretty interesting. But the aforementioned baseball player said "That's not a sport. It's not a sport if you can't play it." You can't "play" bobsled, he said. You can't "play" swimming, he said. I (and several others in the class who heard him) think that's a load of bull.

What are your thoughts? Agree? Disagree?

By the way, I'm not trying to demonize the guy, I just think he's pretty dang wrong on this one.

Um most sports are not games.

Your Jock of a class mate is mixing up his words. What he meant to say is "it is not a game if you cant play it"

Sports = Athletics


But Baseball, Football etc are games of an athletic nature, which is why it is also a sport.

Actually, what he probably meant by "play" was "compete" (and it could be argued that competition is a form of play). One wouldn't consider working out or training to be a sport, weightlifting or long jump however is.

True, but play and compete ere very different words, with very different meaning. But yeah all sports has an element of competition in it. But still you cant play all sports.
In fact only team sports are played really...

Non-team sports are still regularly played (tennis, bowling etc). My point is that the guy isn't a necessarily a moron, illiterate or confusing words (as you earlier said) is a more apt description. Also, on a side note, not all sports are athletic (chess is considered a sport).

Chess is not a sport. It may be a challenging competetive game, but it is in no way a sport.
.

The international olympic committee seem to have a rather different view on chess and it's status as "not a sport".