WINNER
Quote:
Originally Posted by
denning 
This argument comes down to one of semantics and definitional categorization. I believe that a "sport" requires a corporeal opponent against whom you physically compete through interaction. This would include soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey, football, volleyball, tennis, etc. where there are teams or individuals directly competing against another team individual in a one on one fashion.
Then there are athletic competitions. This is where you are competing but success is measured by your actions in comparison to others, not through direct interactive competition with others. Running, cycling, skiing, biathlon, swimming, gymnastics, figure skating, diving, equestrian, racing of any sort (MotoGP, Nascar, Formula 1). This also includes those activities that are judged. This distinction does not in my mind denigrate or belittle those competitions or those who engage in them. But I believe this is where the distinction lies.
Then there are those activities which fall somewhere in the middle and defy categorization pursuant to my guidelines. These include things like boxing and MMA which is a combination of my categories in that there is corporeal adversarial competition, but there is also scoring by judges. Then there are others which fall under the definitional categorization of a sport, such as table tennis, which I just have a tough ime classifying as a sport. This seems to me to be a game.
This leads to the last categorization, games of skill. This would include things like chess, poker. Golf is sort of in this category, and sort of an athletic competition.
This is not a definitive description, but I would say these are decent guidelines.
