Sports

[drizzt3117]

Actually racing on a professional level takes quite a bit of endurance and stamina, things that most people consider part of sports.

 

[Aaron]

I enjoy watching racing, but I don't think of it as a sport. If something doesn't demand any strength, power, speed, or agility, it isn't a sport in my book.

I assume you are talking about auto racing in the above. Not a sport? I beg to differ...Take your car into an empty parking-lot, floor it for a few moments and then turn the wheel as fast as you can and hold the turn for the width of the parking lot. If you're going fast enough your body will want to slide off the seat and you'll feel a pounding in your temple. The g-force you've generated there pails in comparison to anything generated in a race car. I've read that at the end of most Champ Car races drivers end up with bruises on their shoulders/chest from the seatbelts and have lost 3-6 lbs. of weight from sweating. Than you've got to think about split- second reaction times at 200+mph...

A.

 

[petescolari]

This topic is about sports, so why all the references to golf? That is at best a past time or game, not a sport.

Why doesn't golf qualify as a sport?

Surely your opinion of golf must be formed by dumb Michelob commercials in which they drive golf carts and hit the ball like Happy Gilmore.

What other sport are you forced to compete on an individual nature without the safety net of a team, coach, commercial timeouts, or halftime for over 4 hours at a given stretch?

I competed in hockey, baseball, soccer, football, skiiing and basketball growing up and I can honestly say I was emotinally drained more by competing in a golf tournament than any of the other 'sports' than golf. For this reason, I chose golf above and beyond the other sports as my sole focus.

When Tiger Woods was at Stanford in his freshman year, the AD there was quoted as saying he was pound for pound the best athlete on their campus. Stanford, for what its worth is perenially one of the top finalists for best college athletics in every sport across the NCAA.

I think you are misinterpreting the definition of what a 'sport' is. Just because there is not running and a physical human defense component to golf, doesn't mean it should not be considered a sport.

 

[Kai]

I enjoy watching racing, but I don't think of it as a sport. If something doesn't demand any strength, power, speed, or agility, it isn't a sport in my book.

As others have mentioned, auto racing at a professional level requires a lot of physical conditioning.  I saw a documentary where they put monitors on a Formula 1 driver and tested the stresses, heartrate, breathing, muscle contractions etc during test laps at high speed.  They concluded that the driver was under about the same level of physical effort as a tennis player.  Racing definitely requires strength and agility.  It's just a bit different than other sports.  

Endurance racing adds an even more challenging twist.  Imagine trying to drive your car during the 24 hours of LeMans.  Even if you share your driving duties with a co-driver, you're doing this for about 12 hours. Take a look at the guys who finish the race. They're exhausted, mentally and physically.  

Take a look at Formula 1 drivers.  None of them are fat.  No sagging beer guts.  They are all remakably fit.  They have to be to compete at that level.  Now take a look at baseball players.   Get my point?

 

[T4phage]

My own "sport": biking and mountainbiking (on vacation, no "mountains" in Holland) and Tae Kwon Do.

originally posted by petescolari:

What other sport are you forced to compete on an individual nature without the safety net of a team, coach, commercial timeouts, or halftime for over 4 hours at a given stretch?

Okay, not for 4 hours straight, but I've taken part in a martial arts tourney, and there is no way on God's green earth that a golf competition is as mentally and physically gruelling. Another more 'difficult' individual sport: how about boxing? I have yet to see many overweight people competing in such tournaments, whilst in golf, I do see quite a few.

 

[petescolari]

My own "sport": biking and mountainbiking (on vacation, no "mountains" in Holland) and Tae Kwon Do. originally posted by petescolari:
Quote:

What other sport are you forced to compete on an individual nature without the safety net of a team, coach, commercial timeouts, or halftime for over 4 hours at a given stretch?
Okay, not for 4 hours straight, but I've taken part in a martial arts tourney, and there is no way on God's green earth that a golf competition is as mentally and physically gruelling. Â Another more 'difficult' individual sport: how about boxing? Â I have yet to see many overweight people competing in such tournaments, whilst in golf, I do see quite a few.
In my post I said it was mentally draining. I never claimed golf was as physically draining as the other sports I competed in. I have no doubt Tae Kwon Do is both mentally and physically taxing. In reference to your claim about the absence of overweight people in boxing, you probably have never seen the heavyweight class fights.

 

[Nonk]

What other sport are you forced to compete on an individual nature without the safety net of a team, coach, commercial timeouts, or halftime for over 4 hours at a given stretch?

This is the funniest thing I have heard this year.

 

[petescolari]

Quote:

What other sport are you forced to compete on an individual nature without the safety net of a team, coach, commercial timeouts, or halftime for over 4 hours at a given stretch?
This is the funniest thing I have heard this year.
Thanks. It was definitely meant to be taken in jest. I personally thought the English tailors jabs were hilarious myself.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

I enjoy competitive 10 pace pistol duelling, team bank robbery, and Iron Chef.

 

[T4phage]

Originally posted by petescolari:

... In reference to your claim about the absence of overweight people in boxing, you probably have never seen the heavyweight class fights.

oops, my bad... Okay, with the exception of Butterbean (or is it Butterball) and the deadbeats (who are only there for the contenders to build up KO/wins stats), the champs and contenders are fit as heck.

 

[Ranjeev]

Soccer, hockey, football and now that I'll be working in a law firm, golf, squash and tennis

 

[Looking to improve]

I regularly umpire field-hockey games for the Dutch field hockey association.

MtB

 

[nightowl6261a]

This topic is about sports, so why all the references to golf? That is at best a past time or game, not a sport.

Golf is a sport not just a game or past time, and do you play?

Do you think Tiger any less an athlete than say, a kicker for the NFL, or a relieve pitcher in baseball...please give me a break, walk 4 miles a day 5 to 6 days a week, swing a club on average 350 times a week not counting practice on the range, duel within ones mind the ideological path of the ball, being one man one mind against 160 other players, earning only your winnings, with no guarantees to pay, especially for the first year players with no endorsements. Until you have lived under the driven pressures of competitive golf, endured 6 hour rounds in the driving heat of summer when all is not going as planned, forced yourself to embrace the idea of loosing with no chance but to finish, then tell me it is not a sport but a past time or a game.

 

[Aaron]

Do you think Tiger any less an athlete than say, a kicker for the NFL, or a relieve pitcher in baseball...please give me a break, walk 4 miles a day 5 to 6 days a week, swing a club on average 350 times a week not counting practice on the range, duel within ones mind the ideological path of the ball, being one man one mind against 160 other players, earning only your winnings, with no guarantees to pay, especially for the first year players with no endorsements. Until you have lived under the driven pressures of competitive golf, endured 6 hour rounds in the driving heat of summer when all is not going as planned, forced yourself to embrace the idea of loosing with no chance but to finish, then tell me it is not a sport but a past time or a game.

I think that is definitely the fate of the average pro player. However, this is not the experience of the vast majority that play golf. Yes it can be a physically grueling game, but for most people I don't think it is. Â I think if you're playing something like hockey, basketball or skiing, mountain biking, etc. it's going to challenge you a lot more physically (perhaps not mentally, small balls do funny things to the male psyche) than a round of golf on a Sunday morning. A.

 

[nightowl6261a]

I think that is definitely the fate of the average pro player. However, this is not the experience of the vast majority that play golf. Yes it can be a physically grueling game, but for most people I don't think it is. Â I think if you're playing something like hockey, basketball or skiing, mountain biking, etc. it's going to challenge you a lot more physically (perhaps not mentally, small balls do funny things to the male psyche) than a round of golf on a Sunday morning.

But the subject is, does anyone play a sport, well I do, it is golf, it is not your average "Sunday morning Outing"...it is a serious game for serious players, maybe more grueling mentaly than any other game an amatuer can play only because it is you against everyone else....try a game where there are more rules, more thinking, more walking, and more physical endurance of the upper body muscle system than any other, and yet it is not a team effort. Give me a break, those who do not consider golf a sport, truly are the unpriviledged group who cannot understand the demands the sport incurrs upon the body, or they just don't get it because they are not talented enough to master it....which that seems to be the general truth.