E xistence » Sports and Games: Why they are the same, and Every activity can be a “Spame”

Sports and Games: Why they are the same, and Every activity can be a “Spame” June 5, 2006

Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Philosophy , trackback

sport (spÃ´rt, spÅrt) pronunciation
n.

1. Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
2. A particular form of this activity.
An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.
An active pastime; recreation.

game¹ (gÄm) pronunciation
n.

An activity providing entertainment or amusement; a pastime: party games; word games.
1. A competitive activity or sport in which players contend with each other according to a set of rules: the game of basketball; the game of gin rummy.
2. A single instance of such an activity: We lost the first game.
3. games An organized athletic program or contest: track-and-field games; took part in the winter games.
4. A period of competition or challenge: It was too late in the game to change the schedule of the project.

Some would argue all sports are games, but not vice versa. I would contend that Any activity can be considered both a sport AND a game. This is because, during periods of thought and debate on the matter, I have been unable to distinguish between the two. Also, no one has been able to give me a satisfactory definition to separate the two. Based on the two dictionary definitions above, I feel my stance is logically justified, as Any activity is recreational and provides amusement to its fans/players.

So to be clear, I mean that raking leaves is a sport/game if Anyone does it for fun, competition, recreation, etc. Replace raking leaves with: racing cars, eating food, jumping, ballet, hopskotch, whistling, etc, and you see what I mean. There are people who don’t think cheerleading is a sport, but ask any cheerleader, and they’ll tell you.

The idea that physical activity is a requirement for something to be a sport or game is vague and, perhaps, superfluous. For example, Most of us would consider pool a sport. Many would consider Poker and/or Chess a sport. Most of us would consider hunting a sport. Yet all three of these examples require minimal physical activity. (The hunting I’m referring to here is in terms of the sit and squeeze a trigger variety). Yet the mental and dextrous part of these sports (and games) can’t be denied. So we have a term “physical activity” that is either being used very loosely here, or not at all. If we want to make physical activity a defining feature, we need to operationally define it. Does it mean you have to sweat? Do you have to be winded? Does it simply involve Any motion whatsoever?

One major point of contention is that Video games are not a sport. But why? Because you don’t sweat or move as much as other sports? There is competition, there is team work (often), there is hand-eye coordination, there is strategy. Also, with the advent of new motion sensing technology, such as Nintendo’s Wii controller and Sony’s Eye Candy, the physical activity of video games is rising rapidly. I read an article about someone who wants Video games included in the Olympics because it’s as physical as that one crazy sport/game: Curling.

Please tell me Your definition of sport, game, and physical activity. Also tell me whether Darts, Pool and Card games such as poker, are sports.