Obama affirms teh gay.

[Lukie]

Same way darts is more of a game than a sport. You can be a fatass alcoholic who stands around not moving most of the time you're playing and still excel at the game!

I was talking about baseball.

I must have missed the flow of the thread. apologies for not being more clear.

[d0zer]

I was talking about baseball.

So was I, but I have to admit I was just trolling Americans because I know how much you guys love your baseball. I played as a kid and enjoyed it but now I find it painfully boring to watch.

[Lukie]

So was I, but I have to admit I was just trolling Americans because I know how much you guys love your baseball. I played as a kid and enjoyed it but now I find it painfully boring to watch.

That's what I was kind of figuring, but at the same time a lot of people think that way re: lazy, fat baseball player isn't an athlete. I think that is more of an accurate descriptor of the local co-ed softball team than it is for those who excel at baseball (or softball for that mater.)

I would say football (i.e. handegg) is more popular here in the states, at least in the area that I reside in. Local sports radio is all about Browns, Browns, Browns even in the off-season, while the Indians are in-season and don't get talked about nearly as much.

I admit to loving the game of baseball but also often finding it rather boring to watch.

[boost]

I admit to loving the game of baseball but also often finding it rather boring to watch.

Gotcha.

Yeah, sure, the people who play it at the top echelons are obviously athletic. There is some required running involved, and strength is important in some aspects. But if we were to draw up a line graph with game on one end and sport on the other end, baseball would be further towards Candyland and Uno relative to sports like Hockey, Basketball, Football (both), etc.

[Lukie]

Gotcha.

Yeah, sure, the people who play it at the top echelons are obviously athletic. There is some required running involved, and strength is important in some aspects. But if we were to draw up a line graph with game on one end and sport on the other end, baseball would be further towards Candyland and Uno relative to sports like Hockey, Basketball, Football (both), etc.

meh.. I'm not big into word shenanigans, puns, and those sorts of things when formulating an argument. It's not much different than Lebron James always saying 'the game of basketball'....... actually, the way that sounds might be good enough reason to never use that wording again.

I'm sorry boost, you are a friend, and your views and arguments are usually top notch, but the rest of the post is such a joke that I don't even know where to start. Candyland and Uno? Come on man.

Well let's start with that the definition of sport is very amibugous, and among the various traits that arguably make up a list of what constitutes it involves activities that involve some combination of strength, power, speed, agility, coordination, etc.

Throwing a ball 90+ miles per hour, running the bases, fielding, hitting a ball 400+ feet etc all involve a great deal of the above qualities.

There is certainly a point that the game is largely played in explosive intervals.. e.g. an outfielder might not do much for a while outside of backing bases up, and then all of a sudden there is a sprint to the ball and a throw to a base.

As far as I know, constant movement among all players has never been a prerequisite for what is considered a sport. What about the 300+lb american football linemen? He looks fat, a play lasts a few seconds, and then there might be 40 seconds until the next one. Is he no longer playing a sport? Or is it just the brute strength involved that makes it more impressive?

Why is the skill-power aspect overlooked? I mean if it was purely about physical strength, stamina, and power, the only activities that would be considered sports would be things like powerlifting, running, and olympic weightlifting.

[d0zer]

That's what I was kind of figuring, but at the same time a lot of people think that way re: lazy, fat baseball player isn't an athlete. I think that is more of an accurate descriptor of the local co-ed softball team than it is for those who excel at baseball (or softball for that mater.)

That's mostly true yeah. Most pro players are in great shape, but baseball did get the stereotype I trolled with in no small part due to the fact that one of the biggest names in the game's history, babe ruth was a fat drunk. The fact that this list exists gives some merit to the stereotype, even though of course it is highly cherry-picked and a lot of the examples are antiquated.

http://www.complexmag.ca/sports/2011...rs-of-all-time

The way that baseball is played out certainly means there's the opportunity to excel at some positions without having the greatest of cardiovascular health, which differs from basketball, soccer, hockey, and others but in the interest of avoiding a boring semantics debate about game vs sport, I'll just say that baseball is a sport and move on.

[Lukie]

If one of your definitions of sport is that it should be able to double as a cardio session, so be it. Obviously, some of the baseball positions don't fit that description (first base, or especially designated hitter. I hate the DH rule.)

It is hard to classify what is a sport. Here are some questions you can reasonably ask yourself as to what should qualifty as one. The more yes answers the better, although not every question must be answered yes for it to be considered a sport.... just my opinion:

Does the activity involve a ball of some sort? (e.g. MMA vs baseball)
Does the activity involve highly developed skills involving coordination, timing, accuracy, etc. (e.g. powerlifting vs american football)
Are those expressed via speed/power/etc. derived from the human body? (e.g. NASCAR vs triathlon)
Does the activity require another opponent or team to play the game in its (near) complete manner? (e.g. golf vs tennis)

edit: those left vs right things weren't meant to say that one activity isn't a sport and the other is, just examples of what would be no/yes for that specific question..... if that makes sense