Mile High Sports Magazine February 2010 : Page 37
simple as Potter Stewart’s definition of pornography, which was “I know it when I see it.” Bowling: Great activity, lot of fun, not a sport. Just watch the opening credit sequence to “The Big Lebowski.” If people who look like that can participate, it’s not a sport. Plus there’s a bar in every bowling alley in the world. When was the last time you saw a bar at the rec center where you play basketball? Golf: One of the labels that people liked to throw around a few weeks back when Tiger Woods was having all his marital and extra-marital problems was “the greatest athlete in the world.” That always bothered me. Golf requires tremendous skill and is a terribly difficult game. But it’s not a sport. If you look like John Daly or Angel Cabrera and can go pro, then your game of choice is no sport. Bull riding: This is a popular one right now with the National Western Stock Show in town. One might make the argument that hanging on for one’s life or risk being stepped on by a 2,000-pound raging beast is more suicidal than sporting. But bull riders are truly tremendous athletes with great strength and balance, and some of the toughest SOB’s you could ever come across. They’re also some of the nicest people I’ve ever met and interviewed. Bull riding is certainly insane, and definitely a sport. NASCAR: This one is always a hot debate. Can driving a car be considered a sport? Intellectual elites and most everyone living above the Mason-Dixon Line would probably argue no. But these drivers have to have phenomenal endurance to deal with the length of the race, the focus required, and the physical exertion of turning left at 200-plus mph. One false move on the track can be the difference between life and death. NASCAR is a sport. Poker: I will never understand the appeal of watching poker on television. It’s a card game. Sure, REQUIRES PHYSICAL, THROW OR KICK SPORT TO ME, A ATHLETIC PROWESS. THE ABILITY TO RUN, JUMP, IS WHAT MAKES A SPORT. there’s big cash on the line, but it’s just cards. At this rate why don’t we start televising Dungeons and Dragons or Magic the Gathering? Poker is not a sport. Please get it off the sports networks. Red Bull Air Race: This one I just discovered and I’m pretty much hooked. Speed and precision in an airplane flying low over water with the possibility of death looming with every twist and turn. Yes, it is a sport, and it’s pretty cool. Spelling bee: Uh, no. So to reiterate the rules one more time as to whether your event is a game or sport: you shouldn’t be able to succeed while inebriated and you shouldn’t be able to excel if you look like Chris Farley. Oh, and if you’re playing cards, you’re not playing a sport. AFWonline.com READERS SPEAK OUT WINNING FEEDBACK “Great article; this one is always fun to debate. Not being able to drink beer while participating is a good start, but that doesn’t cover bowling and golf like you described. In both those sports, you can’t drink while actually performing, only when it’s not your turn. That can be said in almost any sport (while in the dugout, on the sideline, on the bench and so on). That being said, these both qualify since you can’t drink while participating. The NASCAR debate is always the same – the endurance, the heat, length of race and so on. What about drag racing? These guys don’t deal with any of that; they’re literally out there for seconds. Are they any less of an athlete than other racers? Are only the longest, most grueling races sport and the others recreation? They’re all the same; racing is racing and supporters need a different argument. You’re dead on with poker; everyone who plays regularly has witnessed a drunk guy who can barely pick up his cards clean up a tournament. – Jeff W. Be cooler at the water cooler. Get the Mile High Sports Daily email at milehighsports.com milehighsports. com FEBRUARY 2010 37 Shop 24 hours a day at www.AFWonline.com or visit any of our 12 locations.
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