What is a "Sport"?

[The People's Peep]

Sport: an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition

I watch Sportscenter every day, and every weekend, they cover NASCAR. This got me thinking. Why do they cover this? Personally, I have no idea how NASCAR could even be considered as a sport. I've heard that they experience some extreme heat and have to make some very intelligent choices, but sitting in a sauna and playing chess are not considered sports.

So instead of asking if NASCAR is a sport, I figured I'd broaden it. What activities do you consider sports? With this, we can possibly come up with a definition that gets rid of some questionable sports. I'm trying to go through a logical process with this.

Off the top of my head, the things that I consider sports are baseball, football, soccer, hockey, rugby, tennis, and I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting. Ones that I would leave out include NASCAR and other vehicular racing, hunting, and fishing. Hunting and fishing are a little different though. If its competitive, I guess I would consider it a sport. With this, I need to find a definition that allows me to separate the two sides. I come up with a definition similar to the official one above, but I think the amount of physical exertion needs some definition. The amount of physical exertion in NASCAR is not enough to be considered a sport.

So I have brought up several questions, or at least I think I did. What things do you consider "sports", and how would you define "sport" being the main questions. Discuss.

Sorry for rambling on

 

[Davi323]

Nascar is certainly a sport. I hate Nascar, don't watch Nascar, but it is a sport. Those guys have to drive for hours at a time, at breakneck speeds. There is a LOT of physical exertion involved, they sweat out like 5-10 lbs of water every race. At that pace, their heartrate is constantly about 80% of maximum...that requires tremendous cardiovascular conditioning.

Nascar is about endurance. Do you know how hot it gets inside a race car during a race? During a nice summer day, it can get up around 120 degrees, fahrenheit. That's hot. And they do it for 3 hours plus.

I used to be one of those guys that didn't consider Nascar a sport, until a friend of mine, who does enjoy it, challenged me to find out what a race car driver goes through during a race. So, I took him up on it...that cured me of my ignorance real quick as soon as I started checking it out for myself.

 

[harrythem]

I'd class the ones the op stated as sports but, personally, I'd also class darts as a sport as there's something magically enchanting about watching the world championships on BBC 2 late at night. Also snooker, again the same reason as darts.

However Badminton and Volleyball are not sports. Badminton, like squash, is a game for well off poncey people to play down the gym between sauna sessions, it's not a sport (I often argue this with my mates who play it) and volleyball is just like the freeview on the porn channels. It's less of a sport then wrestling.