Everyone of all backgrounds at some point in their life has played a sport or considered themselves to of have played a sport, but what exactly is a sport, how exactly is a sport defined? Like the current Gatorade commercial says “sport is sport” but how do you come up with a definitions of sport and what qualifies a sport as a sport? While many may argue about different definitions there is only one correct one. A sport is an active diversion requiring physical effort and competition against one hundred percent (I'm not sure what the 100% adds here.) human opposition with a standard of norms.

So what distinguishes sports from non sports, or recreational events or simply games? There are the big three sports in America that are generally acknowledged as conventional sports. The big three are Baseball, Basketball and Football that have developed in American culture and aren’t questioned as sports. (And so, there's probablly an enthymeme here, namely that US culture is the standard for all cultural definitions.) In Baseball (Do not capitalize.) there is the reoccurring question that it doesn’t require a physical effort this however can be shot down quickly, since hitting a baseball has been considered the hardest thing to do in sports ahead of stopping a penalty kick and running a marathon.

Two things: 1. Are you saying that these activities are equivalently hard? That seems odd. 2. You've already stated that baseball is considered to be a sport by most of your audience, so where's the objection coming from?

But besides these big three sports that are widely accepted which sports are questioned about being a sport or event or game or simply not even considered one of the following?

The bolded sentence doesn't make sense.

Two sports that are not accepted by several many people are the sports Soccer and Hockey.

Which people? Remember you're supposed to be imagining objections made by a "reasonable" reader.

While many Americans will say that soccer is boring to watch and is a pointless game their counter argument is not a legitimate one. They would argue against the definition that a sport is an active diversion requiring physical effort and competition against human opposition to exclude the sports Soccer and Hockey.

Why? Can't they just allow that some sports are boring? In which case, they'd not disagree with your definition, and you'd be on your way to an evaluative argument.

They would say that it has to score a point that things like goals are not actual sports.

??

Many of these counter arguments are weak. (One thing to consider is whether anyone actually makes such arguments!) The reason many (at least Americans) do not consider soccer a true sport is that it is not a TV friendly sport, it also doesn’t have enough stats for the stat hungry American sports fan who loves to crunch numbers such as batting average, points per game, or quarterback ranking. Hockey and Soccer both have the same problems because of the lack of American fan support but by definition are more of a sport then one of America’s most popular events to watch on TV and follow right now NASCAR racing and all motor racing events. These events are not sports as I defined them.

You're not just supposed to make up a definition, but rather argue for the definition that you propose. That's a different task.

Despite the fact that the argument that it does not take physical effort to drive a race car around and around a circle is not true, the event is not One Hundred percent against human opposition. The racecar itself can win and lose a race, have a flat tire or run out of gas whereas a Steeler linebacker’s pads are the same as an Eagles linebackers pads. There are norms in sports but not complete norms in motor racing. A Ford racecar is different then a Chevy racecar which is different then a Dodge racecar.

But baseball players aren't required to use the same brand of bats. Instead bats are required to meet certain rules and restrictions. The same is true in auto racing.

Calling motor sports, not true sports would mean that Horse Racing is not an accurate sport either, this is true. Where horse jockey’s do have an affect on the out come of races and are necessary for a win in horse racing the bigger factor and uncontrollable factor is the horse, this is the same as in the motor sports.

So what are not considered sports and what are they called? These are called games or events. Such events may be defined as a competition that has a non human factor within it to decide the contests final outcome. This line drawn is meant to be very fine and not to be crossed over by sports to non sports. The argument that a sport must have a ball isn’t true because of such sports as track and field and wrestling. These are true sports that were first considered sports and first held competitions. We also can not draw the line just at physical competition because you have to have an active diversion so that such things as arm wrestling and rock paper scissors will not be considered sports.

Sports are very different from the defined games or events, and have much more meaning. Sports require a certain edge above non sports that require full concentration dedication and most importantly human skill. These qualities are necessary for success in the competitions that sports offer however what is a sport and what isn’t is already defined.

You have asserted a claim. But you need to provide reasons so that you've made an argument on behalf of your definition.

RyeGuy Main Page


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