Originally Posted By utahjosh Not really a world event, but I wanted to get LP's opinion on the subject. Defining what is and isn't a "sport" is a little subjective. The Olympic committee and the NCAA get to decide what they consider to be a sport within their organizations, but that doesn't mean we have to agree. My wife and I were discussing where dance lies. She thinks it's completely a sport. I think it's a quasi-sport. To me, a sport is an athletic contest where you aren't judged on creative content; just the quickest time or most points scored, etc. Dance, some gymnastics, and the like are more liken quasi-sports to me. I have no problem with others calling them sports, but to me, they just are not quite there. So what do you think? What makes a sport a sport? Where does dancing fit in?
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo It is difficult. You need to be fitter than virtually any of the other athletes, but it is hard to measure competatively. Though the number of moves and the accuracy in a routine is the measure. Though I love dance and hate most sports, so perhaps I prefer to think of it as an art. But it is definatley more athletic than bowling, golf or even football.
Originally Posted By Ursula Oh, boy. Dancing and cheerleading isn't a sport. Football and soccer and swimming, those are sports.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb It's athletic and there is competitive dancing. I think as an Olympic sport it qualifies, just like ice skating. But I have a hard time putting it in the same category as Football, hockey, baseball and NASCAR.
Originally Posted By DAR It's something that requires some athletic skill but I wouldn't place a full blown sport, more like cheerleading it's a competition. Now things like figure skating and gymnastics could also qualify as competitions but those require more atheletic skill. Those would be events that are judged. Your baseball football soccer basketball, racing golf those require an outcome at the end of a set time, those are sports. Still I rate dancing above bowling, poker, pool and darts, if you can drink while doing it, it's not a sport.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I've seen people drinking between innings (or up to bat) for softball and baseball.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Ahh, but you don't see A'Rod or Kobe taking a swig from a bottle or munching on a cigar *during* the game, that's for the home version.
Originally Posted By DAR I've played softball, you've got the one skinny friend who's fast and leads off(he drinks the most). The rest of us just lumber from base to base.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer I've never been to a wedding where the bride and her father had a special tennis match with each other. Nor have I ever indicated my romantic interest in a girl by challenging her to a 100 yard dash.
Originally Posted By Tiggirl <<Nor have I ever indicated my romantic interest in a girl by challenging her to a 100 yard dash.>> How you ever got married is beyond me. That's what we ladies like!!! They way to my heart is the 100 yard dash. ~Beth
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Disclaimer: My daughter did competitive cheerleading for several years. In fact, it needs some other name for it, because competitive cheerleading isn't what you typically see on the sidelines of a high school football game. Competitive cheerleading requires physical fitness and athletic ability, requires practice, and has a set of judging criteria in place to measure one team against another. If cheerleading is not a sport, then almost any other activity that is decided by a panel of judges isn't a sport either. In fact, the name "cheerleading" isn't accurate, because most competitive cheerleading squads exist purely to compete and are not associated with any particular team.
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 Dancing is considered an art. I think that is more accurate than calling it a sport because it is very subjective. I am (was) a classically trained ballerina. That is very different, with very different types of movement, than contemporary, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, ballroom, etc. You can't really compare them. If you were to have dance in the Olympics, for example, what types of dance would be allowed and how would it be judged? While dancers are athletes in the true sense of the word, they are also actors. Sports have set rules while dance is mainly expression acted out to music.
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 Yes but regardless of what music they choose they still have to do very specific technical moves. Each style of dance has its own moves. You would have to have different competition categories for each style of dance they choose to recognize. You also have to take into consideration how the choreographer and the dancer interpret the music and the story they are trying to tell.
Originally Posted By Labuda My $.02 says that dancing is athletic, but not a sport. It also says that 2oony is right - I definitely think cheerleading is a sport. The level of physical activity and fitness required for competitive cheerleading is more than, say baseball players. By far.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss All dancing is athletic, but not all dancing is a sport, nor is all dancing an art. It just depends. FWIW, I love So You Can Think You Can Dance. Two of the best dancers this season had to drop out of the competition due to injury. What those young men and women do is incredible. Regardless if you want to call what they do as a sport, there is no denying they are tough athletes.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Yes but regardless of what music they choose they still have to do very specific technical moves.<< The same is true in competitive cheerleading. Scores are given for specific required stunts. It isn't an easy call. But if competitive cheerleading isn't a sport, then I think it's difficult to make the case for figure skating, balance beam, parallel bars, synchronized swimming, and that gymnastics thing where the girls tumble and toss the baton with the ribbon on it into the air -- basically, any athletic activity that decides a winner via a panel of judges.
Originally Posted By utahjosh Having "judges" for me is what makes it not quite a true sport. So diving, gymnastics, synchronized swimming, etc - aren't pure sports. They are athletes participating for sure..but not sports. Sports, to me, aren't judged on "how" you win the game, only that you win. A football team gets 6 points for scoring a touchdown. They don't get more for degree of difficulty or how pretty the play was. That's a sport.
