Running isnt a sport

1.5 out of 10

cheerleading is though

She was trying to tell you that she's sleeping with a football player.

It's not a sport, it is THE sport.

I have definitely had this argument before. I think it comes down to what the definition of a sport is. I say, if it requires physical exertion and there is competition, it is a sport. From my definition this means...

Racing is a sport.

Going out for an easy run is not a sport.

Dancing just for an audience is not a sport.

Dancing in front of judges and competing against others is a sport.

Cheer leading at a football game is not a sport.

I think that is pretty fair, yet some people still get offended by that definition. Some say any physical exertion is a sport, but some people think walking up a flight of stairs is physical exertion...

Running is not a sport. Track and field is a sport. Cross country is a sport. And road running is a sport.

So by your definition, would NASCAR be considered a sport? It is most definitely not...

about to bi*ch slap wrote:

so last night i got into an argument with my girlfriend who stated to me and was trying to argue that running is not a sport. (im a collegiant runner puttin in 70-90miles a week) her argument was that running takes no talent all you have to do to be good is run a lot. and also that everyone can just go out and run how is that a sport. she then started to argue that dancing is more of a sport than running and it takes a lot of talent and flexibility and training. (i shot back saying then why are there so many fat girls who call themselves dancers. but that wasnt smart to say.) So since women are always right i guess running is not a sport. sorry everyone.

I always love the anyone can do go out and do (this is not true either there are plenty of disabled people that can't, but thats beside the point). Anyone can go out and play basketball, football, hokey or dance/cheerlead. This doesn't mean that they will do it well or be competative. The same hold true with running. As for the it take no talent comment, if this is true why doesn't she just train hard and go out and win a few marathons I am sure it would be way more money than she is making with alot less total time worked.

Just tell her dancing and cheerleading are what the fat untalented gymnests end up doing.

From Dr. Daniels initial paper on his training philosophy, published in the Gatorade Sports Science Exchange, February 11, 1988:

Distance running does not require a lot of skill, a fact that makes physical conditioning of vital importance. With little need to work on skill development, more and harder training is often seen as the only road to success

Compare with the 100 meters, where a great deal of work is spent on technique and mechanics, particularly the start to 20-30 meters. There are a lot fewer people with skill and power to get to 30m in less than 4 seconds (electronic timing) than can dunk a basketball or hit a 3-pointer, and probably at least 90% of the people in the NFL can't do it.

By comparison, distance running is 90-100% conditioning, and this is why many people say that it really isn't a sport--because there's no skill component, really.

So by your definition, would NASCAR be considered a sport? It is most definitely not...[/quote]

A friend once told me that if you could smoke while doing the activity it wasn't a sport. I'm not sure if you could smoke in a Nascar Vehicle or not.[quote]Soothsayer wrote:

Why do you people even argue this?

Just agree with her and train twice as hard. She will come around.

I had friends who used to say the same thing in High School. They played various sports - golf, baseball, soccer, etc. - and always claimed their sport was more athletic.

I didn't take too much offense to it, as I also played soccer and was a little better than they were, while also competing in running.

Anyway, it was funny to see them get fat during/post college, and start to enter local 5ks/10ks/marathons.

Now I get calls all the time asking advice about training and injuries, etc. I just had a guy tell me this weekend that the 10k he ran was harder than anything he ever did in soccer.

I am not saying running is harder, better, whatever - but arguing just makes you look like a defensive twerp. Just agree with her. Tell her that you aren't sure if it is a sport or not, but it is damn hard. Then tell her you love it because it makes you so damn fit.

leave it at that, it speaks for itself.

Sport

1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.

I fail to see how Track and Cross Country could not be considered a sport. I think the fact she said dancing was more a sport is absolutely stupid. Dance is art, and anytime a person use their own subjective reasoning to determine a winner runes the entire definition of sport.

Competition should be as cut and dry as possible. This person or team wins based upon a common set of rules. The less rules, the less subjective it becomes (i.e. a referre, such as the recent NBA guy has influence over the game). So with that being said, running a race could be considered the most pure form of sport on the planet. Here is a distance, the first person to get there wins, I don't know a simplier way to explain sport to a person.

And another thing, the idea that talent plays little part in running makes it more enjoyable and more competive because the pool of players would be much larger. In terms of talent, I don't know if being FAT or being tall are talents for being a football player or basketball player, it seems more that people with specific atributes take prescendent over talent, and in my mind, watering down the sport because you don't need to be good at it, you just need to fit the bill... i.e. Gilbert Brown.

personally, if my chick said running wasn't a sport, i'd ask her to jump into a high school cross country meet, where just finishing isn't the accomplishment, but place was important... but then again, maybe she can twinkle toe accross the line in last place in her little dance shoes... making it a real sport...

please...

about to bi*ch slap wrote:

so last night i got into an argument with my girlfriend who stated to me and was trying to argue that running is not a sport. (im a collegiant runner puttin in 70-90miles a week) her argument was that running takes no talent all you have to do to be good is run a lot. and also that everyone can just go out and run how is that a sport.

How the hell did you get into college?

Why would the level of innate, untrainable skill involved be the determining factor in whether something is a sport or not. By that definition, an idiot savant who has a one in a billion ability to count pins as the fall of a dump truck would be participating in the "sportest" activity on the planet.

It seems like something would be MORE of a sport if effort, rather than genetic giftedness, is a more primary determinate of success. Effort you're in control of; your genes were up to your parents.

Your girlfriend is obviously an idiot. Time to break the surly bonds.

Since when does a "sport" require you to have talent. I have met plenty of runners and football players who were good just because of the work they have put in and ones who were good just by the talent they possesed. Why does a sport have to require talent.

Here's my argument to the clueless overweight middle aged golfers who say that running is not a sport but that golf is.

If someone were to walk in your house on any given day with a set of golf clubs and say here, go play the masters. Anyone could do it, maybe not with the same skill, but anyone can do it, there is no physical conditioning required to walk 18 holes per day for 4 days and swing at a stationary golf ball. Those of us that have no skill will swing an awful lot in those 4 days, but we can manage. We can play at the same intensity level as the top pros, the same level of physical output.

Now, someone walks in your house on any given day with some racing shoes shoes and says here go race a marathon. Unless you are highly conditioned you can't. You can jog/walk but that is not racing. You cannot race at the same levelof intensity as the top runners. Not saying the same speed, just the same intensity level. It takes work to race, incredble conditioning. No conditioning to play golf.

I hate all of these dumbass arguments about what is/isn't a "sport." Is there some sort of honour or added credibility that an activity recieves when labeled a sport? It's just competition, it doesn't have to be equated with athleticism, skill, or anything. Driving a stock car around a track is no less of a sport than racing a golden league 10k or a sack race at a picnic. The credibility doesn't come from the label of "sport" but from the level of competition. As for cheerleading vs. running, you're not exactly comparing apples to apples so saying one is harder or more of a sport than the other is an invalid argument. Bob Kennedy probably couldn't be a world class cheerleader and your average high school floozy couldn't be a world class runner.

Running is definitely not a sport. It doesn't require skill, it really isn't team-oriented, it definitely isn't fun, and it generally attracts the "athletes" that couldn't make it in other sports. However, it is almost precisely corrrelated to the size of your balls. Your "sport" is another athlete's punishment. Only real men can really make it in running. Everyone else pretty much pusses out. Running is more of a quest, and an individual one at that, really.

Ya, heard it all before. Challenge her to train for a marathon (in a friendly way, or you will be killed). I'll bet she'll change her tune after slogging through the training through all weather and then running the race.