What is sport?

What is a sport? This is a question that interests me. Well, ok, I obsess about it a little. Just ask anyone that has gotten into a conversation about nascar (not a sport) with me. Once upon a time I thought this issue could be easily settled by a trip to dictionary.com where sport is defined:

Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.

But, this wasn't good enough for me. I object to things like car racing and hunting being called a sport. So, during a recent car trip Molly and I talked it out and I think that sport needs to have a few components.

1. Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.

2. The activity must be either human powered or a harnessing of natural power.

3. Most people that engage in the sport can not be intoxicated doing it.

4. While a risk of death is acceptable, death cannot be the goal.

Now a discussion. I think number one is fairly clear. Number two eliminates things like car racing (which is machine powered) and hunting with guns (guns are machines and machines get the result). However, a bicycle is powered by a human, so it is a sport. Archery is also a sport because a human generates the force behind the arrow. At the same time naturally powered sports, like yacht racing (powered by wind) and skiing (powered by gravity) are included. Horse racing and jumping are also sports because a natural power, the horse, is harnessed. Fishing is not a sport because humans are only attempting to harness a natural power, fish, but cannot control if the fish takes the bait or not.

Number three eliminates bar games like pool, darts, and bowling. While these three meet the requirements for numbers one and two, most people are drinking when doing them. If most people can do it drunk, it is not a sport. Bowling is admittedly right on the line. However, because drinking is part of the broader culture of bowling, it is not a sport. This also gives added weight to excluding hunting and fishing as sports.

What am I talking about in number four you say? Well, mostly hunting. Taking a life just shouldn't be fun. But, then I figured you probably shouldn't be allowed to have wrestling death matches or any sort of gladiatorial events either.

I do think there should be a separate category for bar games and motor racing events. I could probably even be able to call something a "motor sport," but only as a separate type of thing from true sport. These undeniably are physical and require skill, but they do not feel like true sports to me.

So, that's it. That is my definition of sport. Questions?