The Science of XANESPORT
Over the past few years, there have been many discussions on what is or isn’t a sport or simply what the definition of a sport is. This article takes you into the wunderkind mind of Xane to find…XANESPORT.
XANESPORT is not a scoring system like XANESCORE. XANESPORT is a definition and a journey, taking you through what is or isn’t a sport. XANESPORT doesn’t rely on information sources such as Dictionary.com, Google, or Yahoo. XANESPORT is something different. It’s what I think, and what I believe. If you disagree, you should reconsider your position, seriously.
Dictionary.com - 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.
Google - an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition
Yahoo - Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
These general definitions are simple and basic. Daniel Webster, and other definition creators, made definitions for certain words. I feel like I should have that same right, especially on my own website.
Airxxi.com - invigorating physical activity requiring competition, physical excellence, and skill, in which one competitor directly affects (or tries to affect) the performance of another competitor.
The first thing you might notice is the clause on the end of my definition, “in which one competitor directly affects (or tries to affect) the performance of another competitor”. This is what sets me apart from the other definitions out there. I truly believe that a sport must have all the components the others addressed, but have that element of direct competition where I can actually make you lose by affecting what you do. I’m not going to talk about the part of the definition which most people agree on, I’m going to talk about the part that I have added.
Racing - Racing (not necessarily sprinting) is a sport. Those of you who ask why have probably never run on a track. Aside from being in tremendous shape, runners on a track actually do compete directly with each other, not just against the clock. Jostling for position and getting the inside lane so you can keep your competitor behind you is a tactic that many watchers miss. 100m sprints down a straight lane is a little different, and according to my definition, is not a sport. Car racing, though I despise it, of course, is a sport for the same reason. You can actually move in front of other cars to prevent them from passing you, etc.
Baseball - While I hate baseball, it’s clearly a sport. While some players exert some form of physical energy, it’s safe to say that most baseball players are fairly strong. The pitcher directly affects the outcome of the other teams hits, and fielders catches and throws directly affect the scoring of the other team.
Tennis - It’s safe to say that since it’s a heads up game, if Rafael hit the ball, Roger would attempt to hit it back. Thus, Roger directly affects Rafa’s performance. Sport.
Ping-pong - I challenge anyone who reads this to play a game of ping pong against me and beat me without sweating. Same as tennis. Clearly a sport.
Bowling - Bowling is not a sport. You do not directly affect your opponents performance in any way. You know what would happen to you if you came in with some trash talk as a bowler went into his approach? Not invigorating, doesn’t require physical excellence, and in no way can you affect your opponents outcome. Bowling fits into the category of GAME.
Darts - Can you mess with your opponent as he throws a dart? No. Not a sport.
Wrestling - Another head to head competition where you can’t do anything unless there is direct competition. Would Randy “THE RAM” ever pin himself? No. Sport.
Boxing - Sorry Jada, but you can’t really “Knock Yourself Out”. Sport.
Poker - The cards determine the winner, and they are already planned when they are dealt. You can’t physically do anything to make that change, nor can you make your cards any better. Not a sport.
Hunting - Invigorating physical activity? No. Physical excellence? No. Competition? Sure, but hunters don’t shoot at the same deer and figure out which bullet killed the deer, or better, shoot at each other so that the other person isn’t able to shoot the deer. Sorry, not a sport.
Fishing - Same as hunting. Fishers go to different parts of the lake and don’t mess with each other. Not a sport.
Basketball - Unnecessary to discuss. No one disputes it.
Hockey - Ask the guy with no teeth how it happened. It wasn’t by choice (usually).
Soccer and football - Again, no one disputes it. Goalies, linebackers, etc. They stop you from scoring. Directly.
Golf - The argument from golf is the real reason for this article, and no doubt many of you know that. Golf definitely, most definitely requires skill. Massive amounts of skill. However, we’ve heard arguments before that golf is an invigorating physical activity, which I will not discuss,since some people think you should be dead tired after walking 5 miles in four hours. Hey, if you are, that’s fine, but it surely shows you are not physically excellent like professionals such as John Daly - 220 lbs, Kevin Stadler - 250 lbs, Angel Cabrera - 210 lbs, Mark Calcavecchia - 225 lbs.
And golf is a “sport” where one competitor directly affects the other. Do you remember the time Phil coughed when Tiger was about tee off? Oh, remember the time Vijay was about to land a shot on the green but Angel ran in out of nowhere and made the diving catch and threw it into the lake? I would love to see Tiger Woods make a putt with Ray Lewis standing over the hole. That’s right, I’m comparing golf, a game, to football, a sport. It’s ridiculous.
It’s almost as ridiculous as calling golf a sport. Let’s look at it this way. A basketball player can defend another basketball player from getting the ball into the hoop. On the other hand, a golfer cannot defend another golfer from making the ball into the hole. This disparity, according to XANESPORT, says golf is not a sport.
But wait, a golf cup is tiny. A hoop is much larger. True. A regulation hoop has an 18 inch diameter. A basketball has a diameter of 9.39 inches. A regulation golf cup has a diameter of 4.25 inches. According to this ratio, a golf ball needs to be larger than 2.2 inches for it to be harder to get into the hole. (Not) Surprisingly, a golf ball is 1.68 inches, making it actually harder for a basketball to go into a hoop than a golf ball to fit into a golf cup.
Golf is a game. Similar to poker, bowling, darts, etc, all of which I love. They just simply aren’t sports, and as such, those who play such games, while they are playing these games, should not be referred to as athletes.
Hunting and fishing are simply outdoor activities. Again, while I love fishing, it’s not a sport. People performing these outdoor activities are definitely not athletes.
So, follow the simply rule. Do some (ignorant) people refer to a game as a sport? Test it out! Play the game/sport. If your opponent can in anyway affect your performance physically, then it may be a sport! If he can’t, then it’s just a game. Or, if you don’t have anough time, just shoot me an email, and I’ll do the test for you!
April 16th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Ben first off this article is absolutely bogus. Saying Tiger couldn’t putt wih Ray Lewis standing in front of the hole is completely random. No one is going to be able to do that. In the dictionary the defintion of sport has nothing to do with affecting the outcome of the other person. I want you to walk a golf course, 18 holes and be able to shoot 4 or 5 under like Tiger does on a consistent basis. I want you to walk the course and win 14 majors like Tiger has. I know you wouldn’t be able to do it. Golf does take physcial exertion. Walking 18 holes is not the easiest thing, but walking and playing extremely well is VERY hard. Yes those guys you mentioned are very large, but do you see them doing well on a consistent basis NO. I mean on some golf courses the rough is about 7 feet. Have you ever seen Tiger? He’s jacked. he’s in shape and what not. I just think deep down inside you wish you could be as good as Tiger, but in reality Tiger is the greatest golfer to ever golf, and he’s going to wrap up basically every record out there. I think its retarded you keep making this statement that golf isn’t a sport. Golf is most defintely a sport, and Tiger is the best to ever play it. Tiger in fact is the greatest althlete to EVER play any sport. I’m proud to say that. I want you to go shoot a round of 18 holes, on Augusta National, while you have hundreds of thousands watching you, and TV cameras focusing on your every move, and Millions of people from across the world watching you, and shoot 5 under like Tiger did this past Sunday. Or last year in the US Open sink a 12 foot putt to force extra holes. Tiger played on one knee basically for 90 holes plus. I wanna see you do that. He’s an amazing individual and the best at any sport their every was!
April 16th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Can you honestly say that Tiger Woods is a better athlete than a Sidney Crosby? A Lebron James? A Cristiano Ronaldo? A Terrell Owens? Of course Xane wouldn’t golf under 4 or 5 consistently, or win 14 majors like Tiger has. That’s probably because Xane is not a Pro Golfer. I highly doubt Tiger can make three pointers on a consistent basis like Xane does.
Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer ever, but to be the greatest athlete ever you have to be an athlete in the first place. He’s amazing at a game, not a sport. Don’t use him being jacked as an excuse for being an athlete. There are so many jacked guys that are not athletes, and Tiger being the one jacked golfer doesn’t mean golf is a sport. And the guys Xane named have won majors and have beat Tiger before. Walking 18 holes is one of the biggest jokes ever. The fact that people use that as an argument is a disgrace. Try running 10 miles in a 90 minute soccer game. I forgot, that’s not nearly as physically exerting as walking 18 holes in 4 hours.
According to XANESPORT, which nails the definition to a tee(pun intended), Golf is a game, like Checkers. It’s fine Tiger is the best golfer ever, but to say he is the best athlete ever and that golf is a sport is a disgrace to true athletic talent.
Go Pens.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Tiger actually has 15 Majors…oh wait, no that other athlete, Angel Cabrera, the out of shape, overweight guy, it was him who beat Tiger at Tiger’s own game a few days ago.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
don’t agree with it. Not one bit at all, but its never going to end. Ben’s whole argument of a sport deals with affecting the outcome of the competition, which is stated in no dictionary or anything. That is a good way to discern what is a sport and what not, but simply is not true. Good look up the defintion of sport in a dictrionary and look it up. I’ve done it before, because I’ve argued what my sister does in dancing is not a sport. According to you guys its not a sport either. And when you said Tiger can’t hit threes, its because he’s not a pro basketball player, just like Ben or Queen James can’t shoot 4 under. Tiger is the greatest at what he does, and the greatest sports player of all time. He’s transcended his sport like no one else has. The game revolves around him. Just look at the ratings on golf when he got injured. No one cared. The only person I can think of that comes close is MJ or Lebron, but if you take Lebron out of basketball you still have Kobe. Take Tiger out of golf you got nothing, therefore with the defintion of sport satisfied, and the proven stats of the ratings completely tanking down the tube when he got injured last year and was out 8 months, we can conculde Tiger is the greatest sports althlete to ever play any sport
April 16th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
I gave quoted definitions of “sport” in the top 3 online dictionaries, so I don’t know why anyone would look it up. According to them, golf is a sport. Dictionary.com even lists golf as a sport.
Xane says its not and provides a pure and specific definition, as well as valid reasoning for it not being a sport.
Can Yohn come up with a structured valid argument why golf is a sport, based on something not necessarily based on a dictionary definition?
If not, then his arguments are moot.
April 16th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
So thumb wars is a sport, but golf isn’t. Nice work, Xane.
April 16th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Thumb wars doesn’t require skill or physical excellence, nor is it really invigorating physical activity. But if it was, then maybe. But it’s not.
April 18th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Why doesn’t thumb wars require “skill or physical excellence?” Does your definition of “physical excellence” only pertain to certain body parts?
And why does race car racing require more physical excellence than golf? And poker is not determined by the order of the cards. That may be part of it, but the choices each player make are arguably more important.
You should change your definition of sports to:
‘A sport is whatever I say it is.”
April 18th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
“Physical excellence” pertains to your body in general. It’s possible to have strong thumbs and be in pathetic physical shape.
Race car racing requires physical excellence in that driving a few hundred miles at the pace that they drive in the conditions they drive in is extremely taxing on their body. A few sources claim that drivers lose between 5 and 10 pounds per race. That is absurd. However, I agree that race car driving is on the border of “sport” since it’s kind of a weak sport.
Poker is ultimately determined by the order of the cards. There is no one in the world who could tell me that poker is a game of luck. I know it’s a game of skill. Sure, at times people get lucky, but it’s a game of skill. No doubt about it. That being said, it’s not a sport since anyone can play it professionally…in front of their computer.
April 19th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
So, we’re saying race car driving requires more physical excellence than golf?
April 19th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Yes.
April 19th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
“It’s possible to have strong thumbs and be in pathetic physical shape.”
this is literally the dumbest sentence that I have ever read.
April 19th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
I guarantee you this guy could beat you in a thumb war.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Xane, for the first time I almost totally agree with one of your articles. My only issue is with you saying that the 100m dash isn’t a sport. I was also really afraid that you were going to say baseball is not a sport, but I’m glad you did. Otherwise I was going to have to have Pujols come and give you the beating of a lifetime. I also kind of have to disagree and say golf is a sport. But i don’t take much offense to you saying it isn’t.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I feel like I want to say the 100m is a sport, but it doesn’t fit the model, so it can’t be. Also, golf isn’t a sport at all
April 27th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Xane, I told you not to post that picture of me. And the name “the chocolate creep” makes me laugh every time I see it.
April 28th, 2009 at 9:24 am
After thinking about it a little more I do see some holes in this whole thing, although I do agree with almost all of the sports you named as sports and the games you named as games (except for nascar, not a “sport” to me). For example, there is the sport of track and field, but to you certain events are not sports? And basketball is obviously a sport, but when someone is taking a free throw they are not participating in a sport at that moment?
April 28th, 2009 at 9:30 am
You bring up some solid points. And yes, I would say that there are some events in track and field that are no sports. I would say the majority of track events are sports, and the majority of field events aren’t. Yes, they take major strength and athleticism for some of them, but according to my definition, not sports. And yes, a free throw, when separated from the sport of basketball (free throw shooting contests), is not a sport, but within the sport of basketball, it simply fits within the overall sportiness of the sport.