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November 6, 2005
sport?
Hi Heather,
Since you asked, Merriam Webster's Concise Dictionary defines sport as "physical activity engaged in for enjoyment". That's really not a good definition though is it? According to that a sexual act, or even a massage could be considered sport and all professional activity previously called sport must be excluded because the participants are engaged in the activity for money, not enjoyment. According to Webster's Encyclopedia of Dictionaries, sport is that which amuses; diversion, pastime, an outdoor game or recreation esp. of athletic nature. This is a poor definition as well, but I think I can work with this one anyway. NASCAR may very well be an excuse for rednecks to drink beer outside -- a sort of ethnocentric awareness seminar for the culturally deprived. The cars go around and around in a blur until someone is declared the winner. Well let's compare that with basketball -- clad in what amounts to their underwear, a group of people with obviously malfunctioning pituitary glands race back and forth attempting to score more points than the other team. Points may be scored in sets of one, two or three, depending on the situation, by throwing the ball through a hoop ten feet off the ground.
Both events sound extremely dull to me, but they both fit the definition. NASCAR includes engineering, aerodynamics and several other sciences I'm sure to produce the fastest car. I would be surprised if these advantages weren't somehow incorporated in street vehicles.
Horse racing must be a sport. Yachting must be a sport. Hockey must be a sport. Bicycle riding must be a sport. It's just a matter of how much equipment the humans particpating in the activity are allowed to use.
While I must add that I do not enjoy NASCAR, basketball, hockey,or any other of the sports I mentioned, I say that they are indeed sports. Therefore, it must be so
Posted by Joseph Lampiasi at November 6, 2005 7:10 AM
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