What is a Sport?
Awhile back, a certain game company claimed that their card game was an "intellectual sport." Immediately after this announcement, B.S. alarms went off all across the country. A card game? A sport? We think not.
So what is a sport, that we can claim that a card game isn't one? The first impulse is to say that a sport is a physical activity, but then you have to split hairs about how much physical activity is required. Shuffling cards is physical activity, after all.
My idea is that if a fat person can do it professionally, it's not a sport. No offense intended to fat people, although I reserve the right to offend fat people at some later date. And I'm not talking about muscle fat, I'm talking about flab fat. The kind of person who painted green could be mistaken for an attempt to get in the Guinness Book of World Records with Jell-O. Seriously, the top people in any sport should be physically fit or it just doesn't qualify. Note that sumo wrestling is the exception that proves the rule, and no, I don't think baseball is a sport.
This is not to say I'm certain about this definition. My fine friend and colleague, Rick Britton, has proposed another definition that might actually be better than mine. His idea is that if can do it drunk, it's not a sport. This is a very fine idea, although it needs to be narrowed down a little. I somehow don't feel that driving to work is a sport either.
In conclusion, no matter which definition you use a card game is not a sport. I would say that under any reasonable definition (not that I'm claiming the above are reasonable) of a sport, a card game does not apply. My recommendation to anyone claiming a card game is a sport is to find a marketing department with a bit more common sense.
Last Modified 6/9/99
Created 1/3/99