Is beach volleyball a sport?

[Frank]

I know that there are some odd sports in the Olympics but really is women in bikinis knocking a ball backwards and forwards to each other on a beach a sport?

What defines what actually constitutes a sport anyway?

[Boots]

dude, did you WATCH the US vs. Japan match?!?!  Holy crap.  YES THIS IS A SPORT.  It was amazing.

Now, Curling (winter), there's another question.

[Nam]

The picture you show do not have them in bikinis. You disappointed me. On the other hand, volley ball is a sport, in my opinion.

-Nam

[Dante]

I know that there are some odd sports in the Olympics but really is women in bikinis knocking a ball backwards and forwards to each other on a beach a sport?

sport? ?/sp?rt, spo?rt/ Show Spelled[spawrt, spohrt] noun
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.

So yes, and I dare say most, if not all of the ladies at the Olympics would kick your ass at it. Badly.

[screwtape]

I know that there are some odd sports in the Olympics but really is women in bikinis knocking a ball backwards and forwards to each other on a beach a sport?

absolutely

What defines what actually constitutes a sport anyway?

Didn't we discuss this once already?

Yep: http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/forums/index.php/topic,14592.msg323677.html#msg323677
unfortunately, the link died with ATT.

So, let me summarise it:

Screwtape's criteria for sports
1. It must be a competition.  No ties allowed.
2. It must require athleticism. 
3. It must have objective scoring.  Goals.  Runs. Who finished first. 
4. It must test people, not equipment or animals.

This rules out car racing, diving, gymnastics, nintendo, horse racing, cheerleading, pool, hunting, croquette and especially golf.  They don't even carry their own equipment for chrissakes. 

Yes, gymnasts got screwed.  They are awesome athletes, but their scoring is completely subjective.   Hunting could get in if they hunted bare handed.

This permits baseball, soccer, basketball, running, cycling, fighting, to name but a few.

Bowling is a gray area.

[Turbo SS]

How did you jump on volleyball with so many other "sports" that are more iffy.

Ping pong, speedwalking, badminton, diving, etc. 

[pianodwarf]

1. It must be a competition.  No ties allowed.

Interesting.  You realize that this one eliminates football, right?

[screwtape]

1. It must be a competition.  No ties allowed.

Interesting.  You realize that this one eliminates football, right?

Which football?  We have an international crowd here.

[pianodwarf]

1. It must be a competition.  No ties allowed.

Interesting.  You realize that this one eliminates football, right?

Which football?  We have an international crowd here.

American football.  At least in the NFL.  Not sure whether college rules are different, but ties in NFL games are allowed.

[screwtape]

hm.  It meets all criteria except the ties rule.  Soccer too.  IT is not that I have any love for american football.  I don't.  I may have to revise that part. 

But I have to say, what is the point in competing if you are going to end in a tie?  The whole point is to determine who is better.  Baseball, volleyball, tennis - all of them continue until the conditions for winning are met.  Even badminton and ping pong get that right.

I dunno.  I feel like both footballs should be sports.  But a man has to have his principles.   

[Nam]

Like in NASCAR, doesn't sports with ties have a point system? Meaning, determination of a winner, at a later date is determined by collective points earned.

-Nam

[screwtape]

Off topic nonsense has been split and made into its own thread.  Keep it out of here or it will be deleted.

[Kimberly]

I feel like both footballs should be sports.  But a man has to have his principles.

Perhaps you can justify NFL Football being a sport because playoff games and the Superbowl can't end in a tie? It's my understand that a tie only matters if it's division rivals. If at the end of the season the in game tie also ties them in their division and only one of them can go to the playoffs then the strength of schedule rule goes to affect and someone gets screwed. Other than that ties in the NFL are pointless, they don't help or hurt the records. IMO of course.

Re:op Yes it's a sport.

[Gnu Ordure]

1. It must be a competition.  No ties allowed.

Interesting.  You realize that this one eliminates football, right?

Which football?  We have an international crowd here.

American football.  At least in the NFL.  Not sure whether college rules are different, but ties in NFL games are allowed.

But each game is only part of the competition; at the end of the season, there's still only one winner of the Superbowl.

Likewise in soccer (in the UK), a single game may be a draw (which earns a point for each team), but after 40-odd games in the season, only one team wins the championship. And in major tournaments such as the World Cup, there may be draws in the group stages, but in the knock-out rounds, penalty shoot-outs are used to force a conclusion.

Test Cricket, however, is another matter. Many Americans have told me that they really don't understand the idea that two teams would engage in a stand-alone competition which involved five matches, each of which might last five days - so that's almost a solid month of competing - and that the Series can end in a draw.

Each Test Match might end in a draw - so the Series would be drawn 0-0.

Or each team might win two games and draw the other - so the Series would be drawn, 2-2.

I admit it's bizarre. In fact, I can't think of any other sports that do this.

But it's still a sport, Screw. 

[screwtape]

Test Cricket, however, is another matter. Many Americans have told me that they really don't understand the idea that two teams would engage in a stand-alone competition which involved five matches, each of which might last five days - so that's almost a solid month of competing - and that the Series can end in a draw.

Yeah, that's just preposterous.  As a fan, I demand a winner.  If that means the two teams square off with their wickets and googlies and bludgers and golden snitches and the last man standing determines the winner, then dammit, so be it.


Ruminating on the OP again, if regular volleyball is a sport, I cannot see how adding bikinis does anything but enhance it. 

[Gnu Ordure]

Test Cricket, however, is another matter. Many Americans have told me that they really don't understand the idea that two teams would engage in a stand-alone competition which involved five matches, each of which might last five days - so that's almost a solid month of competing - and that the Series can end in a draw.

Yeah, that's just preposterous.

Sport is a metaphor for life. Some sports prefer a simplistic version of the triumph of us vs them, good vs evil, and a definite unambiguous conclusion of the narrative.

Cricket is a more existential metaphor; that life's not about winning, but being. Or as T.S. Eliot put it:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

Life's a draw. Nobody gets out alive, we all die in the final reel, and nobody wins.

Cricket alone amongst sports reflects that existential reality. The game continues forever, and nobody wins.

And the game stops for tea, and we all eat sandwiches and cake.

You can't get realer than that.

[magicmiles]

You can't get realer than that.

Getting a new cricket ball in the nuts is pretty real. Thankfully I'm a bowler and so I've dealt it more than felt it.

[Fiji]

Screwtape's criteria for sports
1. It must be a competition.  No ties allowed.
2. It must require athleticism. 
3. It must have objective scoring.  Goals.  Runs. Who finished first. 
4. It must test people, not equipment or animals.

Pro Wrestling ...
1) Individual wrestlers compete for screen time, some get more, some get less (and in the end Cena always wins that particular battle)
2) ooooooh yes
3) you can't act, you're dropped; you blow up after 5 minutes, you're dropped; you injure your opponent, you're dropped ... pretty objective!
4) ooooooh yes (with the possible exception of TLC matches)

Holy crap! WWE is REAL!!!

okok, tongue firmly in cheek here, I'm just saying that your four points might not be the be all and end all of what is a sport.

... btw, trapeze acrobats would also qualify as a sport, under these points

oh and the Olympics might not view chess as a sport, but I do (snooker and billiards too, to name just a few)

[Graybeard]

Graybeard’s criteria for judging if it is a sport:

Can you do it whilst drinking beer from a glass and smoking a cigarette? If so, it probably isn’t a sport.

[screwtape]

Life's a draw. Nobody gets out alive, we all die in the final reel, and nobody wins.

so you are suggesting killing all the cricket player if the match ends in a tie?  I like where you're going with this.

oh and the Olympics might not view chess as a sport, but I do (snooker and billiards too, to name just a few)

Chess?  Chess?  gtfo.   

[pianodwarf]

oh and the Olympics might not view chess as a sport, but I do (snooker and billiards too, to name just a few)

Chess?  Chess?  gtfo.

I can understand that reaction, but serious chess is far more physically demanding than most people realize.  I've played in large tournaments (some of them several days long), and at the end of the day, I'm always exhausted and starving.  There are reasons that people like Garry Kasparov include a rigorous exercise regimen alongside all the book study and so forth in preparation for tournaments.

[screwtape]

... but serious chess is far more physically demanding than most people realize.

Is it more or less physically demanding than 9 holes of golf?  The real kind, where you walk and carry your own clubs.

[pianodwarf]

... but serious chess is far more physically demanding than most people realize.

Is it more or less physically demanding than 9 holes of golf?  The real kind, where you walk and carry your own clubs.

I've never done that, so I couldn't say for sure.  Do professional golf players routinely fall into bed at the end of a day of playing, saying "uff!" and promptly conking out?  (This isn't a trollish question, I honestly don't know the answer.)

[Nick]

How about race walking? What kind of sport is that?

[screwtape]

Do professional golf players routinely fall into bed at the end of a day of playing, saying "uff!" and promptly conking out? 

yes, but they aren't athletes.  And pro golfers don't carry their own clubs.

[Nam]

If Chess is a sport then poker is a sport.

-Nam

[DumpsterFire]

Frank, did you even watch any of the matches? I can't imagine how anyone who actually watched even a portion of one of the matches could ever question the validity of this sport. These people[1] are undeniably athletic, and in fantastic shape. Unless you were too transfixed with the impressive ass-flesh on display[2] to notice the actual athletic competition part of the sport, that is.

1.	Funny, I started to say 'women' but then remembered there are male participants, too. I didn't watch any of the guy's matches.
2.	I suppose that would be understandable.

[Frank]

Frank, did you even watch any of the matches? I can't imagine how anyone who actually watched even a portion of one of the matches could ever question the validity of this sport. These people[1] are undeniably athletic, and in fantastic shape. Unless you were too transfixed with the impressive ass-flesh on display[2] to notice the actual athletic competition part of the sport, that is.

1.	Funny, I started to say 'women' but then remembered there are male participants, too. I didn't watch any of the guy's matches.
2.	I suppose that would be understandable.

I haven't watched a single second of the Olympics. I find it all incredibly tedious.

What's being athletic got to do with it? Take the Highland Games for example. They have many sports that require athleticism, strength, technique, but I don't see any of them in the Olympic games. Yet archery, target shooting, that require no athleticism at all are in the games. So plainly how athletic a sport may be is irrelevant in deciding whether it should be in the games or not.

Why is there no Olympic darts, chess, snooker, pool, billiards, poker, fishing? All these sports require skill, concentration, and they are all extremely popular and played by millions of people. Which is more than can be said for beach volleyball.

[Nam]

I never understood that ice game where you throw or slide some object down the ice. I forget the name. Doesn't seem to be much sport to it, and the crowds for it always seem minimal.

-Nam