Athlete or Not? Ten Questions

[prankster]

So having physical gifts that you only dream of isn't enough if they don't run in the game they are playing? Hand-eye coordination not important? Mental toughness overrated?

I guess all the alpine skiing events; downhill, slalom, and ski jumping; are all no longer sports, either....

But the three-legged racers of the world are now making last minute application to the Olympic Committee.....for inculsion in the London games.

 

[ZenConn]

I was on board with you on bowlers being athletes until a couple of years ago when I saw a guy bowling in the championship game with a cellphone attached to his belt.

That's in case the offensive coordinatator wants to call a play and discuss how the pins are aligned defensively.

 

[Waquoit]

I guess all the alpine skiing events; downhill, slalom, and ski jumping; are all no longer sports, either....

The alpine skiing events where they race against the clock qualify. Ski jumping fails the test because the winner is based on judging.

 

[prankster]

Sailing? Archery?

 

[willie99]

I've looked up formal definitions of (sport) (hobby) (athlete). Do you have to sweat? Must you keep score? This whole argument was focused on the Question.......is a Bowler an athlete?

So are the following Athletes by your standards? WHY???

1. a bowler

2. a golfer

3. a ping pong player

4. a dart player

5. a bocce baller

6. a jockey

7. a Nascar driver

8. a competitive Eater

9. an arm wrestler

10. a cheerleader

yes to 6,7 & 10

2,3 & 9 on the fringe

1,4,5 & 8 are flat out no (I could still compete in these events and not get tired)

 

[babysheep]

I could still compete in these events and not get tired

We've pretty much already established that relative required physical exertion is not the way to determine if an activity is a sport. If it was, and I assume you would wager that a sport requires some kind of elite physical skill in strength, endurance and/or precision, then one could argue that elite death metal drumming would be not only a sport, but one of the most difficult.

 

[Waquoit]

Sailing? Archery?

Yes and yes.

 

[IMind]

I think you guys are dismissing how hard it is to be a pro-golfer. While it's not necessarily that demanding to go out and play 18 holes playing 72 holes of golf and walking all 72 holes over 4 days changes the dynamic completely. I'd say your average PGA/LPGA player is an athlete.

I competed in shot put, hammer, and discus in college... it's a sport and the people that do it at high levels are athletes. It's not just the fat guy you knew in high school. Even Danzz obscenely limited definition (I don't actually agree with it: power lifting/Olympic weight lifting is definitely a sport) would apply. The ability to move fast is very important. You basically are trying to move through a small space as quickly as possible especially where the hammer and discus are concerned.

I think you guys are getting too caught up in how athletic the participants are etc. There's a difference between being a great all around athlete and being insanely specialized at something. Take the Decathlon for instance... what you really have there is a guy that's actually pretty mediocre when you judge the individual sport against the pinnacle of that sport, but the Decathlete is probably more athletic overall than the people that specialize.

 

[Frank Ivy]

You guys are all playing with semantics.
All things discussed in this thread are competitions.
Many of the things are in the genre sports.
A few of the things mentioned involve athletes.

No, sorry, whirling in a circle and chucking a lead weight 20 yards does not make you athlete. You are a competitor, for sure, and you participate in a sport, probably, but no way in hell a 6/2 oaf who runs a 15.4 fifty and would need to hit a baseball past the outfielders to get to first base is an "athlete." No way, no how. Not by my definition, because, if we let that guy in, then pretty much just line up all the people on Letterman doing "stupid human tricks" as well.

Words associated with athlete - lean, muscular, endurance, flexibility, power, dexterity, quickness, body control, explosiveness, and so on. It suggests a person who, while excelling in at least one sport, could easily be very good at others.

Examples - Beckham could be a very good golfer, as could most soccer players. It's hard to imagine phil mickelson being very good at soccer, assuming he can run.

 

[babysheep]

"Athlete" already has a definition, so nobody cares how you define it. It comes from the Greek word meaning "competing for a prize," which, in case you forgot, in Greek times, included discus throwers. They started this little thing called the Olympics back then.

 

[babysheep]

So I guess ESPN thinks spelling is a sport

 

[uconnfan68]

So I guess ESPN thinks spelling is a sport

You mean facial contortions and mental gymnastics don't count?

 

[babysheep]

No, I mean ESPN must consider it some kind of sport if they're featuring all this stuff about it all day.

 

[ZenConn]

You mean facial contortions and mental gymnastics don't count?

Sure. Why not?

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=/watch?v=LqKTKUvbVsA&v=LqKTKUvbVsA&gl=US

Sent from my YP-G70 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Waquoit]

No, I mean ESPN must consider it some kind of sport if they're featuring all this stuff about it all day.

They used to show dominos. Not a sport.

 

[babysheep]

You mean facial contortions and mental gymnastics don't count?

Do they?

I mean these kids aren't somehow skilled in the muscular movements required for speech any more than we are. I think a main aspect of what makes up a sport/athlete is that to be an elite contender in that activity you need physical prowess in that activity that the average person does not possess. None of us can jump like AD, run like Adrian Peterson, throw like Peyton Manning, etc., but we all have relatively the same skill in speech production as those kids.

Then, the actual spelling itself, requires a different kind of cognition than other traditional "sport" activities. These kids learn the phonetic rules of as many languages as they can, and then try to tap into that knowledge as best they can when they spell. The strategies they use allow for more concrete ways of winning than I think the cognition for other sports does. Sporting cognition, in my opinion, is motor memory and (depending on the activity; some sports don't require it) specialized kind of learning associated with that sport (Basketball IQ, QBs reading defenses, etc.) that is used to predict the actions of competing competitors.

 

[ZenConn]

Do they?

I mean these kids aren't somehow skilled in the muscular movements required for speech any more than we are. I think a main aspect of what makes up a sport/athlete is that to be an elite contender in that activity you need physical prowess in that activity that the average person does not possess. None of us can jump like AD, run like Adrian Peterson, throw like Peyton Manning, etc., but we all have relatively the same skill in speech production as those kids.

Then, the actual spelling itself, requires a different kind of cognition than other traditional "sport" activities. These kids learn the phonetic rules of as many languages as they can, and then try to tap into that knowledge as best they can when they spell. The strategies they use allow for more concrete ways of winning than I think the cognition for other sports does. Sporting cognition, in my opinion, is motor memory and (depending on the activity; some sports don't require it) specialized kind of learning associated with that sport (Basketball IQ, QBs reading defenses, etc.) that is used to predict the actions of competing competitors.

In other news, Morris Claiborne scored a 4 on the Wonderlic test.

 

[babysheep]

I bet that that test doesn't ask questions about reading an offense's lineup, positioning, movement, quarterback cues and movement, receiver cues and movement, judging points and angles of attack, having the spatial awareness and predictive ability of himself and the other 21 players on the field, etc. That's what I'm saying: many professional athletes develop their cognition for very specific scenarios and actions, that are not/ possibly cannot be measured by a general "intelligence" test.