Table tennis, short tennis (smaller indoor court, softer ball, Wycombe Sports Centre), social golf (Wycombe Heights, Wexham Park and Rickmansworth), Ten Pin Bowling (USAF base, Aylesbury, Maidenhead and Wycombe) all between retirement (1995) and onset of the effects of old age and disgraceful neglect of basic exercise immediately before, but particularly during, the pandemic.
Thoroughly enjoyed it all and had the odd “triumph” - 50+ mixed doubles championship with Sue Miles, circa 2010, for example - and loads of happy memories during a ridiculously long retirement.
Oh, nearly forgot. A challenge in the Woodland Lounge from Luke O’Nein about six years ago to play him at table tennis. Invitation graciously declined when he mentioned he had a TT table at home.
On the subject of how athletes dress, there surely cannot be a stranger tradition than baseball managers and coaches wearing the full team uniform. Nothing is quite so amusing as a portly 70 year old manager shuffling out to argue with the umpire whilst wearing stockings, cap and pinstripes.
Wait a few years until a 70 year old manager in a leather jacket and tight jeans with long, flowing (still) gravy brown locks and red cowboy boots is shouting at the 4th official @Shev
Like @Malone I was once awarded a dubious first place. It was the district x-country race and I was a distant fourth as I entered a school field for the finishing stretch. To my surprise the three main contenders were heading back towards me as they had gone straight on instead of turning right. So, there I am now in the bunch and I dig in deep to pip them in the sprint. Of course, I claimed the top prize, but it now remains a stain on my reputation for fairness!
The traditional definition was that huntin’ shootin’ and fishin’ were the only true sports. Everything else a game. Perhaps only @bargepole on the Gasroom could now acknowledge such reactionary thinking.
Never been hunting, went fishing once and was bored to death. Done a bit of clay pigeon and rifle shooting. But those three, in the words of @ChasHarps, are 'class ridden pastimes'. I prefer actual sports.
This is an excellent rule of thumb. I'm a fan of the pub game "Sport or Not Sport", you have some obviously easy ones at the start like tennis, football, long jump - sport; dressage, formula 1, rugby - not sport. But then you get into some interesting territory, like the various cycling events where yeah, sure, a lot of this is down to physical prowess, but some of it is down to just having a better bike. This can produce hours of entertaining debate / car park fist fights (not sport).
(I used to have cycling down as not sport, but then I saw that one event where they tootle round the track trying to decide on exactly the right time to give it some welly. Definitely sport.)
F1 is boring, it's basically the best car wins ! Used to annoy me Hamilton always being up for sports personality of the year for winning. Nothing to do with him, he was in the best car, as is being proved this season, he is no longer in the best car... so not winning, funny that !
To find out who is the best driver they should all have exactly the same car to race with
Agreed on the second part, although it's motor sport as the category. Although I think you're overating their fitness level a bit.
And your qualifer rules darts out. A skilful game for sure, but there's no fitness element. You can compete at the top level in your 40s and 50s which is typical of games but not really sports.
For me, though I like the darts and the snooker, any game that at one time used to include swigging a pint of beer and drawing on a fag while you watched your opponent take their turn is not exactly a sport.
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Or snooker... all that bending over !
Both, of course, not sports. Excellent pub games though.
Fencing would be interesting in short shorts !!
It's a sport if at some point a player gets out of breath. This is the clear reason why golf is not a sport, in addition to being inherently evil.
Late to the party, as usual.
Table tennis, short tennis (smaller indoor court, softer ball, Wycombe Sports Centre), social golf (Wycombe Heights, Wexham Park and Rickmansworth), Ten Pin Bowling (USAF base, Aylesbury, Maidenhead and Wycombe) all between retirement (1995) and onset of the effects of old age and disgraceful neglect of basic exercise immediately before, but particularly during, the pandemic.
Thoroughly enjoyed it all and had the odd “triumph” - 50+ mixed doubles championship with Sue Miles, circa 2010, for example - and loads of happy memories during a ridiculously long retirement.
Oh, nearly forgot. A challenge in the Woodland Lounge from Luke O’Nein about six years ago to play him at table tennis. Invitation graciously declined when he mentioned he had a TT table at home.
Was awarded 1st place in the county 100metre champs once at primary school....
Only problem was I'd come 8th.
Looks and height were massively different, so how on earth this happened I do not know.
Quickly sorted out mind.
Not quite sure how I'd even got into this race either, as I wasn't even in the quickest 4 or 5 in my own school!
On the subject of how athletes dress, there surely cannot be a stranger tradition than baseball managers and coaches wearing the full team uniform. Nothing is quite so amusing as a portly 70 year old manager shuffling out to argue with the umpire whilst wearing stockings, cap and pinstripes.
Could you imagine any other sport doing that?
Wait a few years until a 70 year old manager in a leather jacket and tight jeans with long, flowing (still) gravy brown locks and red cowboy boots is shouting at the 4th official @Shev
Like @Malone I was once awarded a dubious first place. It was the district x-country race and I was a distant fourth as I entered a school field for the finishing stretch. To my surprise the three main contenders were heading back towards me as they had gone straight on instead of turning right. So, there I am now in the bunch and I dig in deep to pip them in the sprint. Of course, I claimed the top prize, but it now remains a stain on my reputation for fairness!
I don't even know who you are any more, @RuyLopez. This has shaken me to my core!
The traditional definition was that huntin’ shootin’ and fishin’ were the only true sports. Everything else a game. Perhaps only @bargepole on the Gasroom could now acknowledge such reactionary thinking.
Never been hunting, went fishing once and was bored to death. Done a bit of clay pigeon and rifle shooting. But those three, in the words of @ChasHarps, are 'class ridden pastimes'. I prefer actual sports.
i played soccer at school until big boys get no recess
i passed mostly because finishing was horrible had like 5 goals the whole school year one time when i played every day
also not as popular so less ball opportunities
This is an excellent rule of thumb. I'm a fan of the pub game "Sport or Not Sport", you have some obviously easy ones at the start like tennis, football, long jump - sport; dressage, formula 1, rugby - not sport. But then you get into some interesting territory, like the various cycling events where yeah, sure, a lot of this is down to physical prowess, but some of it is down to just having a better bike. This can produce hours of entertaining debate / car park fist fights (not sport).
(I used to have cycling down as not sport, but then I saw that one event where they tootle round the track trying to decide on exactly the right time to give it some welly. Definitely sport.)
Semi-related is the dinner party game of C**t or W****r, and the holy grail of trying to find someone who is both. Derek Adams is a good shout.
Just because you're not a fan of a particular sport, doesn't mean it should be classified as 'not sport'.
Rugby Union received a grant of £7m from Sport England, for development of the grass roots game.
The top drivers in F1 are paid more than even the top PL footballers.
Both sports feature frequently in the BBC SPOTY awards, and appear on the back pages on newspapers, and on sport websites.
By any definition, both are most definitely sports.
No.
What about these lunatics who don't think darts is a sport?
Take me to the cuckoo’s nest.
I always had difficulty hitting the board and many darts that did hit the board seemed to arrive sideways on and just drop to the floor.
But I’m not bitter.
Never played this game, though had a good few discussions about both subjects separately. Will defo be giving it a go in the near future though !
Based on this thread I am expecting mass demonstrations when Scrabble, Tetris and Hopscotch are included in the 2036 Olympics.
Sports have to have some level of physical fitness / exertion.
Stuff like darts, dominoes, snooker, pool, they're pub games.
F1 driving etc - Motor sports.
F1 is obviously not sport. It's an engineering competition.
I thought it was some kind of carnival or parade, as the order never seems to change!
F1 is boring, it's basically the best car wins ! Used to annoy me Hamilton always being up for sports personality of the year for winning. Nothing to do with him, he was in the best car, as is being proved this season, he is no longer in the best car... so not winning, funny that !
To find out who is the best driver they should all have exactly the same car to race with
NASCAR is a lot more equal over here, so you get a lot more variety of winners, though most of the tracks are ovals, which can be dull at times.
Darts is absolutely a sport. So is F1 - those drivers are among the fittest athletes on the planet - just a shit one.
Agreed on the second part, although it's motor sport as the category. Although I think you're overating their fitness level a bit.
And your qualifer rules darts out. A skilful game for sure, but there's no fitness element. You can compete at the top level in your 40s and 50s which is typical of games but not really sports.
For me, though I like the darts and the snooker, any game that at one time used to include swigging a pint of beer and drawing on a fag while you watched your opponent take their turn is not exactly a sport.
I've always been of the opinion that association football IS sport, the natural expression of humanity through sport.
Everything else is just 'games', invented mainly by the British, to pass the time between playing sport (football) again.