Is it a sport or a game?

[matcase]

In my opinion it is a sport just as legit as any of the other shooting sports i.e. firearm target shooting or archery. Focus and physical accuracy are demanded just as with hitting baseballs, shooting baskets, or the various shots in a tennis match; not to mention the problem solving and strategic aspects.
The only thing that some sports have that pool doesn't is running and jumping. Then along comes speed pool and trick shots.

Sport.

 

[SixSence]

Sport, game, art and science

 

[curlyscues]

if it's not a sport than why am i too out of shape these days to play it well. i guess football, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf.......... all these are not sports either since they are in fact "games".

if it's on a sport channel it must be a sport. they wouldn't get that wrong. it's their job.
M.C.

 

[justnum]

its just another form of propaganda

I do enjoy it as a recreational outlet

It does wonders for my math ideas.

 

[arsenius]

I've never understood why there is any argument about whether pool is a sport. It is clearly a sport. A game of physical skill. It is not athletics. Athletics take lots of endurance (more than pool) and/or strength. They may or may not take a lot of skills. Football is a sport, a game, and athletics. Pool is a sport, and a game, and is not athletics. Chess is a game. I think the issue with calling it a sport arises from "manly men" who think you have to be get hit to play a sport. At least that has been my experience.

You might then think that you can make pool a sport by gambling in the wrong place, but you would then be forgetting about the "rules agreed upon" part.;-)

 

[Peer]

To me it has always been a sport -- and I'm still convinced that the better shape you are, the better you'll last in a hard-core tournament. Actually, way back when I was a protege in Scandinavia, our billiard club rented a sports-hall for us every Friday (as part of the membership contingency) so we would be in as good physical shape as possible -- and sure they worked us hard.

-- peer

 

[bruin70]

it's a game. it may not be how pool aficionados perceive it,,,but that is how it's presented to the public.

billiard equipment is sold along with darts and other games paraphernalia(example:blatt billiards). certainly, it's a game in the bar leagues, like dart leagues. families buy tables to fit in their play/game room,,,,again taking on the image of a "game".

everything is a "game" when it's participated in recreationally. football is a sport on tv, it is a game when you play it in your backyard. pool is most widely perceiveded as a game because the SPORT of pool is not significant enough to make it a sport. it is only a sport in countries like taiwan/phillipines.

 

[JAM]

Pocket billiards is a sport, and 9-ball is a game.

When the IPT came to the fore with the round robin format, the matches began in the early morning hours, and some last until 10:00 p.m.

MANY, MANY, MANY players were starting to work out in gyms to prepare themselves for the long grueling days of this week-long event. Being on your feet and in the heat of the battle for this many hours was a new phenomenon to some players.

One player who hails from Las Vegas actually quit smoking cigarettes before the IPT, hoping to get in shape. Earl Strickland was quoted as saying he wanted to lose a few pounds before the IPT in Vegas so that he could give his best performance.

I remember towards the end of the week at the IPT in Vegas, the field had narrowed down to about a dozen players out of the 150-player field. I went out to the hallway to catch a cigarette one evening, and I glanced over at Alex Pagulayan who was sitting down on the carpeted floor with a deer-in-headlights look on his face. I said to him, "Alex, what's wrong?" He told me that he was taking a load off his feet and resting his bones between matches. Francisco Bustamante echoed the same comment that this all-day-long format was very tough.

Check out Alex trying to rest from the grueling format, as depicted below. A picture speaks a thousand words, and anybody who doesn't think pool is a physical sport should talk to some of the pros. Heck, it's tough on me as a mere railbird just walking to the venue sites in some of these hotels, just like the final 9 in golf.

JAM

 

[Pinocchio]

????????????

It can be as demanding as chess an as grueling as running the longest marathon. Now wouldn't it be both.
Pinocchio

 

[Hierovision]

Before I read anyone else's replies I just want to post this:
Sport
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.

from dictionary.reference.com

It certainly requires skill AND physical prowess. It is, therefore, a sport IMO.

I got in an argument with a friend of a friend on the subject and he's a diehard football head. He said it has to be more physically demanding to count as a sport. My argument was that it should be considered a sport based on the definition above and the fact that there are more physically fit people doing well in the sport than the unfit.

It can be a game if you don't take it seriously or have no long-term goals in billiards, but for ME it is most definitely a sport.

 

[Double-Dave]

I voted game, because that's what it is to me, but not really. It's more somewhere in between game and sport.

In my country, pool (billiards in general really) is considered a top-sport which means that if I were to win a medal in the European Championships, I will get a monthly allowance from the government. So at least for a few people in my country, it definitely is a sport.

Having said that, to me a sport is something that if you do it a reasonable amount of time, it will be beneficial to your health. Like swimming, or riding a bike. I don't think playing pool is good for any part of your anatomy. We have to come up with a new term for these kinds of activities, like golf, darts, shooting, and maybe some others that are more based on precision and mental stamina, than physical ability or endurance.

gr. Dave

 

[catscradle]

It's a game when you can be served and drink a beer while playing...

Now that's a definition I can live with.

I might add if it is something you can do while smoking a cigarette it is most definitely a game.

Also if you can be in the kind of shape that Buddy Hall and Steve Mizerak were and still be considered among the best in the world at it, it is a game not a sport.

 

[CaptainJR]

OK, You can't argue that it isn't a sport. You all know me, I just like taking the opposite of the popular side of a question and making an argument.

Let me pose this. Why is it that most everyone is so emphatic about it being a sport? It is like they are thinking, 'If it is a sport it can be great, if it is a game it can't be great.'

Calling it a game doesn't take anything away from pool. Does calling it 'pool' instead of 'Pocket Billiard' take anything away from it? No. Does the sport of 'Table Tennis' become a game if you call it 'ping pong'. No. Games can be great just like sports.

I question if it is either a game or a sport. Is ballet a sport? I think the activity of pool has more of the attributes of an ART, than a game or a sport. Have you ever heard anyone say "The Art of Football"? I don't think so. Have you heard the phase "The Art of Pocket Billiard" Yes. Am I saying that if an activity could be called an art that it would be a game rather than a sport? Na, not today.




P.S. (You know I always go for a laugh as a closer)
Maybe we should use addictive attributes as a measure if something is a game or a sport. I've never heard of anyone being addicted to playing football? (not watching, just playing) So from now on if the game is addictive, it is a sport. Now pool is a sport and football it a game.

 

[Gerry]

Now that's a definition I can live with.

I might add if it is something you can do while smoking a cigarette it is most definitely a game.

Also if you can be in the kind of shape that Buddy Hall and Steve Mizerak were and still be considered among the best in the world at it, it is a game not a sport.

yeah, and those GIANT linemen in football are poster boys for coronary health?...please!

IMO those of you who think it's a game have never got in a marathon gambling match for lets say 6 or 10 hours. the next morning you will KNOW it's a sport.

I see it like this...games are things like chess, cards, board games, video games etc. as soon as you include anything that requires hand eye coordination, dexterity, endurance, feel, you have sport.

but, who cares, game/sport makes no difference to me. What does make a difference to me is how to regain the popularity.

Gerry

 

[The Piper]

Game of Pool
Game of Golf

Games are played by anyone
Sports are played by athletes.

 

[JAM]

yeah, and those GIANT linemen in football are poster boys for coronary health?...please!

IMO those of you who think it's a game have never got in a marathon gambling match for lets say 6 or 10 hours. the next morning you will KNOW it's a sport.

I see it like this...games are things like chess, cards, board games, video games etc. as soon as you include anything that requires hand eye coordination, dexterity, endurance, feel, you have sport.

but, who cares, game/sport makes no difference to me. What does make a difference to me is how to regain the popularity.

EXCELLENT response, Gerry! I was beginning to feel like I was sitting on the Titanic watching pool sink even deeper into the abyss of the American pool culture's badly informed opinion. I wish more folks felt like you!

JAM

 

[catscradle]

...watching pool sink even deeper into the abyss of the American pool culture's badly informed opinion...
JAM

Why would you consider pool sinking into an abyss because it is referred to as a "game" rather than a "sport". Is there something sacro-sanct about being a "sport" as opposed to a "game". It is symantics that is all. It in fact qualifies as a "game" and a "sport" depending upon the definition you use. I call it a "game" because it is most definitely not athletic, I don't care how much endurance it takes. It takes endurance to put in 60-70 hours a week in a job which many, many more people do than do "marathon gambling sessions", but we don't call that a sport.
The elite of a "game" are still elite, calling it a "game" takes nothing away from their stature.

 

[catscradle]

yeah, and those GIANT linemen in football are poster boys for coronary health?...please!
Gerry

Nevertheless, they are athletes. Most of them despite their bulk will out sprint you or me. I would never worry about losing a sprint to Buddy or Steve, or if you want to talk about endurance I'd even less worry about losing a mile run to them.
As I said in my post in response to JAM, there is nothing sacro-sanct about calling it a "sport". It is merely semantics (which I misspelt in my response to JAM, mia culpa, mia maxima culpa ).

 

[JAM]

Why would you consider pool sinking into an abyss because it is referred to as a "game" rather than a "sport". Is there something sacro-sanct about being a "sport" as opposed to a "game"?....

In the words of Aretha Franklin, those who have devoted their life to your game and my sport and have achieved heights that you and I will never achieve need a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T here in America.

JAM

 

[CaptainJR]

I question if it is either a game or a sport. Is ballet a sport? I think the activity of pool has more of the attributes of an ART, than a game or a sport.

What attributes? In particular the way a shot is played by feel rather than aiming. OH! Wait a minute. Sorry, wrong thread.