Is it a sport or a game?

Which is it?

  • Game

    Votes: 51 36.7%

  • Sport

    Votes: 88 63.3%
  • Total voters
    139
Thunderball

Thunderball

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Silver Member
I see this here a lot.Quite often I see "sport" used to discribe our game of choice.
I just don't see it that way.

I love to play and will till I'm dead,but a sport it is not.
 
what defines a sport? why is it a game and not a sport, but football, baseball, basketball, golf.....all games =, but are considered sports! if you play "our game of choice" at a high level, you probably consider it a sport. not everyone can be good at it(and especially not great at it). it takes time, practice, stamina and talent to succeed in this game. Don't sell the game short! just wondering what criteria you think the "game" doesn't meet?................P.S.(get up and play a dead even, tough, back and forth gambling session for 8 to 12 hours and then try not to call it a sport!)
 
instroke75 said:
what defines a sport? why is it a game and not a sport, but football, baseball, basketball, golf.....all games =, but are considered sports! if you play "our game of choice" at a high level, you probably consider it a sport. not everyone can be good at it(and especially not great at it). it takes time, practice, stamina and talent to succeed in this game. Don't sell the game short! just wondering what criteria you think the "game" doesn't meet?................P.S.(get up and play a dead even, tough, back and forth gambling session for 8 to 12 hours and then try not to call it a sport!)
Click to expand...

TAP.. TAP.. TAP.......!!! I can certainly voutch for that!!

I get really tired of people in America considering Pocket Billiards as a "game". If they can consider billiards in other forms of the world (i.e. Austria, Germany, Belgum, basically Europe and Asia areas) why should it not be considered here? In my eyes, there IS a difficulty when playing billiards. The money might not be all there, but that's the government doing its work (dirty or clean is all personal preference). Instroke75, props to you and that quote. It is just sad that in this country, the only thing ruining pool is Coin-Op tables and inexperienced players (or BANGERS in that sence).
 
I actually voted 'game', however I left a tournament last Sat. before getting eliminated because my back was hurting so much. Sitting in the chairs that were available was not going to help. But my back was hurting when I arived.

So if there is a physical side of the game desides if it is a sport or not, does stamina count? Does a preexisting condition count.

I don't think it is a sport. It doesn't take much effort to swing a pool cue, so the stamina isn't any more than if you had to stand around and watch the tournament. Then again there is the mental thing, but my mental game sucks so much that I can't comment on that LOL
 
instroke75 said:
.P.S.(get up and play a dead even, tough, back and forth gambling session for 8 to 12 hours and then try not to call it a sport!)
Click to expand...

As I mentioned above, I don't think that the same two people would be any worse for the ware if they just had to intently watch a 8 to 12 hour session.
 
CaptainJR said:
As I mentioned above, I don't think that the same two people would be any worse for the ware if they just had to intently watch a 8 to 12 hour session.
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Well, for one thing, they would each have walked about 10 miles less, and they would each have burned about a 1000 or more calories less than the players as a result of the difference in mental energy expended!
 
So... what's the diff?

Let's say for sake of discussion that billiards is a game instead of a sport. Is an activity held on some sort of higher plane simply because it is classified as a sport?

Are there any widely recognized defining characteristics of "sport"?

Where does the term "Sporting House" fit into all this? Would those who frequent such establishments be considered "Sportsmen"?

Ken
FWIW, I lean toward the 'Sport' side of the fence.
 
Definately a sport

How can this not be considered a sport? Both the mental and physical are involved. Isn't bowling considered a sport? Bingo is a game. Poker is a game.
Poll is a sport. Case closed!!!! Philw
 
Replying CaptainJR

Well.... ok, I completely respect your post. Yes, it is an approachable "game" with trying to insert your $0.75 cents and just whacking balls out left and right just enjoying breaking those phenolic balls and not knowing what the heck you are doing; thinking idealisc from an amateur's view. Ok... no biggie. Show an amateur an acutal 8 or 9-foot regulation table with ideal cloth, make that amateur learn his basics and position play and I tell you... it ain't no game! It's like considering Football (a.k.a. America's sport). You take off the high salary cap (large moolah!), the equiptment that these football playrs, clowns like T.O. that just abstructly make this game utterly irritating and dramatic, the fans around the stadium... and now, it is now a "game". Should billiards be considered a sport? We got fans... we got a clown entertaining us (and don't ask me who because yall have the idea)... we got the equiptment... we got drama... and last but not least (just for the honors) we got legacies that obtained the torch from which were passed from their forefather of billiards and those that have practiced their lives maintaining it (honors meaning the Magician Efren Reyes).

Thank you for reading this!! :cool:
 
Since the world considers "bowling" a sport, (as a kid I watched it on ABC's Wide World of Sports), then billiards is, without a doubt, a sport. They are very similar in stamina, finesse, and concentration. And by this rationale, isn't bowling just one big break, over and over and over. :)

My two cents,
Mike
 
I'll stick with Hemingway's view.
"Motor racing and mountain climbing are sports-
The rest are merely games."
 
IMHO what we play is a game. But the game is a sport.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SportS

Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Used by itself, sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determiner of the outcome (winning or losing), but the term is also used to include activities such as mind sports and motor sports where mental acuity or equipment quality are major factors.
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Recently, I had a poker player trying to convince me that poker is a sport. If poker is a sport, pool certainly is a sport.

Steve
 
I voted game but it has some sport qualities. To most it is just a game, but it's a game that takes an extraordinary amount of time/talent/practice to master. Just my $.02
 
8 Ball, 9 Ball, 10 Ball, Banks (short and full rack), 14.1 and One Pocket are all GAMES in the SPORT of Pocket Billiards.


Why does calling it a game or a sport matter so much with players?

A game or a sport... it still is one of the lowest paid professions of any game or sport.
 
I voted game but believe that pool falls somewhere in between. If anything though it would have to lean more towards game than sport for me. Sports to me require a physical aspect that pool just doesn't have. Yes it requires great hand eye cordination, but if that's the requirment then a lot of video game players would be considered 'sport' players. I do believe pool is on another level than just a mere 'game', but a sport it is not.
 
We sit here, day after day, discussing the physical aspects of perfect mechanics, proper play, etc. yet we ignore the fact that pool has physical attributes?

Pool is a sport and I'm surprised anyone here would think otherwise.
 
billyjack said:
I'll stick with Hemingway's view.
"Motor racing and mountain climbing are sports-
The rest are merely games."
Click to expand...

It is ironic that one called a sport is motor sports. Everything else is a game but the drivers aren't "recognized" as athletes.
 
Please concider this, are baseball, football and basketball nat sports, because the players play a game? Are the Olympics not sport, because they are called the Olympic Games?

Pool fits all of the criteria for the definatiion of sport.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SportS

Quote:
Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs yes pool has rulesand often engaged in competitively. and there is plenty of competition in poolUsed by itself, sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilitiesskill is certainly a factor in pool of the competitor are the sole or primary determiner of the outcome (winning or losing), but the term is also used to include activities such as mind sports the strategy of 1 pocket and 14.1 are mind sportsand motor sports where mental acuity or equipment quality this could be argued both waysare major factors.


I believe that it is sad that the people who love and play our great game of pool, which is a sport, say that it is only a game. And totally disregard it as a sport. It is no wonder that the non playing public does not take the sport of pool seriously if we the supporters and players take it so lightly.

Steve
 
SlickRick_PCS said:
TAP.. TAP.. TAP.......!!! I can certainly voutch for that!!

I get really tired of people in America considering Pocket Billiards as a "game". If they can consider billiards in other forms of the world (i.e. Austria, Germany, Belgum, basically Europe and Asia areas) why should it not be considered here? In my eyes, there IS a difficulty when playing billiards. The money might not be all there, but that's the government doing its work (dirty or clean is all personal preference). Instroke75, props to you and that quote. It is just sad that in this country, the only thing ruining pool is Coin-Op tables and inexperienced players (or BANGERS in that sence).
Click to expand...
Coin-op pool tables are to blame for ruining pool?????? AND inexperienced players?????? Who died and left YOU in charge? How many league players are there in this country that play on bar tables vs your so called tables? YOU need to stand CORECTED...as ALL of us started as inexperienced players...and god forbid...so did you buddy!

Glen
 
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