Is it a sport or a game?

Which is it?

  • Game

    Votes: 51 36.7%

  • Sport

    Votes: 88 63.3%
  • Total voters
    139
I second the "spame" suggestion. Pool just doesn't have enough of a physical aspect to be considered a sport to me. Yet it is a lot more involved than an average game. Either way i don't see it as any disrespect to the game of pool by not classifying it as a sport. Or even more so than a game or a sport i'll vote for pool being an addiction :)
 
cueandcushion said:
There was a long running discussion once if whether professional wrestling was considered a sport. Some local morning DJs had this ongoing discussion. They had a unique way of settling the argument. There is a local strip club that would give you free admission if you brought a ticket stub from any professional sport. Well, they let you in if you had a WWF wrestling ticket stub. So it must be a pro sport! I wonder if I bring my Derby City badge to this club if I will get in for free?

Another funny story told to me by Professional Mark Wilson.:)
He went to a St. Louis Blues game with my brother a few years back. Out in the hallway there was this pimpled face 16 yr old giving away free NHL logo beach towels if you filled out a credit application for a VISA credit card. So Mark wanted one of these towels so he asked for a application. After filling it out the kid was going over it and said," Sir, you have 'pool player' as your profession; we need a real job listed here, okay?"
Mark replied," Listen kid, if you won't make fun of MY job....I won't make fun of YOURS." The kid handed him the towel and walked away...:o

Mark later laughed and stated..."Pool is in a sad state when kids like that look down on your job! No wonder we can't get a sponsor!"
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that is "wrasling" , not wrestling ...
 
Cuaba said:
Looking at the table and knowing what to do is a game. The physical execution of that game becomes a sport.

A great stroke with the accuracy required to play great is as physically demanding as any so-called sport.
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excellent ...
 
I usta get made fun of by friends of mine who would joke that bowling should be called a game rather than a sport, and they would generalize with pool, saying that anything where you drink beer and play better shouldnt be a sport.

I'd look at them and say, so why dont we both bet 1,000$ and both bowl 20 games and at the end of it who has the best over-all score wins the $$$. Of course I never had any takers. Why? because I was so much better at this sport than they were. Which was because I practiced more, more accurate, and played more often, and did bowling tournaments quite often.

Plus if any John Q Public figure thought bowling was just a game, why doesnt he plunk down 500$ and bowl in the ABC Masters in Reno? Its litterally open to the public. And just see how he does in this so called game.

Its the same with Pool, I bet they wouldnt bet 5$ on the color of thier skin when playing against a Pro in pool. Most John Q Public figures, dont look at pool as a sport because they lack the knowledge of pool and dont realize how difficult it can be. All most people know is bar pool and banging balls around.

If most people would spend a full day( atleast 12hrs) playing pool against someone with a high skill level in pool, I would think they could reconsider thier judgement about pool.
 
Fred said:
Any contest where it is possible to lose without ever getting to play, must be a game, because it damn sure isn't a sport.
A sporting contest bends over backwards to make sure its fair for both players.
Justin Nuder
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What do you mean you didn't get to play? You got a chance to lag, didn't you?
 
IMO pool is both .First it is a sport in which you then play a game..like football ect.you play a game.
 
Double-Dave said:
I had a short coversation with my brother on this subject today, he almost never plays pool. He immediately said, sure it's a sport, I mean you practice 10 hours a week and play in a league don't you?

I'm switching my vote - it's a sport and that's final.

The main thing against it being a sport for me was the fact that playing pool won't make you fit, you have to be reasonably fit to do it. Now I feel that does not matter, you have to be reasonably fit to run the 100 yards too, it's the training that makes you fit. 100 yard sprinters don't just sprint all day either.

gr. Dave
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Someone did a study a long time ago on which sport had the longest livespans for its athletes. This was when the average lifespan for a male was seventy two years old.

You guessed it. Pool came in first with an average lifespan of seventy six to seventy eight years.

The reason I remembered this was that it shocked me at the time with all of the smoking, drinking and other elicit activities associated with the sport.

Finally, I decided it must be due to the low impact excercise of walking around the table for long periods of time.
 
Stones said:
Someone did a study a long time ago on which sport had the longest livespans for its athletes. This was when the average lifespan for a male was seventy two years old.

You guessed it. Pool came in first with an average lifespan of seventy six to seventy eight years.

The reason I remembered this was that it shocked me at the time with all of the smoking, drinking and other elicit activities associated with the sport.

Finally, I decided it must be due to the low impact excercise of walking around the table for long periods of time.
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How many 78 year old football players do you see?
And they dare call that a sport! :D

Steve
 
Stones said:
Someone did a study a long time ago on which sport had the longest livespans for its athletes. This was when the average lifespan for a male was seventy two years old.

You guessed it. Pool came in first with an average lifespan of seventy six to seventy eight years.

The reason I remembered this was that it shocked me at the time with all of the smoking, drinking and other elicit activities associated with the sport.

Finally, I decided it must be due to the low impact excercise of walking around the table for long periods of time.
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That's interesting! For quite some time now, my fellow players here on St. Thomas have observed that despite our late hours and bad habits, we pool players tend to look significantly younger than other people our ages. Well, we know that billiards has been promoted as being good for your health for many years now!
 
I was just reading WCBS website and yes, billiards/pool is now recognized by the International Olympics Committee as a provisional sport meaning that it is now part of the list of sports that are candidate for inclusion if the host country can accomodate it. Summer Olympics usually include up to 5 provisional sports.

I have no idea but the for some reason IOC uses the Swedish definition of sports in which billiards/pool is qualified.

I still think that those snooker organizations are full of themselves. They still probably carry the notion that snooker is the one true pocket billiards discipline. IBSF almost screwed up the WCBS initiatives.
 
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