Is Bodybuilding a Sport?

[StCapps]

I don't know. If you say so. I still say a beauty pageant is a sport.

I would agree with that assessment. I also say bodybuilding is a sport.

[Montegriffo]

I'd say that for a pastime to become a true sport you need to be able to measure the result with a tape measure, stopwatch, scales or by out pointing an opponent. The criteria for awarding points must be subjective and not rely on a panel of judges scoring for objective qualities such as style or aesthetics. By these rules body building is a beauty contest not a sport.

[StCapps]

I'd say that for a pastime to become a true sport you need to be able to measure the result with a tape measure, stopwatch, scales or by out pointing an opponent. The criteria for awarding points must be subjective and not rely on a panel of judges scoring for objective qualities such as style or aesthetics. By these rules body building is a beauty contest not a sport.

Right but just because you think that doesn't actually make it the case. A sport does have to have it's scoring criteria be 100% objective otherwise it isn't a real sport, it's merely a pastime. That is just in your head, your criteria for judging what a sport is might be common, but your definition is far too narrow. If you want to come up with another word to describe sports that are scored based on more objective criteria to differentiate them from sports that have more subjective scoring criteria, no one is stopping you.

If you want to hijack the word "sports" to only mean "one variety of sport", that is simply misuse of the english language out of laziness. You only want to use the word in a limited context and don't like people using the term more broadly because you don't think of it that way. How about you find another word and those who actually understand the language they write and speak can keep using "sport" to refer to all sports and not merely a limited subset approved as "sports" by monte? That makes way more sense.

[Montegriffo]

Well if you want to call any competitive endeavour a sport that is your right. I happen to believe for a competition to be a true sport it must fulfil certain criteria ie there must be a measurable way to rank the competitors which does not rely on objective judging otherwise you might as well call art a sport.

[StCapps]

Well if you want to call any competitive endeavour a sport that is your right. I happen to believe for a competition to be a true sport it must fulfil certain criteria ie there must be a measurable way to rank the competitors which does not rely on objective judging otherwise you might as well call art a sport.

Not just any competition is a sport. As per the definition the criteria for a sport is competition + physical exertion + entertainment = sport. Objective to Subjective scoring criteria ratio has nothing to do with what is and isn't a sport, that is in your imagination because you don't know what the word sport actually means so you have created an alternative meaning in your mind.

[K@th]

A sport does have to have it's scoring criteria be 100% objective otherwise it isn't a real sport, it's merely a pastime.

Very few sports involve 100% objective criteria. Baseball is not a sport, based on your criteria.

If a sport involves rules about where objects & body parts have to be to get a point, then you are counting on human beings. If two human beings can reach a different conclusion on where an object or body part was/wasn't, you are entering subjective criteria.

So now we are just discussing how much subjective criteria is allowed before it's no longer a sport.

The closet I can get to a sport, by your exact definition, is a race involving a non-human time keeping system, like swimming, where electronic touch pads are used to determine who touched the wall, first. Even then, swimming only became a sport (by your definition,) once those touch pads were put in place.

[Speaker to Animals]

So PUA is a sport?

[Montegriffo]

Then with that loose definition anything from ballroom dancing to juggling is a sport.

[StCapps]

A sport does have to have it's scoring criteria be 100% objective otherwise it isn't a real sport, it's merely a pastime.

Very few sports involve 100% objective criteria. Baseball is not a sport, based on your criteria.

If a sport involves rules about where objects & body parts have to be to get a point, then you are counting on human beings. If two human beings can reach a different conclusion on where an object or body part was/wasn't, you are entering subjective criteria.

So now we are just discussing how much subjective criteria is allowed before it's no longer a sport.

The closet I can get to a sport, by your exact definition, is a race involving a non-human time keeping system, like swimming, where electronic touch pads are used to determine who touched the wall, first. Even then, swimming only became a sport (by your definition,) once those touch pads were put in place.

It's not my definition, it's monte's. Take it up with him, I agree with you whether an activity is a sport has nothing to do with objectivity or subjectivity of the rules, I have been pointing that out this entire thread.

[StCapps]

Then with that loose definition anything from ballroom dancing to juggling is a sport.

Ballroom dancing and juggling competitions would qualify as sports. Why does the definition need to be narrower?