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The best definition of a "sport" versus a "game" was given to me by a Canadian chum of mine while discussing curling during the last Olympics. He said, "If you can gain weight while playing it, it's not a sport!" And we all know where bridge falls LOLL :lol: :lol:

 

You'd be amazed at the quantity of beer and doughnuts you can consume while chasing that whirling thing down the ice...

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The best definition of a "sport" versus a "game" was given to me by a Canadian chum of mine while discussing curling during the last Olympics. He said, "If you can gain weight while playing it, it's not a sport!" And we all know where bridge falls LOLL :lol: :lol:

 

You'd be amazed at the quantity of beer and doughnuts you can consume while chasing that whirling thing down the ice...

 

I always thought calling Competitive Eating a sport seemed a little stupid.

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Sport England (the administrative body for sports funding) had let a few soft ones through such as darts and snooker, so probably felt they needed to draw a line in the sand. Otherwise you'll end up with dungeons and dragons players asking for VAT relief.

What, pray tell, is wrong with that? B-)

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I have no sympathy to those countries who denies to play against Israel and WBF allows this bs.

Do you have sympathy for Israel refusing to go to some countries because they can't get extra-super-special treatment there?

 

Anyway, at least according to German laws, the freedom is already an illusion, courts can fool around with Bridge whether it's a sport or not.

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The best definition of a "sport" versus a "game" was given to me by a Canadian chum of mine while discussing curling during the last Olympics. He said, "If you can gain weight while playing it, it's not a sport!" And we all know where bridge falls LOLL :lol: :lol:

 

 

Clients and 80 year-olds are winning national championships.

The World Championships are playing 48 boards a day during the knockout stage. If bridge wants to be a sport they must play 80 boards a day.

Olympics will never accept bridge. No money from spectators. Bridge players wont watch bridge. ESPN showed Scrabble once, but never bridge.

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As far as I understood, the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs asked for some basic information on security from the hotel resort, exactly to avoid getting "extra super special treatment" in a city where one of the bloodiest terror attack happened about 10 years ago. The organisers and the hotel resort did not reply to any of the requests (they did not refuse, just refused to write anything).
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Do you have sympathy for Israel refusing to go to some countries because they can't get extra-super-special treatment there?

Or for the US team that wouldn't play in Turkey, for that matter. There were also some obstacles with the visas although it could probably be resolved.

 

It is a bit different, though. A team can decide not to go to an event for any reason they might have. But once you decide to participate, you have an obligation to play your sheduled matches.

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The best definition of a "sport" versus a "game" was given to me by a Canadian chum of mine while discussing curling during the last Olympics. He said, "If you can gain weight while playing it, it's not a sport!" And we all know where bridge falls LOLL :lol: :lol:

 

You'd be amazed at the quantity of beer and doughnuts you can consume while chasing that whirling thing down the ice...

 

I set a goal this year to lose 10 pounds. Only 20 pounds to go!

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The best definition of a "sport" versus a "game" was given to me by a Canadian chum of mine while discussing curling during the last Olympics. He said, "If you can gain weight while playing it, it's not a sport!" And we all know where bridge falls LOLL :lol: :lol:

This would seem to exclude (inter alia) all motorsport and riding disciplines, archery and shooting, snooker, bowls and some forms of sailing. I think someone already said that the real difference is based on cultural attitudes and that seems to me to be the real truth of the matter. What holds as a sport in Canada might well not be taken so seriously in, for example, China and vice versa.

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Can't be bothered with sematics.

 

What is the reason for not charging VAT on athletic sports? Does that argument, whatever it is, apply to bridge? It may well do, even if we don't think of bridge as a sport. Then again, it might not, even if we do think of bridge as a sport.

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Not sure you're right there Zel. Motorsport for instance definitely burns a lot of calories. Plus the rules on weight of the cars include the drivers in F1 so you never see fat pilots. @helene: of course semantic debate tend to be a bit dull and pointless but some people find them fun (I am one of those people some of the time).
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@helene: of course semantic debate tend to be a bit dull and pointless but some people find them fun (I am one of those people some of the time).

Yes, agree. Linguistics is one of my favorite academic diciplines. But some discussions become muddy because it is unclear if it is about substance or about semantics.

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The definition was about being able to gain weight whilst doing it rather than about being lighter (or fitter) an advantage. In bridge it may well be that being fitter conveys an advantage but you could easily gain weight whilst playing by eating or drinking. Similarly for motorsport - drivers often drink during a race and for endurance racing will also usually eat between stints. It is irrelevant that being lighter conveys a small advantage - not because of the car+driver being lighter incidentally, as Bill points out there is typically a minimum weight, but less driver weight allows for more freedom in distributing the other parts and that can often mean a better centre of gravity. Riding is an even better example where being lighter is an advantage and here it is more difficult to gain weight during an event. Nonetheless possible if you wanted to, for example by entering a competitive eating competition between races! :P
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I wasn't just talking about being lighter being an advantage. I specifically stated that you lose a lot of calories during a race. Given that we have descended into basic questions in linguistics here, I should mention that that was my main point, one that you ignored. The second ponit was preceded by "plus," i.e., it is not as important as the first point (in fact, I completely got this second point wrong, oops). So, if you are going to reply to my post, first reply to the first point, then to the secondary point. Anyway, yes, archery and a few more of these "sports" are also questionable in my eyes.

 

Yes you can also gain weight during the marathon if you eat a thousand hot dogs after every mile, but that doesn't make marathon running a non-sport, only this hotdog-marathon combo a non-sport.

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@Zel:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/10693007/F1-fitness-how-to-get-in-shape-like-Jenson-Button.html

 

Don’t be fooled by the fact that Formula One drivers get to sit on their backsides at work. Today’s racing drivers are highly-conditioned athletes whose bodies are carefully primed for the unique physical stresses of their sport. Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and co. manoeuvre 691kg cars at top speeds of 300kph, endure forces of 5g, burn 1,400 calories and lose up to 3kg of body weight in sweat during a race. What's more, they do it 19 times over an eight month period.

 

Oops.

 

(for the record: I haven't watched F1 in almost 10 years. I find it less exciting than watch paint dry. But to me it is definitely a sport.)

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It is a good example of taking the most extreme conditions and transferring it across inappropriately. Some F1 races are held in extremely hot and/or humid conditions. That does indeed take a considerable physical effort. On the other hand, some motorsport events are sprints held in very comfortable conditions. I find bridge played in a room warmed to the temperatures demanded by a typical LOL very uncomfortable. I daresay that some international events have been played in worse. You could also play bridge in a sauna if you wanted to and probably end up with more extreme numbers than for F1. Would that make it a sport by the given definition?

 

Perhaps we should go back to what we are talking about here: "If you can gain weight while playing it, it's not a sport!" Not if you will gain weight, not whether lack of weight is an advantage; and not whether you can lose weight. You can gain weight doing either activity. You could lose weight doing either. Physical fitness is an advantage for both. It seems very tentative to use this definition to defend the suggestion that motorsport is sport while bridge is 'merely' a game or pastime.

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