Defenestrating Thoughts from the Bivouac

People are always saying things like, “Golf isn’t a sport” or “Diving isn’t a sport” and then long arguments follow depending on what people think of the sport being discussed. I realized that this is not only because everyone has their own personal favorite sports, but also has their own definition of what a sport is.

I personally think that the best sports are one that involve the opponents playing against each other at the same time (hockey, football, etc.). I like how these sports involve real-time strategy adjustments and real head-to-head playing to determine the victor. Take figure skating or gymnastics, on the other hand. For sure, both are extremely hard to do and take tons of practice and skill to do well. But, for the most part, you just go out there and do your best, regardless of what your opponent did.

Of the head-to-head sports, I like the ones that have a lot of teamwork and team strategy. In this case I’m thinking about professional basketball, which in recent years seems to be all about the individual. Sometimes when you watch an NBA game, the team with the ball has 4 guys standing around and then one guy does everything. I just find that boring. :-)

Compare this to hockey or football. If you put a good quarterback between a crappy line, it doesn’t matter how good he is. If you put a great hockey center on a line with useless wings, he won’t look like a great center.