Rules of Sport - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

djtestudo · 08-23-2004, 07:11 PM

A friend of mine, with help from me and some others, made up a list of rules to help show what is and isn't a true sport.

Quote:

In order for an activity to be considered a sport it must qualify for any combination of two of Rule I, Rule II, and Rule III.

Rule I. Medium for Points Scoring
If an activity requires a medium for points scoring, then this medium must satisfy one of the following conditions in order for Rule I to be satisfied.

1. If an activity uses a spheroid of negligible size as the primary medium for scoring points, then this activity satisfies Rule I.

2. If an activity uses an object of another shape as the primary medium for scoring, then this object must be no larger that to fit in the palm of one’s hand. Examples of objects that do and do not apply:
A. A Hockey Puck satisfies Rule I
B. A Rock (or Stone) as is used in Curling, does not satisfy Rule I

Rule II. Equipment
If an activity requires special equipment, then this equipment must satisfy one of the following conditions in order for Rule II to be satisfied.

1. Special Shoes
A. If an activity requires that a special shoe be used in order to compete, then Rule II is satisfied. A special shoe is an item of footwear that would not normally be worn in everyday circumstances.
B. Being Barefoot does not qualify as wearing special shoes.
C. Modified sneakers do not satisfy Rule II except under the following conditions
i. Spikes are added to the sneaker
ii. A running shoe used for a Track and Field event satisfies Rule II. This is because the running shoe is specifically design for a Track and Field setting. Also a large importance is placed on the shoe being worn. It is possible to gain an advantage over an opponent by wearing a better shoe. This is opposed to Basketball, for example, where the shoe is a negligible portion of the activity. Having a better sneaker will not compensate for other aspects of the activity.

2. Padded Equipment
A. If padded equipment is worn for the purposes of protecting the persons undertaking the activity, then Rule II is satisfied under the following conditions.
i. This padded equipment must be worn because the person knows that they will come in physical contact with another person or inanimate object being wielded or otherwise thrown by another person.
ii. Padded equipment does not satisfy Rule II if it is being worn as a precaution just in case you come in physical contact with another person or inanimate object being wielded or otherwise thrown by another person. There must be an imminent and obvious threat.
iii. The padded equipment also satisfies Rule II if it is used for protection when moving at high speeds. For example, a Race Car driver’s helmet, or a Cyclist’s helmet.

Rule III. Competition
If an activity involves Competition that qualifies for one of the follow conditions, then it will satisfy Rule III.

1. If an activity requires that its competitors play defense directly against the other competitors, then Rule III is satisfied.

2. If an activity involves head to head competition, and the only goal is to get more or less of something than the competition, then this activity satisfies Rule III.

3. If an activity involves trying to beat a measurable objective mark put up by another competitor, then this activity satisfies Rule III. The following are the only acceptable forms of measurable marks.
A. A distance is a measurable mark. This includes a height or a horizontal displacement.
B. A time is a measurable mark.
C. A velocity is a measurable mark.
D. A weight is a measurable mark
E. An angular displacement is a measurable mark

4. Any activity that has a form of competition based solely on a subjective judging does not satisfy Rule III.

I was wondering how others think about these; how well they cover things, any problems, etc.

jobu · 08-24-2004, 07:20 AM

i like the way you wrote these rules. very much like reading a rules book. reading over your i kept trying to think of sports that don't seem to fall into any of these categories. the ones that come to my mind are gymnastics and diving becasue of article 4 in rule iii. am i right with that statement or is there something i am missing? Also, since you made this up what is not a sport to you?

djtestudo · 08-24-2004, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jobu

i like the way you wrote these rules. very much like reading a rules book. reading over your i kept trying to think of sports that don't seem to fall into any of these categories. the ones that come to my mind are gymnastics and diving becasue of article 4 in rule iii. am i right with that statement or is there something i am missing? Also, since you made this up what is not a sport to you?

You are right. Those are eliminated by Rule 3.4. It's designed that way.

Both him and I agree that to be a sport, there has to be an objective way of scoring through direct competition. Either man-to-man in a race or fight, team-to-team in a game, against a clock, against a specific target, and similar things.

Things like gymnastics, diving, figure skating, etc. have a subjective judging system. The ruling is based on the feeling of a judge. This can lead to problems such as what happened in the 2002 Olympics and what is happening this year as well.

Basically, if you are in direct competition with someone/thing, it's a sport. If someone judges you, it isn't a sport.

kutulu · 08-24-2004, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djtestudo

Things like gymnastics, diving, figure skating, etc. have a subjective judging system. The ruling is based on the feeling of a judge. This can lead to problems such as what happened in the 2002 Olympics and what is happening this year as well.

Basically, if you are in direct competition with someone/thing, it's a sport. If someone judges you, it isn't a sport.

I don't think you understand gymnastics scoring at all. They don't just watch a routine and give their score based on how they felt about it. There are differences between a perfect routine and a near perfect routine, the only thing is that a casual observer isn't going to see the differences.

Each routine has a start value, based on difficulty. A "perfect" performance cannot get a higher score than that. I guess it can be broken down into each move being worth a specific amount of points. Each form break within that move is worth a certain deduction, that can vary depending on how bad the form break was.

Pound for pound, gymnasts are a hell of a lot stronger than athletes competing in the NFL, MLB, NHL, or NBA. The control they have over their body movements is far greater than any athletes, aside from maybe those highly skilled in martial arts.

Overall, I think you are being critical of a sport that you really don't understand. The same arguements can be used to say that boxing isn't a sport either. If there is no KO, the winner is decided by judges that can score subjectively.

Scipio · 08-24-2004, 02:15 PM

Quote:

4. Any activity that has a form of competition based solely on a subjective judging does not satisfy Rule III.

I think that about does it for me.

08-24-2004, 07:20 AM	#2 (permalink)
jobu Crazy	i like the way you wrote these rules. very much like reading a rules book. reading over your i kept trying to think of sports that don't seem to fall into any of these categories. the ones that come to my mind are gymnastics and diving becasue of article 4 in rule iii. am i right with that statement or is there something i am missing? Also, since you made this up what is not a sport to you?