>>>>>Oh really...? Hmmm, How about gymnastic, swimming, diving, skiing, cycling, running, weight lifting, archry, mountain climbing (need I go on?), are these not sports?
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>>>>In a word, nope. They are athletic games, not sports. I know it's probably just my own opinion, but if you aren't competing with anyone but yourself, then I don't see how it can be considered a sport. I played competitive league darts for 5 years and made the allstar team more than once, and no, I don't consider it a sport. On the other hand, I suppose I don't really consider it an athletic game either. I mean, how much athletic prowess does it take to drink beer and throw darts?
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>>>Would you agree that all sports can be games but a game is not necessarily a sport?
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>>Absolutely. That's sort of what I've been trying to get at. Anything enjoyable that is competitive is a game, but for me, in order to call it a sport, you need athleticism, and you need to be competing against an actual opponent capable of affecting the outcome both offensively and defensively. For example, Chess is competitive and has both offense and defense, but it's not very athletic, so I don't see it as a sport. On the other hand, golf may have a sort of athletic component, but you compete only against yourself. The fact that you get a score and somebody comes along and compares your score to somebody else's score may be an attempt to create some sort of fake competitive component, but it's just an afterthought and not really part of the actual game itself.
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>I don't think that athletics has to be there for something to be considered a sport. I think just the element of competiton is required. So a pickup game of basketball may be just a game, while high level tournament chess, bridge, etc. is sport.
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>Golf (and Darts for that matter) may not require the same sort of athleticism as football, basketball, or volleyball but it definitely requires a high degree of physical co-ordination. In high-level tournament play, or even a simple match against one opponent, what the competition does definitely affects your strategy and is definitely part of the game.

Sorry, I don't buy it. I played darts competitively and I know that if I need to hit double 16, then nothing my opponent does can change that. The 'strategy' in darts is not that imaginative. Same for bowling. Try to bowl as many strikes as you can. Golf may have a bit more strategy, but in the long run you are playing agains yourself only. You are trying to get down in as few strokes as you can. Your strategy might change minimally if you didn't know what your opponent was doing, but not much really. I still say there is no defense in those games.

As far as pickup basketball, or baseball, or football is concerned, sure I think those are sports. The level of competition is less important than the fact of it.

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>As far as Chess is concerned........
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>When I was in service in the early 70's I knew somebody who went to a chess tournament as an Army representative. I looked up the regulation and found that Administrative Leave (time off from duty which does not count against your vacation time) could be granted to someone representing the Army in a competitive sporting event. On a lark, I wrote up a request for Admin Leave to go play in a Bridge tournament (a nationally rated tournament - but I would play in several of the subsidiary events) and gave examples of how bridge matched the requirements in that regulation. Maybe it was the novelty, or maybe it was the sheer chutzpah of the request, but a very surprised SP/4 Pupko was given 7 days leave and had a wonderful extra vacation.

Maybe your Admin was just being a sport.

Sorry, but somebody had to say it.