jsabatini

Perfect illustration of MTosi's quote

One idiot replied about NASCAR meaning

To which I replied about the trainig required of today's top level drivers to which he replied

I started to reply with MTosi's quote and some other stuff but just said "Nevermind, you have no idea what you are talking about"

DanR

And there was me thinking that there was a mental element to sports.... must be wrong and it is all physical

FredC

See you soon Mike! I will get there late Friday, so i will see you on the track for the first practice session

Juan Lopez

Ask him if he considers sex a sport.....

VERBOTN

Ahhh one of my favorite intramural activities in college, thankfully the officiating was kept to a minimum

SundayDriver

Using his chess example, let's continue that. Take a 90 year old chess master who is in poor physical condition, a man who is about 300 lbs overweight and anyone he considers a true athlete - but none with any racing experience.

Put all three in a NASCAR car for 500 miles in race conditions and see how they fare. I suspect the old man will tire out, the overweight person will die of heart attack and his 'athlete' will survive.

Ray S

You could show him this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/moto...ne/6980337.stm

or

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/3...dered-athletes

or

http://blogs.chron.com/downshift/arc...ce_driver.html

or

http://www.catchfence.com/html/2002/stooge042902.html

I could post more, but you get the idea

sleder

race drivers have coaches; but then again so does football, golfer, baseball, basketball, hockey, tennis, rugby, soccer, swimmers, gymnastics, mountainbikers, volleyball players.
Which is not a sport in this short list.

4 Kurves

Maybe for fun you could through this at them; The US Gov't (not that they are experts) has legally defined Auto Racing as a sport for the purposes of import classifaction, from a recent ruling:

While the term "sport" is not defined in the tariff, in HQ 089849, dated August 16, 1991, CBP noted that common dictionaries defined the term "sport" as "an activity requiring more or less vigorous bodily exertion and carried on according to some traditional form or set of rules, whether outdoors, as football, hunting, golf, racing, etc., or indoors, as basketball, bowling, squash, etc." In Newman Importing Company, Inc. v. United States, 415 F. Supp. 375, 76 Cust. Ct. 143, Cust. Dec. 4648 (1976), in finding backpacking to be a sport, the court determined that the term "sport" is not solely defined in terms of competitiveness, but also arises from the development and pursuit of a variety of skills. In this respect, in HQ 957848, dated August 10, 1995, CBP found hunting, fishing, canoeing, archery and similar outdoor activities to fall within the purview of "sport." The American College Dictionary (1970) defines the term "sport" as "a pastime pursued in the open air or having an athletic character." Likewise, Webster's New Dictionary of the English Language (2001) defines "sport" as:

1: a source of diversion: PASTIME
2: physical activity engaged in for pleasure.

The term "sport" appears to also encompass activities in which individuals engage professionally (i.e., professional sports).

In HQ 964901, dated January 31, 2002, CBP defined the term "sport" according to The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, the Unabridged Edition (1983), as:

an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing hunting, fishing, etc.
2. a particular form of this, esp. in the out of doors.

In HQ 965692, dated September 18, 2002, we recognized that motorsports racing is a sporting activity for purposes of tariff classification and noted that pit-crew members are an integral component of the sport.

Of course they didn't say the driver is "sporty".....

Bob Rouleau

I think it would be more correct to say that SOME race car drivers are not althletes in the same way that some baseball players or golfers are not athletes. On the other hand, pro drivers tend to be very fit indeed. Handling the heat for a 2 hour stint requires a high degree of fitness. Check out the F1 guys, they are very fit and all have personal trainers to keep them that way. Pulling 4 Gs for the duration of a race while maintaining full concentration demands it not to mention the strength it takes to apply the brakes.

Years ago Road and Track conducted a fitness test. They gathered pro athletes from football, baseball, basketball etc. and a couple of pro race drivers. They went through a battery of tests and it was a race driver, Lance Reventlow I think who won overall.

best,

Sean F

Exactly. Which racers? Show me an F1 driver that isn't an incredible athlete. But there are some NASCAR boys who don't look too fit. I'll tell you what though, I know with 100% certainty that I couldn't do what they do for as long as they do it in that heat. Every sport has its share of athletes and non-athletes. Also, looks can be deceiving. You look at some baseball players and would think they are not great athletes because they carry a lot of weight like a David Ortiz, but they are incredible athletes at the top of the sport. Their bodies are built to suit their sport.

H2OJazz

Well, howza about synchronized swimming? Even worse, "rhythmic" gymnastics, you know the one with he hula hoop and a stick with a ribbon.

Not sports, not athletes. merely exhibitions.

Driving a car at 200+ for any extended period of time, reflexes, decision-making. Methinks so.

Bob Rouleau

H20 - Those gals in rhythmic gymnastics look very fit to me!

jsabatini

Thanks, that is just what I needed, not that it will change the idiots mind.

multi21

Have those people get into the very basic or base of motorsports, a kart, and see if they could "compete" for just 30 minutes and then get their opinion afterwards.

Oh, it can't be one of these indoor places. A real outdoor track, with full suit, helmet, gloves, neck gear and 100 degree weather. Perhaps that perspective would change.