Is it sexist not to care about women's sports?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Cheerleading is most definitely not a sport.  However, even as an activity, like with gymnastics, women are not better than men.  Different things are asked of each.  Men are better at throwing the girls up, the girls are better at tumbling around.  Same with ice dancing or whatever else.

Basically you define any activity in which women are superior as non-sport so you can conclude that men are superior at all sports.

Cheerleading is much more of a sport than NASCAR. 

[Phishfan]

I know we love definitions here. By definition, cheerleading is a sport. I use to argue with the girls in high school that it wasn't, but that was just to tease them as much as aything else.

[Sunstroke]

Isn't the primary purpose of cheerleaders to entertain the crowd while real athletics are going on? I know they have their own competitions, but I was under the impression that their main purpose was still "leading cheers" at real sporting events.

I don't consider cheerleading a real sport either...

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

but I was under the impression that their main purpose was still "leading cheers" at real sporting events.

That was true in 1950.  Today most of the cheerleaders in high school and college are more interested in their own competitions and consider the cheering at football and basketball games to be a minor sideshow. 

I was under the impression you were until I asked some cheerleaders of the 23 of them at the high school I taught at for three years, only one saw the primary purpose to be cheering at the basketball games, 21 said that they were much more focused on their own competitions and one said it was about equal.   I have heard the same from other cheerleaders at other schools. 

[Dave Gray]

Basically you define any activity in which women are superior as non-sport so you can conclude that men are superior at all sports.

Cheerleading is much more of a sport than NASCAR. 

Completely untrue.  Women being worse at them have nothing to do with it.

Nascar isn't a sport.  Neither is cheerleading.

Neither are surfing or golf.  My definition of sport requires active defense.

[Pappy13]

Neither are surfing or golf.  My definition of sport requires active defense.

Interesting. I've never seen if defined that way. My gut reaction says that's a little too restrictive as then many of the summer and winter olympics would be disqualified as sports.

It doesn't match up with the dictionary definition either.

sport   /spɔrt, spoʊrt/ 
[spawrt, spohrt] 
 
–noun

1. 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, especially in the out of doors.
3. diversion; recreation; pleasant pastime.
EXPAND4. jest; fun; mirth; pleasantry: What he said in sport was taken seriously. 5. mockery; ridicule; derision: They made sport of him. 6. an object of derision; laughingstock. 7. something treated lightly or tossed about like a plaything. 8. something or someone subject to the whims or vicissitudes of fate, circumstances, etc. 9. a sportsman. 10. Informal . a person who behaves in a sportsmanlike, fair, or admirable manner; an accommodating person: He was a sport and took his defeat well. 11. Informal . a person who is interested in sports as an occasion for gambling; gambler. 12. Informal . a flashy person; one who wears showy clothes, affects smart manners, pursues pleasurable pastimes, or the like; a bon vivant. 13. Biology . an organism or part that shows an unusual or singular deviation from the normal or parent type; mutation. 14. Obsolete . amorous dalliance.

–adjective

15. of, pertaining to, or used in sports or a particular sport.
16. suitable for outdoor or informal wear: sport clothes.

–verb (used without object)

17. to amuse oneself with some pleasant pastime or recreation.
18. to play, frolic, or gambol, as a child or an animal.
19. to engage in some open-air or athletic pastime or sport.
20. to trifle or treat lightly: to sport with another's emotions. 21. to mock, scoff, or tease: to sport at suburban life. 22. Botany . to mutate.

–verb (used with object)

23. to pass (time) in amusement or sport.
24. to spend or squander lightly or recklessly (often followed by away ).
25. Informal . to wear, display, carry, etc., especially with ostentation; show off: to sport a new mink coat.
26. Archaic . to amuse (especially oneself).

—Idiom

27. sport one's oak. oak ( def. 5 ) .

Origin:

1350–1400; Middle English; aphetic variant of disport

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

My definition of sport requires active defense.

Sounds like chess would be a sport under your definition. 

[Dave Gray]

I find the dictionary definition to be much, much too broad.  Sure, fishing might be "sport", but I don't consider it "a sport".  For my definition, sports require:

1) government via a set of rules
2) ACTIVE defense (AKA simultaneous play)
3) athletic/tactile skill

I don't say this to demean other athletic activities and competitions.  I like surfing and bobsled and all kinds of Olympic events that I don't consider actual sports.

[Phishfan]

Dave, I think you just created that definition to fit your argument. In your very first post in this thread (which you started) you refer to driving as a sport.

[Sunstroke]

That was true in 1950.

Not to pshaw your "exaggeration for effect" call of the 1950's, but it was also true into the 80's and 90's...which was the last time I paid attention to any cheerleader except the one I was planning on spanking my monkey to that night.

I'd also like to note that "at the highest levels" of cheerleading (NFL, NBA), there is no real cheerleading competition...it is STILL strictly for entertaining fans of a real sport.

[Phishfan]

The NFL still calls them cheerleaders, I'll give you that. But in the NBA they are actually cheerleaders. They are dance teams.

[Dave Gray]

Dave, I think you just created that definition to fit your argument. In your very first post in this thread (which you started) you refer to driving as a sport.

No, I didn't.  My friends from this board can tell you that I've adhered and defended this definition for well over 10 years.

Sometimes, it's easier to say "sport" for the sake of casual conversation, rather than specifying into the little groups.  I definitely don't consider NASCAR a sport.

Also, "my argument" isn't really an argument.  I'm just saying that I don't like womens' sports (short of MMA).  I don't think that women are as good at any sports that I can think of off the top of my head, but that's not to say that they don't exist.

[CF DolFan]

Completely untrue.  Women being worse at them have nothing to do with it.

Nascar isn't a sport.  Neither is cheerleading.

Neither are surfing or golf.  My definition of sport requires active defense.

Gymnastics, track, and marathons isn't sports under your definition. Can one be an athlete but not participate in a sport? Are gymnists or runners not athletes because they do not participate in a sport?

I think you are too limiting as to what you would call a sport. I think a sport is a competitive competition which doesn't exactly require an athlete to participate.  On the other hand you can't be an athlete if you don't compete in a sport.   

[Phishfan]

No, I didn't.  My friends from this board can tell you that I've adhered and defended this definition for well over 10 years.

Sometimes, it's easier to say "sport" for the sake of casual conversation, rather than specifying into the little groups.  I definitely don't consider NASCAR a sport.

Also, "my argument" isn't really an argument.  I'm just saying that I don't like womens' sports (short of MMA).  I don't think that women are as good at any sports that I can think of off the top of my head, but that's not to say that they don't exist.

Maybe you have consciously used that definition for 10 years, but I don't think it is something in your core. I tell people I don't drink soda. I've done it for years. Guess what, I had a Coca-Cola yesterday. Consciously I try to avoid sodas, I tell everyone I avoid soda, but I still have one sometimes.

In the heat of your post, which was the start of the topic, you referred to driving as a sport. Repeatedly as you are using your conscious mind to respond to others, you have said it isn't. I understand sometimes it is easier to say sport if you don't mean it but this was the very first post of the thread. Why was it even included if it isn't a sport to you in some fashion. Why isn't it just excluded? I think you want to feel some things aren't sports but your subconscious feels otherwise.

Man I may have gotten too deep now.

[Dave Gray]

Gymnastics, track, and marathons isn't sports under your definition. Can one be an athlete but not participate in a sport? Are gymnists or runners not athletes because they do not participate in a sport?

Absolutely you can be an athlete without playing a sport.  Those involved in track, skiing, surfing, biking, etc....absolutely athletes.  In fact, they're probably more athletic than those that do play sports.

I think that people think that I'm downing things that I don't consider sports.  I'm not.  I am not speaking down to it.  I just don't think that golf is a sport.  It's a game.  It doesn't make golf any easier or less worthy of time or praise.  Or weightlifting, or pole vault, or whatever else.

Phish, if you're trying to tap into some part of my subconscious as to what I'm portraying vs what I believe, perhaps you're right.  ...but sometimes it's easy to just speak in the colloquialisms that are common.  I say things like "Thank God", even though I don't believe in God, for example.  And, subconsciously or not, I definitely, DEFINITELY don't consider NASCAR a sport (or the drivers athletes, for that matter.)

Additionally, some of the things that I do consider sports, you may not: ping pong, for example.