If you have to ask, then no explanation will suffice. : )

A ball? How about a(n)…
arrow
cycle
pair of shoes
boat
target
weapon
fist
and on and on we go…
There are lots of things CNN is confused on, but this isn’t one of them.

well… track/running, swimming, skiing, gymnastics, speed skating, etc. etc. etc. don’t require a ball, but car racing (which was often covered by Wide World of Sports, as well as horse racing) isn’t really a sport in an athletic sense. What it has going for it is its obvious competition, but so has business, and NASCAR is as much a business as any other business, so go figure. My question isn’t so much that CNN includes NASCAR on its sports page, rather I question that it considers it newsworthy at all.

It is a little obscure. The balls are in the driver’s seat.

Everyone is missing wrestling probably the world’s oldest and greatest sport. Scot I’m afraid there will never be clear but guidelines as to what is and isn’t a sport, but don’t think I haven’t tried. It’s like the myth of the beard. Is it a beard after 2 days, 3 days? No one can say for sure.

What other section would you put it in? Some sport’s pages even cover professional “wrestling”. ESPN covers billiards. Basically if there is competition, it’s considered a sport.

Isn’t a sport an athletic competition? I believe that car racing takes a paramount of physical and mental endurance.

Good comments all. You’re right Joey. The drivers have to be in top physical condition to make to drive a race. It’s very physical, not like driving the family seadan down the freeway.

Now if only it was interesting to watch…

Scot
I come with no defense on either side. But knowing how animated NASCAR fans are . . .
. . . may God have mercy on your soul.

It is a sport because it is a competition. And, as has already been mentioned, these guys are in really good shape. Driving a car for 500-600 miles at speeds of 130-200 miles per hour takes amazing concentration and physical endurance. Driving at those speeds in a pack of other cars just inches apart from one another takes amazing skill.
So it is a sport. And it can be boring or it can be very interesting if you understand the sport and know what to look for.
Kind of like baseball. I love baseball, but for a great deal of the game nothing is happening.

In some families driving the “family sedan” is more physically and mentally challenging than professional sports.
Track and field, badmiton, archery, fencing, cross country skiing, all have no “ball” but are sport.

Scott Eaton,
There is never a minute — except during rain delays — that nothing is going on in baseball. It’s a mental game, too; a scheming game, and 2.5 hour is barely enough to get it all in.

Sport? It’s a stretch to call it a sport.
Probably not more strenuous than driving around the loop in Atlanta with a car full of kids screaming in bumper to bumper traffic at 75 mph.
Besides can you look at Tony Stewart and say he’s a beacon of fitness? Come on…
but I echo the sentiments voiced above. You’re attacking the favorite spectator activity of the fly over states. May you be blessed with protection and generosity.
R.A.

Thanks for pointing this out Scot! I don’t drive competitively–unless you count trips to downtown Chicago. But I do drive a lot for my job. It never occurred to me that this might make me an athlete! I feel better now!

What is required to consider something a “sport”? Isn’t a ball needed?…

Ask Wittgenstein

Scot,
Can you explain why baseball is considered the national pastime when racing has been around since the start of the nation and auto racing is far more popular using attendance as a gauge?
I don’t actually follow either, so I don’t have a dog in the fight, just like to challenge the premise.

“What is required to consider something a “sport”? Isn’t a ball needed?”
As many have indicated, some of the greatest sports don’t involve a ball.
Likweise, some competitions that involve a ball are not sports- such as golf (Baseball is borderline).

So what have we learned?
The word “sport” has no meaning.
Therefore I propose dicthing it all together.
All, “pursuits” or “games” shall simply be known by their individual names. If people want to bradcast/watch them, then that’s their business. I for one, will stick with football (or soccer or whatever you want to call it).
Thankyou, now go back to your homes.

Scot #13,
There is never nothing going on in a NASCAR race either. Something is always going on. People uninitiated in the sport just don’t know what they are looking for. A bit like baseball I suppose.
(I love ribbing you about this. I know how much you love baseball.)

Scot -
My pastor, Todd Hiestand, who is linked on your website, watches NASCAR religiously. I think it would be a good thing if we all sent him a note of encouragement as he continues in his sin. Just a thought.

well scott,
apparently making 4 left turns, 300 times over the course of 3 hours takes superhuman athleticism. think about the bastions of athleticism you find in nascar… ok, maybe their aren’t any in a sport dominated by 5’8″ 155 pound (if young and fit, 195 if they have been around long enough and have a good cooking wife) good ol’ boys.
why would we anyone discriminate against calling these guys athletes? (even though most of them aren’t big enough to play the sousaphone in a high school band)

O YE OF LITTLE FAITH…HAVEN’T YOU EVER HEARD OF *BALL* BEARINGS? DUH.

You have to know the history of this event to understand. Before there was NASCAR, there were Moonshine runners (guys who drove back roads of Appalachia to deliver their Hillbilly Soda to their valued customers during the prohibition).
This puts it in the same camp as all the great sporting events of today.
Baseball, Football, Soccer (and to lesser degrees tennis and badminton) all have their beginnings in illegal behavior. For example… umm… well…
On second thought Scot, you’re right – NASCAR is not a sport.

golf not a sport?

Deborah,
Golf has a ball.

I’m not a NASCAR fan, but having actually been to a race (once) I have to say that I was much more impressed seeing it live than I ever was while watching it on TV. The speed and power of the cars is nearly overwhelming (as is the noise, which you can literally feel), and then you see that the cars are not only just inches from each other at those speeds, but constantly jockeying within those inches. It really makes all the jokes about “4 left turns” and comparisons to driving your own car on a freeway with your kids seem rather silly.
I still don’t enjoy watching it on TV and wouldn’t go out of my way to see another race live – although I wouldn’t mind it either. Whether it’s a “sport” or not I don’t know. But it’s extremely difficult, physically and mental taxing, and requires a great deal of skill and excellent reflexes.

Yes Scot,
but our brother Rick cast some doubts as to whether the fine past time of golf is a sport!
thus my sigh…

Rick,
Someday try hitting golf balls for 6 hours — the pro style of off day. See what you feel like the next day. (OK, there are John Dalys etc but he’s an exception these days.)

Scot,
I know this is old territory, but… pucks.
Also, Danica Patrick would have something to say about some of the prior comments.

“See what you feel like the next day.”
Maybe a little sore, somewhat like after doing certain yard work. Maybe yard work is a sport. ;^)
Take an extreme of 18 holes of 5 par holes= approx 100 strokes (includes putting) in “6 hours” (over par just to be safe). Which means they take, at most, 16-17 strokes per hour, plus all that running…um…I mean walking.
The heart rate may even go up a beat or two with that workout.
Is it Jeter or Federer who tells Tiger in the commercial about the need for him to play “a real sport”? :^)

Yeah, the “see what you feel like the next day” argument may backfire as a test for whether something is a sport or not. From what I understand re. the physical demands you’d fee a lot more physically drained after driving in a NASCAR race than after walking 18 holes – or after standing in right field for 3 hours and batting 4 times.

And on what it takes athletically to play a given game I love this anecdote from John Kruk, formerly of the Philadelphia Phillies:
“I’m eating this big meal and maybe having a couple of beers and smoking a cigarette. A woman comes by the table. She recognizes me and she’s shocked because it seems like I should be in training or something. She’s getting all over me, saying that a professional athlete should take better care of himself. I lean back and I say to her, ‘I ain’t an athlete, lady. I’m a baseball player.’”

All that’s needed is a stick.. a hockey stick.

OK, 0ne minute between innings in the world baseball classic (don’t the Asians play great ball)> Here in SC where we retired, NASCAR is almost always featured first on local TV sports with more minutes devoted to it than any other sport. When we moved here we did two things to minimize the culture shock- we subscribed to Doirect TV and we joined the UU church.
Doug

NasCar does have a ball included in their sport bro! It is called a “ball-bearing” – no? Just a thought!

I think anything that puts you to sleep qualifies:
1. Baseball
2. Basketball
3. NASCAR

Careful on this one, Scott. I’ve lost friends over the insistence that certain activities aren’t truly a “sport” by any meaningful definition. The problem is that dictionaries now work to be as inclusive as possible for all common usages instead of telling us what works actually are intended to mean. The modern “dictionary definition” of a sport makes it clear that even children running around on a playground is a sport, at this point.
I assume this over inclusion has to do with the fact that our culture is sports obsessed, and sports are big money, so calling something a sport instead of a recreation, a passtime, an event, a skill based activity or a contest of wills is basically all about money.