Is fishing a sport?

FlabLoser · Feb 20, 2011

I don't see it.

Even if this guy has figured out how to beat everybody at it. http://www.clarionledger....-4th-victory?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|p

FlabLoser · Feb 20, 2011

I don't see it.

Even if this guy has figured out how to beat everybody at it. http://www.clarionledger....-4th-victory?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|p

FlabLoser · Feb 20, 2011

I don't see it.

Even if this guy has figured out how to beat everybody at it. http://www.clarionledger....-4th-victory?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|p

karlchilders.sixpack · Feb 20, 2011

28 lbs today( 5 fish), set new record of 69lbs + for 3 days.

Yes, it is a sport.

Rebels7 · Feb 20, 2011

Sorry Karl. That is impressive and it sounds like you're a very good fisherman, but fishing is not a sport. At all.

karlchilders.sixpack · Feb 20, 2011

I won't hardly catch 69lbs of Bass in a season.

It's smelly, but it is a sport.

Rebels7 · Feb 20, 2011

Doesn't mean it isn't hard, or you can't be competitive at it, but there is nothing about fishing that is a sport.

KurtRambis4 · Feb 20, 2011

to have to go with the bear assclown on this. To me, a sport involves physical training and conditioning. Throwing a bait in the water and catching a fish just doesn't seem to fit the type of "training" I think of. Fishing is an activity in my mind. Just my opinion.

karlchilders.sixpack · Feb 20, 2011

If you are at the top, and win, you make big $.
There numerous area tournaments, that people compete in, just like golf, and tennis.

PLUS and thekicker is , Fishing supplies are sold in the Sports section of Walmart...

Hey this is just saying there ain't no Santa.

Incognegro · Feb 20, 2011

I kind of look at sport to be something that has a set of rules and any form of competition. I mean... I guess.... it could be a sport...? That's why whenever I get into this kind of argument with friends I just say there's a difference between sportsmen and athletes. Sportsmen don't necessarily have to be athletes, but they compete against each other and/or nature and try to see who comes out on top. Athletes aren't necessarily relative to sporting events as I consider guys who do parkour to be pretty athletic, but parkour isn't a sport. I guess it really just comes down to who you ask.

weblow · Feb 20, 2011

I don't think I would classify it as a sport. I did it yesterday and today but I am no more in shape than I was yesterday morning. Now, after fishing all day, from sunup to sundown, I felt like I had played a sport and was worn the hell out but it really requires no physical endurance.

Don't get me wrong, I love to do it and will do it several times this week but I don't get the feeling that I am playing a sport while fishing.

karlchilders.sixpack · Feb 20, 2011

that will get you in shape.

KurtRambis4 · Feb 20, 2011

they also have lawnmower racing events, too. I think that just because money is involved doesn't necessarily make it a sport.

weblow · Feb 20, 2011

and workout. Not looking for a new hobby, will be fishing pretty hardcore through the end of May.

karlchilders.sixpack · Feb 20, 2011

Hey, getin a boat with three or four people, and they catch fish, and you don't just listen to what is said, they will rag your ***.

Now, when they pay huge $ for winning at say Bass Masters, and often the same people win... it is a sport...They have talent, and it is competitive.

Otherwise, I could care less.

Incognegro · Feb 20, 2011

I'm having a difficult time accepting that you're reluctant to at least admit pool can be a sport...

FreeDawg · Feb 20, 2011

Any borderline activity that may or may not be a sport gets sport status solely on the strength of alcohol consumption while performing this activity.
Fishing,Bowling, Golf, and billiards are all wonderful sports in my book.

Rebels7 · Feb 20, 2011

Rezpup · Feb 20, 2011

and so is golf and Nascar.

PineGroveBully · Feb 20, 2011

Do you have any idea how hard it is to sit/stand on the deck of a boat riding 10 foot waves on lake michigan (which takes the balance of a bullrider) while non-stop casting a crankbait for 8 hrs (which takes the forearms of a baseball player) feeling the slightest strike of bass up to a 100 yards away (which takes the precision and sensitivity of a pro golfers hands) all while constantly making mental notes on what works and doesn't (which takes the memory of a pitcher) along with driving a bassboat at upwards of 70mph weaving through grass patches and stump beds (which takes the coordination of a racecar driver).

dawgoneyall · Feb 20, 2011

for the fish.

miss daisy · Feb 20, 2011

didn't you guys ever read any Wittgenstein back in your groovy undergrad years? Natural language terms like "sport" or (Wittgenstein's example) "game" don't have any necessary or sufficient conditions, so there isn't some test you can apply to see if the activity fits in that category or not. What you have here is a "family resemblance", or Familienähnlichkeit - what cognitive psychologists call a prototype or mentally represented category that we reference for pattern recognition tasks such as categorizing fishing. Fishing doesn't match our prototype (e.g. football is a prototypical sport) of sport particularly well, but it's closer to sport than to other categories, so it's a sport in the same way that competitive shooting is a sport, or golf (why don't you debate if John Daley is an athlete?) is a sport. The closer the activity gets to the football prototype, the easier it is to recognize the pattern and make the decision. On the edges you get two people arguing "uh-huh" "is not!" mostly based on how conservative their judgment procedure is, so it is an unanswerable argument. If you think I'm wrong, one of you tell me the necessary and sufficient conditions that define all examples of a "sport" while at the same time discriminating it from other activities.

BehrDawg · Feb 20, 2011

and you will change your mind.

Fishing is a sport. If you never fish, then you have no clue what you are talking about.

Eureka Dog · Feb 20, 2011

has the ability to affect the performance of any other competitor. They won't even drive their boat up next to another fisherman and fish his honey-hole.

I categorize sports as such:
(1) Competitors can physicallyhamper their opponent during the game/event/match/etc.
(2) Competitors cannot physicallyhamper their opponent during the game/event/match/etc.

Then there are athletic exhibitions which are rated/assessedby a panel of judges. the judges decide who wins the exhibition. See figure skating, most X-game events, cheerleading competitions, etc.

Rebels7 · Feb 20, 2011

Hell, I agree, one can be a very talented fisherman. But just because skill is involved doesn't make that activity a sport.

I mean, you can be a very talented seamstress, but that doesn't mean making a shirt is a sport.

retread44 · Feb 20, 2011

lariverdog · Feb 21, 2011

on the water with me. 100 degrees, moderate waves, 75milesoffshoreand a ton of fish. If you don't think its a sport, you have never done it.

Plus when you get back, you get to clean my boat and the fish.

o_Hot Rock · Feb 21, 2011

Making it hard does not make it a sport. Hell, if it did then the amount of square bales of hay I could put in a barn is a sport. Your argument about how difficult it is to go fishing with you has no merit.

I go with the guy that says this is an unwinnable argument.

You can define sport anyway you choose but other's will define it differently.

DawgMedic · Feb 21, 2011

<div class="header"><h2 class="me">sport</h2>? 

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</noscript>?</a>/sp?rt, spo?rt/ [url="http://dictionary.reference.com/help/luna/IPA_pron_key.html"]

<a class="pronlink" title="Click to show spelled" alt="Toggle for Spelled" jquery1298295102978="79">Show Spelled[/url][spawrt, spohrt]

<a class="pronlink" title="Click to show IPA" alt="Toggle for IPA" jquery1298295102978="81">Show IPA</a> </div><div class="body"><div class="pbk">–noun <div class="luna-Ent">1. <div class="dndata">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. </div></div></div></div>

miss daisy · Feb 21, 2011

Cause those 17'n refs have had the final say in who wins those games the last several years.

FISHDAWG · Feb 21, 2011

that wasn't a competitive contest to get him to the boat and then try to tell me about not needing strength and conditioning

MadDawg.sixpack · Feb 21, 2011

fishing a sport? Sure, why not.

Dawg4Life · Feb 21, 2011

If soccer and hockey can be called sports anything can be a sport.

AFDawg · Feb 21, 2011

Sincerely,<div>Karl Popper</div><div>
</div><div>P.S.--Put the 17ing poker down.</div>

msuJD164 · Feb 21, 2011

One of my buddies fished BASS for years. I know kvd, and a lot of the other guys very well. I went out one day with my buddy and kvd and was wore the hell out. On the water at 5 am, in at 3. That's a normal tournament day, these guys do that 3-4 days in a row during tournaments. If you aren't in shape, you can't do it, thus making it a sport. My buddy bought jay yelas' boat he used in flw last year. One badass piece of work. 60k worth.

sleepy dawg · Feb 21, 2011

If a sport requires "physical training and conditioning", which seems to be a common opinion among the board, then these aren't sports either. I don't have a problem with it, but these don't require anymore physical training and conditioning that fishing does.

Auto Racing
Golf
Curling
Bowling
Skeet shooting
Archery
Billiards
Horse racing/jumping
Darts
Diving
Badminton
Skiing

My opinion of a sport, is a sport should be an activing that involves physical exertion and skill that has a set of rules and is competitive. That said, I agree fishing is not a sport, and I don't think any of these are sports either:
Golf
100m dash
Weightlifting
Diving
Horse Racing
Cheerleading
Gymnastics
Badminton
Auto Racing
Sailing
Surfing
Skiing
Wiffleball
Marathon
Archery
Swimming
Fishing

These are sports:
Football
Basketball
Baseball
Soccer
Rugby
Hockey
Tennis
Wrestling
Boxing
Lacross
Volleyball
Karate/martial arts
Softball

wtfdog · Feb 21, 2011

Mr Meoff · Feb 21, 2011

Soccer has a ball, a goal, someone defending said goal, a timeclock, and teams who battle each other to win a game.
Replace the ball with a puck and you have hockey. I don't think you could call either of those activities anything BUT a sport... Can you?

To me, hunting and fishing are in a different category -- people chasing wild animals. It's a hobby if you do it on the weekend to chill out (like me), but if there's a competition involving people going up against each other for money -- like this Bassmasters deal -- they have turned that activity into a sport. It's not that hard.

ckDOG · Feb 21, 2011

Never really understood the point in the argument. Does qualifying as a sport make the activity/game any better than those that don't? The term sport is just a label with a wide-ranging meaning depending on who you ask. It doesn't matter.

GTAdawg · Feb 21, 2011

I'm surprised nobody mentioned that yet. So definately fishing is a sport.

Is fishing a sport?

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