AFL Is A Sport, Walking Is Not A Sport
Televisions around the world are going to be filled soon with images of so-called athletes who display their wares every four years, but a lot of the things they do are not real sports.
The VFL reserves should be shown instead of some of these activities, and these non-sports will be listed over the coming month. Up first, walking.
A race is where people compete, to be the fastest. A walking race, that is something that disqualifies people for going too fast. Not a sport.
Some think AFL at times is over-umpired, they should check out this walking race fiasco. A small army of officials swarm around the event and hand out warnings and disqualifications to the competitors. Thankfully it will never happen, but imagine Paul Chapman in a walking race having to deal with these officials telling him he was running and not walking.
The men's 20km and 50km race walks and the women's 10km race walk are not sports, and the people involved in them are not sportspeople.
Out of all the people in the world, Mr T is probably the second best, so when he says walking is for fools he must be correct.
The VFL reserves should be shown instead of some of these activities, and these non-sports will be listed over the coming month. Up first, walking.
A race is where people compete, to be the fastest. A walking race, that is something that disqualifies people for going too fast. Not a sport.
Some think AFL at times is over-umpired, they should check out this walking race fiasco. A small army of officials swarm around the event and hand out warnings and disqualifications to the competitors. Thankfully it will never happen, but imagine Paul Chapman in a walking race having to deal with these officials telling him he was running and not walking.
The men's 20km and 50km race walks and the women's 10km race walk are not sports, and the people involved in them are not sportspeople.
Out of all the people in the world, Mr T is probably the second best, so when he says walking is for fools he must be correct.
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Okay, I'll bite.
Walking is indeed a sport, whether you rely on the Oxford Dictionary definition or on a history which goes back 400 years and global popularity which goes back almost as far. Where was Aussie rules back then?
To claim race walking umpires penalise competitors for going too fast is none-too-subtle contentiousness for the sake of being controversial.
I don't think Nathan Deakes is going to worry much about your take on his sport. But there are plenty of Australians who might happily give you an argument after being captivated by the images of Deakes' wonderful and emotional victory in the world championships in Osaka last year.
Such a pity you didn't see it. It was sport at its finest.
If the 5-Rings Show has the motto "Faster, Higher, Stronger", then walking is not a sport. "Faster" is punished by disqualification.
A walking race is like Formula 1 with only first gear allowed, or a football match with only handballing.
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But I'm not going to do it all here, letting you play every round on your home ground and pocketing all the gate takings. What I've done is created a post with my full response on my blog, and included a link to it in the next paragraph of this comment. You can then leave a comment on my blog linking to your response back here, and so on. We can build each other's comment scores, and leave it to others, through their votes and comments, to offer judgement.
So if you're game to put your votes where your opinion is, please go here and let the debate begin!
Regards,
Chris
You are clearly a "champion" but you can't compete with Mr T.
You can have some fun over the next few weeks, but it will be hard to convince people that some of these events are in fact sports. Someone throwing a ribbon in the air and then doing a cartwheel, or someone riding a horse around in a circle, it sounds more like something a circus performer does.
Vyoos
Zoomies
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The Blog of Lists
Newly Old
Money Whither