http://www.900global.com/remote_control_bowling_ball/

The debate is essentially over when you eliminate all the ’sports’ out there that use equipment. Therefore, Someone Not Names Jimm believes any activity that involves the use of equipment is not a sport. Hmmm…that doesn’t leave much. Baseball, basketball, golf, bowling, boxing, football, baseball, NASCAR, etc. I guess these activities are out of luck. Someone better tell these athletes that they aren’t really playing a sport. What do we have left then? Anyone up for a round of bare knuckled boxing?

This link illustrates my point and provides hard data and statistics of carry and typical leaves. http://bowlingmentor.com/Offset_and_Ideal_Strike_Locatio.html

The calculated math models state that an entry angle @ 4-6.0 degrees provides the most carry percentage. This angle is not physically possible with the plastic ball that Jimm is using. There simply is not enough shell and mass to accomplish this task. If Jimm hits the perfect pocket 100% of the time, he has a 95.5% chance of getting a strike simplified to 19:20.

Rebecca has a new ball. We’ll say it is a Columbia 300 Momentum Swing @ 14 lbs with pin placement at 4.5” from the mass bias. The cover and core allow for a higher entry angle. The core allows the ball to travel ~ 45 feet down lane before turning into the pocket and for the ball to be further outside. On a common oil pattern, this ball should be at position 8” @ 45’. Here is how the pocket target angles change:

a= 10.23, b=180, c=180.29
Alpha=3.253, Beta=86.747
p= 0.58, q= 179.71, h= 10.214
area: 920.7

By direct comparison, Rebecca’s ball is allowing 3.253 vs. Jimm’s 1.501 entry angle degree. That is a 216% increase in angle. This correlates to an increase in strike carry percentage of 99.88%.

If Rebecca hits the pocket 100% of the time, her game undoubtedly will be 300 where Jimm’s will be a 299 even though they both hit 100% of their targets. The materials made Rebecca win, not her skill. Therefore bowling in not a sport and Jimm does not have a “sporting” chance unless he buys a new bowling ball also. Maybe Jimm can win if he distracts Rebecca with brownies or some other tasty treat but I doubt that is possible.

The first thought I’d like to throw out there concerns the following from that post:

“The principal to remember is that the human machine is supposed to be the primary tool used to determine the victor not the equipment.”

I have to admit, we bowling athletes do possess the power to buy a piece of equipment which will give us an edge. All generations have had this opportunity, and the equipment has evolved over the years, sometimes to the detriment of the sport. However, it is the human ability to use this equipment properly both physically and in a mental capacity, which provides the bowling athlete with an “edge” so-to-speak. So, it’s a conundrum. Is it truly the edge of the equipment that makes the difference or the know-how of how to use the equipment which gives the athlete the edge?

Over the weekend I will explore this further. I’m curious what everyone else thinks.

Roll on,
Rebecca Keegan

Kudos to you not Jimm.
Morris VanDenBurg – someone not affiliated with Jimm in any way.

: )

Here is my breakdown on what makes a sport and the contrary.

Sport: Any activity in which human mechanics is the primary tool used for the competition. There may be other tools used, but use of this tool should not allow one participant any mechanical advantage over another. Sport should be about the human machine not the equipment in any capacity.

I realize that someone will go to dictionary.com and look up the definition; I’ll save you the trouble.
sport.” Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 04 Aug. 2008. .

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, esp. in the out of doors.
3. diversion; recreation; pleasant pastime.
4. 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 fol. by away).
25. Informal. to wear, display, carry, etc., esp. with ostentation; show off: to sport a new mink coat.
26. Archaic. to amuse (esp. oneself).
—Idiom
27. sport one’s oak. OAK (def. 5).

________________________________________
[Origin: 1350–1400; ME; aph. var. of DISPORT ]

In my opinion, and that’s the key thing to remember, sports are held in higher precedence than a game. A true sport has something noble or regal about it that holds it above the title of a game.

Examples of sports in which the human machine is the primary tool are running, gymnastics, swimming, jumping, boxing and weight-lifting. Originally, these events were conducted without clothing making the human machine the only tool in use. These sports all require excellent in the human machine to achieve victory. There are always comments on boxing being “judged”. Let’s remember that originally, boxing matches went on until someone was knocked out or ultimately resigned. There was not a condition for a tie or decision and fights could go as long as 50 rounds in the hot summer sun.

Sports that use secondary and non-influential tools would be things such as discus, weight-lifting and archery. This holds the assumption that one tool is exactly the same as the other. If the tool provides the participant any mechanical advantage over the other competitors, this is no longer sport in principal. For events such as javelin or weight-lifting where a tool is used, if all the participants use the same tool time after time, this generates no advantage to the others and is considered to be a null point. If the device in use causes mechanical advantage, I term this as a game. Examples of games are baseball, football, bowling, NASCAR and hockey.

I have read other articles claiming that NASCAR is a sport. It is not and cannot be. Each car is different by design and this greatly changes how one driver can be influenced over others. Claims of heat, stress etc. are used to leverage sympathy for how difficult the event is. Difficulty does not make racing a sport. The ability to race cars, at its base, comes from a better vehicle. How about drag racing? Is the driver or the car the faster of the participants? Drag racing is a game.

I am typing right now which is a practiced ability / skill. I have to control my fingers and use them to produce a predicted result time and time again. Hopefully, I am doing this without producing too many spelling errors. If I type faster than you, is typing a sport? Is it a sport if I make less spelling mistakes?

Back to NASCAR. I can drive my car and race Dale Earnhardt Jr. I have no chance to win as his car is obviously better equipped than mine. His machine is tailored to this specific use which gives him advantage over the other competitors. IROC (International Race of Champions) brings up additional points to debate. By my definition, IROC may be considered to be sport as all the cars are supposed to be exactly equal. The principal to remember is that the human machine is supposed to be the primary tool used to determine the victor not the equipment. In NASCA, each vendor or manufacturer has different wind dynamics for drag and down-force, engine characteristics and many other physical properties that bias one vehicle over others. If we race on foot, we are now totally equal and I have as good of a chance as my training will allow. I can control my weight and physical training to become better. The act of spending money for technology should not be a factor allowing me to win.

NASCAR, like other games, makes use of teamwork. Team events are almost always games as they typically have multiple tools outside of the primary human machine which bias performance and do not require the effort of every team member equally for success. Victory comes from strategy in these cases not the human machine. For example:

Baseball – all players use different bats, gloves and baseballs are humidity saturated to not allow the ball maximum flight. If I play center field and the ball never comes to me, I had no impact on the outcome. If I sit on the bench and my teammate hits a homerun, my team won but I had nothing to do with the outcome.

Football – If I am the kicker and we never attempt a field goal and we do not punt, I have no impact yet I am on the team. These choices are based on strategy and impact the outcome of the game. Strategy will also dictate that I am not a good football kicker and therefore making plays that require me to kick will increase the opponent’s chances of victory.

Track events – Track events, such as a relay race, require each teammate’s total combined effort to achieve victory. Track is a true sport.

Chess – strictly a strategy game. There is no physical skill required to win. Other examples of strategy based games are Battleship, checkers and poker.

Golf – I use a $600 Ping driver and you use $50 Meijer brand. Who will drive farther typically and more accurately? This is clearly a case where equipment is biasing the player over others.

I bowl regularly (4-5 times weekly). If I were to compare myself to the all time greats, it is insulting to those true greats that I can generate so much hook and power with my ball. In their day, this was not possible due to limitations in technology used in lane materials and cover-stocks. In short, I have an unfair advantage over them. I play a game not a sport.

Let’s ask ourselves why now are there so many people that have achieved a perfect score of 300 as compared to 20-30 years ago? The lanes are better, the balls have more physics and chemistry in their design and the pins have been designed to allow me to score better. Even the local bowling alley designs a shot to help me score higher. I tend to think that a true sport as being more about kill or be killed mentality.

If I had a time machine and went back 30 years to compete, I would surely astound many of those experts. If I were a runner and went back in time anywhere from 60 years, with all the training in the world, I would still have no chance to beat Jesse Owens in a 100 meter sprint. If all bowlers used the same polyester bowling ball with a symmetrical core, identically prepared lanes and pins placed identically, we could then call bowling a sport. Due to the variations in this game, we cannot call bowling a sport. But, we have shown that it can come close.

Ice Skating / Dancing is not a sport or even a game. It is simply judged art. Do we all agree that the Mr. Potato head looking Picasso looks good? Personally, I don’t get it but my wife loves it. The entire activity of skating or dancing is based on subjective opinion. How can anyone truly and accurately judge that one person is better at something than another person? For this to happen, the judge has bias as to what they want to see. All of a sudden someone having a longer leg makes a move look incorrect when it is physically the same.

It is not possible for everyone to share the same opinions on how to judge so skating is not a sport. If you do not agree, watch the Olympics next week. We all know that someone will loose because of a bad score from a controversial judgment call. If Skating is a sport, so is painting walls in your home. Do we all agree that mauve in the living room was a good choice or should it have been lavender?