Monday, January 05, 2009

Is darts a sport?

Surprising that the question, "is darts a sport?" is still being asked. But that's exactly what London's Times paper asked - with Giles Smith saying yes, and Patrick Kidd saying no. Here, Mr Smith could also very well be talking about chess:

[I]f we have nothing but confidence in calling darts a sport, then it's with reason. Things are sport because enough people choose to call them sport - to think of them that way and discuss them as such. To that extent, calling darts a sport is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In any case, the traditional objections melt away. “But you don't even have to be fit,” people say. Not in the conventional sense, no. And I'll go farther: you can even be fat. But you don't have to be fit to play golf, either, and no one ever says that Lee Westwood isn't svelte enough to be a sportsman.

Read more in The Times Online.

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