Poker bids to become Olympic sport
Poker bids to become Olympic sport. Despite not actually being a sport. The article mentions that they want to get recognition like chess or bridge, neither of which are Olympic sports. Because they are not sports.
I don’t want to drift into some sub-Wittgensteinian debate here, but what is it that makes a sport? Is it athletic ability, fitness, display of skill. I agree it is easy to think of counter-examples to nearly all of these (though darts plays are supremely fit in their arms). The poker chappies seem to think that an arternative definition of sport is “is it on ESPN/Sky Sports?”
My main reason for opposing this is rather enjoying watching competitive poker, especially in the Late Night Poker guise. But I utterly despise the Olympics. So the two really should not mix.
On the despising tip, I note that the BBC website has a “count down to the Olympics” clock. Only twenty-one days, and five hours to go. Well, at least that sorts out my dissertation. There is no way that guff will distract me. Distinction here I come.
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reader on August 9th, 2008
curiously, i believe poker IS on espn now