is drum corps a sport?

[millertime778]

I would have to agree with the other people on here who have said "no." In my opinion, a sport is to be played mainly for the competition, not for entertainment purposes (though through its competition it may entertain). Though involving athletic ability, engendering a very competitive nature, and involving much physical activity, the primary function of drum corps is to entertain, which in my mind, reders it a non-sport.

In a sport, one would not think of the audience's entertainment, as opposed to drum corps, where we place a very large importance on entertainment value.

so your saying that football players play football to compet and not for entertainment.....and drum corps members play to entertain and not for competition?

i like to entertain but i think that many drum corps members are in it to achive the ultimate goal and that it to try to be #1 or the best you can be....

[millertime778]

True, but in golf, you can't do something like tackle your opponent while he's teeing off. That's what I meant by "directly preventing your opponent from winning"; doing something that will actively hinder his chances of winning. So for Nascar, it would be either blocking or spinning out your opponent, baseball it would be striking out an opposing batter, running over the catcher on the way to home plate, etc. You can't really do something like that ind rum corps.

you can always ruin equipment/ steal equipment.....i thinnk that might effect there preformance

[mello_laurel]

So how do you explain Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NHL? Sports are entertainment, no matter how you slice it. You don't pay fifty bucks to go to a footall game if you're not there to be entertained.

Monica

As I said in the post, "though it may entertain through competition.."

I meant that the one playing the sport would not think of entertaining the crowd, they are focusing on their game and their personal athletic performance, not their entertainment value. I don't think Wakefield of the Red Sox would be thinking "what pitch can I throw next to really entertain this crowd, how much energy will it take to really rile these guys up??" I'm pretty sure he's just thinking "What can I do to make us not lose any more this series?"

edit: sorry, I was proofreading and noticed a spelling error.

Edited October 6, 2005 by mello_laurel

[mello_laurel]

so your saying that football players play football to compet and not for entertainment.....and drum corps members play to entertain and not for competition?

i like to entertain but i think that many drum corps members are in it to achive the ultimate goal and that it to try to be #1 or the best you can be....

Was it created in order to entertain or so that you can have a ring?

I like to win, I like to compete, but I am well aware that without entertaining an audience, drum corps would not exist.

[Orpheus]

i dont know why you would think that its not a sport

I don't know why you feel the need to think that it is.

Drum & bugle corps a competitive performing art that frequently requires a lot of athleticism from its participants, but it's not a sport. I always got the feeling that people who want to call it a sport just want to make themselves feel more important or something, like there's some sort of inferiority complex that maybe some of us have because of the old junior high "band kids are geeks, jocks are cool" mentality. There's probably more to it than that, but that's what I think some of it stems from. We don't need to be a "sport." We're drum & bugle corps, and that's enough.

edit: If it's a sport, then how do we account for the guys & gals in the pit? B)

edit #2: Every argument I've seen to suggest that corps *is* a sport could also be logically applied to "So You Think You Can Dance" on Fox TV, or even "Dancing with the Stars" ...

Edited October 6, 2005 by Orpheus

[madscout96]

I think your post says it all.

Thank you my brotha

Here's how I define a sport:

First and foremost, there is a governing body that makes rules and sanctions contests or events. DCI has this in its board of directors (and Nascar has Mike Helton)

Also, it must be possible to directly prevent your opponents from winning, While Nascar might have this, drum corps does not, so while it may have competitive and athletic aspects to it, it's not a sport by my definition.

OK, governing body sounded a little strict at first, but then I thought to myself about the origins of basketball. Dr. Naismith invented a game that could be played indoors during the winter where you throw balls into peach baskets. I guess HE was the original "governing body" of basketball.

But I don't think that it's necessary for one to be able to directly prevent opponents from winning in order for something to be sport. You cannot directly prevent opponents from winning in golf, track, swimming, speed skating, skiing, or bobsledding. But they are sports because they are objectively competitive and they require physical skill.

Golf is a sport. You win by improving your own game and lowering your score.

Drum Corps is a sport. You win by improving your own show and raising your score. IMO :)

But in drum corps you don't raise your score. A judge raises your score. Or doesn't. Or they drop you. You don't directly determine your score. In golf you directly determine your score because YOU are swinging the club and hitting YOUR ball. And no judge or official can determine your score because, as Rasheed Wallace says, "ball don't lie".

so your saying that football players play football to compet and not for entertainment.....and drum corps members play to entertain and not for competition?

i like to entertain but i think that many drum corps members are in it to achive the ultimate goal and that it to try to be #1 or the best you can be....

Well the rules of pro sports are a little bit different than that of their amateur counterparts in order to make the game more entertaining for fans. Baseball added the DH rule in the 70's to make things a little more interesting, the NBA moves things along quicker by having a 24 second shot clock and they restrict defenses to allow more athletic offensive plays, etc. But that doesn't change the fact that the rules for these sports are still objective and the players directly decide who wins, not any type of judge or official, and the sports still require physical skill.

Oh, and BTW, whether you like NASCAR or not... it's a horrible waste of fuel!!!

[JoeW]

as much as i love drum corps, there is no way it is a sport.....along with nascar, irl, cart, etc. its like saying the silent drill team in the marines is a sport because its physical....they move around into precise formations and perfrom precise manuveurs just as drum corps does but its defenitly not a sport

[TheMoonlightChef]

It is physical. I can and have lost up to 15 lbs in a season. Any numbnuts that says it isn't physical needs his head handed to him.

[Orpheus]

Also, it must be possible to directly prevent your opponents from winning, While Nascar might have this, drum corps does not, so while it may have competitive and athletic aspects to it, it's not a sport by my definition.

By that definition, though, almost all track & field events, swimming, diving, skiing, weightlifting, cycling, and any number of other events where you race against a clock or where your performance is measured against a set scale would not be sports, either.

It is physical. I can and have lost up to 15 lbs in a season. Any numbnuts that says it isn't physical needs his head handed to him.

Ballet is extremely physical, too. It's also not a sport.

Edited October 6, 2005 by Orpheus

[mello_laurel]

*Nota bene:

Just to clarify, I am NOT AT ALL saying that drum corps is not physical, this past season I lost close to 30 pounds, and was in the best physical shape of my life by finals week.

I'm just saying that it is not a sport due to the fact that (at least in my opinion), its overwhelmingly large purpose is to entertain.