What makes a sport a sport?
It’s a good question, and different people will give different answers based on their personal prejudices. Some people think that golf is boring and therefore say it can’t be a real sport when put next to hockey and football.
Hopefully nobody would argue that an Olympic ping pong player or a world champion pool player isn’t a real athlete.
And what about fishing?
Dismissing fishing as a non-sport does not withstand logical scrutiny.
Let’s go back to looking at what makes a sport a sport. Physical exertion? Often, yes, but not all physically strenuous activities are sports — take brick-laying, for instance.
All sports are not physically demanding either. Nobody would actually try to argue that golf isn’t a real sport. Therefore, the fact that fishing is not overly physically exerting does not mean it isn’t a real sport.
A sport obviously needs to involve a highly specialized skill set. This is where a lot of people might tend to write off fishing. There is, however, a highly specialized skill set involved in catching fish.
Casting accurately makes all the difference in the world. Knowing where to go on any given lake at any given time of day and year is knowledge that is parallel to a golfer knowing when to take a conservative shot on a tough hole and when to really let loose to hit a ball 300 yards. And lure selection makes as big a difference as club selection.
A lot of people will try to wiggle out of having to admit that fishing is a real sport by pointing out that it is more of a hobby or leisure activity than anything else.
Well, beer league softball, flag football, and weekend hacking (golfing a few weekends a year with no real clue what you’re doing) are all leisurely weekend hobbies, too.
There are multi-million dollar fishing tournament circuits where, like in other pro sports, the pros far outperform the recreational players.
Fishing — not a real sport?
Chevy’s pro-angler, Dave LeFebre, would probably beg to differ.
