What's a Sport? Really..?

What's a sport? This topic has come to light in recent years as NASCAR has gained in popularity, Tiger Woods has broken the color, ahem... waste line, barrier in golf, and both poker and competitive eating have come into the spotlight on the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. The definition of a sport(noun) according to the Merriam Webster dictionary, is a source of diversion/recreation, or a physical activity engaged in for pleasure. I would have to say competitive eating fits the definition quite nicely. As for poker, and other non-sweat inducing games it would appear these should still fill the definition as recreation activities.

Ultimately we have been a little too narrow-minded with our definition of what a sport really is. Along this line it would behoove my fellow American's to welcome a variety of new sports to their TV's and homes. In tough economic times a ticket to a professional lawn bowling event will likely be much more affordable than tickets to a professional football game. Incidentally, I'd like to propose a few other professional sports into American culture:

1. Professional Hacky Sacking: Remember how much fun this used to be? ESPN would love covering young hipsters still endowed with the knack for the sack. I could see it now, tournaments on beach boardwalks, sponsors like Urban Outfitters and Whole Foods, what a glorious spectacle.

2. Duck Duck Goose: I think there should be a weight minimum here, and potentially games should be excluded to really hot places with lots of warm clothes on and really warm places with very few light clothes on.

3. Tic-tac-toe: Ok, so the 9 box game is pretty easy, but maybe have it played with 16 boxes? Or perhaps between chimpanzees, or people from West Virginia?

4. Dominos: In all seriousness, this should be in the big leagues by now.