Open Thread: What Is a Sport?

This is a question that Jay, Ben and I used to debate all the time on our sports talk radio show, "Double Overtime", on WBRS. It's also a question I debated with my co-workers yesterday. What is a sport? It's not a question just for water-cooler talk either: as Jay wrote a few weeks back, the courts have taken an interest in this question as well, especially pertaining to cheerleading (the courts said no in this instance).

Are these pictured the only real sports?

So while I think few would argue that the Major 4 sports (baseball, hockey, basketball and football) and probably soccer are sports, the rest seem up for debate. What are the criteria for being a sport? How would you define it (since the web definitions vary quite a bit) Can horse racing and car racing (like NASCAR) be considered sport since the actual physical exertion is non-human? Some people don't consider golf a sport but many others will argue with that.

Is the main requirement that ESPN covers it? So does that put poker in that category or is that more of a "game"? What about pool? Tennis? Ping pong? Beer pong? Flip cup? Darts? The hot dog eating contest? Cheerleading? Gymnastics? Chess? Boxing? Swimming? Wrestling? WWF wrestling? Strongest man competition? Or does it have to by in the Olympics to qualify as a sport?

The subject is open for debate and I'm curious your decision. Where do you draw a line? What is your definition of a "sport"? Let us know in the comments below.

Open Thread: The End of An Era Part 2 -- Goodbye 24!

One show down, one to go. Before LOST, there was another save-the-world-type thriller and that was 24. Before Jack Shephard was a flawed male lead prone to heroic actions and sacrifice, there was Jack Bauer who was much less outwardly flawed. He was the ever-do-good hero. Then Season 8 came and Jack Bauer has been unleashed. It seems no one can stop him and that may include President Taylor and even Chloe O'Brien. So how do you end this show? How does this final episode lead into the movie they are planning to make? And is there any way that Jack Bauer dies tonight (I say no)?

While LOST was beginning during the Iraq War, 24 debut coincided with 9/11. 24 has been eerily close to prescient on certain world actions (go back and watch Season 2 and realize the whole season scarily mirrors the build-up to the war in Iraq) and, at times, has seemed more like a reality show than most reality shows. It's a show that's shocked us and surprised us at times, made us laugh at others, and made us cheer on occasion. It also has left us debating heavy topics like whether it is worth sacrificing one person to save a lot more, whether it's all right to commit a crime to save a loved one, or whether torture is okay in any form or in any situation. We also debated quite a bit which Seasons of 24 were the best (my favorite is Season 1 followed by probably either 3 or 5).

It's also made us change our view on television a bit. The style and the pace of the show, the cliff-hangers, and the action have all been somewhat revolutionary. FOX is known for taking on these types of shows in the past (The Simpsons, X-Files, and Married with Children to name a few) and this was certainly one of those times.

But for those of us who love 24, the past few years have been tough. The show had a great first five seasons and then lost it's luster through a writer's strike and two sub-par outings. The plotlines were either ridiculous or predictable (oh no, another mole!) and the characters that were brought in to replace the Sherry and David Palmers and the Nina Myers of the world weren't able to live up to the task. Season 8 has changed the game a bit and provided a season that while ranking behind the first five, I believe has been worthy of 24. Tonight is the final two episodes and I'm hoping that 24 ends on a good note. I don't expect it to be a happy-go-lucky ending, but I hope it ends well and closes out a great second-half of the season.

This is an open thread so the comments are now open until the show starts. Let us know your thoughts, ideas, feelings, and theories on what's going to happen tonight. Recap will be up tomorrow. Hope you all enjoy it!

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Open Thread: The End of An Era Part 1 -- Goodbye LOST!

It's a one-two punch to the gut. LOST ends tonight with 24 following tomorrow. I don't think there's any question that 24 revolutionized television in a way with its unique format, topic, and style, but while we'll talk about 24 a ton tomorrow, today is set for the other revolutionary show: LOST. At a time when we as a nation were dealing with questions about spirituality, questioning authority figures, love, science vs. faith, loneliness, redemption and maybe were all feeling a bit, well, lost, a show came around and blew all of our minds. It was never without its flaws (*cough* Nikki and Paulo), but LOST was generally an A grade experience, ranking it someplace very close behind Seinfeld on the TV pantheon (in my humble opinion). I waited excitedly for it every week and when the show finally came, all I wanted to do was discuss it with everyone.

That's why tonight feels like a break up you knew you needed to do, but still can't bring yourself to go through with it (and tomorrow will be rinse and repeat). For a while now I moved my LOST discussion from e-mails and water cooler talk to this blog and it's been cathartic every day-after to pound out a post and see who agrees with me and who thinks I'm crazier than Hurley in the mental hospital. But even though the show is ending, I think we're far from over with discussing the show. The plan is to have an open discussion here where you can post all your last thoughts, theories, feelings, question and whatever else you want--as long as they don't contain any spoilers. Then at midnight tonight, you can come back here and talk about anything you want from the show that happened. As usual I'll throw up a recap tomorrow but once I digest, I'll have another LOST post for later in the week with some more thoughts on what went down during tonight's 2 and 1/2 hour epic.

But this is your place to vent so go ahead and start chatting below as we all prepare for the end of an era.

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Open Thread: The Top Five Quarterbacks Of All Time Are...

I'll leave this as an open thread and not give my opinion just yet. Let's just put the beginning of the phrase out there and you finish it: the top five Quarterbacks of all time are...

I'm very curious to see if Peyton Manning's failure to win the Super Bowl last night effects his inclusion in Top 5 lists or Brett Favre has the same issue as well. Here are some candidates with the link to their Pro-Football-Reference page (you can use someone not on this list, but I figured I'd list a bunch).

• Dan Marino 
• Joe Montana 
• Warren Moon 
• John Elway 
• Jim Kelly 
• Johnny Unitas 
• Brett Favre 
• Peyton Manning 
• Tom Brady
• Steve Young
• Dan Fouts
• Fran Tarkington 
• Terry Bradshaw
• Bob Griese
• Ken Anderson

Put your top 5 in the comments below