The Sport of News . . . Or, My Other New Job

I've recently begun writing for my college newspaper, the Daily Barometer.  We've had our differences in the past, and I've often been critical of them.  Student papers have a tendency toward decadence, and rarely do the business of journalism on college campuses.  For instance, a good college paper should focus on the business of being a student.  The newspaper ought to create and maintain and ongoing conversation of the administration and offer constant criticism of it.  And just as government in general should be the constant topic of journalism in a public newspaper, student government (such as it is) ought to be the constant topic of a college paper.  Tuition, student guidelines, campus policies and the continuing discussion about the proper role of public institutions in the educational system should be the primary focus of student newspapers.

Is Cheerleading a sport?

That being said, I haven't joined them to make news.  I'm writing a column for the forum, an ongoing series of op-eds that I've tentatively themed "The Good, The Just, and the Beautiful."  While also playing off a famous spaghetti western, these have the benefit of being the things over which men and gods have often argued.  Socrates says that people only really argue about what is good, what is just, and what is beautiful, and I want to add to that conversation.  In a practical sense, what that means is that I'll be looking at local issues (mostly University related themes) and molding them into conversations about what it means to live a good life, what it means to be just, or even which things are and aren't beautiful. 

In my first article I've chosen to tackle sports.  It's an issue of increasing controversy, as schools dedicate greater amounts of money to sports, especially football.  But I'm less interested in how schools devote energy away from education toward sports, and more in the very definition of the thing itself.  What is a sport?  I'm sure you'd know it if you saw it, but that's really the point.  What if you didn't see it?  What characteristics define sports, and how can we better determine which activities should be funded with state money (less each year if Oregon State University hits its billion dollar fundraising goal), and which should be left as clubs or something less than a sport.

I'll post links as I get them, but in the meantime, how do you think about sports?  When I say that word, what comes to mind?  Is football a sport?  What about golf, or cheerleading, swim team or track and field?  Let me know in the comments.