You gotta have balls

Okay, so a while back, my fiance and my kids were talking about sports. Kidding around, he told them that in order to qualify as a "real sport" there has to be a ball involved.

Basketball, baseball, tennis - all have balls - so they're all sports. Anything without a ball is just horsing around.

Of course, everyone started spouting off different types of activities and he would, depending on if there's a ball involved would say, "Sport" or "Not a sport."

According to his rule, the children's game of four-square is a real sport, but NASCAR, the #1 spectator sport in the world, didn't make the cut. (Sorry, Grandpa.)

So fast forward a few months to the present. The other night, we were watching the Olympic games, and commenting on a distinct lack of ball-required sports. Swimming, gymnastics and most track-and-field events are largely ball-free. [Insert Speedo-swim-suit-ball joke here.]

In fact, Ball/No Ball Rule aside, some of the Olympic events seem like they're barely sports at all. Shooting? Badminton? Synchronized swimming? If you wear a costume that lights up, you can't possibly try to pass yourself off as a serious athlete in a competitive sport.

Then we saw the promo for the next event: Olympic Trampoline.

Seriously? Bouncing is an event? We nearly wet ourselves, laughing so hard. What's next? Olympic Jump Ropists?

We were nearly in tears, laughing at the ridiculousness of it all -- that is, until the trampoline competition began.



While the clip above is from the 2004 games, it proves a point. The Ball/No Ball Rule needed to be amended:

If the activity requires a gigantic set of balls, it's definitely a sport.