Sports, Sports, Sports... and Billy Joel, too

Depicted: The 1913 Columbia Catamites in their home turtlenecks - Quite a bunch of rakes and roustabouts, I'll have you know!

"Now now, Barnaby... Quincy, here, meant now disrespect
about yer fancy sparrin' trunks!"

Sport n.
1.
a) Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
b) A particular form of this activity.

2. An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.

3. An active pastime; recreation.


The above is the dictionary's explanation of the meaning of "sport." Recently the long-debated definition of what constitutes an activity being considered a sport has come up twice in as many weeks. First, at Hacienda Gutierrez, last weekend, and yesterday on the "JV and Elvis" show on 92.3 Free FM (God, I hate that name). In Tarrytown, Kat was debating whether figure skating was considered a sport. Many present agreed that it was, indeed, a sport. And on the radio, they had listeners calling in, arguing about whether golf was considered a sport.

In my personal estimation, I do not think that figure skating is truly a sport, and I'm somewhat skeptical about golf's sport status.

All right now, Cyrus. Keep the ball over the plate. Another bean ball like that, and we'll settle this over fisticuffs!

On www.Wikipedia.com, sport was described as such:

A sport consists of a physical and mentally competitive activity carried out with a recreational purpose for competition, for self-enjoyment, to attain excellence, for the development of a skill, or some combination of these. A sport has physical activity, side by side competition, self-motivation and a scoring system. The difference of purpose is what characterises sport, combined with the notion of individual (or team) skill or prowess.

One system for classifying sports is as follows, based more on the sport's aim than on the actual mechanics. The examples given are intended to be illustrative, rather than comprehensive.

Opponent
* Combat (wrestling, boxing, karate, etc...)
* Court (tennis, volleball, etc...)
* Team (cricket, baseball, soccer, rugby, hockey, football, lacrosse, basketball, etc...)

Achievement
* Target (archery, shooting, darts)
* Display (gymnastics, diving, bodybuilding, equestrianism)
* Strength (weight lifting, shot put, triple jump)

First off, I'm glad that the powers-that-be at Wikipedia decided to exclude Nascar, and other similar vehicular competitions. Despite requiring endangerment of one's safety and quick reflexes, racing a vehicle involves little (if any) athleticism, and thus, not a sport. Bicycling, though, in my estimation, is a sport, because it demands physical fitness and endurance, in addition to reflexes and personal endangerment.

While wikipedia's categories of opponent-based sport makes sense to me, I contest many of its "achievement-based" sports. I disagree with the on-line encyclopedia denotion of bodybuilding as a sport. While it requires excellent physical conditioning, it's scored based upon artistic and subjective review. I believe a true sport requires rules of competition which are judged as objectively as possible. That is why I feel that most gymnastics and diving performances are probably not a "sport," in the strictest sense. And furthermore, to disagree with the resolution in Hacienda Gutierrez, I feel that figure skating is really gymnastics on ice. Although they require physical fitness, athleticism, and endurance, these demonstrations are judged subjectively by judges examining "artistic expression." If figure skating were truly a sport, wouldn't dance disciplines like ballet also be considered a sport? If these contested gymnastics activites (floor exercise, balance beam, etc), diving, and figure skating were judged empirically, I would categorize them as sports. However, since both are scored with consideration for artistic expression, they forfeit their claim to "sporthood."

I'm also going to disagree with wikipedia on "target-based" sports. Archery, shooting, and darts rely on skill and practice, with some degree of strength. But is an archer truly an athlete? I think an archer is someone skilled at archery. Why be greedy?

However, discus; hammer throw; shot put; and javelin might come closer to being a sport, as it requires a great deal more athleticism than archery or shooting. Golf would come under this category, as it requires aim, physical coordination, and strength. It is also judged objectively. These activities are borderline sports, in my book. What do you guys think?

Best Christmas Gift. Period.

The Piano Man himself, Mr. Billy Joel rocked MSG this past Monday. And doesn't like to wear socks, apparently...

It all started rather innocently. Ally passed onto me what her older brother, Mike, cryptically told her: "Make sure you're free on January 23rd!" What could that possibly mean? Surprise engagement party? Kidnapping for ransom? Reality show coming to tape us? What?

Turns out, Mike bought us tickets to see the man, the myth, the Long Island Legend, Billy Joel start off his solo tour at Madison Square Garden. I've had the good fortune to see Billy with Ally before, when he was touring with Elton John. We saw them perform at Nassau Colliseum. It was fairly funny how one-sided the performances were. I mean, you have two incredibly talented musicians and performers there, and all the crowd really wanted to see was Billy Joel. I think Elton probably realized this, and took it with a grain of salt. I don't care how famous a person is, if they come performing with Billy Joel in New York (let alone Long Island!), you may as well be God, and you'll still be an afterthought. I can just picture it:

"Performing One Time Only:
God,
In His Cosmic Majesty and Omnipotent Power, the Alpha and the Omega,
the Loving Creator, He Who Rules over Heaven and Earth

...and Billy Joel"

And there's some guy from Hicksville going, "Cool! Billy Joel!" You gotta love Long Island.

Mike Herlihy, AKA "Santa Frickin' Claus," giver of the best damn gifts of 2005! Thanks, Mike!

And what can one truly say about Billy Joel's performance? The man is simply unequalled. I feel awfully sorry for future generations, because I really don't see anyone coming along down the pike who could ever come close to reaching the greatness of Mr. Billy Joel. He and Sir Elton John, being the premier singer rock n roll songwriter pianomen of the '70's and '80's, will never have proper counterparts from our generation. When we have utter garbage being presented as genuine artists, like Ashlee Simpson, getting all the attention these days, we should expect a dearth of timeless songs from our contemporaries.

I don't know if it's somehow written into your DNA by virtue of growing up on Long Island, but you can't deny that when Billy Joel's voice washes over you in an auditorium, the little hairs on the back of your neck stand on-end. If you aren't somehow moved by the exquisite harmonies from "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant," well... are you sure you're really a New Yorker... or alive at all? Seriously, you may want to check that out.

Billy Joel performed to a spellbound, capacity crowd at MSG, for nearly three hours. Even though he certainly had enough hits in his distinguished career to fill the whole show, he chose to space them out with some lesser-known selections, and a classy tip-of-the-hat to the late Wilson Pickett, with a great cover of "In the Midnight Hour." And, naturally, the encore was Piano Man. When he and his excellent band went silent while the houselights went up and the entirety of MSG sang the final chorus together... it gave you goosebumps, man.

Ray Charles' "Georgia On My Mind," is his home state's official song. Can we petition the same thing for "New York State of Mind"? It's about time, I'd say!

Richie "Rico" Cannata absolutely slayed on Monday. His virtuoso sax skills blew away the crowd. And his flute stylings were pretty freakin' great, too!

We had a weird sort of experience at the concert, though. The featured saxophonist, Mr. Rich, "Rico" Cannata is an acquaintance of Ally and mine. Many of you may recall that my sister's first boyfriend was Eren Cannata. During the course of their relationship, Ally and I had the pleasure of visiting Eren's home, and meeting his dad - Rico. An accomplished musician, specializing in saxophone, Rico's toured with the Beach Boys, Springsteen, and Billy Joel. Also, he happens to have been part of some of Billy's most celebrated albums, between 1976 and 1981... "Turnstiles," "The Stranger," "52nd Street," and "Glass Houses." Yes, that's Rico's sax on "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant," and yes, when the sax solo flares in during "It's Still Rock n Roll to Me," and Billy screams, "All Right, Rico!" You know who he's talking to?

That's right.

Rico.

Don't believe me? Check out the back of Billy's album, "The Stranger"...


It was pretty trippy to be walking around this guy's house, with gold and platinum records hung up in spots that'd normally be decorated with inspirational placques and family portaits in La Casa de Crimmins.

This concert was also a very public reunion for Billy and Rico. What with Mr. Joel's recent difficulties with addiction, Rico had decided to keep his distance from his longtime musical collaborator and Long Island neighbor. Could you imagine saying, "Yeah, sorry Billy Joel, but I can't bring my family and go out on your yacht with you for the 4th of July... we uh, already have plans." Not too many people would actually turn down invitations to hang out with Billy, but that was the situation.

Now that Billy seems to have overcome his problems, he and Rico have apparently mended fences. So it was awesome to see them playing together, again!

Although Katie and Eren have since gone their separate ways, I couldn't help but think, "Gee, if they were still going out, Ally and I would probably be going behind the scenes after the show and meeting Billy Joel." But sacrifices like that are worth a sister's happiness.

Feedback Question of the Day:
"What makes certain activities a sport, and what doesn't? Agree? Disagree? Plus, what's your favorite Billy Joel song?"

And Billy Joel haters can feel free to move to Jersey and follow Bon Jovi on tour, for all I care.