Top Arguments And Debates In Sports – Agree To Disagree

Sports offer plenty of debatable topics to discuss. From predictions to statistics, you name it. However, there are the top controversies that will never get old and where debaters probably will never reach an agreement. We collected the most common and well-known arguments and debates in sports!

Why is Soccer Less Popular in the US? 

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to analyze the word football. Football is a game where the players use their feet to kick the ball. The word was adopted almost one by one by other languages, almost without exception—for example, Spanish fútbol or German Fussball. Though there is one spectacular exception, American English does not call the game football like everyone else, they call it soccer. This leads to a lot of misunderstandings.

For example, if in an American movie, they say football match or football player, it is not always clear which sport they mean. American football players are completely different than European footballers. Of the two sports, European football existed first, then various versions spread in England already in the Middle Ages. Then schools adapted it as an official sport with the regulation in the early 1800s.

The first rule book was created by Cambridge students in 1848, which contained quite strange rules back then. For example, they could catch the ball with their hands but had to kick it immediately, though it was forbidden to move with it. 

The first football association was established in 1863, and rugby emerged from it, in which the only major difference at that time was that they could also run with the ball in their hands. At the same time, football also reached America.

According to online gambling sites in the US, the first official match was played in 1869 by the teams of Princeton and Rutgers Universities, based on a self-developed mixture of rugby and football rules. Later, this rule system evolved into what is still played today in the NFL. Since then, it is dominant in America, so they simply left the name football unchanged. 

Arguments and Debates in Sports – Is Chess a Sport?

Probably the most famous argument and debate in sports. Few people would mention chess on the same page as running a marathon or playing a tennis match. However, the three sports activities are very comparable. For example, studies have shown how stressful and testing playing professional chess can be.

The test subject was chess grandmaster Fabiano Caruana, who grew weary, not only mentally but also physically, during tournaments. Before matches, Caruana, who is currently second in the world rankings, has a strict training schedule. He runs 8-kilometer, plays an hour of tennis and half an hour of basketball, and swims at least one hour every day. 

Even though sitting for hours and continuously concentrating is quite tiring, an intense chess match is much tougher than you might think at first. Not long ago, they monitored the heart rate of a 21-year-old chess player.

Mihail Antipov burned almost 600 calories playing chess for a couple of hours. It was about as much as Raphael Nadal during an hour of playing tennis. Even more surprising is that, according to a stress researcher, a professional chess player can burn up to 6,000 calories during one day of a tournament. It is three times more than an average person consumes in a day. 

He studied the players during the competitions and noticed that they breathe three times faster, their blood pressure rises, and their muscles constantly contract and release, so they experience the same strain as marathon runners.

While playing chess, the contestants are under stress and anxiety for a long time, which causes their bodies to use up much more energy than people who sit without doing anything. A chess tournament that lasts for days is also the roughest diet in the world. So while chess is less physical and more mental, the body doesn’t know the difference.

Is Wrestling Fake?

Nowadays, modern wrestling has grown into a billion-dollar business. Unlike traditional competitive sports, professional wrestling performances are staged with costumes and role-play.

It’s a fight with a predetermined outcome where the wrestlers spectacularly exaggerate fighting to entertain the audience. Since it is a controversial topic, it’s constantly on the list of arguments and debates in sports. 

Wrestling gained real popularity in North America in the 20th century, but it came from Asia originally. After the Second World War, wrestling spread in Japan and the surrounding Asian countries. Then it became world famous thanks to the American soldiers stationed in Japan. The staged style often incorporates local martial arts elements, so the nature of the fight may differ from country to country. However, the main goal of wrestling is entertaining the audience. 

The fact that they do not hit each other on purpose does not take away from their value! Moreover, they have to take care of the physical well-being of the other person too, while the movements have to look real. This is a difficult task, which requires quite a bit of preparation. During a match, they also have to work together with their opponents. The wrestlers have to know each others’ weaknesses in the same way as in any other sport. The goal here is not to defeat the other but to make the cooperation frictionless.

Arguments and Debates in Sports about Physical Contact

It is important to point out that even though the various attacks are not for knocking out the other wrestler, rough physical contact is also constantly present between the athletes. The stunts are dangerous and sometimes bloody, and because of this, the Internet is full of accidents like these cringe-worthy wrestling injuries! These also prove that wrestling is not fake, only staged.

However, its artistic value of it is unquestionable. The face paintings, masks, and clothing are easily recognizable cultural characteristics. Not to mention the background stories composed with almost theatrical elements. Wrestlers are exposed to a lot of physical stress when they fight each other. It is similar to physical contact fighting, but take a closer look, and the fight won’t be as real as it seemed. 

Although it is possible to improvise, a wrestler does what they have discussed with the other in advance. It ensures a much safer fight for them. The spectators also know that the punches do not make contact, so even kids can watch the show. Even though they do not fight against each other in the classical sense, we have already seen examples of how much success a professional WWE wrestler can achieve in the UFC, like Brock Lesnar. Though he returns to WWE in 2023, so you can watch his fights or bet on him at 22Bet Sportsbook!

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