Etymology

"Sports" derive from the old French desport meaning "leisure"Fact: date=May 2008.

Professionalism

The entertainment aspect also means that sportsmen and women are often elevated to celebrity status.

Politics

This section is the main article for the category "Sport and politics".

At times, sports and politics can have a large amount of influence on each other.

FOOTBALL PRAYER " Help me to play the game, dear Lord, with all my might and main; Grant me the courage born of right, a heart to stand the strain… Send me a sense of humor, Lord, to laugh when victory's mine; To laugh, if I should meet defeat, without a fret or whine… Give me the grace to follow rules, to ‘fess up when I'm wrong, When silence or some other thing wins plaudits from the throng… When foes are tough and fighting fierce and I am getting weak, Dear God, don't ever let me show a broad, bright, yellow streak. And teach me, Lord, life's game to play just one day at a time. With Thee as coach and trainer, Lord, real victory must be mine."

When apartheid was the official policy in South Africa, many sports people, particularly in rugby union, adopted the conscientious approach that they should not appear in competitive sports there. Some feel this was an effective contribution to the eventual demolition of the policy of apartheid, others feel that it may have prolonged and reinforced its worst effects.

The 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin was an illustration, perhaps best recognised in retrospect, where an ideology was developing which used the event to strengthen its spread through propaganda.

Nationalism is often evident in the pursuit of sports, or in its reporting: people compete in national teams, or commentators and audiences can adopt a partisan view. On occasion, such tensions can lead to violent confrontation among players or spectators within and beyond the sporting venue (see Football War). These trends are seen by many as contrary to the fundamental ethos of sports being carried on for its own sake and for the enjoyment of its participants.

Physical art

This is similar to a common view of aesthetic value, which is seen as something over and above the strictly functional value coming from an object's normal use. So an aesthetically pleasing car is one which doesn't just get from A to B, but which impresses us with its grace, poise, and charisma.