Sports are just tests of human ability. So it is not really appropriate to call them sports but simply athletic contests.
Academics have their tests for different subjects reading, writing, mathematics, etc. Some tests, like the ones you get from your 6th grade english teacher, are untimed and you can come in later to finish them. Other more serious tests come later in life like the SAT’s or the ACT’s. Each of the two kinds of tests have their different purposes but in acadamia today the timed test reigns supreme.
I classify sports into two general catagories.
1)Set time limit- Sports with a set time limit are based more upon coordination skills and serve the purpose of seeing which team or person can do the most amount of this for x amount of time. Who can score the most points and keep the other team from scoring are usually the two major themes.
2)No set time limit- Sports Without a set time limit are usually the more “pure” tests of ability. Whether you have the ability to jump 18.16 meters or run a 43.13 second 400meter dash you have no preset time limit, no previous barriers in how long it takes you to do this task or that. Paradoxically, the of the most common form of "Time-limitless " athletics is running/sprinting and that is judged on the amount of TIME it takes you to run a certain distance.
Each of the two kinds of tests serve a different purpose, but in today’s society the timed test reigns supreme. Football is the biggest sport in America, and Soccer’s the biggest sport in the world. Both are timed tests. The SAT is one of the most important tests American high school students take and it too is timed.
I’m tired and I’m running out of Red Hots and Coffee. I’m going to bed.