Professional Wrestling in the World of Sports

When most people think of "sports," the first thing that usually pops into their heads is a game involving a team of players, working together against another team competitively to reach a certain goal, and usually played with a ball of some sort. But that is only a mere generalization of what a common sport may be, because as Dictionary.com defines it, a sport is simply any kind of "physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively," involving "physical exertion and skill." Additionally, a sport must have "side by side competition, a scoring system," as well as "a margin of risk for injury." So in order to be called a real "sport," an activity must consist of physical exertion and utilization of skill, include side by side competition, be governed by a set of rules and a scoring system, and have a margin of risk for serious injury. Today competitive activities such as basketball, football, and baseball have become popular around the world as some of the most renowned "sports" of our time. The players are seen as role models, as icons, as celebrities. But alternatively there is a much more controversial activity in which its participants engage in the same kind of physical activity, take the same kinds of risks for injuries, are bound by a similar system of rules, and are also fueled by a competitive desire to perform. That activity today is known as professional wrestling, often referred to as "sports entertainment."