What makes a sport a sport?

With all the time that I and many others have been spending watching the Olympics this past week, it seems only natural to give some thought to that nature of sport and a question that keeps coming to mind: What makes a sport a sport? In 2012 in London, the Olympics will be without Baseball and Softball, yet I am sure that they will retain rhythmic gymnastics, badminton, and handball. Now before I just launch into a rank on the sports that I think are not sports, something I will save for another day, I would instead like to get terms straight.

There are in my mind three terms that must be distinguished: Sport, Game, and Activity. A sport is a game and an activity. A game is an activity, but not always a sport. An activity maybe but is not always either a sport or a game. A sport is distinguished from a game by its organization, rules, and athletic nature. A game is distinguished from an activity by its organization and rules. To get a feel for how I see this distinction you can examine the relationship implied by the graph to the left.

There is also a certain natural seriousness that comes with a sport that is lacking in a game or activity that helps on keep each term more clearly in mind.

Based in this conception of these terms I would suggest that Handball is a game, not a sport, that Equestrian is an activity, and that Table Tennis might be argued to be a sport but putting tables in game rooms really should answers the question better. If I am wrong, all I can say is bring on the Olympic Dodgeball or for that matter Frisbee Golf!!!