stunthanger.com

General control line discussion => Open Forum => Topic started by: Matt Colan on November 03, 2009, 05:46:27 PM

Title: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Matt Colan on November 03, 2009, 05:46:27 PM
These things tend to come to me.  How do you view CL stunt?  I personally view it as a sport because it takes a special set of skills to fly, and I compete like I also do in basketball, and baseball.  For you guys that don't fly in competition wil probably view this as a hobby.

Let's hear the opinion's, you've heard mine already H^^

Edit for typo
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: minnesotamodeler on November 03, 2009, 06:24:24 PM
that's more or less my view...building is a hobby (you do it indoors at home); flying is a sport (you do it outside, in the field).  So it's both.  Very non-controversible, huh!
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Richard Grogan on November 03, 2009, 06:32:58 PM
Both. The building and collecting of models is the hobby part, the sport part is me standing in the circle trying not to fall down!I don't compete much anymore due to a physical handicap.If anyone laughs at me when/if I fall down,I'M being a SPORT for not kicking their little A**(es)!  Butt,its all good.  D>K
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Joey Mathison 9806 on November 03, 2009, 06:39:38 PM
watch this video and you tell me        http://community.webshots.com/user/mathison205
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Bruce Hautamaki on November 03, 2009, 06:43:33 PM
What video? Good pics but no video???
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Steve Helmick on November 03, 2009, 06:55:17 PM
Bruce...try  http://good-times.webshots.com/video/3024363970080327009CjGWIX (http://good-times.webshots.com/video/3024363970080327009CjGWIX)

It's a hobby... H^^ Steve
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Bruce Hautamaki on November 03, 2009, 07:02:46 PM
Ahhh jet speed! Always good!
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Mike Keville on November 03, 2009, 07:05:32 PM
It's a hobby.

Granted, some consider it a sport.  If that was the case, it would be featured on the Sports pages of your local newspaper.

It isn't.

The average citizen couldn't care less.  ("Oh, the kind you twirl around on a string?")

We know better.

They don't.

It's a HOBBY.
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Joe Just on November 03, 2009, 07:06:24 PM
It is neither a sport or a hobby.  IT IS A DISEASE!  I caught it in 1948 and have never recovered. Nor do I ever want to!

Joe Just
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Matt Colan on November 03, 2009, 07:17:13 PM
Yet, the sports part of cable news has a sport called, hot dog stuffing and puking contest. Why?  Maybe we should combine  the two, eat, twenty dogs, then go fly some really fast planes and puke in the circle. Then we could make the sports news big time. Might even attract some wild wimmin.  LL~ LL~

ESPN does air the hot dog eating contests, and I don't watch them because I find it disgusting.  Grandpa and I have talked from time to time about golf and stunt, what would people much rather watch, hitting a ball into a hole, or PRECISION AEROBATICS.  We say precision aerobatics, but some people do have other interests. can't ignore that.

Phil Granderson had a column in Model Aviation one time (can't remember month or year) where he talks about this very thing, which gave me the idea to post this.

Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Steve Helmick on November 03, 2009, 07:32:35 PM
What baffles me is the current rage for showing Poker tournaments on the "Sports" channels. I guess there is some sweating involved, but c'mon, it's sitting on your butt! While ESPN is showing poker tournaments, they shuffle the NASCAR off onto ABC. As soon as the race is over, they're gone, no interviews or winner's circle celebrations. This tells me they don't care about the SPORT of auto racing. Gotta get the "Punky Brewster" reruns started on time, ya know...   R%%%% Steve
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Dave Rolley on November 03, 2009, 07:45:19 PM
ESPN does air the hot dog eating contests, and I don't watch them because I find it disgusting.  Grandpa and I have talked from time to time about golf and stunt, what would people much rather watch, hitting a ball into a hole, or PRECISION AEROBATICS.  We say precision aerobatics, but some people do have other interests. can't ignore that.

Phil Granderson had a column in Model Aviation one time (can't remember month or year) where he talks about this very thing, which gave me the idea to post this.



I don't want to watch, I want to be doing it.  One of the hardest things I've done was WATCH the F2C (FAI Team Racing) racing at last year's World Championship.  It was hard because we didn't make the team and weren't competing.  Come on Coach, put me in!  I want to play!

Interestingly, the French F2C pilots have to pass an annual physical to be eligible to participate in international competition because F2C is considered a sport in France (I don't know about the other events).

Dave
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Geoff Goodworth on November 03, 2009, 11:57:16 PM
I think building is a hobby but competing is a sport.

As for the comment about CLPA not making the sports pages, Synchronised drowning while smiling is an Olympic sport as is curling.  HB~>

I have to question the interest in televised billiards and snooker as much as televised golf.

Cheers, Geoff
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Serge_Krauss on November 04, 2009, 12:05:09 AM
Not all that long ago, there was a large disagreement over just this thing and how to promote the CL hobby/sport or whatever. There should not have been. Althought most professional athletes probably no longer view their sports as hobbies, any sport is still someone's hobby, regardless of whether s/he participates or just watches. If anyone enjoys it, but it is not a necessity, then for him/her, it's (by definition) a hobby. Many hobbies are sports. Flying in competition is a sport and, for most, also a hobby - something they like to do in their spare time. There aren't many pros out there! Building is most often a hobby, but not for everyone. Sports and hobbies are neither mutually exclusive nor identical categories; they overlap, and CL is both sport and hobby. 'sorry to be so clinical about this, but sometimes dictionaries are where the answers lie. Of course, some of us harbor larger views, ...thought Krauss as he rolled his Spitfire into a screaming dive after the feared BF-109 of Adolf Galland...

SK
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Rudy Taube on November 04, 2009, 12:18:06 AM
By most common definitions, if you fly our planes in competition by a set of rules then it is a sport. LINK:

             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport

As others have said, the building/finishing part is definitely a "hobby", not a sport.
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Serge_Krauss on November 04, 2009, 12:46:28 AM
By most common definitions, if you fly our planes in competition by a set of rules then it is a sport. LINK:

             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport

As others have said, the building/finishing part is definitely a "hobby", not a sport.

Of course we are agreed on the sport aspect of competition flying (as I wrote above), but it is also a hobby - that too by dictionary definition. That's the point: an activity is not just exclusively a sport OR a hobby. Most sports ARE hobbies. To anyone who hates building, but must do it to compete at the Nationals, it's not much of a hobby. However, even the building can be a sport; "Junkyard Wars" at Brodak's pretty much qualifies as sport under the definitions in Websters as well as Wikipedia. So even there you have both.

SK

SK
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: PerttiMe on November 04, 2009, 12:47:51 AM
It is neither, or it is both. I am not too worried about it.

A while ago, there was a similar thread at a mountain biking forum. Some found it denigrating to call riding a bike on trails a "hobby", others found it strange that people would take it seriously enough to call it a sport.

(Is your 'plane a toy, or not, by the way...   VD~ )
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Rudy Taube on November 04, 2009, 02:15:59 AM
Of course we are agreed on the sport aspect of competition flying (as I wrote above), but it is also a hobby - that too by dictionary definition. That's the point: an activity is not just exclusively a sport OR a hobby. Most sports ARE hobbies. To anyone who hates building, but must do it to compete at the Nationals, it's not much of a hobby. However, even the building can be a sport; "Junkyard Wars" at Brodak's pretty much qualifies as sport under the definitions in Websters as well as Wikipedia. So even there you have both.

SK

SK

Well said Serge.  :-)
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Clint Ormosen on November 04, 2009, 02:51:42 AM
I don't loose weight and I don't make money doing model airplanes. Hobby!
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: PaulGibeault on November 04, 2009, 03:41:32 AM
It's a hobby up until you take it to the F.A.I. level... .
It becomes a sport when you represent your country at it, after a very rigorous qualifying at a national team trials. (often "a trial by fire" when your model is not working properly). It may be a sport when you're required to wear a uniform while doing it...
At the FAI level, you can compete with (& get soundly beat by) professional sportsmen whose job & or livelyhood DEPENDS on how well their equipment performs. In certain other countries, FAI national team members have been paid full time to build & fly models if they were good enough (i.e on the podium at a world championship). The biggest & nastiest political fallouts have often stemmed from who made or did not make the world championship team. Legal staff have been hired in a few disputed cases...
- IMHO from my perspective anyways....
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Perry Rose on November 04, 2009, 05:02:37 AM
I agree with Ty, especially the last two posts.
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: John Stiles on November 04, 2009, 07:02:22 AM
These things tend to come to me.  How do you view CL stunt?  I personally view it as a sport because it takes a special set of skills to fly, and I compete like I also do in basketball, and baseball.  For you guys that don't fly in competition wil probably view this as a hobby.

Let's hear the opinion's, you've heard mine already H^^

Edit for typo
I tend to view it as recreation H^^
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Shultzie on November 04, 2009, 08:15:44 AM
 H^^
Seems like after viewing these photos....the answer is blowin in the wind? S?P
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Jim Thomerson on November 04, 2009, 08:27:17 AM
In terms of presenting our activities to the public, we need to talk sport, whatever it actually is that we do.  i like the idea that building is a hobby and flying is a sport. 
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: John E Rakes on November 04, 2009, 11:46:48 AM
Thats a good question, but one may have to look at it this way. I have never been to a sporting goods store and bought motors, fuel, kits, arfs, or to think of it, anything related to airplane modeling. I know I live in a small city, but never been to a hobby store and bought football helmets or baseball bats. I know opinions vary and everyones got one, but it sounds like a hobby to me. 
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: John Miller on November 04, 2009, 12:00:05 PM
Sporting goods stores rarely carry all the supplies needed for every sport. I've yet to see fencing supplies at Big 5.

A hobby is done for your own amusment, or recreation. Building, and casual or sport flying is a hobby.

It's when the element of competition enters that we are in the realm of a sport. When there's a winner and losers, it's a sport.

Pool playing is a hobby,  until the money comes out. The winner is the guy who has the most afterthe shooting is finished.

Like Larry Cuningham says, "he's only in this for the wimmin, and the money". That's the mark of a true sportsman... #^
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Les McDonald on November 04, 2009, 02:13:46 PM
Click on this link, it's a pretty good read from the September 1964 issue of Sports Illustrated.
Bob Gialdini brought a new mentality into stunt back in the sixties and everything he says in this article still holds true.
There are two pages so don't miss the second!
                                                                                                          Les McDonald
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1076404/1/index.htm
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Mike Ferguson on November 04, 2009, 02:19:56 PM
It's like golf - depends on who you are.

It's a hobby, or a sport, or an obsession.  Sometimes all three at once.

Beautiful thing is that there isn't a wrong answer.
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Jim Thomerson on November 04, 2009, 03:31:38 PM
Back in the 40's and early 50's, I loved to go to Bateman's Sporting Goods in San Angelo, TX, which incuded a very well stocked airplane hobby shop. 
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Gene O'Keefe on November 04, 2009, 06:43:18 PM
For me, it's the most relaxing "HOBBY" I've ever enjoyed.

    Geno
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: W.D. Roland on November 04, 2009, 09:38:24 PM
For fun = hobby.

For competition = sport = work.

David
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Dennis Moritz on November 05, 2009, 04:48:33 AM
Building and flying is the hobby. The name calling, strictly for sport.
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Jim Kraft on November 05, 2009, 06:14:46 AM
Any one who watches me fly would say it was a hobby. LL~ I ride motorcycles also, but not in competition. I tell my wife it is great sport.
Title: Re: Control-line: a Hobby or a Sport?
Post by: Russ Danneman on November 05, 2009, 07:07:34 AM
it's whatever you make it.