The Old Prof Thinks Out Loud

Under the "News To Me" heading comes the word that the International Olympic Committee, has granted chess and bridge recognition as actual sports (although not actual enough -- or physical enough -- to join the register of sports that can compete for gold, silver, and bronze at the Olympic Games).
Of course, it takes some kind of magic potion for sports to gain entry into the storied games of yore, anyway. They are kicking out baseball and softball, sports if I ever saw any. And, of course, golf, North American-style football, bowling, duckpins, auto racing, shuffleboard (curling without the ice), and squash aren't even on the radar for inclusion in the Olympic pantheon of competition. But, on the other Olympic scorecards, team handball (which nobody I know has ever played), rhythmic gymnastics, and synchronized swimming are in already.
In the case of chess and bridge, I think the confusion comes because, somehow, the line between sports and games became blurred somewhere along the way. How even the most avid of chess or bridge players can suggest that their games require the kind of physical activity and dexterity that weightlifting and ski jumping do is beyond my ken.
We're talking about games here, not sports. Otherwise, could we look forward to Olympic poker, or Monopoly, or Scrabble, or Clue, or tiddly-winks (which does at least require a minimum of physical activity and dexterity, if only in the thumb and forefinger)?
(Of course, the Olympics further confuse the matter by referring to their every-four-years extravaganzas as "Games.")
I have to believe professional poker player Adam Schoenfeld had the perfect perspective on the whole question when he was asked if his avocation was a sport. "No, if you can drink a beer while playing it, it's not a sport," Schoenfeld answered, with his customary poker-face.