Rant: On Gravity

The following is my own personal rant. Fire away!

Why do people use the terms "gravity" and "gravity sports"? All sports rely on gravity, so using "gravity" to define your sport is completely meaningless. Golf requires gravity. Football requires gravity. Swimming requires gravity.

What does the average person think when they hear "gravity sports"? I have no idea, but I bet it's not racing skateboards or luges (or billycarts or anything else).

"Downhill" is a better word than "gravity" to get the meaning across, but it's both too broad and too limited. "Downhill" covers downhill mountain-biking but not skate-park slalom. It covers skiing, but not push races like the Broadway Bomb/Cannonball Run.

"Gravity racing" also implies that the racer is a passive blob while all the work is done by the star of the show - gravity. The star should always be the racer, and their skill, agility, athleticism and balance. Gravity is boring, invisible and completely taken for granted - why give it star billing?

I think the core feature of our sport (at least the core of the organisational aspect of it) is racing, not gravity. More "R", less "G".