Marching band is a sport

As I stated in the opening of round 2 , I am talking about an opposing team that is "on the field doing their routine at the same time." I understand that marching band teams are judged by their performance, but again, my opponent has yet to prove that another group of players has any influence on a marching band's ability to do its job. In competitive sports, a team will be doing their "routine" while an opposing team is actively interfering with them on the field at the same time. Regardless of whether or not marching band is competitive, I argue that it is not a sport for the very simple reason that every problem a marching band encounters during its routine is the fault of the band or of individual members of the band. This is obviously completely different from competitive sports, because there is no extraneous force influencing their routine. My opponent counters this with the assertion that "each marcher is like a football team", but does not defuse my argument. The statement "They may march perfectly but when the one marcher in front of them is wrong" makes no sense at all: if one marcher is wrong then the team as a whole is not marching perfectly. This argument does not disprove my theory of the opposing team. As simply as I can state this - it does not matter if one or all of the marchers make mistakes, or if every single person marches absolutely perfectly, there is no opposing team on the field that can influence their routine. A football team could execute a play formation with absolute perfection according to their practice and the theory behind the maneuver, and will still see the possibility of total failure due to the maneuvers of an opposing team. It doesn't matter how good Team A is, Team B can still cause them to fail, using tactics and techniques that Team A is completely ignorant of since Team A and Team B do not train together. There is absolutely nothing like this present in marching band, and as such, marching band is not a competitive sport. My opponent is arguing that a "cue" (actual spelling) serves the same function as a "game object". That is not true, because in competitive sports there is always a cue AND a game object. The referee always cues the actions happening on the field, and the game object is passed between players and/or between a player and the terrain. The cues are to tell the marchers where they are in series of predetermined actions, and the cues will be the same every time the band does a given routine. When a referee or coach cues players in a competitive sport, they are telling the players what to do with the game object. This instruction will change according to the current dynamics of the field, and will be an instruction pertaining to the game object. The cue itself cannot be a game object for marching band, because the cues never change during the course of a given routine and are not adjusted for current field dynamics. "Professional doesn't mean being paid to do something but it means skill level" - this is not correct. Here is the current dictionary definition of "professional" [1]: - adjective - 1. following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder. 2. of, pertaining to, or connected with a profession: professional studies. 3. appropriate to a profession: professional objectivity. 4. engaged in one of the learned professions: A lawyer is a professional person. 5. following as a business an occupation ordinarily engaged in as a pastime: a professional golfer. As you can see, all of these are directly connected with receiving income for your skills, even the ones addressing a "profession" - since a profession is one's field of work from which they earn income. My opponent acknowledged that "there is no pay for marching" and therefore concedes this point, and this is a fundamental difference between marching band and every single competitive sport. I am not discussing concert band or scholarships, I am discussing taxable income earned from marching band only. [1] http://dictionary.reference.com...