All The Tropes Wiki Project, Part XVII

[GethN7]

(reposted from a talk page on ATT)

Are professional athletes "creators"?

I say no.

I've been thinking about this since this article (a creator page for an Estonian race driver) appeared earlier this week.  We document Professional Wrestlers because it has been an open secret for decades now that pro wrestling is not a sport, it's a show with defined characters, plots and its own tropes -- indeed, we use a lot of pro wresting terminology for trope names (Kayfabe, Heel Face Turn and many more) precisely ''because'' they reflect the creation of stories.  But genuine sports are ''not'' storytelling -- there is no creation of fiction in the actions of a profession athlete in his chosen arena (unless, of course, they're cheating). 

I move that Professional Athletes -- including race drivers -- are Out Of Scope for All The Tropes and don't have a place here.  I'm going to put a {{delete}} template on the page for that reason, but before we act on it I want to raise the question for discussion.

While I agree on the wrestling front, I'm not so sure on the sports side. After all, some athletes have specifically tropable things they do that can make them stand out in their chosen profession, and some athletes have made the jump to actual acting like Micheal Jordan.