[tennispro9911]

I'd imagine that Dean refers to robotics as a sport because sports is the closest analogy to FIRST that most people have.

FIRST is not a sport. Robotics is not a sport. Overdrive is not a sport. That would be degrading it. However, it depends how you define sport, because if you define sport very liberally, it might be considered a sport. I also, personally don't consider NASCAR, or things like chess sports, but this thread isn't about that.