While one can distinguish between sports and athletics and exercise,
let's keep in mind Alan Turing's interest in running (e.g.
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Miscellaneous/Turing/
Running.html).
I get lots of exercise through running and cycling, and have done so
consistently for the past 30+ years (while I have in the distant past
participated in competition and 'organised' events, they are not really
my thing). So I'm of the mind that both body and brain cells work best
when they get some exercise; and as Turing suggests, physical exercise
can help keep the brain sane. Getting some exercise after sitting on
one's ass staring at a monitor for hours on end, or hunched over a
workbench of hardware, while working on a 'brain' problem - can be very
beneficial to the brain and solving those problems.
At the same time, I have no interest in professional, popular or
mainstream sports.
So while we're dissing the pointlessness of physical games, how about
the pointlessness of computer games .. (or is that likely to start a
flame war here)?