Machine pitch baseball is the same sport, except a machine pitches the ball instead of a pitcher. It's for young boys who are just learning to play. They start with coach pitch, then move on to machine pitch, then to baseball as we know it with an actual person pitching the ball. To me, baseball with a machine pitching the ball would be like us coaches going out and basing all stunts, pyramids and baskets. It's for proper progressions with safety in mind. Baseball is missing an element of the sport when a coach and/or machine is pitching the game.
And the video you posted of the ground bound squad in Ohio had all the elements of cheer in it except stunts, pyramids and baskets. If you're saying because they had limited tumbling abilities they aren't a sport, then does that mean our level 1 2 and 3 all star cheerleaders don't compete in a sport?? That statement confused me a little.
Now, as far as the sideline vs. competitive discussion, I guess I agree with that. At the high school or college level, competitive cheer wouldn't exist without the sidelines. In a school atmosphere, I don't think it should. At a school their primary focus would be leading the crowds at games, but that doesn't mean their OTHER focus of competitive cheer shouldn't be the sport side of what they're doing. Why can't they both coexist peacefully together?? It's really not that hard of a concept to me. I am 16 years old. I am a cheerleader. I lead the crowd in chants and cheers on Friday nights which I do for fun. I practice 5 days a week to compete in the other side of cheerleading, the sport side, on various weekends. Why does cheerleading have to fall in line with the way every other sport is defined? Why can't we be different in our own right? If I only do sideline cheer, I don't compete in a sport. If I do competitive cheer AND sidelines, I compete in a sport. It just seems so simple to me.