Perhaps that is the surest sign yet that the league, in its 16th season and with expansion and a big network television contract in its future, might finally be viewed less as a farm system for the N.F.L. and more as a distinct sport, even as it moves into the country's largest media markets and embraces N.F.L. owners as participants.
These down-and-distance rules, combined with the establishment of the line of scrimmage, transformed the game from a variation of rugby or soccer into the distinct sport of American football.
Wheelchair basketball is one of the more distinct sports here, one that stands apart from being simply a parallel discipline to an Olympic sport.
Finally, our results demonstrate that common patterns and processes do indeed cut across seemingly distinct sports, and these patterns provide remarkably accurate descriptions of the events within these games and predictions of their outcomes.
Seven Virgin Islanders participated in the Beijing games, including five men and one woman in five distinct sports.
In the Beijing Olympics, the Cayman Islands sent four athletes three men and a woman to participate in two distinct sports.
Aruba's 2008 Olympic representatives included no female athletes, which had occurred only once previously in Atlanta's 1996 Summer Olympics (three male athletes participating in three distinct sports).
For a sports news channel, there's a distinct lack of sport.
The launch of three distinct collections – Apple Watch, Sport and Apple Watch Edition – mimicked the traditions of a fashion brand, with each collection aimed at a different demographic, with the latter clearly designed to capture the luxury fashion customer.
Every stretch of road, from open highways to meandering desert tracks, sports distinct nuances such that each corner and camber feels meticulously engineered for exhilarating racing.
The frequency and, in some cases, the seriousness of athletic injuries has increased, alarming distinct types of sports professionals, who believe psychological factors to be relevant in research into improved rehabilitation.
