Here’s a term some may be familiar with: eSports. Electronic sports, cybersports, gaming, competitive computer gaming, and virtual sports are all synonyms. I’m told that eSports is now becoming more accepted as a “sport” and that gamers are being identified as “athletes”. I’m on record in the past of complaining that a tv sports network like TSN, while ignoring, say, the Canadian Bowl Junior Football championship, will broadcast people sitting around a table playing poker, which to me is like watching chrome rust. The definition of sport varies somewhat. The Oxford dictionary defines sport as activities involving physical exertion and skill in which individuals or teams compete against each other. Miriam Webster defines sport firstly as to amuse oneself and secondly to engage in a sport. Wikipedia describes sport as being generally recognized as a system of activities which are based on physical athleticism or physical dexterity. However, a number of competitive, but non-physical, activities claim recognition as “mind sports”. The International Olympic Committee recognizes both chess and bridge as bona fide sports and now the IOC is mulling over whether to add video gaming to the Olympics partly because they see big sponsorship dollars in it. I like to watch the Olympics but just like I find poker on TSN boring as all get out, I couldn’t see myself sitting there watching people play video games. Perhaps I’m just not “with it” but, frankly, I don’t care.
That’s Coffeetalk. I’m Vic Dubois.