"Mom, Dad - Great News - I Earned a Varisty Letter.. in Competitive Video Gaming"...

what the actual f**k?    

Esports have been growing in popularity worldwide in recent years. Now, Pinckney Community High School plans to join the fray.

Pinckney wants to add competitive video gaming – also known as esports – as an official school sport.

kids, ya better get in shape.. tryouts are in February..

The club plans to hold tryouts and to start operations by February.

uniforms.. they're gonna have uniforms..

The team will hold regular practices, and possibly have uniforms, according to its website.

I don't know whether to    or to   .

Competitive Video Gaming Coming to High Schools

Can't they just need out and join the Quidditch team?

Floyd Robertson wrote:Can't they just need out and join the Quidditch team?

I bet the kids on the Quidditch team will stuff members of the Esports team into lockers.

It says "club." So a club team is now varsity status?

pulling69 wrote:It says "club." So a club team is now varsity status?

I kinda thought the same thing.. then saw this:

Pinckney wants to add competitive video gaming – also known as esports – as an official school sport.

plus.. they're gonna have tryouts.. and uniforms.

I mean, having a video game club is one thing.. cool enough - kids should participate in whatever makes them happy and keeps them out of trouble. But to want it to be classified as a "official school sport" seems a little much.

Gonna be a whole lotta thumb crunches and deep finger bends in Pinckney before February.

Do they have like an old school division? I used to be pretty damn good at Duck Hunt.

when you find out you made the varsity team..

I hate change.

Old dudes complaining about a competition that high schoolers do.

Look, I'm an old dude, too, but this is hardly all that new. They have tournaments, prize money, etc. (remember the shooting in Jacksonville recently). It's been a real thing for a few years and there are people who do it for a living. I don't get it, and the only video games I play are on the Atari 2600 reboot thing with like 50 games that I got for Christmas last year. But, I don't see anything wrong with it either.

Other Teams Pursuing That wrote:I hate change.

Is Poker a sport?

Can’t wait to see it in the Olympics!

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

pulling69 wrote:It says "club." So a club team is now varsity status?

I kinda thought the same thing.. then saw this:

Pinckney wants to add competitive video gaming – also known as esports – as an official school sport.

plus.. they're gonna have tryouts.. and uniforms.

I mean, having a video game club is one thing.. cool enough - kids should participate in whatever makes them happy and keeps them out of trouble. But to want it to be classified as a "official school sport" seems a little much.

Whether you want to call it a "sport" or not, what if it helps kids pay for college?

There are college scholarships available for it

MiamiSpartan wrote:Old dudes complaining about a competition that high schoolers do.

Look, I'm an old dude, too, but this is hardly all that new. They have tournaments, prize money, etc. (remember the shooting in Jacksonville recently). It's been a real thing for a few years and there are people who do it for a living. I don't get it, and the only video games I play are on the Atari 2600 reboot thing with like 50 games that I got for Christmas last year. But, I don't see anything wrong with it either.

dude, I don't really care what kids do - as long as they have fun and stay out of trouble. My whole mockery of it is the push to classify it as an official school sport.

call me old-fashioned.

MiamiSpartan wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:
I kinda thought the same thing.. then saw this:





plus.. they're gonna have tryouts.. and uniforms.

I mean, having a video game club is one thing.. cool enough - kids should participate in whatever makes them happy and keeps them out of trouble. But to want it to be classified as a "official school sport" seems a little much.

Whether you want to call it a "sport" or not, what if it helps kids pay for college?

There are college scholarships available for it

awesome.

you can also get a scholarship by being tall.. doesn't mean that it should be a sport.

Tall Club Scholarships
Deadline: March 1, 2019
Award Amount: Multiple scholarships of up to $1,000 each

Heads up: These awards are specifically for students under 21, attending their first year of college, and who meet the height requirements of at least 5' 10" for women and 6' 2" for men.

meh.

It's a competitive skill.

Do Chess club kids get varsity letters?

Cheer girls do and that aint a sport.

But is Golf a sport? Fat guys can do it.

Rocinante wrote:But is Golf a sport? Fat guys can do it.

Bowling is... and they can smoke DURING it.

The question is, what is a sport? Golf and Bowling definitely call into question the idea that athletic ability is required. Gymnastics, figure skating, dance, etc. require incredible athletic ability, but the scoring is 100% based on the opinion of a few judges, which seems less sporty.

But sports is a vague label that varies from person to person and source to source, so it can be debated forever.

MiamiSpartan wrote:The question is, what is a sport? Golf and Bowling definitely call into question the idea that athletic ability is required.

I don't think this is really a question.

Give me a good athlete and with some practice they'll be a good bowler/golfer.
Give me a klutz and with some practice they'll still be a klutz.

LooseGoose wrote:

MiamiSpartan wrote:The question is, what is a sport?  Golf and Bowling definitely call into question the idea that athletic ability is required.

I don't think this is really a question.

Give me a good athlete and with some practice they'll be a good bowler/golfer.
Give me a klutz and with some practice they'll still be a klutz.

That's irrelevant to what I said.  I said that athletic ability is not a requirement for golf and bowling, not that athletes can't be good golfers/bowlers, or that good golfers/bowlers would be good at other sports.

Also, the question I asked was "what is a sport?". And yes, it really is a question (even had the "?" at the end), though I meant it rhetorically, as my point was just that that question is what this thread boils down to.

LooseGoose wrote:

MiamiSpartan wrote:The question is, what is a sport? Golf and Bowling definitely call into question the idea that athletic ability is required.

I don't think this is really a question.

Give me a good athlete and with some practice they'll be a good bowler/golfer.
Give me a klutz and with some practice they'll still be a klutz.

I don't know about bowling but I do know some great athletes that tried golf and never got good. Part of it was the damn game can be so frustrating that the athlete gets pissed when they find out it's hard.

MiamiSpartan wrote:The question is, what is a sport? Golf and Bowling definitely call into question the idea that athletic ability is required. Gymnastics, figure skating, dance, etc. require incredible athletic ability, but the scoring is 100% based on the opinion of a few judges, which seems less sporty.

But sports is a vague label that varies from person to person and source to source, so it can be debated forever.

playing video games isn't a sport.

Wish they had this when I was in high school. I kicked everybody's ass at Super Tecmo Bowl and Street Fighter II.

y2kMgrad wrote:Wish they had this when I was in high school. I kicked everybody's ass at Super Tecmo Bowl and Street Fighter II.

I'd destroy you at tsb