E-Sports: professional video gaming. Competing against other video game players for championships, money and glory. While many would argue there is no way in hell this could ever be considered a "sport," allow me to make the argument for it to be considered as such.

The boom of watching people play video games began, for the most part, with the explosion of Twitch. Twitch.tv is a website that allows people to either watch others play video games or stream your own gameplay as well. Beginning in 2011, it wasn't until Amazon bought the website that things began to really take off. Players that stream their gameplay, and are fairly popular, often receive donations from their viewers while also making money from the advertisements that appear on their streams. Some of the most popular streamers average anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 viewers on their stream at any given time.

I know what you're thinking: "who cares?"

Clearly, Amazon cared enough and saw an opportunity to make a lot of money. Twitch.tv was purchased in August of 2014 for nearly $1 billion. Most recently, ESPN created an entire section on its website dedicated to the coverage of E-Sports. This is the same ESPN, a multi-billion dollar company, that covers every major sport there is in the world. TBS has also started a show called "ELEAGUE" that televises "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" tournaments. So if two large television networks are covering it, they must be on to something, right?

In April of 2015, ESPN aired the grand finals of a "Heroes of the Storm" tournament. While it enjoyed great viewership, and some praise, it also received a ton of backlash, particularly from a then-ESPN employee. Known for his harsh criticisms and ridiculous opinions, Colin Cowherd threatened to quit if he was ever forced to commentate a video game tournament. Here's the direct quote:

“Here’s what’s going to get me off the air. If I am ever forced to cover guys playing video games, I will retire and move to a rural fishing village and sell bait. You want me out? Demand video game tournaments on ESPN because that’s what appeared on ESPN 2 yesterday.”

“Somebody lock the basement door at mom’s house and don’t let ’em out. I will quit this network if I am ever asked to cover that. I tolerated Donkey Kong. I’ll tell you what that was the equivalent of… of me putting a gun in my mouth and having to listen to that.”

I don't know Colin Cowherd's salary, but I'm willing to bet there are some video game players who make more money than he does, so I don't think these players are living in their mom's basement like he so ignorantly states. The largest prize pool ever recorded was at The International 2016 this year, a "Dota 2" tournament, in which the prize pool was over $20 million, not to mention most the best players are sponsored, which leads to even more money for playing their games.

So why does everyone hate on professional gaming?

It is because of the misconception of what a sport is supposed to be. The average person thinks of sports and immediately thinks of athleticism, speed and strength. They think of Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, LeBron James, etc. But in actuality, a sport can be a number of different things. A sport is defined as "an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment."

Personally, I think competitive gaming fits all of those criteria. The level at which these players compete in their games takes an incredible amount of skill, it's played against others for enjoyment and entertainment, and the physical exertion comes in the amount of mental toughness it takes to stay focused on a game or match for that amount of time. This doesn't even mention the reflexes and reaction times that these players possess, which are likely among some of the best in the world.

For those that argue since there is no physical, as in running or jumping, exertion, I would argue that the same thing occurs in a sport like NASCAR, where the competitor is simply driving a car and remains sitting through the entire competition.

I've also seen the argument that playing video games takes no real skill or talent, to which I would challenge whoever says that to go up against these players in their respective games and see if they can beat them. I'm willing to bet my life that they could not, because some of the things these players can do in their games is ridiculous to an average player like me.

My roommate and I avidly play a simplistic fighting game called "Super Smash Bros." We attend local tournaments and neither of us have ever won those locals. We both like to think we're pretty good at the game, but there are competitive players that are ten times as good as we are, despite the fact that we play all the time. These professional players dedicate themselves to improving their craft just as any other professional athlete would.

I see no reason why E-Sports should not be considered a sport. Is it different than the typical sports like basketball and football? Yes, of course. But as someone who aspires to work in the sport industry in the future, I feel as though I must be open-minded to all that the sporting world has to offer. Like it or not, E-Sports are on the rise, and it's only a matter of time until we're seeing video games being aired on television regularly.