Sideshow

Only in their virtual world can they call gaming a sport

By SHARON FINK
Published July 10, 2005

NOW THAT THERE'S ROOM IN THE SUMMER OLYMPICS FOR ANOTHER SPORT ...: Today is the final day of competition in the Electronic Sports World Cup in Paris, and if you didn't know that, it's not because the participants prefer that you leave them alone in a dark room so they can play Pro Evolution Soccer 4 until their thumbs succumb to permanent muscle failure.

Many participants believe that competitive gaming should be classified as a sport just like real soccer. One of Britain's World Cup participants feels so strongly that he laid out his reasons in an essay on the BBC's Web site (news.bbc.co.uk). "People need to look at competitive gaming differently to football, rugby or tennis because you cannot compare it to physical sports," wrote Ahmad Kholwadia, described by the BBC as "Britain's Beckham on the virtual football pitch."

"Competitive gaming is a brand new sport, which may not challenge an individual physically, but there is no doubting its mental challenge. Snooker and darts are classed as sports, but neither sport contains a physical challenge. So why cannot competitive gaming be classed a sport also?

"Maybe it is the stigma still attached to gaming that portrays a dedicated gamer as an antisocial reject."

That may have been true 15 or 20 years ago, "but gaming has evolved past the stage of bedroom loners," Kholwadia wrote.

Dedicated gamers train with each other, put in a lot of effort and genuinely love their game, he wrote. And (Editor's note: This is most important for sport classification) they get to make money.

FORGET NASCAR DADS; IT'S TIME FOR NASCAR FASHIONISTAS: As marketing-savvy as NASCAR is, it's almost shocking to hear one of its officials admit to a misjudgment in that area. And in the world of NASCAR, the misjudgment isn't a small one because it involves moneymaking.

Joe Mattes, vice president of ecommerce for NASCAR.com, says he keeps underestimating the sales popularity of the apparel women want to buy to support their favorite driver.

"(It) continues to exceed our expectations," he told the Sacramento (Calif.) Bee.

Forty percent of the Web site's buyers are women, and they particularly like hoodies, loungewear, sleepwear and fleece items.

"We're always testing new products," Mattes said. "Handbags are coming."

WE'RE SO PREDICTABLE: Andrew Bogut, the Australian-Croat whom the Milwaukee Bucks made the top pick in the NBA draft, says he learned how to relate to the average American by working as a waiter at a sports-themed restaurant while in college at Utah.

He noted in an Associated Press report that he has specific affection for the average Wisconsinite: "I know there's a lot of beer and cheese there, and that suits me."

AT LEAST HE GOT MORE VOTES THAN MR. BRITNEY SPEARS: Lleyton Hewitt, who is scheduled to marry his pregnant fiancee, Australian actor Bec Cartwright, on July 21, received 2 percent of the vote in a Child magazine Web poll on which celebrity real or rumored father-to-be would make the best dad.

Hewitt, most recently a Wimbledon semifinalist, finished behind singer Seal, whose supermodel wife, Heidi Klum, is pregnant with their first child (38 percent); Ben Affleck (22 percent); Bo Bice (21 percent); Nicolas Cage (14 percent) and actor Heath Ledger (5 percent).

Mr. Spears did not receive a vote.

Sharon Fink can be reached at 727 893-8525 or fink@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 9, 2005, 23:35:17]