The US has granted visas to several online gamers as “internationally recognized athletes.” That way, these professional gamers–that’s what they do for a living–can come to the US for tournaments, just as tennis players do.
What’s next, “World of Warcraft” as an Olympic event? Will US high schoolers be able to letter in Starcraft II? Full-ride college scholarships for League of Legends?
When I was in high school in Arizona, they were working on making chess a varsity sport. Wearing a letter jacket for chess is basically telling real athletes, “Please beat me up.”
I was on the chess team, but I was also on the basketball team, which put me in that gray netherworld between Jock and Nerd. Perhaps I could have gotten away with sporting a chess letter. Alas, we moved before I could obtain a chess letter jacket (which would have happened before I got a basketball letter), so I can only wonder.
