XStar

I was just ruffling his feathers because he is so defensive about it that it was comical. It's a leisure activity that is relatively harmless unless you allow it to control your life. Unfortunately I've seen that happen. I used to work with a guy (and 30-something-year-old adult) that would stay up all night playing a game then show up for work everyday looking dead tired. He insisted that he just didn't need as much sleep as most people but he was let go for performance and you'll never convince me that sacrificing sleep for his gaming time didn't play a huge part in that.

You're good at trying to put words in someone's mouth. Please show me where I said I hate anyone.

Wow that was really surprising. A gamer trying to justify his behavior to himself. Called that one from a mile away.

Who is "we"? Are you speaking for someone else in addition to yourself? It is funny that you offered a bleacherreport article to back up your viewpoint. Because the standards for writing for that site are so high that every article is full of worthwhile opinions. How about you save me the time and tell me what it says so I can tell you what I disagree with. I don't believe in giving such trash sites a click of my attention. You've now demonstrated you've completely lost track of the debate. NASCAR drivers absolutely can be athletes but now you're introducing another term to this debate. Until now, I've only attempted to define an "athletic activity" because that seemed to be a pre-requisite for determining what a sport is. Now you're trying to imply that if anyone is an athlete, the activity in which they happen to be engaging in must be considered an athletic activity. The world's greatest athlete could be washing his car. That happens to require a minimal amount of physical activity. Yet nobody in their right mind would consider that an athletic activity even if the Olympic gold medalist in the Heptathlon were doing it. That doesn't mean I'm saying that person is not an athlete. Just that he's not engaged in an athletic competition when he's washing his car (or playing video games). I kind of get what I'm up against here though. Because so many people play video games, even as adults, and there is finally something substantial that can be gained by a few select people in doing so, everyone is going to try to justify their behavior by making video games out to be a worthwhile endeavor. Nobody wants to admit that all those years spent in their parent's basement playing Call of Duty instead of going out on dates or taking showers were a waste of time. So now that a handful of people have actually benefited by being good at video games, every "gamer" wants to cling to that success and extrapolate far past reality. That's all this "debate" really is. People trying to justify their behavior.

33 - This is the sectional I'm most indecisive on. Both teams have challenged themselves in the regular season. I'm going to go with RC because they have Coach Nowlin. 34 - Lewis Cass hasn't been taken down yet and LaVille won't be the team to do it tonight. 35 - I'm going with Eastside to win their first ever football sectional championship. 36 - Part of me feels like Eastern has the us-vs-the-world thing going as they haven't lost a game all season and still get little respect. I'm picking Eastbrook but if they show up to this game thinking they're already up 2 touchdowns, they will be surprised. This is a much better Eastern team than they faced in prior matchups. 37 - South Vermillion seeking their first sectional championship for football in school history. Western Boone trying to navigate their way back to Lucas Oil Stadium. I think WeBo finds a way to get it done and advance to regional. 38 - Another good matchup. I think Scecina advances largely because they played a schedule to better prepare them for a big game like this. 39 - Can't claim to know anything about Providence and I've had Triton Central coming out of this one since they revealed the new sectional alignments. Sticking with TC. 40 - Mater Dei. Too good and battle-tested to get beat this early.

I don't consider driving a car an athletic activity. Would driving a 400 mile race at speeds reaching 200+ mph be physically taxing? Sure. Giving birth is physically taxing too. I don't consider it an athletic activity. Basketball, Football, Soccer, Tennis, Gymnastics, Weightlifting, Running, Swimming, Skating/Hockey.

You should bold "athletic activity" as well. I think that's where reasonable people might disagree what constitutes "athletic activity".

I don't deny any of those things. I also don't deny that the participants probably perform better when they take care of their physical health. As for golf, that's a good question. I'd lean towards no. It's a skill competition like darts or bowling or racing cars. That's not to say that some pro golfers aren't otherwise in good shape and likely very athletic. But what they do is far more a competition of skill rather than athleticism in my opinion.

Not sure if this was meant to support your position of it being a sport or not.

Almost any definition of "sport" I look up maintains some sort of athletic component to it. That is what disqualifies video gaming for me. If you want to call it a sport, that's on you. E-sports is a competition. Whether it teaches teamwork or not, it lacks a significant component of athelticism or physical exertion to meet the definitions of a "sport" that I read. You can probably teach teamwork in a cooking class too but that does not qualify it as a sport.

Competitive video gaming isn't a sport. It's a competition.

I was surprised at how many games were broadcast last week. I know I was able to watch at least parts of 4 different 2A games online last Friday and there were probably another 2A game or two that was available that I didn't tune into.

That's the kind of grit it takes to win championships.

I don't know. Aside from Sullivan, they look like they've been able to put up decent points on everyone they've played. Royal looks like an excellent player to me. 13 catches for 218 yards and 3 TD's last week. He's playing some inspired football. I'm not an expert on South Vermillion football history, but this looks like it could possibly be the biggest football game in school history for a program looking to win it's first ever sectional in front of a home crowd against (one of) the #1 team(s) in its class.

I don't know but I'd be more inclined to let the other sports move to one team hosting than change football to neutral. I just think homefield is way overblown as an advantage at the high school level. It's not like we're playing in venues that allow for 4800 fans from one team and only 200 from the other. Both teams get as many fans in as will come buy tickets to watch them. There is a small advantage for travel and familiarity but I'd say it's very rare that this "advantage" determines much at the high school level.

The people that are complaining about home advantage in regionals would find something else to complain about if that happened so it wouldn't reduce the complaining rate on here. It would just be complaining about something even more petty.

Alexandria only has an "explosive" offense against really bad teams.

Would be cool to win a sectional in 3 different classes.

I watched most of the game on YouTube. Looked like he played early and they got up big and then used other RBs the rest of the way. I was watching a few other games as well so I wasn't focused on if or how much he played on defense. Here's hoping he's getting back to 100%.

Just the best QB. All I have to say is that I value winning, and winning when it matters, not running up your stats against Elwood, Frankton, and Madison Grant. Eastbrook went undefeated in conference. Mississinewa was the only other competitive team in the conference. I didn't see another QB that impressed me at all from the "other" teams but I must clarify that I only watch those teams play Eastbrook and Mississinewa because those are the only games that really matter. I have Campbell as best player and Bragg as top QB this season. If others want to vote based on hollow stats, that's certainly their choice.

With some of the players Eastbrook lost on both sides of the ball, I really didn't think they had much chance to beat Mississinewa and win the CIC (two things they didn't do last year) but they did. The way he runs that offense is a huge part of the reason why. Best QB in the CIC for my money.

Will Wethington be playing tomorrow?

While several pieces remain, I don't think this team is as good as last year. They lost their top wide receivers and some depth on their lines that kept players from having to play both sides of the ball last season. They are still good though and should be a tough out. I wouldn't be stunned if they lost on Friday night. NP has this game at home and I'm sure they have payback on their minds for last season. Expecting a tough, hard-fought game just like most at this point in the season and going forward.

4 good teams left. Would not be surprised if any of the 4 ended up as sectional champ.

You don't play THAT Lewis Cass team each year. Can't have it both ways by saying that THAT Pioneer team didn't lose but you play that Lewis Cass team every year.