I know I’m a sports dummy, but I thought I at least knew what ‘sports’ were.

Today I found myself calling that into question when I saw an article on ESPN about League of Legends. “League of Legends isn’t a sport,” I said to myself.

However, lacking sports knowledge also leads to lacking confidence in this topic. So today I am tackling a basic question that is, apparently, much more complicated than I first thought. What is a sport?

Merriam Webster defines sport (n.) as “a contest or game in which people do certain physical activities according to a specific set of rules and compete against each other.”

So by this definition, no, online gaming or other form of digital sport (esport) isn’t a sport. A relief for me, but why would ESPN cover it like one, then? ESPN probably knows better than I do what a sport is.

In an interview with BBC, esport enthusiast and judo professional Michal Blicharz made the case for considering esports like any other sport. “Judo and esports are not that dissimilar,” Blicharz told BBC. “There are tournaments, you have to climb up a ladder to eventually compete with the best. In terms of training you have to put in the same amount of hours, perhaps even more in esports. You study strategy, technique and opponents. All the elements are there – the excitement, the adrenaline, players crying tears of sorrow and joy.”

All the elements except for the physical exertion, which seems to be prevalent in most if not all dictionary definitions of ‘sport.’ However, according to the BBC, the U.S. government recognizes esport players as athletes, at least for international travel purposes. So the question becomes, is physical exertion necessary for a sport?

The logic that follows removing the physical component from ‘sports’ is a slippery slope and diminishes the distinction between a sport and a competition.

If you consider esports as a sport, is chess a sport? Chess has tournaments, hours, strategy, techniques, opponents. Is Battleship a sport? Is Hungry Hungry Hippos a sport?

If you remove the physical exertion from the definition of sport, there is no longer a line between what is a sport and what is a game.

ESPN president John Skipper agrees with me, even though the network covers esports like traditional sports. The BBC quotes him as saying, “(esports) is not a sport, it’s a competition. Mostly I’m interested in doing real sports.”

However, the whole sporting world seems fairly divided on whether to consider these games sports or not. My external opinion, detached from the emotion of the issue, is that these are not sports. They are games and competitions, but not sports.

That said, something doesn’t need to be a sport to have the same value as one. Saying League of Legends isn’t a sport doesn’t devalue it as a competition. It doesn’t diminish the skill required, the strategy involved, the hours and emotions competitors pour into it. It just doesn’t meet the definition of a sport. It belongs to its own category.

So no, esports shouldn’t compete in the X-Games. They don’t belong in the sports section of a newspaper. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t host international competitions, or that they don’t deserve coverage. Not fitting the definition of a sport doesn’t devalue it as an institution.