Here in the Spodek arena in Poland, tens of thousands of people are watching two teams of five men compete in the final of a new kind of sport. Around the world millions upon millions of people are watching just as keenly at home. The atmosphere at the Spodek is electric – palpable, in fact. The crowd is chanting “TSM” to support Team SoloMid so loudly that the arena sounds like booming thunder. The stakes are high, the top prize consists of $108,414 and the accolade of being a world champions.But there are no boots, no balls, no bats. All of the people competing are sitting in front of state-of-the-art computers. Around the arena giant screens display the digital action taking place. This is eSports – professional, competitive, computer gaming – a digital sport for a digital age. There has been much debate as to the legitimacy of calling eSports a sport, but regardless of opinion the spectacle taking place is as vital and exciting as any other major, large-scale sporting event. Michal Blicharz, the organiser behind Intel Extreme Masters Championship told Sky Sports: “Is eSports a sport? Well, I have a black belt in judo, I was a referee for 12 years. I competed, I coached and to me eSports is sport. “People typically think that if you don’t get punched in the face or if you don’t sweat then that’s not really a sport. But you can go out and throw a ball against a wall for an hour, is that sport? No! You need some structure, you need some rules to it, and you require a certain eco-system around it. “All of it is here with eSports. If the International Olympic Committee recognises chess as a sport, you cant convince me that a game like Starcraft is not a sport.“I don’t see anybody getting punched in the face or sweating with pigeon racing and that was an Olympic sport. But either way, it doesn’t change the nature of the beast.” You need some structure, you need some rules to it, and you require a certain eco-system around it. All of it is here with eSports. Michal Blicharz CommitmentSo how do you prepare to compete in an eSports tournament? All the competitors in Poland agree that simply being a gamer isn’t enough, and if you were to observe them close up, you’d understand the truth behind this. At first you’d be forgiven in thinking that their hands hardly move across mouse and keyboard but, upon closer inspection, you suddenly notice that the speed of their movements is so rapid that it hardly registers to human eyes. Twitch motions, twitch gaming. To develop these skills requires relentless training and dedication. During a respite before facing Chinese favourites Team WE in the League of Legend finals, Team SoloMid shed some light as to the level of commitment required.Jason ‘WildTurtle’ Tran said: “We practice every day for 10 to 12 hours. We wake up, eat and start practising.”Marcus “Dyrus” Hill insisted eSports doesn’t advocate an unhealthy lifestyle: “I like to stay healthy, Lucas ‘Santorin’ Larsen and I hit the gym every other day.”SoloMid’s regime is understandable when you consider that some eSports competitors can make an estimated $20,000 to $40,000 a month simply by streaming their gameplay online. That figure excludes sponsorship revenue and tournament winnings. But competing in eSports isn’t simply about money, fame and accolade. The games that drive eSports are the backbone of this sociable community and the best way to understand them is simply to play them. Right now at the Spodek arena, Team SoloMid are two games up against Team WE. Deep into their third and potentially final game, SoloMid are dominating. The crowd is frantic, their roar deafening. In a quick sudden flash of excitement SoloMid secure their third game and become the world champions at IEM, their first ever victory at an international event. Søren Bjerg revels in Team SoloMids win Nike Just Do It Skor . Lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Blake Comeau – The Penguins winger had a hat trick in a 4-3 overtime win against Toronto. Nike Air Max 95 Dam Rea . -- Ryan Millers debut for the St. http://www.reaairmaxsverige.com/air-max-thea-rabatt.html .com) - Tonight will go a long way in determining the two wild card spots in the Eastern Conference. Nike Air Max Tn Sverige . There will be no Down Under four-peat for Djokovic, as the eighth-seeded Swiss slugger Wawrinka outlasted the second seed 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 at Melbourne Parks Rod Laver Arena in yet another five-set thriller in their burgeoning rivalry. Nike Air Max Plus Sverige . Huntelaar also had a penalty saved by Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio. The two goals brought Huntelaars total for the season to 18, level with Bayern Munichs Mario Gomez for most in the league.SAN FRANCISCO - Nationals manager Matt Williams has thought long and hard about his decision to remove Jordan Zimmermann with two outs in the ninth and go to closer Drew Storen, and he stands by it a day later.Williams had extra innings after his ejection to ponder the move Saturday night, then a cross-country flight.He says he would do it again, even if theres some agony involved given Storen blew the save chance and Washington lost to San Francisco 2-1 in 18 innings, putting the Nationals in an 0-2 hole in the NL Division Series.The best-of-five matchup shifts to San Francisco for Game 3 Monday afternoon as Washington tries to save its season.I kicked myself on that. Thats human nature, Williams said Sunday. You kick yourself any time it doesnt work. However, you have to put your guys in position to do their jobs and what they do. So that being said, I dont have a problem with it. It didnt work out. But weve got our best guy who is the closer coming in to pick up the guy that just gave us all he had for 8 2-3rds.Now, could you say that it was the wrong move? Of course you can. You could say that. Could you say it was the right move? Yes, you could say that, as well. It didnt work out. That being said, its, yeah, I kick myself for bringing Drew in and having him tie the game. Beyond that, we had nine more innings to win it. So thats how I look at it.The 96-win Nationals have relied on Storen to finish gaames since he became the regular closer in September when Williams went to a closer-by-committee system and demoted struggling Rafael Soriano.dddddddddddd Storen had 11 saves and a 1.12 ERA in 65 games and 56 1-3 innings, and hadnt allowed an earned run in 23 appearances since Aug. 5.Williams pulled Zimmermann after a two-out walk to Joe Panik. At that point, Zimmermann was pitching a three-hitter and had a 1-0 lead.Buster Posey greeted Storen with a single and Pablo Sandoval followed with an RBI double. It was Storens first post-season appearances since he failed to hold a ninth-inning lead against St. Louis in the deciding Game 5 of the 2012 NLDS.Its all good. Another day. Its nothing new, really. Its just kind of part of it, Storen said Sunday. Its the same stuff weve dealt with all year. Its just a different piece of adversity, and its about coming back and playing our game.Its obviously not ideal to be down 2-0, but we havent lost hope and we know that we can come back and can do this. It just takes one inning, it takes one little thing. Thats the fun thing about playoff baseball, he said.Williams understands the questions surrounding his move, considering the Nationals are now playing to save their season on the road rather than looking to take the lead in the division series.Yeah, could it have been over if one of those two guys makes an out? Yeah, it would have been over, he said. ' ' '