Are professional video game players on the same level as professional athletes? The answer is a resounding "No," at least according to HBO's long-running "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel." 

A recent segment on Gumbel's program featured a panel of athletes and other sports personalities debating whether eSports can be considered a professional sport, and the segment revealed that, for the most part, the sports world does not think pro video game players should be considered athletes.

According to Gamespot, the majority of the panel dimissed the entire argument that professional video game players should be considered athletes in their own right. Former professional tennis player and sportscaster Mary Carillo had no idea eSports leagues even existed, and remained firm in her opinion that video games are "still not a sport."

Fox News correspondent Bernard Goldberg and Frank Deford also rejected the argument. The two men compared the international phenomenon that is professional video game leagues to "Star Trek" fans gathering for conventions and called fans of eSports "crazy." Perhaps the two men confused events such as Comic Con to actual professional video game tournaments.

One member of the panel had positive things to say about eSports. Soledad O'Brien acknowledged that professional gamers do not require the same level of athletic ability as many athletes, but did say that eSports players need a good amount of physical ability to play at the level that they do along with a sharp mind to form strategies and improvise to the situation at hand.

O'Brien later spoke to OnGamers about the subject, and reinforced her beliefs that professional League of Legends players and other eSports are athletes and what they do should be considered a sport:

"Elite League of Legends players are on the grind with 10,000 hours of practice. Watching them play and commentate was fascinating. You can't be subjective on this. Someone wins and someone else loses. People have the same argument over gymnastics, whether it's a sport or not. Even in eSports, it's not based on a judge to make a decision, so I think it's even easier in that regard. I once covered a story on an elite level sailor - physically he wasn't doing anything on the sailboat. He was in charge of the mapping strategy with pencil and paper. Is that a sport? I believe it is. Anything that has a high level dedicated structure, business model, prize money, and an elite competitive level is a sport," said O'Brien.