As a young person in Middle America, I’m obviously super into sports. Things like football, baseball, and hockey consume every spare second of my free time.

Those last two sentences are a blatant lie.

Just because I play video games, rather than doing things that involve movement, doesn’t mean I can’t be competitive. I, along with millions of other fans of trivial shenanigans, am a follower of e-sports. For me, this is mostly restricted to the “Halo” and “Call of Duty” franchises, although every game imaginable has a competitive league to match.

While I have managed to log hundreds of hours watching Major League Gaming (MLG) livestreams, there is a grain of insanity that comes with such nonsense. Which is why I was not the least bit surprised by MLG’s announcement that there will be no “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” on this year’s professional circuit.

This is partly because the game’s publisher, Infinity Ward, has refused to add a LAN option to the game. Previous iterations of the series included a local play option from release, which allowed for multiplayer action without a connection to Xbox Live or the Playstation Network.

As all MLG Pro Circuit play takes place at convention center events, this will create a problem. The league, however, will offer pro, semi-pro, and amateur tournament play through its completely digital GameBattles services, with significantly reduced prizes, as sponsors generally pour more money into live events.

For many professional “Call of Duty” teams (isn’t that an oxymoron), the cancellation signals a significant reduction in cash on hand, and a whole year of endless training, leading up to the rumored, yet unconfirmed, “Black Ops 2” release in the 2012 holiday season. Essentially, this leaves a large chunk of pro players training on a game which may never see competitive play.

All in all, the situation is entirely ridiculous. In response, there will doubtlessly be less of a turnout at MLG events, and a renewed emphasis on “Halo: Reach” and “Starcraft 2.” Personally, I’ll just be crying in a corner, if you’ll excuse me.