There is a video game tournament on ESPNNews right now

[EdgewoodNHV]

It's also May, and the only major sports on right now are baseball and hockey, which ESPN refuses to acknowledge the existence of for TV rights-related reasons.

 

[HooperScooper]

It's also May, and the only major sports on right now are baseball and hockey, which ESPN refuses to acknowledge the existence of for TV rights-related reasons.

That's what I was thinking also. There isn't a lot of live sports content right now. It's why you see you a lot of college baseball and softball on some of the stations right now that almost nobody cares about.

 

[Jim]

Cheaper than "sports". Don't have to travel to play a game.

Actually, that is not true. The teams need to be co-located to ensure one team doesn't have an unfair advantage due to a better network connection to the server. Same concept as a swim or track meet. Conditions need to be the same for both teams.

As to cheapness, that depends upon support (or not) from the team's sponsor.

 

[Giscombe12]

OId guy here who grew up with the Atari 2600 and evolved with home video games. (I'm not sure how much I evolved, but as the industry grew, I tagged along.)

When esports & streamers became the rage, I too scoffed at the idea. Who would want to watch someone else play video games??

Then I watched a Tecmo Super Bowl tournament. I was hooked. I was fascinated.

I currently play PUBG regularly (I'm horrible) but I can watch people play that all day. As for other games I don't have interest in or know about, no thanks, just like sports that I have no interest in.

Like a previous poster said, I was born 20 to 30 years too early. But then I wouldn't have witnessed The Dream Season, so I guess I came out on top.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

It's also May, and the only major sports on right now are baseball and hockey, which ESPN refuses to acknowledge the existence of for TV rights-related reasons.

I’m shocked they weren’t airing NCAA softball.

 

[Husky25]

My high school in which I teach is about to start up an eSports team.

You should go to the box for two minutes and feel shame just by association.

 

[Minicoop69]

You should go to the box for two minutes and feel shame just by association.

Why? It gets more kids involved with something for school and therefore grades go up. There might be a negative, but the positives far outweigh them.

 

[crewbear742]

ESPN shows WWE. They show what people watch. That's why MSG kicked the WNBA out and brought in eSports.

If you know what is going on, League of Legends can be fun to watch. My daughter got me to watch a competition once. She was there to explain it.

 

[Leebo]

You should go to the box for two minutes and feel shame just by association.

Now this kind of thing is even harder to understand. I can almost understand why people think the idea of watching is stupid, but I don't see why people here would be confused about the competitive aspect. You think it's shameful that people would even participate?

 

[Travelman6]

I know this is an "old man yells at cloud" take, but how in the world do people enjoy watching others play video games? 25-30 years ago, as kids, it was misery when you had to sit out and watch a round of whatever game you were playing in some neighborhood kid's basement. I can't imagine willfully sitting there and watching hours of other people playing a videogame.

This is even stranger to me than watching people play poker on TV.

I love videogames but watching them for extended amounts of time, I agree, is boring. Unless it is a 2-player game where you take turns, not so bad, like Mario or Donkey Kong Country or something like that. Maybe if it is a fighting tourney like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, but otherwise, no thanks, don't want to watch. I find "lets play" of youtube videos mostly pointless. Unless you are searching for a visual display of how to do something in a game once you are at your wits end, otherwise don't get the point.

 

[TheChamps990411]

It really is a major international sporting event. If I recall, the 2nd highest viewing program last year was the eSports championship. 1st was the Super Bowl.

Wow! Thats crazy

 

[TheChamps990411]

I love videogames but watching them for extended amounts of time, I agree, is boring. Unless it is a 2-player game where you take turns, not so bad, like Mario or Donkey Kong Country or something like that. Maybe if it is a fighting tourney like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, but otherwise, no thanks, don't want to watch. I find "lets play" of youtube videos mostly pointless. Unless you are searching for a visual display of how to do something in a game once you are at your wits end, otherwise don't get the point.

The same can be said of any televised sport. I know as well im sure you do plenty of people who love to play sports but dont like to watch.

 

[Husky25]

Why? It gets more kids involved with something for school and therefore grades go up. There might be a negative, but the positives far outweigh them.

Now this kind of thing is even harder to understand. I can almost understand why people think the idea of watching is stupid, but I don't see why people here would be confused about the competitive aspect. You think it's shameful that people would even participate?

1) it's a paraphrase of a movie line.
2) Quoting trivial movie lines have as much business being an interscholastic activity as video games.

 

[Leebo]

1) it's a paraphrase of a movie line.
2) Quoting trivial movie lines have as much business being an interscholastic activity as video games.

Explain if you feel like it. Let us know what other clubs you would ban by fiat if you had the authority. So far we have esports and... film appreciation?

 

[Robertelamin]

Explain if you feel like it. Let us know what other clubs you would ban by fiat if you had the authority. So far we have esports and... film appreciation?

I checked out the clubs from my high school. It includes: anime club, bringing back the oldies music club, parachute improv club (?), ping pong club, sports debating club and stock market investing club and like 40 other clubs. Also a game club. I doubt any of these are much of a drain of resources so I don’t know why anyone would care and at least they keep kids out of trouble for that hour or two.

 

[Ctedgeman]

Last week I saw a professional cornhole tournament on espn2. Now don't get me wrong, these gentlemen were really really good at playing a drunken backyard game, but come on man. That should be on the ocho.

 

[Robertelamin]

People forget ESPN/ESPN 2 showed monster truck rallies (Bigfoot was the GOAT), dog jumping competitions, lumberjack games, Gaelic games, worlds strongest man competitions, hot dog eating contests, women’s sports, paintball, the freaking x games and fitness programs. That wasn’t all that long ago and they are still doing the x games and the hot dog competition for some reason.

Edit: And greyhound racing.

 

[whaler11]

People forget ESPN/ESPN 2 showed monster truck rallies (Bigfoot was the GOAT), dog jumping competitions, lumberjack games, Gaelic games, worlds strongest man competitions, hot dog eating contests, women’s sports, paintball, the freaking x games and fitness programs. That wasn’t all that long ago and they are still doing the x games and the hot dog competition for some reason.

Edit: And greyhound racing.

my first job out of college was the original x games.

i did audio on the street luge to start and graduated to wrangling interviews.

bungee jumping was the big event finale - i got stuck operating a camera boom trying to keep the jumpers in frame.

bungee jumping as a competition may be the single stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. and I have uconn football season tickets.

suzy kolber and chris fowler were the hosts - they were great to work with

 

[Husky25]

People forget ESPN/ESPN 2 showed monster truck rallies (Bigfoot was the GOAT), dog jumping competitions, lumberjack games, Gaelic games, worlds strongest man competitions, hot dog eating contests, women’s sports, paintball, the freaking x games and fitness programs. That wasn’t all that long ago and they are still doing the x games and the hot dog competition for some reason.

Edit: And greyhound racing.

Wait. What?

Care to reconcile the apparent obviousness of Twisted Metal II as a acceptable interschlastic endeavor, yet include the super obsure category of "women's sports" among monster truck rallys and dog jumping? ESPN deserves much redicule on a number of fronts. Televising "women's sports" is not among them.

I suppose Leebo just made a sick burn (or however the kids say it.).

 

[Husky25]

I checked out the clubs from my high school. It includes: anime club, bringing back the oldies music club, parachute improv club (?), ping pong club, sports debating club and stock market investing club and like 40 other clubs. Also a game club. I doubt any of these are much of a drain of resources so I don’t know why anyone would care and at least they keep kids out of trouble for that hour or two.

What about "women's sports?"

 

[Robertelamin]

Wait. What?

Care to reconcile the apparent obviousness of Twisted Metal II as a acceptable interschlastic endeavor, yet include the super obsure category of "women's sports" among monster truck rallys and dog jumping? ESPN deserves much redicule on a number of fronts. Televising "women's sports" is not among them.

I suppose Leebo just made a sick burn (or however the kids say it.).

I put in women’s sports figuring no one would notice. Nice catch, you get a gold star!

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I know this is a rough patch time of year for sports programming but the American Cornhole League is on the deuce this afternoon.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I know this is a rough patch time of year for sports programming but the American Cornhole League is on the deuce this afternoon. View attachment 43895

Not the first time I’ve seen it. In fact, last time I saw it on tv, it was college kids! I was hoping it was at least just one segment of a larger beer fest style tournament featuring flip cup, polish horseshoes, etc. but of course it was just weird-looking college kids tossing bean bags in awkward fashion

 

[superjohn]

Wait. What?

Care to reconcile the apparent obviousness of Twisted Metal II as a acceptable interschlastic endeavor, yet include the super obsure category of "women's sports" among monster truck rallys and dog jumping? ESPN deserves much redicule on a number of fronts. Televising "women's sports" is not among them.

I suppose Leebo just made a sick burn (or however the kids say it.).

I think he was trying to make a funny by including the X games and women's sports. He obviously doesn't think they are in the same realm as kids sitting in chairs pushing buttons.

 

[B1GEast]

OId guy here who grew up with the Atari 2600 and evolved with home video games. (I'm not sure how much I evolved, but as the industry grew, I tagged along.)

When esports & streamers became the rage, I too scoffed at the idea. Who would want to watch someone else play video games??

Then I watched a Tecmo Super Bowl tournament. I was hooked. I was fascinated.

I currently play PUBG regularly (I'm horrible) but I can watch people play that all day. As for other games I don't have interest in or know about, no thanks, just like sports that I have no interest in.

Like a previous poster said, I was born 20 to 30 years too early. But then I wouldn't have witnessed The Dream Season, so I guess I came out on top.

I would love to compete in a Super Techmo Bowl tournament. Wish they held them around here

 

[Deepelm]

E-sports are not sports.

Where did anyone post that? Did you miss the E part?

The money for these events is nuts in some cases. I play and watch Rainbow 6 and the last major event they had the prize pool was $2,000,000. with I think $160,000 to each winning team member.

 

[UConnNick]

Where did anyone post that? Did you miss the E part?

The money for these events is nuts in some cases. I play and watch Rainbow 6 and the last major event they had the prize pool was $2,000,000. with I think $160,000 to each winning team member.

That's fine, but it's not a sport, and calling it such is stupid on ESPN's part. It's the same as poker. It's not a sport, either. I like to play it, but I have no interest in watching others play it. I've also seen ESPN televise things called modified sled racing and miniature yacht racing. I won't even attempt to describe the former. The latter was remote control replicas of 12 meter yachts racing in an indoor Olympic size pool with huge fans blowing the wind that propels them.

I don't begrudge anyone who enjoys watching these things, but video games should be called what they are. They're not a sport. I did watch UCONN 's team play against Arizona State last year.

 

[TheChamps990411]

E-sports are not sports.

Wrong. Get with the times grandpa. You dont have to like it but it is a sport. There are people competing, winning and making money. Oh and before you go on about there is no physical aspect go try playing a video game 12 hours with very few breaks and tell me how your eyes, back and hands feel. We dont have to like it but its legit.

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

That's fine, but it's not a sport, and calling it such is stupid on ESPN's part

Yes yes and a hamburger doesn't even have ham in it there's really no need to be the word police it's okay to just go on with your life.

 

[Fishy]

That's fine, but it's not a sport, and calling it such is stupid on ESPN's part.

Sport is a broadly-defined term.

If shooting or fishing or things like that are considered sports, and by definition, they are, then you'd have to think e-sports are as well. There's skill involved, it's competitive....it is, indeed, a sport.