Gordon Hayward comes to eSports defense
By Ian Levy
It’s no secret that Utah Jazz wing, Gordon Hayward, is a big proponent of eSports. He once said that he could beat anybody in the NBA….at League of Legends.
It’s also no secret that Fox Sports Colin Cowherd is a well known disliker of eSports. So of course, when it was announced that Turner Broadcasting would be showing pro Counter-Strike: Global Offensive matches on TV, it surprised nobody that Cowherd approved. What was surprising were some of the words he chose to use in his rant against them.
"“There goes Spencer, he’s leaving the event and walking across the street to his mom’s house, where he still lives at 29. He goes over to the refrigerator, opens it up, he’s got a Hot Pocket! Oh yeah, microwave next. Look at the cheese! Big night for Spencer. Now he’s going upstairs to his room, a room where a girl has never entered. He sits down — look at that Star Wars collection.”"
This is not only insulting to eSports players, and watchers, but it’s just flat out mean. It doesn’t even have to be about eSports at this point. It’s never okay to say something filled with this much hatred, and malice, but that’s what he did. Gordon Hayward however didn’t appreciate that.
ZING!
Yesterday, Cowherd had Hayward on his radio show to clear the air on eSports (and hopefully ask him for an apology)
Here are a few highlights:
Towards the beginning of the video, Cowherd says he understands video games, but he doesn’t “get” eSports. Haywards gives a well thought out explanation of how it has to do with interest, and compares it to how people just have different interests. What he doesn’t mention to Cowherd is how
Around the 1:40 mark of the video, Cowherd asks Hayward about how “in shape” gamers are. Hayward easily destroys the stereotype of how gamers are “overweight”, or not healthy. He mentions how many of these players have set schedules that they follow with time out of their day designated for exercise, and rest. Just like every other professional athelete in the world.
At the 4:15 mark Cowherd plays an eSports clip and asks Hayward to describe it to him. Okay, the first problem here is he called it “League of Legends”, which Hayward immediately corrected him on, and he tells Cowherd how he needs to know what he’s talking about. You don’t show someone a clip of baseball and say, “Hey check out this football play”. He also seems very entertained by the reaction of the announcers during the clip he shows. How are eSports announcers getting excited any different from when we freak out about Kemba Walker coming in from out of nowhere to block a shot? The answer to that question is there’s no difference at all. Announcers are supposed to get excited about what they’re commentating. Otherwise what’s the point of watching?
As the video comes to a close, Hayward talks about how there is nobody in the Jazz locker room that doesn’t play video games. He also mentions how, despite his love of video games, it’s a good thing for kids to go out and get exercise too. Sadly, this seemed to fall on deaf ears with Cowherd who continued trying to fit is circular stereotypes into a square hole. Either way, if this had been a debate, Hayward would have won in a landslide just for having more knowledge on what was being discussed.
It’s great that Hayward came on to Cowherd’s show to defend eSports, and gamers, because the community at the moment needs people like that. Someone that the average person sees as “normal” who is willing to stand up and say “No, this is legit, and should be taken seriously.”
As for Cowherd, it’s unlikely he’ll ever truly accept eSports for what they are. He’ll probably take a shot at them again in the future, because that’s just what he does. I just hope he realizes that the battle he is fighting is a losing one. eSports have millions of viewers right now on websites like Twitch, and their championship ratings frequently outshine “real” sports events such as the NBA Finals that we love so much. In South Korea, eSports is already a staple of television, and many of their players are celebrities. As the sport grows in the United States, and across the rest of the world, more and more people will be drawn to it. Not just gamers, but regular average viewers that want to get in on the fun. Nobody is going to make you watch them, but you won’t be able to laugh it off as some niche fad. eSports is here to stay, and it’s only going to get bigger.