If one has ever played video games, they know how addictive that ‘one more game’ feeling happens to be. Even at 1 a.m., that feeling of needing to play that one more game will have a person up until at least 4 or 5 in the morning.
Gordon Hayward counts himself as one of those gamers who knows that ‘one more game’ feeling like any other. Hayward has been a gamer since the early days of the Xbox and the original Halo was all the rage.
However, Hayward was so talented at Halo in high school that he began to enter tournaments and a few of those tournaments would have cash prizes. Because Hayward at the time was a high school athlete making money, the draconian NCAA rules might hinder him from participating in college athletics. For an upcoming Halo Tournament before he got to Butler, Hayward called then head coach Brad Stevens to make sure that it was okay to play in it as to not violate NCAA rules.
Via Rolling Stone.
“I had to call coach Stevens to ask him if its was okay to play in a Halo tournament. I’m sure that was the last thing he wanted his new recruit to call him about. But he was okay with it and we actually won the tournament. So we won money, which was cool.”
Hayward says that he plays video games after NBA games as a way to wind down and not overthink things on the hardwood. It’s a way for the injured Celtics star to not get overloaded with the minutiae, while being somewhat stimulated in another manner.
So at the end of the day, Hayward still has that ‘one more game’ feeling to this day. Thankfully, he no longer has to ask his coach’s permission for his participation in tournaments though.
