ESports are absolutely sports, and at times can give us moments that traditional sports can’t due to rules, written or unwritten. One of the best examples of this comes from a Street Fighter V competition on Saturday night in Atlanta, when a pair of rivals with prior beef (oh, yes, there’s gamer beef) went head-to-head and the resulting celebration from the winner is the single most disrespectful thing I think I have ever seen.
Kenneth “KBrad” Bradley defeatedJ oshua “Wolfkrone” Philpot 2-0 to advance in the tournament, with neither fight being particularly close. After winning he stands up, steps over his opponent with one leg, turns and stares into his face from about two inches away for a solid 25 seconds. At one point, he helps take Wolfkrone’s headset off, sets it down, then turns back to get a little more. It’s fantastic.
This would get you fined and suspended in the NFL (and likely fought). Can you imagine if someone caught a touchdown over someone, stood over the corner and stared at them for 15 seconds, talking smack, then took their helmet off and kept doing it? It’d rain yellow flags, give Roger Goodell a panic attack and would almost assuredly start a brawl.
The best part is the reaction of the people in the background, who can’t believe what’s happening. Just look through the faces in the back.
The one guy is turning purple from the excitement of seeing this happen, while the other guy clearly heard whatever K-Brad said and has the “oh, shit” reaction look. Now, you may be wondering what could possibly be the reason for this aggressive of a reaction (and also why Wolfkrone seemed so understanding about the level of disrespect he was receiving). Well, back in January, Wolfkrone did this to EG K-Brad after defeating him at a different event.
I don’t know what the next escalation of this feud will be, but things like this are part of why eSports are blowing up the way they are. Celebrations and some rivalry between opponents is encouraged, and as you can see from the people there, it’s something they love. More sports should embrace the personality and fun of competition like this.
Correction: Nothing was said by EG K-Brad to Wolfkrone, it was just really intense staring, which actually might make it better.
(h/t Kotaku)
