This week on CheckpointXP On Campus:
Managing Editor, Kevin Kelly, joins us to react to
New Jersey allowing betting on esports. We also break down a new Tespa Call of Duty Collegate Tournament and Jacob Brothers takes you back to the Fashion Corner to tell you who has the hottest esports jerseys in the land! That and more on this week’s CheckpointXP On Campus!
Managing Editor, Kevin Kelly, joins us to react to
New Jersey allowing betting on esports. We also break down a new Tespa Call of Duty Collegate Tournament and Jacob Brothers takes you back to the Fashion Corner to tell you who has the hottest esports jerseys in the land! That and more on this week’s CheckpointXP On Campus!
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FunTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Checkpoint XP on campus, your number one resource for esports at the college level.
00:07I am your host, Norris Howard, joined by the illustrious, immaculate, and wonderful Daniel Agbuya and Jacob Brothers out at the UNLV studios.
00:16How's it going, guys?
00:18Hi there, hi there.
00:18What's up, gamers?
00:21That's right, what's up, gamers?
00:22You know, we're going to have a real laid-back, chill type of show today.
00:26Uh, we had a lot of trip-dependent in our system, we're getting over the turkey day slump, but we're going to hop right into it with a discussion on esports betting.
00:37You didn't think you were going to hear about this, uh, in a college show, but it's a big deal, so we're going to take a little bit of time to talk about that.
00:45All right, now, if you guys haven't noticed, we've pulled some TV magic and trickery and invited one of our managing editors, Kevin Kelly, on the show for, uh, this particular discussion.
00:57Because it is, it is quite interesting, the concept of esports betting and gambling in esports.
01:04Now, we know that this is a major thing in college sports, but, uh, esports betting is now legal in New Jersey.
01:15So, Atlantic City has gotten involved in this.
01:18Uh, they last month approved, uh, betting on any video game, so if there's a book for it, you can go and bet at Atlantic City.
01:27The Borgata Casino, not Bogota, Borgata Casino in New Jersey took the first esports bet in the state.
01:38It was done by a broadcaster by the name of Howard Eskin, who placed a $100 bet on G2 Esports to beat FunPlus Phoenix in Worlds.
01:48He lost that $100 very quickly.
01:51Welcome to gambling.
01:52So, in a, in a, uh, in a comment to the Associated Press, uh, the, uh, casino president, Marcus Glover, said, uh, Borgata is proud to be at the forefront of this significant milestone as we look to engage with future generations of esports fans as well as traditional sports fans.
02:14So, guys, as the people who are actually allowed to gamble, uh, we gonna put that disclaimer out there, um, you know, what does, what does this mean, what does this mean to you guys, uh, as we begin to see esports betting maybe grow, maybe hit Vegas real hard in the next couple years?
02:34First of all, I love, I love how enthusiastic that guy was to take the very first $100 from any esports better.
02:40Mm-hmm.
02:41He was ecstatic.
02:42And then just for him to lose, so.
02:44Exactly.
02:44Best case scenario, of course.
02:45Exactly.
02:46The house is, the house is already winning.
02:48Although, and this is definitely gonna hit Vegas very hard.
02:52Oh, 100%.
02:52Like, if someone's, like, Vegas is like, wait, someone else did a gambling thing that we didn't do?
02:56Like, they're about to, like, open up a building for a video game gambling.
02:59No, they won't, but.
03:00Yeah, especially, like, you know, in a growing esports, like, physical presence here, we have a lot of venues here, and we try to, like, you know, the, the presence for events is growing and growing.
03:10And so when I think that when you introduce gambling to the gambling capital of the world for, you know, events like esports, it's really, it's gonna be monumental.
03:19I think it's really gonna try and, it's gonna shift the paradigm, especially on a college level, too.
03:23And I'm assuming that it'll probably hit college at the same time, like esports betting for esports, because they're doing this at the same time.
03:30And people love to gamble on college sports, so.
03:33When you're a degenerate gambler, like you.
03:35Like yourself, you're looking for any action that you can, that you can get your hands on.
03:39So I think that, one, what's interesting to me is that, you know, it kind of, like, introduces, if we're gonna be talking about gambling on college esports,
03:49like, where are the, my, my concern is, like, what, what do the players have to think about this?
03:55Like, with all this money, that's immediately gonna start getting ejected into esports.
03:59And college esports, like, there's really, like, there's no NCAA regulation yet.
04:03What do the, what, what do the players have to say about this?
04:05I think the players, I would assume they're okay with it, because they're actually being paid over the table.
04:09So, they don't mind that there's being money bet on them.
04:13Do you think, do you guys think that this may introduce some kind of regulation at some point?
04:18If, if we're gonna have, like, this money in esports, in college esports now?
04:21I personally, I personally think it has to.
04:24I think when you're involving, you know, youth, I think it behooves you to try to involve them.
04:32We saw just how rampant gambling can be, especially every March around the NCAA tournament and around bowl game time.
04:42So, we know that college, college sports and gambling are kind of inextricably linked.
04:48Really, all sports and gambling are linked.
04:51But I think by esports being so new and being so young in the grand scheme of things,
04:57I think there is a slippery slope to be, you know, be careful of here.
05:02Because I can definitely see a situation where you may have, you know,
05:06a guy who has placed a bet on his team to win or lose, and he's managing those teams.
05:13We've seen that happen in, I believe, League of Legends in Vietnam.
05:17We've seen it happen in Dota.
05:19We've seen it happen in many esports, where, in many countries where esports betting is allowed.
05:24So, I think we'll have similar issues, but I think this is a good opportunity for the esports industry
05:31to get out ahead of it and out in front of it and figure out what are some of the best practices, especially for college.
05:38Someone is definitely going to have to step in and try and get, like, some rules and regulations around this,
05:43especially for the players.
05:44Because I know if people are still doing it on the pro level,
05:47Josh Shaw from the Arizona Cardinals just got, like, a huge suspension levied against him for betting on games
05:54in probably the dumbest way possible.
05:56You can look that story up.
05:57But, like, if pro NFL players are going to be betting on games still, like, this has been a problem in sports for years.
06:05And you're going to let college kids, like, have this kind of, like, wasteland of, like, no rules and anarchy and money
06:11and just all this sin just being injected into esports.
06:16It's, like, someone's definitely going to have to, like, step in, create some bylaws around this.
06:21I'm really excited for just, like, the whack bets that are going to come up.
06:24Because, like, you know, in football, it's like, are they going to win by three kicks or five kicks?
06:28Like, I can't wait to see that kind of a thing for, like, Overwatch, where it's, like, do they win one map?
06:32Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, where you're going to have, you know, like, an Overwatch point spread of how many ultimates
06:37does Jonak get off in a particular team fight.
06:41Like, yeah, it's going to get really granular because the stats are going to be there.
06:45Are you going to be able to, you know, pull those stats, the over-under for how many kills in a particular League of Legends match?
06:52So, yeah, it's going to be interesting to see.
06:55But it is also going to be very, very concerning.
06:58And I agree with Kevin that, you know, somebody please think of the children.
07:03Will somebody please do that?
07:05But we're going to move on here and talk about an actual tournament that's going on that, as far as I know, no one can bet on.
07:12But we're going to have the TESPA Call of Duty Modern Warfare Online Collegiate Tournament.
07:19Now, this is a fall duos tournament.
07:23Over 500 teams are expected to participate.
07:27There's going to be a nearly $10,000 prize pool, of course, in scholarship money.
07:34A best-of-three format, only college students.
07:38Kevin, you in particular, I know both of you guys are big, you know, Call of Duty fans, but Kevin, you in particular,
07:44what is your opinion about this particular tournament?
07:46And do you think Modern Warfare is trying to ease its way into the college scene with this tournament?
07:51The biggest thing that intrigues me with this tournament is, you said it's cross-play enabled, right?
07:57We're going to be mixing, I think this might be one of the first times outside of, like, Fortnite, obviously,
08:02where we're going to be mixing controller players and mouse and keyboard players.
08:05And in COD, I think that's a completely different thing.
08:07Yeah, because Call of Duty is the only, like, controller-dominant eSport, really.
08:11But at the same time, it's also a super, like, quick-trigger, like, reaction-time-based game.
08:16And so, like, I think that, like, you know, if you're playing mouse and keyboard in this tournament, I think I'm almost...
08:23You have an advantage.
08:23If we were able to bet on this, I would bet on the winner being a mouse and keyboard player.
08:29Absolutely.
08:29Like, a tandem of those two.
08:31But that's it for that discussion.
08:33Are you into Call of Duty?
08:35Do you want to join this tournament?
08:37You only need one other buddy to join.
08:40So, slide on over to GameBattles.MajorLeagueGaming.com, and you can check out all the information for the 2v2 TESPA Collegiate Call of Duty Fall Duos Tournament.
08:54So, make sure you guys check that out.
08:57But we're going to have more coming up on Checkpoint XP on campus, where there's an event going on out in New York.
09:04It's focusing on women in eSports.
09:07So, make sure you guys stay tuned for that.
09:10Welcome back to Checkpoint XP on campus, your number one resource for collegiate eSports.
09:20Your host, Norris Howard, here.
09:22And, listen, we know a lot of you play games.
09:25We know a lot of you are on eSports teams.
09:27We want to hear from you guys.
09:29We want you to share your stories.
09:31Slide on over to CheckpointXP.com, where you can do that.
09:35Hit the On Campus tab, and there's a drop-down box where you can submit your stories.
09:40Do you have a buddy who's sick in the mid lane?
09:43Are you crazy with the double taps in Rocket League?
09:46I don't know, but you do.
09:48So, share those stories, and we will put them on the show.
09:52So, with that said, we're going to slide all the way over to the East Coast, and we're going to discuss an event going on at State University of New York, Canton,
10:02where they're having an open house for women in eSports.
10:07So, it's going to be something that is focusing on getting more women on campus involved in their eSports program.
10:14So, guys, and I mean guys, as in room full of men, do we need more events like this and more women in eSports?
10:25Well, you know, if you just look at the breakdown of this room, clearly, yes, we need more women in eSports.
10:30So, you know, we see that nowadays gaming is kind of split 60-40 in terms of, like, male to female.
10:36So, tons are changing.
10:38It's not really a male-dominated culture anymore.
10:41So, I like seeing events like this that encourage female gamers to go, hey, you know, come out here.
10:46We're trying to show that, you know, eSports is not like a traditional sport.
10:51We don't need separate leagues, right?
10:52Right, and we're finding success as far as casters go because usually with casters, more often than not,
10:57there's a woman a part of that casting group now, which I've noticed, which is awesome.
11:00But they're not really playing with us in the, with men in the tournaments,
11:05which is obviously a big problem because there's no skill gap when it comes to video games.
11:09So, they could easily be on there.
11:11And since, because of traditional sports building, we were just kind of built with the mindset of guys play on a team
11:17and girls play on a team because that's how traditional sports work.
11:19But we need to kind of pick and choose what we bring and what we don't bring with traditional sports.
11:23And this is something that obviously we don't bring.
11:26Yeah.
11:26Yeah, I'm actually, I'm actually really, really on board with that whole concept, Jacob,
11:32of how much do we actually borrow from traditional sports in terms of eSports?
11:38There's a lot of opportunity to sort of, quote, unquote, get it right the second time around.
11:43And I think this is a great opportunity.
11:46And SUNY Canton is taking a big step forward.
11:49They have eight games in which they field teams for.
11:53And at the very least, Overwatch, League of Legends, and the Smash Ultimate teams are indeed co-ed.
12:00They have women on those teams.
12:01So, you know, we see that there is a willingness for, you know, universities and certain eSports organizations
12:11to have women on their teams and see them play more.
12:15But we haven't necessarily seen the same happen at the pro level.
12:21We have Guguri in the OWL.
12:23We don't have any women playing at the pro level in, you know, European or North American League of Legends or Korean League of Legends.
12:32So, is it going to take sort of a, for lack of a better term, for lack of a better word, you know,
12:38a Jackie Robinson moment where somebody breaks the gender barrier and, you know, plays and becomes this larger-than-life figure?
12:46Or do you think it needs to be more of a slow burn where slowly but surely we just see more women involved?
12:53In these leagues.
12:56Well, the thing is, Norse, I don't think they have to be mutually exclusive because look at what happened at BlizzCon.
13:00At the Hearthstone World Tournament, we had a female winner and she was celebrated as for her skills.
13:06Honestly, her gender wasn't, like, focused.
13:08It was just, like, she won because she was better than everyone else.
13:12And that was really awesome to see.
13:13Yeah, that was one of the few situations that went the way they were supposed to.
13:16And I think now that we have, like, that big win, now that women have that big win,
13:20now it could become easier for them to join that community with less drama.
13:28Yes, exactly.
13:28Which is the goal.
13:29If there's no drama, we've officially made it.
13:31Yeah, honestly, I think one always feeds them to the other.
13:33Mm-hmm.
13:34Yeah, I totally agree.
13:36And the more women that can participate in esports without, like, getting doxxed and harassed, the better.
13:41So, that's going to be it for that very quick conversation.
13:45But we're going to have more coming up where we're going to be talking about the partner conferences for Collegiate League of Legends.
13:52So, if you're a league fan, here's a conversation you definitely don't want to miss.
13:56More coming from Checkpoint XP on Campus.
13:58So, stay tuned.
14:03Welcome back to Checkpoint XP on Campus.
14:06Your number one resource for Collegiate Esports.
14:09We're going to go right back into it and talk about the partner conferences for Collegiate League of Legends.
14:15And, Jacob, let us know what the deal is, my guy.
14:19Expanding the brain.
14:20Expanding the brain to a different game.
14:21Since, you know, Collegiate Overwatch Finals isn't happening right now.
14:24Interesting.
14:24So, which, by the way, I did ask Maryville what's up with that.
14:29And they said it hadn't happened yet with the sad face.
14:31So, that's an official response.
14:33But, yeah, so the conferences that have been confirmed for the Collegiate League of Legends is, it's a list.
14:37So, let me just, Big East Conference, Big Sky Conference, East Coast Conference, Eastern College Athletic Conference,
14:44Esports Collegiate Conference, Landmark Conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference,
14:49Midwest Esports Conference, Mountain West Conference, it's us, and Peach Belt Conference.
14:55So, out of those, I see Big East and I see Mountain West and I go, those are big-time conferences, man.
15:00But, what also got my attention is that we have things named the Esports Collegiate Conference.
15:06And, there's another Esports one in there.
15:08So, like, there's new conferences forming, which is only going to make it more complex.
15:13It will.
15:14Because now we have, we have Division I schools in here, we have Division III conferences in here.
15:20So, ultimately, that's what we want.
15:21We want all of these schools to be mixed together because divisions can't really define their Esports teams.
15:26And, I think that the fact we're getting Esports-specific ones are awesome.
15:30And, this is exactly what we said that we think would work best for college Esports is if they're in their conferences and they play each other.
15:37Exactly.
15:38Yeah, I agree.
15:39And, I also think if we're going to talk about any sort of conferencing and sort of a more traditional setup for Esports, I agree.
15:45I think you can't take, you know, a Mountain West and a Big Ten and a Big East and take those same schools and apply the same paradigm to them.
15:54Because, I mean, your Maryvilles and your Akrons and a lot of those smaller schools come in and bust up those conferences.
16:02You know, your Harrisburgs, non-conference teams, they'll come in and bust those up.
16:07So, I think the concept of new conferences really intrigues me.
16:11It really does intrigue me.
16:13But, that's going to be it for that very quick segment.
16:16We just wanted to update you guys.
16:17If you are in any of those conferences, let us know.
16:21We want to know what your experience is like of participating in sort of a more formatted, regimented Esports conference-style competition.
16:30So, we would love to hear from you.
16:31But, we're going to have more coming up on Checkpoint XP on campus where Jacob is going to share more of his fashion thoughts.
16:40But, before that, we are going to be talking about Ninja and another really stupid thing he said.
16:49So, stay tuned.
16:50Welcome back to Checkpoint XP on campus.
16:58Collegiate Esports extraordinaires coming live to you from all over the country.
17:04Right now, we're going to talk about something that's not necessarily in college.
17:08It's more of the TMZ-style news, if you will.
17:12Where the biggest streamer in the world, Ninja, has come under fire for some comments that he's had against the NFL kickers.
17:23And, here's the statement in full.
17:26I'll never understand how college and NFL football teams allow kickers that just miss kicks.
17:33I feel like there has to be pools of kickers in the USA that won't miss simple kicks.
17:37Or, snappers that won't mess up snaps.
17:39I don't know, man.
17:40It seems so silly.
17:42Would love opinions on this.
17:44Now, in response, a gentleman by the name of Ducky the Gamer.
17:49Let me not say gentleman.
17:50Gentle person.
17:51By the name of Ducky the Gamer says,
17:53I'll never understand how pro Fortnite players just miss shots.
17:57I feel like there has to be pools of pro players who can just click on their heads and hit every shot with 100% accuracy.
18:04Just seems so silly.
18:07Ninja response.
18:08And, here's where it gets crazy.
18:12This blank.
18:13This is the blank reply ever.
18:15Fortnite requires movement, editing, building, rotating, and hitting shots.
18:20There are not positions in Fortnite.
18:23A kicker's job is literally to kick.
18:26Horrible analogy.
18:27Kind of embarrassing.
18:30Thoughts?
18:31Well, I have a theory.
18:32What's your theory?
18:33So, Ninja is a Detroit Lions fan.
18:35And I know that because I am a Detroit Lions fan.
18:39I feel so bad for you guys.
18:41Yeah, you should.
18:42We appreciate it.
18:44The Lions only have a couple good things going for them.
18:47Actually, they have one thing right now, and that's their kicker.
18:50Lions do have one of the best kickers in the league.
18:52So, Ninja is not built for thinking about bad kickers because we don't deal with a bad kicker.
18:59It's our one blessing.
19:01But, you know, say this to someone like Chicago.
19:03Man, they'd probably kill a person for a good kicker at this point.
19:06So, I love that he kind of went for this just kick forehead approach.
19:12What do you think?
19:13So, reset the clock on stupid stuff that Ninja just said.
19:18And I'm just going to say this.
19:20Dude needs to learn to stay in his lane.
19:21Because, obviously, he's being defensive.
19:25He got called out in a really dumb take because, yeah, he kind of said to himself,
19:31they're two separate games, so why are you comparing the two?
19:33And, honestly, like, he also did, that's a follow-up.
19:37He did delete the tweet.
19:38So, obviously, I think he understands he was kind of in the wrong here.
19:42But, dude, relax.
19:44I love hot takes.
19:45You should keep it up, personally.
19:46No, I just think, for me, it does gamers no favors.
19:49It's already hard enough trying to explain esports to somebody who's a football fan
19:54or a basketball fan.
19:56And this doesn't do any favors to try to say that playing Fortnite is somehow just as,
20:02if not more difficult, than being an NFL kicker.
20:05It's absurd.
20:06It is just simply not an intelligent thing to say.
20:10And I am really sad that we've dedicated time to it on the show, but it happens.
20:15Anyway, we're going to have more.
20:18Where Jacob, the largest of brains, is going to return to the fashion corner
20:24and let us know how he feels about some esports jerseys.
20:28That is going to close out today's Checkpoint XP on Campus.
20:32Stick around.
20:33Welcome back to Checkpoint XP on Campus, your number one resource for collegiate esports.
20:44Don't forget to slide on over to CheckpointXP.com slash shop, where you can find all sorts of
20:50cool gear.
20:51And speaking of cool gear, we're going to take a look at some of college's hottest,
20:56and I mean hot, esports jerseys.
21:01And Jacob is going to take us to the fashion corner.
21:03So guys, take it away.
21:05Welcome back.
21:05Fashion needs to be...
21:06Daniel, darling.
21:07What?
21:08How would you walk out of the house like that?
21:10Would it kill a man to put some color on his clothes?
21:14We haven't started this segment yet, and I'm not part of it.
21:17So let's just...
21:18Let's please move on.
21:19How about you just get to the jerseys?
21:20You already dropped the ball.
21:22Okay.
21:23Not fetch.
21:24Okay.
21:25Let's start off...
21:26Let's start off with UC Irvine's jersey.
21:29Let's take a look.
21:31Hot.
21:32Okay.
21:32I'm a big fan.
21:33The purple, the blue, all go well together.
21:36I like the little Gamertag bar.
21:39Usually the different colored sleeves can be pretty ugly, but this one I think blends really
21:43well.
21:44Also, like letters on the side.
21:46This is one of those things to where it could be awkward, but it's not.
21:49So I'm a big fan.
21:52Okay.
21:52How about let's go with Maryville?
21:54Bland.
21:55Oh.
21:56Too much white.
21:57It's just...
21:57There's so much negative space, and I'm just not a fan.
22:00They have some weird lines on the side, but they're so bright you can hardly see them,
22:05and it just looks like some YouTube channel logo, personally.
22:10It kind of looks like body armor.
22:11Actually, yeah.
22:12It's body armor.
22:13So not as unique.
22:14Not as hot on it.
22:14All right.
22:15Next up, we have Rutgers.
22:18Rutgers.
22:18This one is not actively bad.
22:21It does a kind of wraparound thing.
22:23I think that's kind of cool.
22:24The logo on the top is fine.
22:27I do like the white on the chest.
22:28It does the two different sleeves.
22:30So I'd say...
22:30And you know what?
22:31The more I look at it, the less I hate it.
22:34It's like the middle design is pretty cool.
22:35I'd give it like, you know, probably like an A-.
22:37Oh, wow.
22:38Okay.
22:39Next up, Lackawanna College.
22:41What a sick jersey.
22:43This thing is metal.
22:45I am a big fan of this.
22:47Like, look at all the weird colors.
22:49They're all just kind of touching each other, and it has the mirrored sleeves, which I like.
22:52I like what it's looking like on the sides.
22:55And see, the negative space in the middle is only a little part.
22:59You want to have negative space that's controlled.
23:00You don't want to have negative space that's just a whole thing.
23:03So, big stan.
23:04And last, but certainly not least, we have the juggernaut of college esports, Harris Bergstorm.
23:10And this is hot.
23:12I like it.
23:13Their logo is really cool.
23:15I like how they have the little designs kind of juxtapositioning, juxtapositioning against each other.
23:23I like that.
23:24Also, I think the sleeves are really cool.
23:25I'm kind of obsessed with esport jersey sleeves.
23:28Really?
23:29Because they always do something weird with them.
23:31And this one's no exception.
23:33So, again, I think mirrored is better than two different ones.
23:36But I think this is a really strong logo to go with a really strong school.
23:40So, out of the five of these, which one was the best, which one was the worst?
23:43Worst is Maryville, for sure.
23:46Then, after that, I'd probably say...
23:49I like Irvine, Irvine Top, Harrisburg, Lack...
23:55Lack Juana?
23:55That one, and Rutgers, which are all good.
23:57Just Maryville is just not as fetch.
23:59You heard it, Maryville.
24:01Fix your jerseys.
24:04Jeez.
24:05You guys are ridiculous.
24:06Anyway, all the jerseys are amazing.
24:10Everyone's amazing.
24:12Jacob, well done again.
24:14And he's totally correct.
24:17Daniel, we do need you to wear some color next time.
24:20My mom bought me this shirt.
24:21Do a lot better.
24:23With that said, we want to thank all of you guys for joining us for Checkpoint XP on campus.
24:30We want to thank everybody at the UNLV studios, the wonderful production staff, as well as Daniel and Jacob there in the studio.
24:39Emily, who helps us out with all of the wonderful editing and all the cool graphics and stuff that makes it look all pretty.
24:47We also want to thank the Detroit staff that helps out here, Rick Hargerhyde and Chad Callahan and Joe Sloan.
24:54From everyone here in Detroit and Las Vegas, we hope, we would like to think, and we demand that you return for next week's Checkpoint XP on campus.
25:06Bye, everybody.
25:07Love you.
25:37Bye, everybody.
25:38Bye, everybody.
26:07Bye, everybody.
26:08Bye, everybody.
26:09Bye.
26:09Bye.
26:10Bye.
26:11Bye.
26:11Bye.
26:12Bye.