The CGS is slowing progressing, and before we get into the excitement of things like the combine and the Playboy Mansion, we have to go through some no-so-exciting announcements. The list of cities and General Managers is one of them, although there were a couple curious choices.
I think we all agree Jason Lake (compLexity), Mark Dolven (Pandemic), and Alex Conroy (Jax Money Crew) were shoo-ins for three of the General Manager spots. When you build a team from the ground up into one of the biggest names in American eSports, you’re in pretty select company. Not choosing them would be a “demand a recount” offense.
After those three guys, everybody else is pretty much in a pack. I’m a little surprised Alex Garfield wasn’t chosen as a GM, since Evil Geniuses has been a stable name in eSports for years. But at the same time, Brian Flander was a fine choice. He’s a gamer, and he’s been managing a Quake 4 team for a while, so he’s well qualified for the job. And he’s really patient with his dumb neighbor, Homer Simpson, although maybe I’m thinking of somebody else.
If you’re like me, you know next to nothing about Kat Hunter. First, she’s quite obviously a girl, and I think that means eSports now has more female GMs than MLB, the NFL, and the NBA combined. (Suck it, professional sports!) The other thing that struck me about her description in the CGS press release was the phrase “pro gaming evangelist”. I never thought I’d see those three words together, and quite frankly the mental images are a little overwhelming. Preaching about the divinity of fRoD’s AWP, converting to compLexianity, and Four Kings instead of three kings all have potential for two things: a good joke and lightning bolt from the heavens. Since I like my skin pasty, and not fried, let’s move on.
The only question I had about the GMs was Dave “moto” Geffon. I’m NOT questioning his credentials, I think he’ll do a great job as a GM, but why not Craig “Torbull” Levine? He’s been leading 3D for around five years, and he announced that he was stepping down from 3D about an hour after moto was announced as the GM for the New York franchise. From the news post it seems like Torbull is going to be busy with other projects in eSports, so maybe he just didn’t have the time? Whatever the reason, it just seemed strange after working so hard to get competitive gaming into the realm of professional sports that he’d quit just as it was about to happen. (Although, I’m sure if I was in his shoes it wouldn’t see quite so out of the blue.) Good luck to both guys in their new roles, I don’t think either one should have trouble succeeding in their endeavors.
Overall, you can’t really find a fault with the choices the CGS made, and I’m excited to see who turns into Jerry West or Isiah Thomas. Or maybe, if we’re really lucky, Isiah will take over a team and we’ll get to see firsthand the horrendously overpriced contracts, the disillusionment of a whole fan base, and (somehow) excellent draft picks. The possibilities are endless!
The cities were pretty much like the General Mangers: good except for one curious (not necessarily bad) choice. New York? Check. LA? ... (sorry, the answer got stuck in traffic) … check. Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco? No doubt. Charlotte? Can't have a professional league without Charlotte in it.
Wait a minute, Charlotte?! Where did that come from? We went from the four biggest metropolitan populations, San Francisco (twelfth), all the way down to Charlotte at thirty-sixth. Charlotte over Denver, Detroit, Philadelphia, Houston, Miami, or Boston? Heck, even Orlando, Kansas City, and Columbus feel slighted! Alright, Columbus probably doesn’t care either way, but you get the point. I’m sure there were other considerations besides population, I’m just wondering what the heck they were. Maybe there’s a high concentration of colleges in that area. Or maybe there’s a high concentration of LAN Centers and Pizza Huts. I really have no idea. I suppose there isn’t much competition: the only relevant sports team is the Carolina Panthers. (Apologies to Bobcats fans, but let’s face it, they’re still on a rebuilding plan.)
Other than the chance of being more prominent in the local scene, I don’t really see much that Charlotte would have over, say, Atlanta. Again, I don’t think it’s a bad choice, per se, because Green Bay and Kansas City, two smaller markets, have supported professional sports teams for years. And then there plenty of examples of teams in bigger markets that don’t draw as well (Arizona Cardinals, Tampa Bay Devil Rays to name two), so clearly population isn’t the only factor in whether an organization is successful. But still, when you compare Charlotte to the other five cities they chose, it seems a few million people out of place.
Of course, if they really wanted to be daring, they could have put a franchise in Las Vegas. The over/under on matches played while hungover for that franchise would have been half, and I might have taken the over. In any event, the start of the combine is only about two weeks away, and once all these small issues get taken care of, we’ll finally be able to see a professional eSports league. I can’t wait to see who steps up their practice time to try and make a run at compLexity. And nobody can beat Jason Lake’s crew, well … compLexianity might not be a bad option after all.
