Wait, What’s ‘Street Fighter V’ Doing on ESPN Again?

  I’ve bitched about this before, and I’ll bitch about it again: the whole esports thing doesn’t sit well with me. Among the mainstream, the idea of a ‘professional’ gamer is a bit of a joke, and you can see why really. These guys never got past the whole antisocial-fatass-eating-cheetos-in-ma-and-pa’s-basement clichéd image of the gamer.  

All that said, it’s even harder to see gamers as legitimate athletes. Even for me, and I love gaming as much as the next guy. Or a whole goddamn lot more, depending on who said guy happens to be. Still, it’s 2016, grandpa, and the times they are a-changin’.

Esports is becoming a bigger and bigger deal, as its following and the coverage of events grows. Take EVO 2016, for instance. This annual fighting game extravaganza sees players battle it out in everything from Street Fighter to Smash Bros, and Street Fighter V is in a pretty special position this year. It’s being broadcast on ESPN.

ESPN 2, sure. It’s hardly a big ticket item. But still, this is arguably the most iconic fighter in gaming, and here it is being shown on a sports channel. A sportsy sports channel for actual sport-tastic sportly sports like basketball and football.

Not the whole EVO event, you understand, just the finals of the Street Fighter V World Championship, which airs July 17. Even so, this is a big moment. One giant leap for nerdkind.

Via Destructoid.