eports/eleague/csgo
So, I stumbled onto TBS's coverage of eleague. It's competitive CS:GO (Counter-strike: Global Offensive).
I remember playing Counter-strike as a freshman in the dorms in the fall of 2004. That's about all I did in this game was about 3 months with my friends. However, I've been watching this on TBS much in the same way the country watches the Kardashians... as a guilty pleasure.
These guys are freakishly good. The top prize is $1.4 million. Each week (this is week 5 I think) there are group finals worth $50K. So these guys are earning $10K each if they win.
The matches take a long time... if you want to watch it once, all the way through, watch the Week 3 finals. If you just want to watch for a half hour or so, watch the second map of the week 3 Finals. These guys are damn good at counter-strike, and that match (watched it yesterday) had a lot of suspense.
On the other side, if you don't want to watch it all, but want to watch more... you can skip the week 2 Finals. *yawn* Week 1 was good too. I'll be watching weeks 4 and 5 to let you know my thoughts if anyone cares.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Counter-Strike 1.6 was a game I played to an almost religious extent back in the country I came from. A horde of us would stroll into one of the internet cafes and basically just make the owner rich purely off of access to Counter-Strike. Good times.
Thanks for the heads-up Cheese. I'll check 'em out. 
Don't bother watching the week 5 finals either... 
Watch week 3, and week 1.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Just another update if anyone cares.
Week 6 was an upset (apparently), but not an interesting one.
This week is a bye, I'm pretty sure.
the top 6 seeds in the final 8 team bracket are set... it looks like teams 7 and 8 will come out of an 8 team consolation bracket that consists of the 6 2nd place finishers and the top two 3rd place group finishers. It's an interesting format. But i guess you have to be creative with only 24 pro teams in the tournament.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus