Traditional sports in America are part of many people’s lives. From fandom to playing, sports provide an outlet for entertainment year-round. But from March through June, people all over the world had to find a different hobby to sink their teeth into. For many, that hobby became video games. 

Video games provide people with an outlet to be social and channel their inner competitor. The popular video game streaming service, Twitch, clearly capitalized on the loss of sports as the site logged over 3.1 billion hours of watch time in the first quarter of 2020. 

Companies like Barstool Sports also started having regular content producers stream themselves playing games. After seeing the growth of Twitch, Barstool Sports decided to enter into the competitive side of the video game realm. 

In early October, Barstool Sports announced its first-ever gaming tournament: The Barstool College Gaming Championship. This NCAA tournament-Esque competition features teams, each made up of three students, from 64 different universities across America. The students are playing the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone, a battle royale-style shooter game where teams fight to be the last alive. 

The First Ever International Barstool College Warzone Tournament is FINALLY here! 64 schools, 8 weeks, 1 National Champion. Follow along with the action starting tonight, 7-10EST on https://t.co/XdZl9gvk97 @StoolGametime @SmittyBarstool @stoolhooliganz pic.twitter.com/9dr9H7RHbw

— 5th Year (@5thYear) October 28, 2020

This game has a player count of over 75 million and is a mainstay on the top of the Twitch categories. John Carroll University was given the opportunity to participate in this tournament, which features state schools with 10 times the enrollment of JCU.

Being represented by seniors Jack Siebert and myself and junior Jared Staph, this underdog JCU team came out to play in the first week of the competition. The tournament runs every Wednesday from 7-10 p.m. until Dec. 21. The teams have three hours to play as many games as needed, but only their three highest-scoring games count towards their position on the leaderboards. The scoring system works as follows:

Each Kill = 1 Point 

Top 20 = 1 Point 

Top 15 = 2 Points 

Top 10 = 4 Points 

Top 7 = 7 Points 

Top 4 = 10 Points 

Top 3 = 15 Points 

Top 2 = 20 Points 

Victory = 25 Points

The round of 64 kicked off, and the Blue Streak team was quickly able to shoot up the leaderboards. The JCU competitors played with an aggressive mentality that saw them rack up 72 kills and 39 placement points, including one first-place finish. 

JOHN CARROLL COMING AT YOU WITH THE 26 KILL DUB TO CEMENT OUR PLACE IN THE TOO 32🔥🔥🔥@StoolGametime @stoolhooliganz @SmittyBarstool @MRagsTV pic.twitter.com/R4B89CRfFd

— Barstool JCU (@BarstoolJCU) October 29, 2020

This aggressive playstyle ultimately hurt the team, as the Blue Streaks finished with 111 points, which slotted them in No. 22 out of 64. If the team had only played a little more passively, they could have easily obtained five more points, which would have placed them at 16th. 

The JCU representatives are looking to improve themselves and really make some national noise for John Carroll. When asked how the team is looking to improve itself for the next round, Siebert said: “by staying confident and keeping our eyes on the prize” — the prize being victory in each game and the tournament.   

The tournament resumed Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. The Blue Streaks can be watched at Twitch.tv/BarstoolJCU, and the tournament overview can be found at Twitch.tv/BarstoolSports.