A Few Words On The Jacksonville Madden Tournament Tragedy
Jacksonville – Multiple people, including a suspected gunman, were killed in a mass shooting during a video game tournament at a Jacksonville, Fla., restaurant, according to witnesses and police. The shooting was partially captured on a livestream of the “Madden NFL” gaming tournament at the Jacksonville Landing, a downtown marketplace. In video captured from the livestreaming network Twitch and posted on social media, shots can be heard as footage of a kickoff return is replaced by the message “controller disconnected.” Sources told News4Jax, a Jacksonville broadcast station, that at least four people had been fatally shot, with more wounded.
I am aware Chaps blogged this earlier and it’s all over the news, but as the host of Barstool Gametime who has relationships with people unfortunately at this horrific scene, I just wanted to say a few things. I’m not posting the clip that’s gone viral of the shooting. I couldn’t get through it the first time I tried to watch it, and I am still shook over the little bit I heard and saw. This is a tragedy. There’s no way around that. This is a damn tragedy. And the fact it happened during a live streaming session shakes me to the core. It’s some of the scariest, saddest, and most surreal stuff I’ve ever encountered.
The one constant reality I’ve discovered since delving into the professional gaming community is the fact that everything is based on positivity. Ninja is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Every Madden, FIFA, or sports gaming pro we’ve had the opportunity to play with are beyond down to Earth. The people behind the scenes at Rockstar – Gems. Every one of them. Heck, I remember witnessing thousands of live spectators go BATSHIT at the Rainbow Six tournament in Atlantic City and recall thinking “These people have gotta be hammered or have a lot of action on the line.” Nope. No alcohol or gambling needed, just good clean ol’ fashion fun. And every single person we met there was just delightful. It’s a community with so much genuine kindness engrained into it I almost don’t know how it’s possible in such a competitive atmosphere. I guess when you’re lucky enough to be involved with video games for a living, you’re just naturally happy.
Nobody deserves what happened today. It was a random, bullshit act of violence. And it hits close to our Barstool home. Just two weeks ago former Madden World Champ Delco Dubby was in the office to hop on the sticks vs. myself, Clem, and Young Mantis:
Today, Dubby was lucky to escape with his life. Absolutely surreal, sad stuff.
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Glad to see Dubby’s going to be OK. He’s obviously one of the lucky ones. Right now, I see there’s a GoFundMe for two of the fallen players (link here), but we are going to up our charitable forces just as soon as we decide the best way to raise the most funds. We’ve got a t-shirt in the works where all proceeds will go to the cause as well as a possible stream with Madden pro’s where donations can be made. We’ll figure it out, and be sure to keep the victims, their families, and the Madden/gaming community as a whole in your thoughts.
PS – I’m getting hit up about not streaming tonight and how we should stay the course this evening and get donations for the cause. We are definitely going to do something, but tonight is not the right way to do it. Trust me, I want to personally do all I can to help, but me playing Fortnite and yelling “Chesticles!” at the TV while drinking out of a measuring cup could be taken as a tad bit insensitive. We’ll be back, just not tonight.