Esports: A new era of professional sports
By Jourdan Kerl Medill Newsmakers Professional video gaming, formally known as esports, is transforming ordinary people who play games into professional paid athletes through leagues like the NBA 2K League and Madden Championship Series. In this edition of Medill Newsmakers, we take an in-depth look at one of the fastest growing sports that is sweeping […]
Twitch gamers hope new community guidelines will combat online harassment
By Jourdan Kerl Medill Reports The live streaming video platform Twitch improved online security this March to protect professional and amateur streamers from harassment and hate speech that have plagued some users. Twitch, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, updated the Community Guidelines to reflect how important community of streamers is to the platform to combat the issues surrounding […]
A family affair: Four brothers launch Chicago’s newest gaming lounge
By Jourdan Kerl Medill Reports Carlos, Ricardo, Francisco and Ozzie Flores raced home after school as children to compete against one another in their favorite video games. Now adults, their love for gaming transformed into bigger dreams for the brothers from Puerto Rico. Four brothers. Three veterans. One vision: To establish a premier destination where […]
League of Legends Spring Split heats up with four weeks left until playoffs
By Jourdan Kerl Medill Reports Los Angeles – Cloud 9 outperformed Team SoloMid for a clean victory and nearly spotless record on Saturday evening to conclude the first half of Spring Split action in the North American League of Legends Championship Series. With the first half of the season behind them, Cloud 9 looked ahead […]
Interactive: NBA Twitter buzz during All-Star Weekend 2018
By Jourdan Kerl, Daniel Comer, Jonathan Skinner and Connor Yahn Medill Reports The NBA has placed an emphasis on Twitter involvement since the social media boom of the mid-to-late 2000s. The league – which has more than 27 million Twitter followers (three million more than the NFL) – is known as the paragon of social […]
Most memorable moments from the NBA Celebrity Game
By Jourdan Kerl and Brianna Williams Medill Reports LOS ANGELES – The 2018 NBA Celebrity Game pit some of the most recognizable names against one another for bragging rights and a possible MVP selection by fan vote. Late additions Justin Bieber and Quavo of the rap group Migos would play for Team Lakers and Team […]
Enjoying the 2018 NBA All-Star Weekend on a budget
By Jourdan Kerl Medill Reports The price of Sunday night’s NBA All-Star game tickets rose to an average of $1,900 per seat but it did not stop thousands of fans from traveling across the globe to see the league’s top talent, even if they would not be seated in Staples Center. Instead, they were in […]
Composing music for mummies
By Jourdan Kerl Medill Reports Each ancient portraits’ piercing gaze leaps from the shadows of the gray walls, lending an ambience of an abyss at the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University. The exhibit “Paint the Eyes Softer: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt.” features portraits painted to be placed over the faces of wrapped mummies. […]
Frosty Faustings’ 10th anniversary celebrates Chicago’s esports community
By Jourdan Kerl Medill Reports The first bell sounded, launching furious fighters into battle. “Round one. Fight!” Mission: to defeat the opponent, to climb through the brackets and win a new championship title in Chicago-area esports.
