Esports and Higher Education

So I make no secret that I am a professional in higher education. I try to separate out that part of my life from my blog and twitter, which is normally filled with esports, video games, pics of my baby, etc...

Recent events lead me to see if there was any research on esports and higher education. Surprisingly, there was not as much as I thought there would be. Obviously, the news articles and "experts" flooded the general search, but actual published, researched articles were not as numerous as I had maybe hoped. Most of what I saw related to the sports side of things; considering it a sport, which I believe it is, and how it can benefit intercollegiate sports within higher education.

Part of me now wishes I had waited to do my master's degree so I can write another paper or two about this.

Because while inserting a new sport or program of any kind is a great idea, making it thrive as a part of the university's culture is another. I'm not talking about the student side, which is still important, I'm talking about the nitty-gritty hierarchy, unwritten-rule politics that happens on the back-end.

In esports, as a profession, the political climate is way different than that of a higher education institution. I have seen this first-hand in helping BreakyCPK with his dealings, contracts, negotiations. I have said several times in several different scenarios that things would be handled differently if this was happening in a university setting. Good and bad.

Most publicly funded universities have a set of rules, regulations, processes, oversight etc... that esports just does not have. You have to be so very careful about what goes on during events and online for liability reasons. If anyone affiliated with a university said or did some of the controversial things I have seen professional esports players and streamers do, it would be an absolute nightmare for the university. Even Breaky, I find myself scolding him for things he says in certain ways, worried about potential fallout or repercussion. To which he normally replies, that's just how it is in esports.

Many well-intentioned higher education professionals jump right in to esports, with their eye on keeping up with what students want (recruitment and retention) and making a profit. They will hire either sports professionals who know a little about esports, or hire esports professionals or streamers who know little to nothing about higher education.

The former leads to an abundantly common misspelling of "esports" as "eSports" Ironically, it is the AP Style Guide, a leader in higher education writing standards that settled that argument a year ago:

AP style is esports for competitive multiplayer video gaming. Use alternate forms like eSports or e-sports only if part of a formal name.

— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) April 5, 2017

Many articles I dug up that were positive in nature talked about diversity of students as a result of introducing esports as a sports program. That, plus revenue generation, number boosting and overall increase of morale sets the tone that esports within higher education is a smart move.

Overall, my opinion is, that a well managed esports program at a higher education institution is a fantastic idea. With the proper amount of care, it can be a huge boon to the university. Like a very good football team, it can put the college or university on the map.

Sorry for rambling. I have all these thoughts that I have to stick somewhere. I have a unique insight to both worlds, and to see it become a possibility to merge the two is absolutely fascinating to me at the "data-loving-research geek" level.

Row the Boat

Many of you may not have heard, either because you do not live in this country, or ESPN and many sports commentators still will not recognize it, but my alma mater Western Michigan University has had a wonderfully successful football season. We went 13-0 in the season, won the MAC and are going to the Cotton Bowl.


I have been a fan of WMU since I was little, as my father went there, then went to tons of games when I went there as a student. Remained a fan even when our team went 1-11 for a season.

The big deal these past few years has been the mantra "Row the Boat" coined by our head coach, PJ Fleck. Here is what he means by row the boat. Many of us (yes us, as I was a little skeptical) made fun of the mantra years ago. Now, you bet your bottom-dollar that I am rowing that boat like a mad woman at a Billy Talent concert. May even buy the tee-shirt.

Wanted to highlight some of the great times had watching football. Also wanted to celebrate the fact that I have made Breaky a fan of WMU Football, despite him being from way over in California and being more of a NFL fan instead of a college football fan.

Go Broncos! And Row the Boat!

This is from... what, 2005? Sophomore year I am pretty sure

2006 home game

Western vs Central Game 2007

2007 Homecoming game

2007 Homecoming

My Dad, my sister and me at a game this year

A big group of us at a home game to celebrate Breaky's birthday! 

Greg Jennings, who played for WMU while I was there. Went on to be in the NFL for a while before retiring. Came back to participate in ESPN's College Game Day at WMU

Breaky and Duchess at ESPN College Game Day 2016 

btw-it was as cold as it looks

We Were Louder Than the DJ

So, buried in my little blog a month ago was a blurb about how Breaky and I were going to go to a Billy Talent concert in little ol' Kalamazoo and how much their music means to me.

Well, it happened, ladies and gents. Billy Talent came to Kalamazoo, or "Kzoo" if you will.

It was AMAZING.

Got to see my roommate from my freshman year of college. Hadn't seen her in 9 years. 9. Years. We picked up where we left off, and it was like neither of us had aged a day. (I'm 30 years old, so this is a big deal, ok?)

The venue is not the largest venue in the surrounding Kalamazoo area. Which made it all the more amazing. To tell you how chill everything was, I have to tell a little story.

So, we are standing in line to get in. Perhaps a little early? Maybe. We were in the front-ish of the line, and chit-chatting, taking selfies, Breaky watching football on his phone every 5 minutes or so, Jessy and I reminiscing about live in our little dorm room freshman year. An individual in the parking lot caught my eye, and my heart skipped a beat. The lead singer, Ben Kowalewicz (I had to look up how to spell his last name and still had to fix it three times...) was just strolling in the parking lot. Jessy turned around, caught his eye, and in a sort of out-of-body experience, just waved to him. She said later it was the only thing she could think of. He waved back, smiled and said "hey guys" because by that point, everyone else in our group waved back.Super chill. Casual. Like it was no big deal. It was a pretty big deal to us, especially Jessy, who has been a fan for like, 15 years.

As I mentioned before, the venue was relatively small, but it was also outside. It was an absolutely gorgeous night.

Picture of one of the opening bands! 

They had two opening bands, both of whom were pretty good. We chilled in a few seats by the merch table with a few drinks. By the time Billy Talent came on, we were still able to get relatively close to the stage, but not too close to get engulfed in the mini-mosh pit that formed for a few seconds during a few songs.

The band played some songs from their new album, which I love by the way, check it out if you haven't, specifically (that I can remember): "Afraid of Heights", "Louder than the DJ"and  "Ghost Ship of Cannibal Rats." I have to admit, when Ben started talking about a particular "ship" I think I was the only one who lost their minds, because honestly I really like that song... so I started screaming, only to realize it was pretty darn quiet...

But on top of the new stuff, they did a really good job of hyping the crowd with some older favorites. They did a great job of engaging the crowd, I think. Or maybe I was the only one bouncing around like an idiot, screaming at the top of my lungs with my fist in the air for the entire set. Hell, either way, I had a good time. Breaky may be considering a trail separation just to get some distance between him and this crazy lady who almost hit a few people with her clutch purse during a Billy Talent concert, but I had fun. That's what matters. That's also what is nice about getting older. You care less and less about what other people think of you and you do you. Me? I rocked my little heart out.

The set ended, and we noticed the band went in to the back, where the entrance to Wild Bull was. Hoping they may do some autograph signing, we stuck around for like, 2 minutes, checked Will Bull just for fun, then Jessy and her friend (who is also a Jessica!) had to get back to the east side of the state, and Breaky and I needed to get home to DogCPK, because we had left for a late lunch/early dinner around 3.

So while I had purchased a few things in the off-chance I may get an autograph, we were unsuccessful in obtaining any. But if that meant that the band got to enjoy more of Kalamazoo, I'm pretty cool with it.

My ears have resumed natural function, and I still have a voice. I'd say an overall success. Thank you to Billy Talent for visiting Kalamazoo and putting on a great show.

When Music is More Than Just Noise

As some of you may know, if you are local to our area, that the band Billy Talent is heading to Michigan. Normally, when I tell people about Billy Talent, they either have no idea who I am talking about, or they get really excited and start talking about how much they love that band. Or they are Canadian and know of the band, cause you know, Canada. However, this band changed my life. Extreme? Not if you know the whole story.

When I was growing up, my father was a choir teacher. The house was constantly flooded with music from musicals ranging from The Music Man, to Phantom of the Opera, to Les Miserables. My mother was a huge fan of John Denver and similar oldies. Mind you, I still will rock out to the Broadway classics, and enjoy Harry Chapin, but back then, I had little exposure to "punk rock" or "rock music"

I went to college and did the whole "answer a couple questions and get matched with your roommate" thing, which really was similar to online dating but instead of a romantic connection, you had to live with this person for 8 months. I was matched with my roommate, Jessy who was a huge punk rock fan. She was a tough, fun, entertaining, vivacious person, and I am so glad I was matched with her, despite obviously glaring differences. Believe it or not, back then, I was a little more shy and introverted. I listened to Broadway. I didn't break the rules. I studied very hard when I wasn't chatting on AIM to my high school friends.

Jessy's music taste was known to the hallway, as our door was often left open for the potential of social interaction. The more I listened, the more I found I actually really enjoyed her music. The lyrics were fantastic and meaningful and I found I really liked singing along with this music. She said the band she was listening to was "Billy Talent." I was entertained by my roommate's invention of the "one-man mosh pit" which involved her jumping around the room and into the hallway. Her favorite song of theirs during that time was (and still is) Prisoners of Today




My interest in that kind of music, specifically Billy Talent, helped me connect with my then boyfriend, who helped me download music on to my laptop, which was a new thing back then. He was an avid gamer, and while that year I didn't participate, it was my first introduction in to the world of video games and those who played. Despite an interesting/tricky breakup, the two of us talked things out and realized it was best if we still remained friends, due to how well we got along. His friends and my friends combined to form what would be my core group of friends in college. Many gamers, nerds, geeks, and overall wonderful people. Many of us dated each other, and some ended up married.

College ended, people moved away. Jobs, relationships, marriages, children etc... moved some people away farther than I would have liked (and not just measured in miles) but many stayed close. I kept a lot of the Billy Talent CDs and would listen when I got nostalgic. Sometimes they ended up being a part of a mixed CD for my car, which still only has a CD player.

Billy Talent III came out, and by that time, I wasn't actively following their new music. I cannot remember which happened first, but by the time I downloaded the album Billy Talent III, a close friend from high school died tragically in a motorcycle accident. It just so happened that one of the songs on Billy Talent III really spoke to me and helped me cope with the loss of Tom. "White Sparrows" talked about loss, but wasn't a slow dramatic song. Singing at the top of my lungs to this song on the way to funeral was the only way I made it home in one piece.




It was only a few months after this did I meet Breaky.

My online dating profile had Billy Talent listed, as well as my, mild at the time, interest in video games and things of a geeky nature, and I was matched with Breaky. It was, maybe like the third or fourth date, and we were in my car. I had either a mixed CD or Billy Talent III playing, and Breaky's face lit up.

"That's Billy Talent! You like Billy Talent? I love them, I haven't heard them in years. I grew up listening to them!". I knew then I was going to marry that man. He just didn't know it then.

I, of course, went in to my stories of my roommate and college, and how special Billy Talent was to me, and how it was probably in my top 5 bands of all time.


A month or so later, Billy Talent's fourth album: Dead Silence came out. It was something Breaky and I bonded over. One of our first Facebook interactions was me sharing the new Viking Death March video to his Facebook page:





In later 2012, I also lost my grandmother.  A few years later, Breaky lost his grandfather, and a HoN player he knew. We have known loss and we have coped.

Billy Talent came out with a greatest hits album, and with it, two new songs: Kingdom of Zod, which is a very awesome song,  and Chasing the Sun. The story behind Chasing the Sun was that the band had lost someone very close to them, and a song with a very different sound was produced.

I listened to it, and burst in to tears. It was like they were talking about my losses, specifically about Tom, my friend whom I had lost about 2 years previously.







It didn't really seem to resonate with other fans of Billy Talent, but it is definitely one of my favorite songs of all time.



Breaky and I got married in 2015 and our music selections for both the ceremony and the reception were... uniquely us.

The wonderful people at Overneath did an absolutely fabulous job. We had an instrumental  arrangement of the Halo theme song for our Bridal Party, and an instrumental arrangement of "Never Stop" by Safety Suit for my processional. For our recessional, they did a fabulous instrumental arrangement of "Stand Up and Run" by, you guessed it, Billy Talent.






Our wedding also included us heading in to the reception to "Space Jam" and Breaky insisting they played "Darude-Sandstorm" at some point in the night.


When I found out that Billy Talent was coming, not only to the Michigan area, but to where we lived, the first person I told was Breaky. The second person I told was Jessy. It also sounds like a few others who are fans are interested in going.

It has been more than 10 years, and I have remained a Billy Talent fan. It holds a special place in my heart. That band helped me connect with my roommate, then my husband, and helped me cope with loss and then turned around and helped me celebrate my wedding day.

When someone tells you music is just noise, send them to this blog post. Billy Talent changed my life.