Team SoloMid

(http://dreamwright.com/allthingspvp.com/features/quotes-from-the-best/35-tsm-team-solo-mid-and-any-random-fanboy ())

The team gets ready, they have a strategy planned out, and everyone has their position that they go to, waiting for the play to be called. They have trained long hours over the past few months for this moment. They all live together, and have a tight schedule that includes healthy meals, team building, and curfews intended to keep the team focused and in shape. All of this is organized by their coach, who looks on proudly as his team's moment to shine draws near. The casters begin to shout, describing the action as the team begins to execute their play. The roaring crowd oohs and aahs as the players fall into place perfectly, and their fans chant their names as they finish the game ahead of their opponents and take home the victory. What is described here sounds like, to most people, a professional sporting event, and they would be right. However, this is not soccer, basketball, or football, this is a different type of sport all together: an e-sport. For those of you who don't know, which let's not kid ourselves, is most of you, e-sports stands for electronic sports, in other words: professional gaming. In this case specifically referring to professional League of Legends, which is a PC game developed by Riot Games. Within the pro League of Legends (or LoL as its called) scene teams compete for prize money at various events with prize pools sometimes, as high as 50k or more, sign with sponsors whose logos are placed onto their team uniforms and websites, and amass huge fanbases that regularly watch streams of their favorite players playing and watch videos they release online, all of these things allow pro teams to play the game full time, just like any other athlete. Unfortunately not everyone treats e-sports seriously, as with everything that isn't a part of the majority's culture. Many people feel disenfranchised about becoming pro gamers, as it opens them to ridicule and scorn from the general population. Many gamers, because of this, look up to top teams like Team SoloMid, made up of members Andy 'Reginald' Dinh, Shan 'Chaox' Huang, Brian 'TheOddOne' Wyllie, Alex 'Xpecial' Chu, and Marcus 'Dyrus' Hill, who, in keeping with a long standing gaming tradition dating back to when people used to hide their identities online, generally go by their gamertags similar to a stage name used by actors/actresses or a nom de plume used by writers. Top teams, especially the older teams like Team SoloMid, or TSM, are regarded as heroes by the community because of their ability to overcome the stigma of being a pro gamer enough to make it their profession, their remarkable skill at the game, and their passion for the game that allows them to take up huge practice regimens and stay strong and committed even in defeat.

A screenshot of a LoL match (http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/03/11/josh-and-lucas-test-league-of-legends-new-co-op-vs-ai-mode/ ())

TSM shows dedication in their play even in the face of adversity, being one of the pioneer teams in professional LoL. As they were one of the first teams to 'go pro', TSM has influenced much of the culture and slang used by the 32.5 million people who play this game (Ryze). For instance: they established quite a lot of competitive slang and terms, such as 'meta', 'snowball', and 'stall comp' (NumeroCrunch). Those terms might not mean that much to people who don't play, but to high-level players those terms are used as often in discussions about the game as terms like 'goalie', 'quarterback', or 'homerun' are for other sports. These amazing players came on to the scene and helped paint it with their own colors and phrasing, defining the vocabulary for an entire segment of the world's population. However, everything new always has the difficulty of dealing with people who don't understand it, and therefore don't understand it. An example would be Elsa, a writer for a website called Destructoid, who said this: "I don't know that masses of people would be willing to pay hundreds of dollars to go see a gaming event -- it simply lacks that physical sense of danger. Lots of people will watch if the viewing is free but really, honestly, would they pay money to attend?" (Elsa). The author here makes a common mistake that to fans, games are only enjoyable to play, not watch. This is the equivalent to making the argument that it's pointless to go pay to see a Chargers game when you can just toss around the ball outside of your house. In regards to 'that physical sense of danger' I would like to point out that many sports, such as golf, tennis or volleyball don't really get their draw from any physical danger, more deriving challenge from strategy and competition between players. Tournaments also regularly do have expensive ticket sales, especially for VIP seating. In fact, during tournaments such as the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship in Hannover, Germany, thousands of people paid to attend, so many in fact that they had to start turning people away due to overcrowding (IntelEM World Championships). Despite the uninformed opinions of the majority of America, Team SoloMid chose to enter into the professional LoL scene, forever changing it with their own personal touches as the game was just starting out.

Dyrus, Reginald, TheOddOne, and Xpecial (http://competitive.euw.leagueoflegends.com/article/ipl-4-recap-tournament-rocks-sin-city )

One of TSM's greatest virtues is their amazing skill as players, as they have consistently been one of the top teams in the world. They have a lot of competition though, as there are quite a few challenging pro teams in North America and Europe. Team SoloMid is generally recognized as one of the top teams in America, competing with their rivals Curse Gaming, Counter-Logic Gaming, Dignitas, MonoMatic E-Sports, EpiK, V8 E-sports, and a slew of strong European teams like the French team Against All Authority (Teams of IPL4). These teams, just like in any other sports league, are all in a race to be the best, get the most fans, and above all: win. Many of these teams have been competing with each other for a long time; oftentimes players are even dropped and traded from one team to another. Rivalries get fierce, and its very hard for teams to survive with their roster mostly intact like TSM has. Considering they've managed to do so for this long, they obviously do have skill. "We know they have the talent, and from every moment of their 20-something hour streaming sessions we see they have the skill. Their skrims may look a little lackluster, but the bros with the team house easily pull it all together on the big stage," said OptimusTom, a caster and writer for ggChronicle, a sort of online newspaper focusing on the competitive LoL scene (MonteCristo). Casters like OptimusTom have the job of commentating matches live over a stream or to a live audience, oftentimes both, thus making it vital for them to know the strengths and weaknesses of each team and player in order to effectively commentate on each team. Like any sports hero, TSM wins the hearts of their fans by showing off their skills and prowess within their sport, and to an athlete nothing is simpler or more important.  Despite the competition from all over the world, Team SoloMid have become stars through their talent and skillful play, but even stars on the field have to lose sometimes.

The crowd at IPL4 in Las Vegas (http://competitive.na.leagueoflegends.com/article/new-challenger-circuit-standings-following-ipl-4 ())

After their loss at the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship in Hanover, Germany, they showed their passion for their sport by, instead of giving up, working even harder to improve their play in order to compete in the next big tournament of the season: IPL4 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The loss prompted them to, instead of giving up, keep moving forward by picking up Dyrus as a new teammate and hiring Reginald's brother Jonas Dinh as a coach. Jonas made a lot of changes that helped hold the team together, get the players on the same schedule in order to practice as a unit more efficiently, and make sure the team was eating healthier meals in order to keep their minds alert and focused (Jonas Dinh). TSM was not willing to give up their passion after one bad loss, and instead focused on improving what they were struggling in. They brought in outside help, which many people in their position would be too proud to do, and actively changed their habits in order to become stronger players, not only for themselves but also for their fans who they knew were rooting for them. In the end all their hard work paid off: on April 8th, 2012 Team SoloMid won 1st place at IPL4 after only losing three games out of eleven, beating teams like EpiK, Curse, Dignitas, and CLG and taking home $25,000 for their troubles (IPL4). TSM's perseverance, faith in their team, and passion for their game brought them out of a slump in order to win a tournament they were only 4th seed in (Teams of IPL4). Everyone in the crowd was chanting the name "TSM!" "TSM!" "TSM!", they were witnessing a rebirth of their favorite team right before their eyes. TSM refused to give in after a bad tournament and give up their passion, instead they just grew more intensely focused on winning the next tournament, even if it meant admitting their flaws and dealing with them.

Me (left) with Dyrus (right) at IPL4

To gamers, TSM are like Babe Ruth, or Michael Jordan, or Michael Phelps, they're heroes to us because they're very, very good, but also because they were able to overcome the challenges they encountered along the road. Things like the generally uninformed majority of the population, overcoming the difficulties of pioneering a new sport, and maintaining their passion despite setbacks and defeats so they could rise up and win the next round. They faced all these challenges head on and did not care what stood in their way. They did something that many people couldn't do when they took a look at their own faults and dealt with them instead of ignoring them and repeating the same mistakes. But what inspires me most is that they gave me hope. They gave me hope that some day the sports I love will be more recognized and accepted for what they really are. They gave me hope that someday, if I work hard enough, I can have as good of skills as they do. They gave me hope that in anything, not just in games, if I just have passion and am willing to judge myself honestly for how I can improve I can come back and win even after I just lost. Sure some kids might learn those same things from Babe Ruth, or Michael Jordan, or Michael Phelps, but just because the sport I enjoy isn't in the news, or the Olympics, or on ESPN, doesn't mean the lessons these heroes teach are any less impactful. Are TSM on a trading card? Do TSM have their own brand? Has TSM won any gold medals? No, no, and no, but I still wear my TSM 'jersey' all the time, I still go and look up what time I can sit down and watch their games, and I still look to them to teach me to have dreams, and to go for those dreams, to set my goals. I mentioned above the crowd at IPL4 chanting "TSM" to celebrate their victory, well I was in that crowd, and to me that crowd had all the energy of a stadium at a football game, and it was one of the best moments of my life. If they can give me a moment like that why shouldn't they be my heroes? So keep your soccer, keep your basketball, and keep your football. I have my heroes right here in my different type of sport, and who are you to say that I'm wrong.