I now spend part of every Saturday and Sunday at my son’s place watching Rocket League, when a tournament is being played, with him. And he, being the sneaky sneak he is, surreptiously films me when he thinks he has a good clip.Yesterday we watched Guild, European based, one of my favorite teams, because of a sublime sharpshooter nicknamed “Noly”, play BDS in the semi-finals of a tournament. My adopted son Noly scored the critical, maybe winning, I don’t recollect, goal, and my birth son was filming my reaction and then posted on Reddit. First, Guild’s coach, then Noly himself posted their appreciations.

I was especially touched because Guild lost this series and it crushed Noly, who I saw on inset with head buried in hands at conclusion.

Rocket League is played almost exclusively, even at this elite professional level, by milennials. The sport itself is a milennial, so the whole thing is very young, very new, and very innocent. Parents tend to give these young gamers and their games a know-it-all, dismissive sneer, and when an old Boomer like me intensely appreciates the game it means something to the kids and to the sport. 

Rocket League is the greatest esport ever devised. The brand is not a team, the brand is the sport. When Rocket League is played unintelligently and unimaginatively, even by these professionals, as it was in two quarterfinal final series we watched yesterday, it is exactly like watching an NBA game where the players are just going through the motions: tedious, boring, random, dull. When Rocket League is played with excellence and passion, then it is like watching playoff hockey or an intense NBA game: Fan-tastic.