Asensation is secretly sweeping across the nation and that sensation is Super Smash Brothers, better known as Smash Bros. Although not many Americans know it, ESPN is running a Smash Bros tournament that is being broadcasted on their network. ESPN added an eSport category to their network as of January of 2016. The eSport subcategory of ESPN is still very small compared to other sports, but it is rapidly gaining attention.
We talked to golf standout, Andrew Barbin Jr., to fill us in on this little known but growing sport. He describes Smash Bros as “a children’s party game that is about fourteen years old. The goal is to knock the other person or other people off of the map using Nintendo characters. You have many different options varying from kick, punch, defense, and special moves.”
To most, Smash Bros is merely a fun game to play when they have some free time. It is a game commonly described as a children’s party game but now it has expanded well beyond those parameters. When asked whether he considers it a sport or not he claimed, “It is a very competitive game which in my opinion makes it somewhat a sport. What I mean is the fact that it is a video game makes it an E-sport. It may not be as physically demanding as big sports here at Eastern such as lacrosse or soccer but it requires a level of skill just like anything else.”
Eastern University actually has its own competitive Smash Bros tournaments and our very own Mr. Barbin Jr. runs it. Just as tournaments are growing on ESPN, he and the rest of the Smash Bros community here hope their tournaments do the same. On a good night, they have about 20-30 participants but there is always room for more competitors. The Smash Bros community has a Facebook page called Eastern Smash. If you are interested, go to the webpage and connect with fellow Smash competitors.
Natasha Chaillou 
Megan Keating 
Daniel Finegan