A worrying and perhaps unnecessary event happened following a recent Overwatch League playoff event. One of the Overwatch League's top players appeared to collapse on-camera following a match. The scene was recorded and shared via an official livestream to thousands of viewers left wondering what was going on. The player was said to have flu-like symptoms during the match and collapsed afterward. Their team later confirmed the player was alright and resting, but the situation was nevertheless unsettling.
The match in question was between the Los Angeles Gladiators and the Toronto Defiant. It's part of the North American Overwatch League's second round of playoff, which serves as a sort of play-in for the upcoming week's third-round quarterfinals. The player in question, birdring, did not participate in the first round of the match, which the Gladiators lost. birdring was then subbed in and played the rest of the series, which the Gladiators won 3-2. It was after the final round, in which the Gladiators cemented their victory, that birdring collapses.
The player cam that showed the Gladiators playing from their offsite location captured birdring's exhaustion. He stands up and looks like he's going to high five one of his teammates, but then quickly goes to his knees and then falling backwards, causing the desk camera to shake. His worried Overwatch teammates gather around and one persona brings him something to drink. Unfortunately, the Overwatch League feed from the camera is laggy and what happens afterward isn't clear.
The Gladiators' social media account later posted, "Birdring is doing ok!" It'd go on to say that he was being monitored prior to the match against the Defiant and only subbed in "when he felt well enough to warm up and play." birdring apparently felt dizzy after standing up following the match, but is "walking around now and is going to rest for the night."
Some Overwatch League fans are equating the situation to the famous Chicago Bulls playoff game in which Michael Jordan played despite being violently ill all morning. Jordan helped his team win off the back of 38 pts despite his visible illness. Some are already calling birdring's performance his very own Michael Jordan "flu game."
Others in the Overwatch League see the situation differently. It's being seen as an example of Overwatch players' health not being taken into consideration and birdring being forced into a dangerous situation. To make clear, there's no evidence available regarding birdring's sickness or the severity of it. Speculation about COVID-19 is out of place. Nevertheless, he's clearly unwell and the matches clearly took a lot out of him. Win or loss, birdring is hopefully well and recovering.
Overwatch is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
