Meadowlands, NJ - Throughout the history of competitive eSports in North America, there have been a handful of celebrities who in one form or another have endorsed and drawn attention to our growing presence. Whether in the context of a high-profile event such as the Celebrity/Pro Counter-Strike tournaments at Digital Life in New York City, or as part of a sponsorship deal that gives a competition the color piece on the local evening news, celebrities provide exposure to a mass audience and fuel the fire of our expanding scene.

Few however share the vision of the competitive gamers themselves, who strive to realize the legitimizing of our sport. Even fewer dedicate themselves in the long term. Gilbert “Agent Zero” Arenas however is an exception. Known across the country as the All-Star guard for the Washington Wizards and fourth highest scoring player in the League last season, Arenas has another side. A gamer side. Frequently on Arenas’ blog he mentions his love of Halo, and of the team he sponsors, plays with, and flies to events to watch compete, Final Boss.

Under the grandiose lighting of the finals stage and surrounded by a crowd of hundreds, GotFrag’s Trevor “Midway” Schmidt caught up with Arenas in the VIP observation booth of MLG Meadowlands, minutes before the grand finals between Final Boss and Carbon.

Trevor: This is Midway with GotFrag.com and I’m here with Gilbert Arenas.

Arenas: No, no, no, no it’s Agent Zero, that’s my game name (laughs).

Alright, that’s cool, (laughs) well first off, how did you get into this, how did you hear about the event, how did you hear about MLG?

Well I’ve always known about the event, about the league, I was just looking for a way to get in when I heard they were looking for help trying to get better. Actually our team’s strength coach knew a guy from Redbull and he said that he knew the guys of Final Boss and if I wanted practice lessons he could set it up… so he set it up and well, I got whooped on. But just by sitting there and talking to them I asked if they had a sponsor or anything and they were like we just dropped their sponsor and we’re looking for a new one. It was pure luck.

That’s really cool, so how much do you actually play Halo 2, or how much do you play Halo in general?

Well probably give or take five hours a day.

Wow, that’s crazy!

It would be if I was good (laughs). But I’m still bad at it.

I saw you playing some kids over there looked like you were kicking some butt.

Nah, not really, I had about 15 kills and the next closest had around 37.

So what do you think about all this, I mean you’re the NBA Star, what do you think about this as a sport?

I think it’s really great because it IS a sport. You have to have the hand-eye co-ordination, you got to be forward thinking, and you have to be working as a team. It’s as much of a sport as we have; you have to practice just as much and maybe even more.

You look at your guys, and the chemistry they have as a team. How do you compare that to your experience?

It’s the same thing. You have to have good communication; you have to like one another. You have to have the same plan, you got to have a game plan and that’s the most important thing that matters.

Now I’ve got to ask you a few questions about basketball, I’m a huge basketball fan myself. What do you think about the NBA Finals right now first off?

I think it’s good, you know everybody tunes into this game San Antonio is the experienced team and I see them winning it.

How are things going with you and the Wizards, care to comment at all?

It’s good, it’s good. You know, we just need another big man, another big scorer and we’ll be right there.

So your boys are playing Carbon, what do you think?

This is our rival! This is it!

Yeah, you’ve had their number this year.

Yeah and that’s been a good thing and we’ll see what happens this championship.

Your boys, they said you wanted to be at the Charlotte event but you weren’t able to. Are you going to be around the rest of the season you think?

Definitely, I’m going to be at the Dallas and I’ll be at the Chicago event as well.

Excellent I’ll be looking forward to it and good luck to your team.

Alright thanks a lot.

Other MLG Meadowlands 2007Content:

Halo 2: Halo 2 Melee | Final Boss Tops Carbon in Finals | Perfect Storm Falls

Gears of War: Gears of War Championship Wrapup | Championship Melee | Early Rounds Melee | Day 1 In Depth | Gears of War Preview

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