E My Sports


"E My Sports" is the 17th episode of the thirtieth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, and the 656th episode overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on March 17, 2019.

Plot

The family is enjoying some board games on a rainy day. Homer is getting along with Patty and Selma which they all find strange until they realize it's because Bart is not there.
Bart is playing a game called 'Conflict of Enemies' with Milhouse, Sophie, Nelson and Martin. At Marge's insistence, Homer attempts to get Bart to play less, but when he realizes they're playing for a $1,000 prize, he relents. The team wins and qualifies for a $500,000 tournament.
Homer begins coaching the team. While sleeping he visits the club of dads that lived vicariously through their glorious athletic children, including Earl Woods, father of Tiger Woods.
The team qualifies for the World Championship in Seoul, South Korea. Back at home, Lisa wants to go to the Jogyesa Temple in South Korea, and sees the world championship as an opportunity to fulfill her desire, so Marge agrees to take her too.
In Seoul, Homer swaps Milhouse for another player. Lisa then takes the family to the monastery, achieving Zen. Homer realizes the futility of material gain and sabotages the gaming contest, causing Bart's team to lose.

Reception

Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B-, stating, "If only because of the lessons provided by 30 years of pop cultural scrutiny, The Simpsons’ Esports episode, ‘E My Sports,’ avoids most of the most obvious pitfalls such a storyline suggests. Leading up to the episode, the overlapping group of Simpsons fans and avid gamers were publicly assured that the show had enlisted the folks at Riot Games to ensure that Bart's foray into the competitive gaming world didn't creak with old guy jokes about those kids and their blipping and their beeping, and so forth."
"E My Sports" scored a 0.8 rating with a 4 share and was watched by 2.08 million people.