Carolina has another professional team in its borders. Add the Carolina Core to the Hurricanes, Panthers and Bobcats. The professional videogame team, part of DirecTV's new Championship Gaming Series, is competing in its first tournaments out at Electronic Arts' Los Angeles studio. DirecTV has partnered with Microsoft, Mountain Dew, Fox and Best Buy to create the first pro gaming league with a full season and $5 million in salaries for the six teams. Each team represents a city. Charlotte made the cut and the Carolina Core were born.

The first televised tournament will happen July 9 live from the Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles, where I'll be right before E3 kicks off in Santa Monica. The Core got off to a winning start last night with a 28-25 victory over the New York 3D. (I also happen to think Carolina has a much better name then New York's team.)  The way the league works is each team has a general manager--Mark Dolven is the man for Carolina--and a team of players specializing in different games like "Project Gotham Racing 3," "Counter-Strike: Source," "FIFA 07," and "DOA4."  The teams compete in these games and scores are kept and totalled and the team with the highest overall score wins that competition. For those wondering, it was the "PGR3" team that secured the first victory for Carolina.

Anyone wanted to watch the Carolina Core can tune into DirecTV's The 101 (channel 101) to see all of the videogame action and hear Johnathon "Fatal1ty" Wendell call the action. You can also check out the league at www.thecgs.com.