Karma baits fake “announcement” to shade CDL coaches

Legendary Call of Duty pro Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow incited massive speculation by teasing an announcement, only to use the opportunity to shade coaches across the Call of Duty League he retired from just months ago.

While the 27-year-old Karma decided it was time to hang up the sticks midway through the inaugural CDL season, he has remained prominent in the community by participating in Warzone tournaments, providing wholesome content with his daughter, and giving his thoughts on the professional world’s happenings. 

Amidst a turbulent CDL Rostermania period, with the league shifting to 4v4 and rosters being scrapped or revamped everywhere, the former GOAT teased the CoD community by proclaiming that he had an announcement on the way. 

While the most obvious speculation surrounded prospects that he may have taken a coaching gig with a team or a content creation role with an organization, it turns out that the (former) GOAT was simply baiting in order to take a not-so-subtle shot at the majority of salaried coaches.

Explaining that there was “no announcement,” it appears that Karma just wanted a chance to criticize the lack of experience from overconfident coaches and analysts in the professional world.

He expressed the inherent peculiarity for current players that a “coach who’s probably not even broke T8 in four years or more is telling you how to play or someone is throwing irrelevant stats at you thinking they matter.”

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Moreover, the former OpTic Gaming superstar also appears to be taking shots at teams for sticking with inexperienced coaching staffs rather than making it a priority to recruit him and all that he brings to the table.

While it’s unclear who Barlow is specifically targeting here, he raises an interesting point: after his retirement, the Dallas Empire’s Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter and James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks each won their third World Championship while coached by Raymond ‘RamboRay’ Lussier.

Interestingly, the Empire were one of three final four teams to have a head coach with substantial high-level playing experience, along with Atlanta FaZe (James ‘Crowder’ Crowder) and Chicago Huntsmen (Troy ‘Sender’ Michaels).

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So while it’s unlikely that Karma is attacking those specific coaches and franchises, it seems that the rest aren’t immune from the same criticism that other aspiring coaches in the scene, such as former pro Dylan ‘MadCat’ Daly, have also expressed.

Of course, there’s still a ways to go before the 2021 season kicks off, more than enough time for one of the CDL franchises to reach out to Karma and bring him on as a coach.

But for those who thought that the three-time World Champion would have an easy transition from playing to coaching, maybe the market isn’t as open as people think it is.