June 27th, 2008: WE'RE IN THE PLAYOFFS!

Maybe.....possibly, not sure. But Redeye and djWheat say we are, so who am I to argue? Last night's game was very, very good, and the evening as a whole went really well. Getting there, we were the second match, and so New York and Chicago had already had a chance to get settled in. We of course chilled, and I took many many pictures, and after their rehearsal was done, we got to go out there. At this point, a rehearsal is a rehearsal is a rehearsal, so it was pretty much the same old, Let's get such and such a person to their mark, Faruq (the Voice of Troof) does his thing, and awaaaaay we go!

This time around, however, Yaz had to go fulfill an obligation he had for DewMocracy, so they needed someone to stand in for him for the CSS portion of the match. Now, our esteemed GM was standing in for Vanessa, who was sick with fever, so Yaz informed the admins and tech crew that none other than yours truly would be his stand-in. Even if it was a mock match, and Los Angeles wasn't really taking it seriously, and I was used 3DNY.Volcano's weird config...for a few minutes, I was playing LA compLexity in the CGS. And I even was able to score a few frags, including one-deaging Warden. Much fun I did have.

Now, before I get into our match with LA, let me tell you about Monday. It was my first experience just being a spectator at a CGS event. Technically, I'm a spectator at every event, but this is the first time I haven't had to dress up nicely. And I'll be completely honest: I was 100% on LA's side when they were playing Dallas. Dallas losing didn't help our playoff chances any, but we really really want to see Jason Lake enjoy a victory. No one deserves to go winless for a season, least of all him. So we got a sign and yelled and stomped our feet, but when Dallas came back against coL on Inferno, we all deflated. We played them on Wednesday, and while everything I've just written is true, on Wednesday, we didn't want to be their first win. Our playoff chances depended on it, and it didn't look good to start. Stermy played great, but Kreegan scored on really his only good scoring chance, so 1-0 wasn't that big of a deal. But stuff started falling coL's way in Forza, when they got TWO crashes that basically set them up perfectly for a 1-2 finish. So we're down 7-1, and belle is playing Vanessa who's sick as a dog, and then belle gets three rounds, even though Vanessa won. So it's 10-6 LA, and CSS is next, and if you were me, you'd be pretty nervous. But I'm standing behind the OptX, and they're currently in the midst of an epic 6-3 first half. And while we cheered during the second half, I'm doing math in my head for stermy, because we want to get as many points as possible for Chris to clinch it for us.

So CSS wins 13-5, and all of a sudden we're two measly points away from a franchise win, and Chris is playing PL, and both matches they've had have been great Gen Fu mirror matches. But tonight PL is using Hayate, after Chris wins the first round, PL rattles off three. We're all thinking, "Please for the love of....well, anything, let's get this last round!" And we did, and then we mobbed Chris on-stage (the VoD is hilarious because Chris has his hands in the air all like, "Oh my God there's people everywhere HALP"). PL ended up winning, which is nice for him, but we're still in the playoffs! I think...well, Redeye did say so.

Thursday was another nice day. Kat and I spent a good portion of the day walking up and down the Venice Beach boardwalk, where we had lunch, and she shopped like a maniac (I bought some new flip flops which was nice). We also discussed neat stuff to do with the team all going out together for fun and frolic, so hopefully that goes down well. After returning to the room, I grabbed Kat's copy of DoA and her wireless controllers and went to button mash to my heart's content. Which brings me to the next big event of the last 48 hours: The UK and European teams are here! There are only four, just like last year: the London Mint, Birmingham Salvo, Stockholm Magnetik, and Berlin Allianz. So players from all four teams were there at some point or another, and I got to fool around on Dead or Alive with a couple of them, including the irrepressible Avtar Padda, otherwise known as Paddaman. Honestly, in terms of friendliness, London and Berlin are probably the friendliest, as I had to help their Forza teams practice with San Francisco and Dallas, so I got to mess around with Stune and NT 101. Later on this morning we're all going to the studio to watch the first set of games that the EU and UK teams are going to play, and I'm honestly really excited. I've seen so many North American franchises that it will be nice to get a chance to see some other Regions play. I'll have plenty of pictures as usual, so be sure to stay locked here and the main CGS page for updates and more! Happy fragging!