June 19, 2008: Live Televised Edition

The past few days have been tiring, mentally and emotionally. There's something more urgent about moving from the EA studios and online matches to the bright lights and big stage of CGS's Live Televised matches. Everything must be crisper, everything must be cleaner, everything must be...better. And that trickles down to the franchises, their players, and the staff. I need to be more "on the ball," as it were, with giving you guys the access that you just can't get anywhere else. Life at the apartments, the long hours, the hard work, the highs and the lows and the "Oh wow" moments from the players' perspectives, the LIVE perspective. I try, and sometimes...sometimes I mess up. I know I've been behind on photos, on blogging, on getting all this content to you, our fans, and it's unfair not only to you, but to those who have depended on me to do it. I apologize.

That being said, let me tell you about the CGS Stage. Now, according to Paul "ReDeYe" Chaloner, this particular CGS Stage is much bigger than the Season 1 Stage, that it "just feels like a proper stage." Being that I was not around to experience Season 1 live and in person, I of course have nothing to compare the stage to, but I implicitly trust ReDeYe and his completely awesome British accent, so there you go. The building that currently houses the CGS Live stage is Barker Hangar, located in Santa Monica. Yes, it's an airplane hangar. It's a very nice (and very big) airplane hangar, but it's an airplane hangar nonetheless, The actual stage itself (including audience seating, etc) comprises about the middle third of the hangar. From the outside, the stage is encased in heavy black cloth, presumably to keep the lights (and any prying eyes) out of the action encased within. The players Lounge is located near the "right" side of the entrance ways (for those watching last night's match, that's the one that 3DNY came out of). It's stocked mostly with snack foods: cookies, candy, nothing spectacular. The Mountain Dew Lounge (as it's called) features 1 dozen blue Alienware computers for the CSS and FIFA players to warm up on, as well as 6 Xbox360s for Forza and DoA. All in all, a simple yet highly effective setup. Also, all the Mountain Dew you can stomach. Delicious Dew, mmmmmmmm.

I know that I've spoken much about how all the DoA players hang out with each other and shoot the breeze, talk shop etc., but that sort of fraternal relationship really permeates the 6 franchises as a whole. I think 3DNY's Dark Storm put it best after our match: "Today you're our enemy; tomorrow you're our friend." All the franchises tend to hang out with each other well when in the lounge, or at the apartments. We know that we practice to beat each other, but away from the pressures of practice and sport, it's not all that surprising to see Grt hanging out with Stevenson and da_bears, or for clowN and moE to make jokes about how much Eafra and Warmach1ne look alike. I myself have good relationships (I hope) with the other players, like brawwrski and Mustang from Dallas, or the aforementioned DarkStorm and Eafra, as well as Barmoa. Fatal1ty loves to grab some of the CGS players and staff to do things, like play Mario Kart Wii or 10-man in CSS. The General Managers hang out together sometimes as well. It's easy to forget that at the end of the day, we're all basically doing the same thing, so why not have some fun while doing it?

Now, some of you may not know this, but yours truly had the privilege of being out on the floor of the stage, and even better, standing behind the CSS team, exhorting them whilst Kat cheered on other players in other games. I've been on stages before. I was a staple of my elementary school's plays, I was the cantor for my high school choir, and I've sung at Open Mic Nights when I was in college. I've basically performed for hundreds of people in my lifetime, but let me tell you, I've never been so nervous to be on a stage as I was the first time we played, against Dallas. And my job was one sentence long: Stand behind the team and cheer them on. So I manned up as best I could, and did probably the most awful impersonation of Jason Lake that anyone has ever seen. Ever. I did yell louder than anyone else though, so a point to me for that.

Of course, as you know, my presence did not help the team any this week, as they lost 13-5 to Dallas and 11-7 to 3DNY. Rough matches on the whole for everyone, hence the "tired" comment at the beginning of this long-winded story. We've only got three games left and I really, REALLY want to make it to World Finals. Los Angeles is a nice place, and I've really grown attached to Kat and the team, and everyone lives so far away from me. This experience has probably been the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I honestly don't want it to end anytime soon. More about the production: very slick, and very quick. I've been impressed time and again at the speed and precision that the CGS Stage Crew gets everything ready. A little about the average day for a team that has a match on TV:

Call time is roughly seven hours before the match is to begin. The team arrives, and sets up to warm up. About 1-2PM, we're called out so that the crew can test their shots, make sure the lighting and sound works, and the players know where their marks are, those sorts of things. After we're done (if we're the first match) the next two teams come on and do the same thing. Then comes dinner. Dinner is catered and delicious. While we eat, the players go and get their jerseys, and the General Managers (and I) change into the nice clothes that we'll be wearing on stage. A couple of things that I don't have to do (and am eternally thankful for): hair and makeup. I have a natural aversion to makeup and creams and things being put on my face, so no need for makeup is awesome. Also, the lounge is the perfect place to try out all the games. As I am originally an amateur CSS Player, it's great to play DoA (I'm bad) and Forza 2 (I'm worse). I haven't had a chance to play Forza with anyone, but I did play DoA with Master from Dallas. He beat me 30-0, but what do you expect? He's Master. But if anyone talks to Grt about playing me in DoA, don't listen to anything he says. It's a boldfaced lie!

About 6PM or thereabouts, the audience arrives! An interesting thing to note is that the players lounge is right near where the audience lines up to get to the stands, so any big fans of specific players can peek in and see....everyone lounging around, or napping, or something. But still, it's pretty cool. They get everyone nice and set up for the matches, play music, get people to dance and make complete fools of themselves (my favorite part). Then, it's MATCH TIME! And, well...you guys with DirecTV see what goes on. It does go off without a hitch, most of the time, and everyone gets into it. And for the record, when Jason Lake jumps and screams, when moE yells and whoops, when we all deflate after a tough loss, it's all real. None of it is rehearsed, not a bit. It's probably the best and worst thing about CGS: we give a damn about what happens. Carolina GM Mark Dolven was watching the intro they had for the first televised episode, and every time it got to the part about Chicago beating Carolina, you just see him shake his head. Sometimes he yells. It's at once hilarious and sad. Speaking of Carolina, tomorrow we play them, so stay tuned to the site of course. I'll have tons of photos, and a wonderful blog about being at the CGS Offices (as this match will not be televised). Thanks for reading all the stuff I put out, and as always, Happy Fragging!

Previous Blogs!

June 15th, 2008 - Man, what a Weekend!
June 10th, 2008 - I suck at Guitar Hero.
June 9th, 2008 - Rebound meets Jason Lake, plus Team Staff Adventures!
June 8th, 2008 - Mario Kart with Fatal1ty!