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| Indrium United States. August 12 2012 18:10. Posts 2171 | Profile # |
This was the first offline SC2 event I had ever been to. I live most of the year in San Diego going to school and the rest of the year in the Bay Area, so eSports events don't come my way all that often. (Anaheim is the closest, but the timing's always off.) This was a really big deal for me.
I went to cheer for Liquid. Sure, I admire quite a few of the IM players. NesTea, Losira, and Seed to name a few that were there. But nobody draws the emotional response like Liquid does. (I hesitate to say this, but not even ST). The passion is self-evident whenever any of them are talking or playing, and I wanted to share in that as much as I could. A lot of consideration went in to deciding whether to wear the Liquid shirt I have in my closet. I decided against it, fearing that if I tried to talk to any of the IM players wearing that shirt I would receive less than friendly responses. Never ended up being an issue.
So I went along, taking a camera with me for hopefully some good pictures. I wanted to get pictures with some of the Liquid guys. They're really inspiring. I'm sort of preaching to the choir when posting this on TL but I feel like a lot of people don't understand why I care so much about Liquid and SC2 in general. These are the people I see living their life's passion. These eight (formerly nine, missed you Jinro) people are one of the reasons I love this game so much. Seeing HerO masterfully work his way to a Ro4 in the GSL or watching Taeja demolish team after team online are amazing to watch. There's a real soul to it too, outside of that. There's the player interactions that you get very few places else.
Watching Sheth talk to the viewers on his stream and try his hardest to be helpful is an incredible experience. I remember the first time he answered one of my questions on stream, it made my day. He was so nice and friendly about it. Last July when Sheth decided not to go back to Korea after the first NASL is when I posted that I'd always cheer for him, and hoped to meet him in person some day. I hoped to do that today.
We drove down and I was ridiculously excited. In a lot of ways my whole interaction with the eSports world felt really surreal up until that point. Sure, I'll sit online, watch streams, tournaments, post on here, but it's never really verifiable proof, is it? It's something I loved so much that was never really tangible to me until today. The first player I saw was Ret. This is someone I'd been inspired by since brood war (what little I followed of it). That was the first jolt I got. Seeing Ret up on stage, I thought to myself, "This is real."
I saw a ton of other people in the crowd. I was behind the Liquid players so I had a better view of the IM team. I saw NesTea and Seed from across the room. It's unreal to me. These are guys who are living out their dreams onstage, and I get to share in that, at least for a little while. My girlfriend said something that morning, when I mentioned being nervous about meeting progamers. "Don't worry. Remember, they're all just people like you and me. Except NesTea." (I had just explained NesTea creation theory to her.) This is that point where these people I admired so much started to come more in to form.
After one of the first few games (it was either Ret vs Seed or Taeja vs Seed) I walked out to use the restroom. I saw Sheth walking around. A fan ran up and hugged him. Sheth hugged back with a big grin on his face. And I sort of just scampered around.
I felt ridiculous. I'm an accomplished public speaker. I've literally spoken in front of thousands of people. But trying to get myself to walk up to Sheth and say hi was multiple times more nerve-wracking. I admire him for his friendliness! But I couldn't get myself to do it. I told myself I would later.
I went back and watched the series. Oddly enough, when I wasn't interacting directly with the players, I was pretty outgoing. I was yelling at the top of my lungs pretty much the whole time, just trying to show the Liquid guys my support. I felt a surge of adrenaline. I was on the edge of my seat, watching TaeJa take down player after player. It's unreal. I'm almost shaking, and I'm not even the one playing. I'm on my feet at the end of every game, yelling out "Taeja!" with as much conviction as I could, every time. Part of it was I was just excited to be in the crowd. Part of it was wanting the Liquid players to feel the fans cheering them on, invigorating them. But the most important part, to me, was finally being able to let all the excitement, all the passion, out of me. I can't very well scream at my computer when HerO makes a brilliant play when I'm at home watching a stream. But here? It's normal. I can let it out. I can let myself out.
The atmosphere when TaeJa all killed was just electric. I was on my feet yelling immediately, but I wasn't nearly the only one. The convention center shook with the yells and cheers of the fans as TaeJa walked off stage, smiling from ear to ear. It was amazing. You could feel the pride of the Liquid players as IM was routed. One more best of nine to go.
Unfortunately, I went to go grab something to eat during the break between the two series, so I missed the opportunity to scream myself hoarse when Sheth was put onstage versus Losira. I came in about ten minutes in, so I caught the last part, which didn't quite end how I wanted it to. Sheth went down to Losira after employing some pretty cool muta tactics. The moments after the match are what I remember, though. I remember Zenio walking up behind Sheth and patting him on the back, the two smiling and talking about something. It just stuck out to me how close-knit that was. How powerful that camaraderie between teammates was. No matter what, these guys are going to support each other.
The rest of the games clicked along. Zenio playing some fantastic ZVZ, Ret just barely losing to First, then TaeJa coming back and beating First and YongHwa in one of the most dramatic games I've seen in quite a while. I went insane at the end of that game. The whole crowd did. What an amazing experience. That game, in terms of SC2 play, was definitely the highlight of the day.
TaeJa lost to Seed in the following game, which was depressing. TaeJa had been going forever, winning 7 games against some of the best players in the world on one of the best teams. He looked worn out by the end of that game. He had an incredible run, but he's human. Even the best fall down sometimes.
So out next comes HerO. I am an enormous HerO fanboy. His play, his personality, his hair, everything. I yelled as loud as I could when he came on. I was really excited. But this was PvP against Seed. PvP is tough enough as it is, but Seed is deadly. With Seed going 4-1 against MC who went 3-1 against HerO, I knew this would be an uphill battle.
Seed took his advantage early with the blink up on the ramp. I honestly just put my face in my hands when the stalkers made it into the main, thinking it was over. HerO held, but it just went downhill from there. Nothing really seemed to go HerO's way the whole time. It was pretty distressing to watch. The stream glitched out during the gg, which was really irritating, but I didn't care so much about that as that the series was over, and IM had won 5-3.
Seeing HerO put his face in his hands after the gg broke my heart. I felt like crying. You could tell that he had poured his soul into this and come up short. He was devastated. Ret went up there to comfort him, but he didn't move. He couldn't. HerO sat there for what seemed like an eternity, just dwelling on the loss. I felt the pain he felt. I could feel it from him. It was then I really realized the price of the amount of passion Liquid has. With that much passion, every missed step hurts. But they'll pick themselves up and keep going. That's what they do.
I stepped outside of the auditorium with a few friends and walked outside. I saw Ret walking outside for a smoke, but he was in conversation and looked pretty down. I didn't want to bother him. I loitered in the lobby area for a little while and saw all of Liquid sitting on a bench together. It looked pretty rough. Everyone looked pretty down. I think Hayder was trying to comfort HerO, I saw him kneeling in front of the bench. It was a tough loss, and I saw it written on all of their faces.
Worst of all though, was looking at HerO again. He looked so distant, so dejected. I just wanted to walk up and hug him, tell him everything will be okay, there's always next time. That he's still my hero and always would be. But it wasn't my place. I really do hope to meet HerO in better circumstances.
Through every single trial and test they were put through, though, Sheth ended up on his feeting, signing things for fans. That was incredible to me. He resisted the urge to just draw back and instead put himself out there. It was incredible. I can't say I'd have the fortitude to do that.
So I did what I couldn't do earlier that day. I went up to Sheth.
"Hey Sheth, could I get a picture with you?"
"Sure."
I could tell he was tired. It had been a long day and a very taxing one. I tried to get the thoughts out of my head as best as I could. I'm not sure how they came out. I'm hoping it was something like, "I'm a huge fan. I came out here for you guys, I love watching and being part of it. And even though things didn't quite turn out the way we wanted, I still have tons of respect and admiration for all of you. I mean it."
"Thanks. That means a lot."
We snapped a couple pictures and I bugged Sheth with a question, but it was pretty clear he was in a hurry. I walked outside and saw Team Liquid waiting for a ride. Everyone together, even in a disappointing day. Still united. And that fortitude, that passion, that resilience, is what makes Team Liquid stand out to me.
If you happen to read this Sheth, I'm sorry for almost making you late, but thank you for the picture. I really can't express how much it meant to me that you would take the time for that, even though you risked running late. And thanks for putting up with my coaching questions. I truly wish you the best of luck and I'd love to talk to you again at another tournament. I meant every word I said.
There's a lot of talk on /r/starcraft right now that's all about how TaeJa is a one man team. TaeJa may have pulled out the wins (and he should be very proud), but he's not the team. He's the ace. Team Liquid is the group, that supports each other through thick and thin, for the passion that they all share for this game. Every one of them plays a key role in propping each other up. I didn't have to listen to them interacting or spend a lot of time. I could see it, even from a distance. These guys really care about each other.
I guess that's what I comes down to, in the end. Team Liquid may have lost, but I saw in them something worth more than any trophy. That passion, that support, that camaraderie is unmatched in anywhere I can see. Their passion shines through, and I feel like I got to share my passion today, and that means a whole lot to me.
I love this game, and I love Team Liquid.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XCAkj.jpg)
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| | http://www.twitter.com/indrium | qxc, Bomber, aLive, Flash | Sheth, Ret, Curious, viOlet, Jaedong | Socke, HerO | StarTale, Liquid |
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| RolleMcKnolle Germany. August 12 2012 19:20. Posts 720 | Profile Blog # |
| great blog. I would love to have the opportunity to hug sheth from time to time T_T Last edit: 2012-08-12 23:36:11 |
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 Plexa Administrator August 12 2012 20:23. | Profile Blog # |
| Awesome blog. If Liquid doesn't see this, I will be sure to point it out to them. Last edit: 2012-08-12 20:24:50 |
| | ~ Spirit will set you free ~ | |
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| DarkPlasmaBall United States. August 12 2012 22:08. Posts 19998 | Profile Blog # |
The players on TL really are incredibly incredibly sweet and hard-working. I felt really bad for them as well.
Really nice story  Make sure you go to more offline events in the future! |
| | "Those who can, teach. Those who can't, whine about teachers." ~Me |
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| Anuzi August 12 2012 23:50. Posts 181 | Profile Blog # |
| good read |
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| Probe1 United States. August 12 2012 23:56. Posts 16445 | Profile Blog # |
| Thank you for sharing all of this with us It was well worth the read. |
| | 우정호 KT_VIOLET 1988 - 2012 While we are postponing, life speeds by | |
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| Indrium United States. August 13 2012 08:04. Posts 2171 | Profile # |
On August 12 2012 20:23 Plexa wrote:
Awesome blog. If Liquid doesn't see this, I will be sure to point it out to them.
Thanks Plexa, that means a lot.
And thanks everyone for the kind words Last edit: 2012-08-13 08:04:53 |
| | http://www.twitter.com/indrium | qxc, Bomber, aLive, Flash | Sheth, Ret, Curious, viOlet, Jaedong | Socke, HerO | StarTale, Liquid |
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 Liquid`Sheth United States. August 15 2012 03:31. Posts 2025 | Profile Blog # |
| Nice blog. And thanks for the nice cheering! Hope you can go to more events |
| | Underneath it all they were really quite nice. They just got screwed up. Mostly by stuff that wasn't entirely their fault. |
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| Indrium United States. August 15 2012 11:05. Posts 2171 | Profile # |
| Thanks Sheth! Hopefully I'll see you there, I definitely plan on it. |
| | http://www.twitter.com/indrium | qxc, Bomber, aLive, Flash | Sheth, Ret, Curious, viOlet, Jaedong | Socke, HerO | StarTale, Liquid |
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| GMarshal United States. August 15 2012 11:10. Posts 20817 | Profile Blog # | |
| | "life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery" The measure of a terrible day is when you go to bed thinking "man, I wish the zombie apocalypse would start already" | |
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