How The Race reminded me of The Decision

"The Decision" will forever be remembered as one of those 'why did it have to happen' moments in sports history. LeBron James sitting in a Boys and Girls Club somewhere in New England announcing where he'd continue his NBA career had that grip of a daytime soap opera during the 1980s - there was nothing else happening on television, so you were kind of forced to sit through the drama if you wanted to view something sports related on your box.

At first, the hype surrounding where LeBron would go got to me, and I'm not a fan of a specific NBA franchise. I love the league, and I'm fortunate that there are so many other fans out there who love the sport as well. It could have been Cleveland. It could have been Miami. Then the Chicago Bulls got rid of some cap space. The New York Knicks? They were a possibility. He could have even come here to NorCal! He might have been a one-man team, but those two NorCal squads would have made it work.

So many teams, but only one would earn the services of LeBron.

Before "The Decision" television show was announced, word got out that LeBron was going to go to Miami. I saw that rumor followed by another that Chicago was suddenly a top candidate, followed by New York and maybe the moving Nets. Then those rumors fell off, and reporters said it would come down to whether he'd stay in Cleveland or go to Miami.

Every day, a new tidbit hit the news wires, and it engulfed me each time. I was so intrigued by who would end up as the "winner."

But then, I suddenly got turned off by all of it. Part of it had to do with burnout. Another part of it had to do with the shitty personal life that suddenly popped up. It appeared my Clark Kent job was in jeopardy. Get Your Tournament was tanking despite a shift to a statistical perspective. I had barely any money, and I was about to get kicked out of my apartment. Tournaments? They were almost an afterthought. Yeah sure, "The Decision" was about to happen, and we should care because it's LeBron and he's donating money to charity, so it can't be all bad.

It always seems to be the really shitty days that I remember more than the good days, perhaps because I want to learn something from it and/or be reminded of how terrible things can be.

I was at the office in Irvine longer than I had expected to be on the night of July 8, 2010, so I got to my apartment in Los Angeles later than normal. My roommates weren't around, which led me to go for a two-hour walk around the area.

I didn't have a television to watch "The Decision," so I couldn't watch it live. I figured someone in Los Angeles would pose a hint as to what happened. But nobody did. You'd think that one person who lived near Wilshire/Western would be sporting a Heat jersey. Nobody did.

In those two hours, I didn't think about "The Decision." All I could think about was what I should do in the coming days; how I should break it to my family and friends that I had failed to build Get Your Tournament to what I thought it would be when I envisioned things back in 2006.

I came home that night, and I turned on my computer.

"You think he did?" I asked myself, wondering if he did decide on Miami. And then I saw the news and the reaction.

•••

In a way, "The Decision" and the race to be the eighth game on the Evolution 2013 roster brought upon similar feelings. No, we didn't have one of the Four Horsemen get up on a pedestal and announce what the game was after two weeks of back-and-forth speculation.

The race just elicited the same type of wave of feelings I had about what happened three years ago. There was an overwhelming amount of excitement. Then there was a long wait to find out what happened which, in turn, led to burnout with the overtracking of every move — which I take 95 percent personal blame like I did back when "The Decision" started gaining a ton of steam.

That's why I had to step aside for a few days and just come back when the announcement was final. I was better off for doing that. Had I kept tracking every move, I probably wouldn't have downloaded League of Legends and made plans to start playing it this weekend. (Deep advanced statistics on LoL, anyone? Just kidding, sort of.)

Now, I'm not sure what to feel about the eighth game on the Evolution 2013 roster, it being Melee. They made a big run in the first week, got challenged by a couple of games and then held on in the end.

But does this get me excited to watch the game? Yes, I did hope that Melee was the eighth game, but I'm less excited because I'm partly burnt out.

That's why I needed to step away from all the action for a few days, so I could not care about who won or lost.

I might have to give it a few days.

Congratulations to all of the Melee players who got their game in. When July comes, I hope you get to experience the same type of hype the more-than 250 players did back in 2007.

For those who didn't want the game to get in ... maybe you don't want to give it a chance because of the style, or the players. But don't get in the way of their excitement when Evolution 2013 takes place.

Brawl's one shining moment in 2013

I don't watch most NASCAR races. I like racing, but the league and its form of automobile racing just doesn't appeal to me. If I'm clicking around various channels and I happen to stumble upon it, I might tune in for a few moments.

When the Daytona 500 is on, that's a different story. I will watch more of that race than I do most other NASCAR races. The difference is that it's pumped up by the league as the premiere event (I guess some would say the end of season Chase for the Cup has replaced it, but that's another debate at another time).

The Daytona 500 helps serve as not only to the beginning of the NASCAR season, but the beginning of the sports calendar year, somewhat. It's in February. The Super Bowl just ended. Major League Baseball season hasn't started yet, and the NBA and NHL seasons are slugging away (well, at least one of them is at the moment).

That's what the APEX tournament reminds me of, the start of the competitive gaming calendar year. And if we can take anything away from the Brawl finale, this was a great start to 2013.

I've watched, played, and reported on Smash tournaments for about eight years. It's the reason why the Monterey Bay Thunder tournament series lasted more than one event in 2004. It's the reason I started Get Your Tournament in 2006. And in those eight years, I cannot remember a tournament final in Brawl - and perhaps not in Melee either - that was as intense as the one we saw on Saturday night.

It was 4 a.m. for those guys, and they were playing like it was a prime time matinee. You could hear the crowd go nuts for Salem and Mew2King, who were trying to join just a small group of players to have ever won arguably the most prestigious tournament in the nation.

Game 5 of the finals was over probably six different times. And then it wasn't. Salem and Mew2King kept finding ways to stay alive. But it was Salem who finally prevailed, not only winning his first ever tournament, but first major championship. Not even terrible commentary could drown out the excitement that the finals brought to us.

An exciting Brawl finals should not automatically mean that every major tournament should pick up the game. It also doesn't mean that it should be the eighth game on the Evolution 2013 roster. What Apex allowed us to do was, for one night, celebrate and remember the good things that Brawl can offer.

Brawl, as a whole, is still a terrible game put together, the evil doing of Sakurai, whose pleas for the end of hardcore competitiveness in sports and competitive gaming was displayed by his work in Brawl. It's one of the reasons why I stopped watching the game so much.

But for an event like Apex, Brawl will get my attention for one day. And it was a good day, because, like what the Daytona 500 seems to do, it set us up for the next 11 months of what should be some great competitive gaming.

Evolution 2013 announcements and thoughts

The Evolution 2013 lineup and the Road to Evolution schedule, were announced earlier tonight, and by the looks of my twitter timeline, there were many happy people.

I’ll share my thoughts on the games and other stuff right here.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3: No-brainer.

Super Street Fighter IV: No-brainer as well. However, the only debate I think will be whether this is the main event for a fourth consecutive year. There might be a lot of support for MVC3 being the main event, especially considering how different the results were for both finals matches last year.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2: This might be considered a no-brainer, given that the majority of Tekken games in the past have been on an Evolution lineup. But there was no Tekken on the main stage last year, so it wasn’t a sure lock that it was coming back. The numbers probably won’t be as big as SSF4 and MVC3, but the talent will be just as good. Let’s see how much the Iron Fist League helps in getting players ready for Evolution.

Mortal Kombat 9: And immediately on the Wake-Up Shoryuken podcast, the talk became of Perfect Legend and how he became the first player since Daigo Umehara (Street Fighter IV series) to successfully defend an Evolution championship. Only one player ever has won three titles in a row; Justin Wong won the Marvel vs. Capcom 2 title from 2002-04. Whether Perfect Legend will be able to do it remains to be seen. This might be the most intense of all the tournaments considering how many people want to be first.

The King of Fighters XIII: Congrats to this community for getting their game in. I don’t play the game, but I was in awe of what I saw during Championship Sunday. Let’s hope that amount of hype returns for this year.

Street Fighter x Tekken: Even though the 2013 patch is coming out, I’m really not looking forward to this game, and part of me was hoping it wouldn’t make the Evolution roster. It’s difficult for me to watch, regardless if it’s teams or singles. Unless this game is first on Championship Sunday (if it’s even on that roster, more on that in a moment), this is probably going to be my “lunch break” game. If you’re a fan of the game, congrats to you, I guess.

Persona 4 Arena: The “anime” fans get their own game on the lineup; it seemed to me as though Mr. Wizard put out the edict to the community to come out for the game, or else it would be a one-and-done. I like watching the game at times, and it might serve as a good Championship Sunday opener.

= = =

The eighth game

I was definitely surprised to hear this. There’s plenty of candidates, and the votes will come by way of donations. The real winner will be those who are fighting breast cancer, as the donations are headed to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

If I had to pick a game, it would be Super Smash Bros. Melee. It’s just a different game than all of the rest, and it has some Evolution history to it. But I’m sure I’m in the minority on this one. My bet is on Third Strike or Capcom vs. SNK 2 becoming the eighth game, which wouldn’t be a bad pick, regardless.

= = =

The Road to Evolution

I’ve said repeatedly in 2012 that there were way too many Evolution circuit events, and way too many tournaments called themselves “majors” just because they were a part of the Road to Evolution series.

Thank goodness that changed this year. There are only four events: Southern California Regionals, Northern California Regionals, CEO Gaming and Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 9. By having only four circuit events, it makes the seeding points much more valuable, and it relieves players from having to go to every event just to keep up in the standings, which is what Mr. Wizard mentioned during the broadcast.

= = =

Championship Sunday

Even though there are eight games on the roster, only five Top 8s will happen during Championship Sunday. They weren’t announced (or maybe they were, and I missed it, let me know). If I were to pick the final five it would be, in order from morning to main event:

Persona 4 Arena
Mortal Kombat 9
The King of Fighters XIII
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Super Street Fighter IV

I have hopes that this year’s Super Street Fighter IV top eight and main event will have a little bit more excitement to it than last year’s Infiltration mack truck rundown. If MVC3 gets the nod, I wouldn’t be surprised or upset.

I hope Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is the main event of Saturday, but it might end up being on the Championship Sunday roster if Street Fighter x Tekken isn't.

Two guys who were at the center of the Hall of Fame talk

It was about a year ago when I openly asked about a fighting game Hall of Fame and whether it was possible, who would be included, and what it would take to get it done.

And it's now 2013.

Yeah.

So you could probably guess by these first few sentences that nothing has materialized publicly.

When there was a good discussion going on, I received a few messages about who should and shouldn't be in. There were two names that dominated the discussion away from Twitter. One was an obvious name, the other surprised me.

Before I get to the two guys, let me ask you what I asked everyone else a year ago: name the first five North American-born players (players only) that should be included in a fighting game Hall of Fame.

Most people had no trouble coming up with five names. I didn't, either, and that's why I kicked off the discussion. If you can't come up with five names, then perhaps there's no need for a Hall of Fame

Tomo Ohira dominated the discussion; he was on the majority of people's first-five ballot. The stories he had of his heyday, and the stories people had of him in his heyday seemed to grab the attention of everyone who had an opinion on whom should be included in a fighting game Hall of Fame.

He even got my vote.

Of my five players, he's one of two not playing anymore (the other is Mike Watson. I still see John Choi playing here and there). And yeah, I'm one of those guys who read GamePro Magazine back in the day reading about these crazy sons of bitches who played in Street Fighter II tournaments. And yes, I will get ripped for not having Eddie Lee on my initial list, of which I would replace him with John if it came down to it.

But there was one other guy who surprisingly dominated the discussion.

Mike Ross. I don't know why.

While Tomo would have gotten the overwhelmingly majority vote, the thoughts on Mike were split. Some followers believe he's a shoo-in because of what they believe is his success over the past three years. But others were very adamant that Mike should not be in any Hall of Fame as of right now because he hadn't done enough as a player (and remember, I only asked for players, not tournament organizers, league owners/presidents or streamers). And there were some that thought Mike should never be in a Hall of Fame, no matter what.

I think Mike is at the border line right now. He's definitely not a shoo-in like an Alex Valle or a Justin Wong or a Jeff Schaeffer, and he's definitely not a first-five candidate. But there's no way he'd get shut out of a Hall of Fame entirely.

Face value from these dissenters, it was as if Mike was the reason there shouldn’t be a Hall of Fame, as if he was the reason this shouldn't even be happening, and that’s not right. Now I know that’s not the case. I mean, if it is, then that is really sad to know.

My hope is that in 2013 or in the next few years, the discussion of a fighting game Hall of Fame picks up.

It might be cloudy because with every player who receives praise, there's always that "backstory." Just look at the Baseball Hall of Fame, which is less than 24 hours away from not inducting a new member in for the first time since 1996 (at least, that's my prediction). I'm not sure whether the Baseball Writers Association of America, or the fighting game community holds a deeper grudge on certain players.

But hopefully that is all put aside, and a fighting game Hall of Fame can soon materialize.