The Best Kind of Opening

Hey all, I don't know if any of you remember me from my previous posts. If you do and you were wondering why I totally dropped the "posting every other day" ball, well I have no excuse for that and I'm sorry. But I do have a whole slew of new stories which I will tell to all you kind people over the coming week. My first post back will cover the opening day of the SK Planet Proleague that took place this weekend. You may have read about this on other blogs (from Kiett and Symmetry), but I will try to not be a rehash of them. In addition, I promise new content (because I stayed late one of the days). Since I have a lot to say about this weekend, I have to split this post in two. Today, I will mention day 1, then tomorrow (or the day after, you know how I am about schedules) I will get to the second day which was slightly less epic, but still absolutely amazing.

Some quick background before the story, if you know anything about me (if you read the intro post I made), then you know that the last big name in BroodWar that I really like (REALLY REALLY like) is Firebathero. If we have ever talked about Starcraft in person, there is a 100% chance I have brought Firebathero into that conversation. Having watched and rooted for him him pretty much since he debuted, it is hard for me not to feel a bit of excitement to see him play live. Of all the Starcraft players ever, Firebathero has a special place in my heart as one of those important figures. When he does well, I feel well. When he slumps, I feel bad for him (and have even caught myself practicing harder in response). He is the reason ACE is my favorite team. Prior to him joining it, I often would make fun of them. As soon as he moved over to ACE, Samsung KHAN ceased to be my favorite (although if he goes back....) and it has been all ACE since then. My respect for him is the reason I switched over to Terran in Starcraft 2 (that and marauders ^__^). At any rate, I found out that his team was playing the defending champions of proleague on the opening day, so I decided I absolutely had to go. Fortunately, I had company this time at the event.

The story begins after meeting Kiett online (finding out we attend the same school and somehow have never met X___X) and arranging to go to a game with her and another guy from our school who I had actually run into once before, but I thought he was just a LoL player. Anyway, the three of us set out to meet another friend from our school (who seems to be constantly referred to as Marcus) at the station from which we headed over to the OGN Studio in Yongsan. Upon arriving, we found we had gotten there just a tad too late and would be left standing for the first match which was SKT T1 vs Team 8. Fortunately though, we were actually standing inside the studio unlike some unfortunate people.

While I consider myself to be somewhat of an SKT fan, I have to admit I was totally rooting for Team 8. Poor Kiett was the only one of the four of us that was rooting for SKT. We joked about how she was outvoted 3 to 1 for Team 8 and that would probably be the score. Little did we know, we were going to be right about the score, but wrong about the teams getting those scores. Baby went up first and handled Soo very well, putting a big ole' W on the first stats ever for Team 8.

Baby high fives down the line for his win.

After that, I proceeded to get VERY DISAPPOINTED by Team 8. Sending out hardhitters Sea, Jaehoon, and (a very despressed looking) Jaedong, they proceeded to get beaten down by Rain (Sun), Bisu, and Best. On top of that, Bunkie was repeatedly seen checking his watch during breaks and motioning to the crowd that SKT should stop wasting time and put Team 8 away faster. Personally I wanted it to go to game 5 because all the players on Team 8 looked kind of sad. They need to do well so they can get a sponsor. On the other hand, I did enjoy getting to see this:

Yum, I mean what?

This is how he looked BEFORE losing horribly.

As all the fans ran out of the studio to greet SKT, we from TeamLiquid (we had by this point met up with Symmetry who I remembered seeing at the GSL a few days prior) and began to sit down. Unfortunately, seats were quickly filling up and only four seats were available right near us. Having never been great at musical chairs, I was split up from the other four. It worked out in my favor though as they were sitting on the KT side. They got KT fans for free while the ACE side got nothing, but I required nothing from my favorite team. I managed to slide into a seat about four rows ahead of my friends, but on the ACE side. After seeing the KT giveaway, the two guys next to me hopped up and jumped ship (traitors!) in order to claim their fans. Right after that, a cute girl came and asked if I could slide in so she and her friend could sit. It was a dirty trick though, her friend was her boyfriend. Not that it mattered though, I was just doing the right thing and after all, I was here to see ACE, not hot Korean chicks! Then, the two guys on my right slid in one, leaving the far right seat (only a barrier between you and the team) open. I asked them if I could move over there, and they let me. I was now pretty far from my friends from TL, but this was the thing I had come for, I was so focused on that, I didn't even consider how separated I had become.

And then Team ACE entered. I scanned up and down the line, looking for my idol, 이성은. I was able to spot him fairly quickly and all I could do was stare in amazement. Here I was after almost half a decade of watching this guy play, now seated just a few feet away from him. I of course didn't reasonably expect him to play because of how ACE is structured, I would have been content just to catch that glimpse of him.

FBH takes his spot at the head of the table.

Orly?

Laughing at something on the big screen (I hope I'm not being too creepy)

First up, ACE sent out M18M against Stats. He lost in a somewhat disappointing game. Second, Great got put out against Flash. That game went about as I expected. I managed to get on the camera during the first game. When I winked at the camera, I thought I was in trouble since the whole audience went "Ohhhh." Turns out (from asking someone later) they thought it was just cool and I was also called handsome by that person (a man, but maybe someday a lady will tell me that ^___^).

According to my roommate, the announcers said something to the effect of there being more white people coming to matches, so he should learn to commentate in English. On the offchance he reads this, I approve!

Oh it's Flash? *Yawn,* big deal, I'm sitting near Firebathero.

So after Flash brought it up to 2-0 KT over ACE, my hope began to dwindle even more that I would see Firebathero play. But just then, I got some hope when he disappeared. I soon realized he disappeared with PianO (playing as Organ) who would be playing next. He was possibly giving him some Terran to Terran talk to inspire him. As I saw Organ's name flash up on screen, I had the same reaction I have every time. I see his name and go "Well good, I know Organ is a good player. I wonder if he named himself Organ because he's on the same team as PianO." Then later, I check the results of the games and realize that Organ and PianO are the same person. This has happened at least 5 times to me in the past. You'd think I would learn.

Well it turns out i was correct, Organ is actually a good player. He managed to take down Hoejja on ~~Swastika~~ Sniper Ridge (cannot be unseen). I was pretty happy to see Organ win and to see ACE get a win. Since they were playing the defending champs, I felt like getting a win off of them was a pretty good accomplishment. Little did I know how much KT relies on Flash now. The next game was ggaemo vs BarrackS on my new favorite seizure inducing map, Electric Circuit. Kidding aside, I do actually really like that map. Ggaemo proceeded to play a pretty great game, managing to dismantle BarrackS as KT watched in horror. And during this match, I noticed Firebathero got up and disapeared into the backstage area. Instantly, my hopes shot up sky high. I finally thought I may get to see FBH play live. Even if I didn't get to see him win, it would still be the coolest thing ever.

After the game ended, it became apparent that FBH was going to be up next, so I began furiously scribbling trying to make a sign to show.

*SQUEEEEEEEEE* ^_____^

I got some (deserved) crap from the TLers for hiding my face, but I thought I was in trouble from the earlier picture, so I wound up hiding my face to be safe. The cameraman was really adamant about showing that I was white though because I had written in Hangeul. According to my roommate, the announcers said I wrote well in Hangeul and were surprised I could write that well. What I said was really basic, but I appreciate the compliment anyway. During the match, I caught the word Mi-Gook for American and Hangeul for Hangeul and OH! that denoted their surprise, so I giggled a little bit behind the sign. Giggled in the manliest way.

So Firebathero was up against Action I noticed. Upon seeing that, I had to try my best not to leap out of my chair and proclaim victory for ACE. I was so excited to see him win because I knew there was no chance whatsoever of Action beating him. FBH was ahead that whole game it seemed. I was in awe of my great fortune the whole game. Afterwards, I whipped out my camera and took a video of what happened. Amazingly, he did a little dance upon exiting the booth. My life is now complete:

After the match ended, the teams went up and did their bows. ACE did the salute as well, which was cool.

I reunited with the other four from TL after the games and we exchanged excited statements about how awesome that match was. We then went outside to wait around to see if ACE would come by. Having been to BW matches previously at the OGN studio, I had faith that I would get the chance to see the team. At the very least, I knew they had to walk by. The others were really hungry (it had been about 7 hours since we had eaten, I can't blame them) and elected to leave instead of waiting around. I bid them farewell, but had to respectfully tell them I was going to stay because the chance to see FBH (especially after an ACE win and after a win by him) was simply too rare of an opportunity to pass up.

I waited around for a little bit and passed by a doorway where a few players and a security guard were waiting. When he walked over, I introduced myself to him and attempted to have a conversation with him in half English, half Korean. For those interested, he was the one that clarified that I was not in trouble for winking and told me I was handsome. It eventually came to a point where he asked why I was still waiting around. I told him that sometimes at BW events, I was able to get an autograph from a player after the games. I then told him I was a really big fan of Lee Sung Eun at which point his eyes became big, possibly from surprise that I knew Firebathero's name? He told me to wait there and went inside, then came out about a minute later and told me to wait there; FBH was in an interview, but would come out soon. Soon enough, he appeared out the door with the team as they were getting ready to leave. The security guard told the coach about me. The coach then yelled over "SUNGEUN!" and motioned over to me. His face went from a slightly confused look, then over to me and kind of excited to see a foreigner fan. At that point, my brain practically exploded and on the inside all I could think of was "OH MY GOD FIREBATHERO IS LOOKING AT ME. HE KNOWS I EXIST."

He walked over and introduced himself (his English is excellent by the way) and I told him that he is my favorite player, then he thanked me. I asked if I could get an autograph from him and a picture as well. He said sure and proceeded to sign my blank cheerful that I had saved for just such an occasion.

Have a nice day? I don't know how it could get much nicer than this!

He then took a picture with me which as soon as I got back, became my facebook profile picture. It dethroned my previous picture which was me with BoxeR (yeah, I like FBH that much) and will probably remain my profile picture forever.

It was all I could do to put on a half normal smile and not just stand there grinning like a moron while the picture was taken.

I thanked him profusely again (I did several waist bows over the course of the meeting and made sure to address him as 이성은님 to show my respect which I hope he wasn't creeped out by. I wished him luck on Wednesday vs CJ and set off happily towards my dorm room. Even though I had a backpack, the autographed paper never left my hands. I now have it proudly stashed away, waiting in perfect condition for me to hang it home, possibly frame it, and hang it on my wall. To make the night even more awesome, I decided while I was uploading pictures to facebook that I would tweet FBH (since I follow him and all). I thanked him again for the autograph and wished him and ACE luck on Wednesday. A couple of hours later, I was checking my email and saw one that said New Tweet from @firebathero. Running to twitter as fast as I could, I found in my feed that firebathero tweeted back at me saying "hi david!" He remembered my name! I was so extremely excited.

So all in all a great day. If I were required to go home tomorrow, I could still leave a happy man. This was the absolute number one thing I wanted to do in Korea (number 2 is meet BoxeR and number 3 is meet Sunny from SNSD (sorry Sunny, I've known about BoxeR and FBH a bit longer otherwise you would be number one)) and now it has been done.

I'll try to post tomorrow, so expect a post in 2 days (because I'm bad at keeping with schedules) pertaining to the second day of the opening of Proleague. If you managed to read this far, thank you for giving me your time. Have a great rest of the day.

The Best Kind of Opening

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