When looking through some of my old files, I stumbled upon a poem I wrote about YellOw beating Jaedong on Matchpoint in one of the greatest games of all time. It made me think back to the best day of my life.
For those of you not in the BW scene, YellOw is the George Washington of Starcraft. He's 12 stories high and made of radiation. The Storm Zerg. KONG. The first and last king of silver. Boxer's OSL whipping boy. And basically the greatest player to ever grace our world. Do yourself a favor and read that article in the link if you've never read it before; and if you have, read it again.
That article was written in late 2007, when YellOw was long since considered to be over the hill. By 2010, YellOw's last Starleague appearance was four years behind him. At the age of 27, YellOw wasn't just old by Starcraft standards, he was archaeological. Even Kong's most die-hard fans found it unthinkable that YellOw would ever beat a modern S class player again, let alone in the lightning-fast ZvZ matchup against the great Lee Jaedong, 9 years his younger. Brood War had just gotten so much more competitive since YellOw's days of youth, and modern S class was just too good for a fossil from a bygone era like YellOw to beat. Fans would have to relive YellOw's glory through old VODs and reminiscences,.
I was in my final year in high-school math competitions at the time, and I could identify with a lot of people on ACE. I'd done pretty well in 2009 (most of those ranked above me left for college), so 2010 was the year where I expected to compete for the US internationally. Instead, a bunch of really talented younger people came into the scene and kicked my ass. Right around June when that game aired, I was still at the training camp for the US, having just spent a month getting rolled by younger talent. I had struggled for a while with the thoughts of getting older and less competitive (Mathematics, like Starcraft, is a young man's game - G.H. Hardy), as I imagine most players who joined ACE have had to at some point in time.
Then this awesome game happened
Edit: the poem (I'm not a writer! Don't judge me too harshly please ^.^). It's a sonnet format. + Show Spoiler +
If YellOw wins a gold in OSL or Lim Yo Hwan returns to SKT or if Korea's Starleagues live to tell a tale exempting Wings of Liberty
When Hong Jin Ho defeated Lee Jaedong, when Bisu[shield] was slain by Pusan old, the aging hearts of Starcraft found a song. and it may be that YellOw wins his gold
A gold for Kong might be a contradiction, but I can still include it in fan-fiction.
On December 15 2011 18:20 Keyboard Warrior wrote: Great article! Makes me love BW more and more. Why is he called kong? Like king kong? Whats the reference
Kong means bean in korean. Something about him always finishing 2nd I believe..