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There are many reasons I love Starcraft, but I’ve just found another one.
I spent most of my first few months as an undergraduate at Princeton running around on campus, putting up posters of zerglings on lampposts so I could find fellow SC’ers in college.
My efforts.
It took a lot of posters and a lot of time, but soon, little by little, our little Princeton Starcraft family drifted together—some we found through TL, others through our SC tournament in November, and still others through word-of-mouth. We found enough people to join the CSL—which is, perhaps, a different story that’s simultaneously inextricable from this one—and now we spend Thursday and Saturday nights either practicing or battling colleges from around North America.
Now, I don't want to be too cheesy and declare my love for my newfound Starcraft family. That would be a lie. Imagining azndsh as a Starcraft father (whatever that would entail) is pretty ridiculous, and claiming raiame to be my little Starcraft sister is just a bit more ridiculous. But strange as it sounds, the Princeton SC team actually does have a Starcraft Papa in the form of azndsh, who tells us regularly at our Friday night practices that we need learn "mechanics, mechanics, mechanics." He gives us weekly match reports, looks at our replays and tells us why we sucked, picks the line-up for the week after considering all our strengths and weaknesses, and encourages all of our D- players to greater heights by letting the regular team members star brain them (it's kind of like having two trainers battle their pokemon).
Friday nights, we reserve a room at Frist Campus Center from 8pm to 2am, practicing for our matchups and devising strategies for our Saturday games. We pokemon battle the newbies, and sometimes we'll hook up a laptop to the projector to watch whatever PL match is on at the moment.
Saturday nights, we hold our breaths and watch our teammates play, or else we try to desperately warm our own hands as fast as possible before our own games. Sometimes the stream is running—when that happens, we crowd around the screen, sharing headphones and thumping each other on the shoulders when we're ahead or laughing when someone places a CC, starport, and factory down at the same time because he doesn't know how to macro. One of our players, DaisyP, is in another room, commentating the match—we always hear him through two solid doors and a hallway, yelling as the tension rises and Princeton comes back from a 0-2 beginning to a 1-2...2-2...3-2 win. There's something absolutely magical ("epic" is a word that one of our teammates described it as) when your whole team is in the room after hours of practicing together, staring at the screen and waiting in breathless anticipating. Maybe that's how the Korean progamers feel whenever their teammate is in the booth—it's a thrilling experience.
It really sucks to lose a game—a lot of us may know this from ICCUP. It sucks even more when you lose a game that matters for your team, or when you lose a match that matters for a league. But even when we lose 1-4 to UTexas, or when I lose clutch games because I don't know how to build hatcheries or drones, there's something wonderful in the soon-to-come depression that hits your entire team. You've seen Firebathero crying on his keyboard, but now you know why he cries on his keyboard. It feels terrible to lose—but isn't it strange, how a RTS game like Starcraft can make you feel these extremes of emotions? I used to wonder why basketball players took all their games so seriously, crying and being overdramatic about wins or losses. I've only begun to feel a little bit of that emotional spectrum, but with this week's Ro5 being the deciding factor to who goes to the top 8 single elimination bracket, I have a feeling that all of us are going to throw ourselves into the game over spring break. Dedication leaves us vulnerable to disappointment, but it's proof that we're actually living the game, and not just playing it.
There's something that I really love about Starcraft, that so many of you probably understand far better than I can—the beauty of the game, the world that it's created in South Korea, the drama that comes with cheering your favorite pro-gamer on—but there's also something else, something new and wonderful that Starcraft's brought to me—an SC family and something worthwhile that I can dedicate myself to.
Hey, we may have lost to MIT, but we look damn good.
 
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haha cool stuff, nice blog
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CA10828 Posts
almost as sexy as USC's team but not quite!
anyway, thanks for all your effort in putting together the CSL. we're having a lot of fun participating in it.
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On March 16 2009 18:00 LosingID8 wrote:
almost as sexy as USC's team but not quite!
anyway, thanks for all your effort in putting together the CSL. we're having a lot of fun participating in it.
I want a rematch, Losing! Hehe.
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Hehe, can't wait until I can participate in these during college. Hopefully SC2 won't wipe out Broodwar tournaments like these!
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VERY NICE. I'm in Stanford's team and I can definitely share the excitement =D
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bah why cant my school have enough sc players LOL.
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less writing, more practicing =D
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cool, welcome to TL..:D:D
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Really nice post :D:D:D, pitty no one plays in australia T_T
welcome to tl btw
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Lol, I wonder if this could be possible to set up in Sweden. Might be, might be.
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Oh gawd this is so cool. I wish there was a league in Australia, I'd be so down to start a UQ team.
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Thanks for setting up the CSL Hazel! It really is quite a different feeling than the normal iccup experience. Games feel like they really matter and if you loose you let down your team, haha. 
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Calgary25981 Posts
Is that DSH? lol no wonder you guys lost haahahaha
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On March 16 2009 20:13 Scaramanga wrote:
Really nice post :D:D:D, pitty no one plays in australia T_T
welcome to tl btw
really? There are less than 20-25 people in my country who play StarCraft competitively.
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Awesome post! Congratz on managing to get everything together.
I also want to play sc with people from my school!.
Hm posters around college (or the entire uni for that matter) seems like a fun idea though :p
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On March 16 2009 18:20 Raithed wrote:
bah why cant my school have enough sc players LOL.
Because you go to a community college in central Jersey lol~
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Nice read! A feel good story for the starcraft ages 
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On March 16 2009 20:59 Vilda wrote:
Lol, I wonder if this could be possible to set up in Sweden. Might be, might be.
In Chalmers ofc
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awww rutgers needs to do this :D
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On March 17 2009 00:26 AoN.DimSum wrote:
awww rutgers needs to do this :D
Yo... I lived in Highland Park and live in East Brunswick right now for break, and clazziquai goes to RU lol.
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Cool beans, fun read 
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On March 16 2009 20:59 randomKo_Orean wrote:
Can I use that poster for UCSD as well if you guys don't mind? I really really likethe template. Also, is that your entire team? or is there other players
Go for it Those are only the players who played in the Princeton versus MIT match. We have a couple more regulars, and then around five who play casually and want to get better.
On March 17 2009 00:26 AoN.DimSum wrote:
awww rutgers needs to do this :D
Rutgers is in the CSL--you should contact clazziquai or hyungohh or whatever his TL ID is before the single elimination bracket if you want to play.
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Mona!
What you guys have done with CSL is really awesome =D, can't wait til the new site is up, too!
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whooo go CSL go Princeton!
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On March 16 2009 23:45 Zoler wrote:Show nested quote +On March 16 2009 20:59 Vilda wrote:
Lol, I wonder if this could be possible to set up in Sweden. Might be, might be. In Chalmers ofc
Didn't Chalmers have a SC tournament a while ago? I heard something about that 
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Haha hey sounds awesome! I was one of the high schoolers that came and played for the first intraPrinceton tournament and CSL looks awesome! Perhaps I shall join it next year in college...
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i wish i could do the same at auburn
the CSL just didn't work out for us... i don't want to go into why, it's a long and mildly painful story.
maybe next season.
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hey i'm from TCNJ. Can we join forces?(Theres only me that plays here TT)
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This is really cool, gj to everyone organizing it.
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16993 Posts
Hahaha, I recognize azndsh XD
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wait does CSL have a website anything of that sort?
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On March 18 2009 01:18 R3condite wrote:
wait does CSL have a website anything of that sort?
www.cstarleague.com
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On March 17 2009 04:49 hazelynut wrote:Show nested quote +On March 16 2009 20:59 randomKo_Orean wrote:
Can I use that poster for UCSD as well if you guys don't mind? I really really likethe template. Also, is that your entire team? or is there other players Go for it Those are only the players who played in the Princeton versus MIT match. We have a couple more regulars, and then around five who play casually and want to get better. Rutgers is in the CSL--you should contact clazziquai or hyungohh or whatever his TL ID is before the single elimination bracket if you want to play.
no i mean rutgers team should meet up and play :D Im already on the csl team ^_^
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Damn Mona, that was a really amazing essay, your Princeton-quality writing is outstanding
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Cool...our school (UCR)...like half the players we have are so cocky, it's hard to get anything done for the D-/D players...T_T.
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United States10774 Posts
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haha. i'll try to play for carnegie's team next year. hopefully it sticks around till next year.
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How the hell did you lose with ggplay on your team?
Or is it stork...?
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not to be rude but the one on the far right in the photo is it a guy or a lady?
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On March 17 2009 08:45 Vilda wrote:Show nested quote +On March 16 2009 23:45 Zoler wrote:On March 16 2009 20:59 Vilda wrote:
Lol, I wonder if this could be possible to set up in Sweden. Might be, might be. In Chalmers ofc Didn't Chalmers have a SC tournament a while ago? I heard something about that
Maybe I have no idea ^^
If I go to Chalmers I will organize SC (probably sc2) stuff 24/7!!!
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Awesome read.
The whole experience sounds fantastic. I wish someone would organize a similar college league in Canada, I'd totally join up/create one for mine. I'd really love to experience such an atmosphere as the one you described-- being on a team, practicing together, gaining victory together, and even losing together.
GL to you guys.
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to bad no community colleges 
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Lot's of NJ players here, wouldn't be hard to get a CC team going.
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On March 20 2009 21:11 rushz0rz wrote:
Awesome read.
The whole experience sounds fantastic. I wish someone would organize a similar college league in Canada, I'd totally join up/create one for mine. I'd really love to experience such an atmosphere as the one you described-- being on a team, practicing together, gaining victory together, and even losing together.
GL to you guys.
don't believe Canadian colleges are excluded from the league
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On March 21 2009 03:06 blabber wrote:Show nested quote +On March 20 2009 21:11 rushz0rz wrote:
Awesome read.
The whole experience sounds fantastic. I wish someone would organize a similar college league in Canada, I'd totally join up/create one for mine. I'd really love to experience such an atmosphere as the one you described-- being on a team, practicing together, gaining victory together, and even losing together.
GL to you guys. don't believe Canadian colleges are excluded from the league
They aren't. University of Victoria and McGill both have teams participating.
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On March 20 2009 18:59 Zoler wrote:Show nested quote +On March 17 2009 08:45 Vilda wrote:On March 16 2009 23:45 Zoler wrote:On March 16 2009 20:59 Vilda wrote:
Lol, I wonder if this could be possible to set up in Sweden. Might be, might be. In Chalmers ofc Didn't Chalmers have a SC tournament a while ago? I heard something about that Maybe I have no idea ^^ If I go to Chalmers I will organize SC (probably sc2) stuff 24/7!!!
We've got quite a bunch of offline-only players at the physics section on KTH. I tried to beat them 1v5 at a lan but they were smart enough to team rush me... I also found a poster with a "Starcraft Board Game" in the home room, never heard of that game before.
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hi mona, this is allen. good read, its really awesome what you guys have done with CSL. when i first heard of it i thought it was just another cool idea that was going to fall through, but you guys have done an amazing job with it. its been a pleasure to participate. good luck to your team this weekend.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq251/hazelynut/CSLrush.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq251/hazelynut/Team.png)
