Monterey
Bay Thunder - Select clips from the book
Here are some of my favorite parts of the book. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Monterey Bay Thunder: "Time to Battle"
Video game tournaments are like sporting events; you'll have your competitors, an arena and spectators watching. But unlike sporting events, video game tournaments are held in arcades and hotels, so the atmosphere is a little tighter.
As anxious as I was to compete in track meets and baseball games, I was just as anxious to compete in tournaments. Running tournaments, however, are a little different because it's your show. You don't win anything by running the tournament, but the moment something goes wrong, the blame is put on you. There's just as much pressure to run a good tournament as there is to compete and win.
On the day of a tournament, I wake up nervous because I've anticipated the day coming for a while. You can prepare all you want and have all the props handy, but there's still that nervous factor to get it right. I enjoy the morning of a tournament because I know something special is going to happen later in the day.
When I talk about tournaments, the thing I always talk about is the ability to make it to the finals. It's my mentality from being a big baseball fan. When I was young, I didn't worry about whether the Giants were going to win it all, I just hoped for them to win the National League pennant, which would guarantee a spot in the World Series, the finals. In tournaments, I've always dreamed of making the finals, because it's a special time.
The finals in any game is so volatile that anything can happen. Many preliminary matches are routs, but the finals are so special because everyone's watching. In the finals, you're either the good guy or bad guy to the spectators. Just making the finals of a tournament guarantees you a couple things; you're going to walk away with prize money and you're going to be recognized as either the person that won or almost won the tournament. In my mind, if you made the finals, you've done something special, even if you don't win.
Monterey Bay Thunder: "The Link to the Girl"
It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving when I made the trip to Fairfield. The front yard of the house was riddled with white rocks. The house had white paint with an auburn trim. Cars were parked everywhere. It partly reminded me of my neighborhood. Red bricks on the ground directed people to the porch.
It was the slowest walk I took in probably five years. My heart pounded and I could hear it.
I knocked on the door. One minute passed and nobody opened. I was ready to leave; I wanted to knock again, but I saw a doorbell and rang it. The door opened ever so slightly. It was an elderly woman.
“Um, uh, hello. Is Evan here.”
Monterey Bay Thunder 6: "Destiny for Salinas"
In the final round, Danny stayed with Peach and again battled to an early lead. Neal came back and fired in attacks that left Danny dumbfounded. The crowd was silent. Tony looked ready to laugh. Danny was down to one stock and Neal had two. Danny rolled off a series of hits to eliminate one of Neal's stocks. It was down to the last stock of the round, but Danny's Peach sustained a considerable amount of damage that one small hit could mean his tournament life was over.
But just like Danny did throughout the whole match, he did not worry. His expression throughout the match did not change; he was serious as could be. It reminded me of him battling Crispin at MBT5, facing off against Carlos in Hanford, and beating Dave at MBT4. He meant business. He was on the aggressive, racking up enough hits to where Neal's Ice Climbers were primed to get knocked out.
I could sense what Danny wanted to do. He wanted to grab an Ice Climber, which meant he could slap them out of the screen for the win.
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