I'm happy to announce, that over these next two months I've decided that I will host a few raffles for Premium Members for a chance to win some free swag. Here are the prizes and dates of when the raffle will take place.

October 1, 2008
Antec SpotCool System Cooler
Antec MX-1 Harddrive Enclosures
(These two products will be raffled together)
For US subscribers only

October 18, 2008 (because it is my 21st Birthday)
Amazon $25 Gift Card
For INTERNATIONAL subscribers only

November 1, 2008
Antec Three Hundred Gamer Case
For US subscribers only

Note, the only thing you need to do in order to be eligible for the raffle prizes is be a Premium Member at the time of the raffle. On the date of the raffle, I will post the name of the winner on the front page, and will send you an e-mail in order for you to confirm your address.

Furthermore, as requested, I am aiming to coincide content updates with the CAL map of the week. Today, I posted a new de_inferno commentary of 3D versus Complexity - so if you haven't watched it yet, go check it out. While Strike and Fire content has been requested, it is very difficult to for me to find high level demos on those maps, though I will do my best to continue searching. As for this week, here is the planned schedule of content to be released.

Today, September 22 de_inferno 3D vs. Complexity commentary by me

Wednesday, September 24 de_inferno Video Article

Thursday, September 25 de_contra commentary by badapples

Monday, September 29 de_nuke Video Article

If you have any other questions, please feel free to post them in the thread, or send me a private message.

I'm back on the grind now that the fall semester began a few weeks ago. I'm taking a heavy load this semester, so that I can take it light in the spring semester so I can concentrate on preparing for season 3.

So far things have been okay, I like some of my classes (except the ones I have to take for my major - which makes me wonder why I chose it, but OH WELL). But, flat out, Mondays are the worst. It's my longest day of classes, and I keep falling asleep in the middle of lecture. And it's only Mondays too, which is weird - the rest of the week I feel fine.

On a side note, have you ever noticed that the weather is ALWAYS best on Tuesdays? Ninety-percent of the time, Tuesday is the nicest day of the week. That's just meteorological fact.

The only good thing about Mondays is Monday Night Football (and possibly Fringe which I watched last week, which seems like it might be a pretty decent TV series). Normally, the Packers on Monday Night Football, is an event I can't wait for. I mean, it's pretty standard, Brett Favre tossing up 80 yard bombs in overtime to win the game or throwing 400 yards and 4 TDs the night after his dad died.

But last Monday, I was actually nervous for the game. Was Rodgers gonna flop, and take the franchise down with him for another several years.

After watching weeks one and two, he looks like a stud. He's 42-60, 506 yards, 4 TDs, no picks. Not only that, the guy can RUN. That's something I don't miss about Favre. I don't think he's been sacked once, and has run for first downs on several occasions.

I'm hopping on the bandwagon -- next week you'll see me walking around in a Rodgers jersey.

This weekend I went to Cygamz in Ypsilanti, Michigan for a CS tournament. I went with my old teammates from Pandemic -- n0it, Griff, Mustang, and paradox. It's nice living so close to them so we can LAN together pretty much whenever we want. I wanted to break in my new car, so I drove the entire way there and back, about 14 hours altogether.

Here's a picture of us after we won the tournament:



After the tournament, our plan was to go to Caesars in Windsors to hit up the casino and play some poker (as most of us aren't 21 yet). HOWEVER, paradox and Griff didn't have their birth certificates, so when we go to the border they told us they wouldn't be able to get back into the US, so we turned around and went back home -- and I was sad :(.

Next month the 5 of us are going to go to Showdown LAN in Peoria, IL. For anyone that lives in the area, I suggest you should go, it is a really awesome LAN. Last year I won a dual processor motherboard with two dual core processors in the CS tournament, and a $2200 computer in a raffle. Musty won a 24" LCD TV in the gun game tournament (which Nick and I tried rigging it so one of us would win, but somehow Kyle got really lucky) and just for registering, we each got 2 brand new PC games (Company of Heroes and Supreme Commander) and a box of 20 butterfingers (lol). On top of that, the LAN itself was huge, like 400-500 people, with tons of sponsor booths and lots of things to do.

Anyhow, it was fun for my last weekend before classes starts again.

Last summer after I didn't get drafted into CGS I spent a lot of time studying and playing poker. Expecting to get drafted coming into the combine last year, and then not being drafted was pretty upsetting - so playing poker really helped take my mind off the situation. Since I took a break from CS then, poker gave me something to work towards and get better at during my otherwise uneventful summer.

This summer, I fell back into a similar situation wanting to play poker again after a hugely disappointing defeat in the NA playoffs after having such an incredible regular season. In fact this summer, I think I've taken it even more seriously by studying even more and moving up in limits. Thus far, I have played really well, won a pretty decent amount of money, and I hope to continue to learn and get better - that is until it's time to start playing CS again which will take over the majority of my extra time.

Does anybody else here play poker seriously? If so, what sites and what limits - maybe we can get in a game together :D

On another note, I bought a new car :D:D. Here's a pic I took down by Lake Michigan



Another thing I've been doing is reading some photography books and try to improve my skills there. I've gotten progressively better and am learning new things every time I go out. I hope to have a gallery out pretty soon of my photos.

While I was watching the NFL draft this past weekend, seeing all the dreams’ of these young players come true, it made me think about the many tests and trials they went through along the path to getting drafted – how many training camps, workouts, practices, seasons, they must’ve gone through throughout their many years of youth and collegiate football. I see football players on a regular basis around campus, some of which are now drafted into the NFL, and I think “man… these are just regular people who are living their dreams’”. I must say that I am terribly envious of those players. Yes, I played a lot of sports when I was younger, but I never really played with much drive to go anywhere. It never really crossed my mind how hard these guys work to get to the positions they are in; I thought that some people just were professional athletes – and that was that.

I sometimes wish that I had my younger years back. It was hard for me to have the same competitive drive when I was a kid as I do now. I’d like to see if I could’ve made it somewhere if I had the same work ethic and motivation for football as I have for CS now. I can’t imagine anything cooler than running out of the tunnel on a freezing Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field rocking a green and gold jersey.

That’s a lot of the reason why it is so special to me that I was drafted into the CGS. I can now call myself a true professional at something. Being able to compete in something fills a void in my life that most people my age lack after high school. I love competing; I love always trying to better myself at something. And although it may not be in Green Bay at noon every Sunday, it is something that truly makes me proud when I accomplish something as a result of hard work.

As a final note, check out who is on the cover of Madden ’09 – yup, that’s right – the greatest ever.

This weekend I went back home to Milwaukee to go to a Brewer game with a bunch of my friends. I went with n0it, paradox and griff from my old team, and a couple of my other best friends. After a late night of playing Smash Bros Friday night (btw I went like 20-2 in FFA w/ Wolf), we woke up early Saturday morning to tailgate for the game. I must say, that I have become a pretty pro tailgater. It wasn't always that way, however...I used to suck pretty bad. Back several years ago, my first time tailgating we went out and bought all this food, we head to the game, then when we get there we realize we forgot the grill! Then the next time, we brought the grill, but I forgot to check the propank tank for gas - and it was empty :(. The time after that I forgot a spatchela and had to ask around everybody in the parking lot to borrow theirs. After that, we forgot tables and chairs, so we had to set everything on the pavement, which was annoying.

But this time, I nailed it. I own pretty hard at TGing imo. Next time is gonna be even better because I bought us a bag toss set so we can play games while we're there. Can't wait til then.

On another note, I've been extremely sick the past 3 weeks. Really bad coughing, stuffy nose, headaches - it's just been terrible. I think it's because pretty much every other day the temperature has altered between 25 and 60 degrees. And on top of all that, spring is coming up, and every year I get terrible allergies in spring. Looks like I'm in for about 2 months straight of feeling like crap. Oh well...

Always remember kids, tailgating isn't as easy as it looks. Don't leave home without your spatchela.

It's difficult to put into words the emotions I've felt over the past 24 hours, but to put it simply, the experience has been completely surreal. It hasn't completely sunk in with me yet that I'm now a true professional player, the leader of the most prestigious gaming team in North American eSports history, and playing alongside some of the greatest players the game has ever seen. However, like I said a few days ago, this is somewhat of a bittersweet moment for me - being separated from my former teammates whom I loved and played with for several years. Never had I imagined back in November 2004 when we first began our team together that it would come to an end like this.

Throughout the whole day Sunday, everybody at the combine was buzzing with speculation as to who would end up where. Until draft time, I don't think I had ever felt so many butterflies flurrying around in my stomach. When my name was called in the third round, it felt like two tons of rocks had just been lifted off my shoulders, however, I understand that this is just the very beginning and the true test is yet to come. I was also very excited that all of my teammates were drafted as well, Mustang to Venom, and Paradox/Griff to OptX. However, I must say, I was saddened that Griff was only selected as a taxi player, considering given how hard he worked on a day to day basis. I truly wish Grant the best of luck with whatever he plans to do, and maybe he'll get moved up sometime before the season because I think he deserves it more than anyone.

I'm ecstatic to be teammates with Nick once again. We began this journey together more than three and a half years ago and I'm really happy we'll be able to continue it together. Most of all I'm looking forward to playing with my three new teammates. I'm salivating with what I'll be able to do with two of the best AWPs in the game on my side, n0it and Ksharp, and I don't even have to mention what everybody knows Volcano and Method are capable of. I'm very optimistic about the ridiculous amount of potential my new team has, and with dedication and perseverance I think we can really achieve some magnificent things and become the #1 team in the world. I won't satisfied and I won't stop working until we are.

Following the draft, all the selected players were herded around from room to room to take pictures and autograph some jerseys. Following all the chaos, I went out to eat at P.F. Changs with the rest of the 3D.NY franchise. I really like all of my new teammates, not just CS:S but Wizakor, Coolsvilla, Chapelle, and the Forza drivers, seem like really cool people and I look forward to spending the summer with them in LA. Comebackdan, who plays Forza, I found out is also from my hometown of Milwaukee (pretty rando). From what I know about the other games, I think we have a really well-rounded franchise with a very good shot to go all the way and win the World Finals this year. After dinner, I went back to our hotel and spent the night hanging out with my former Pandemic teammates one last time. We're mostly all on separate teams now, however, I'm really glad that we are all splitting up on really good terms with each other. I'm particularly proud that even though this was an individual draft, we were able set that idea aside and play well together as a team at the events leading up to the draft. In the end, that really payed off for us as we all were able to get drafted.

This is an incredible opportunity for me and I feel so blessed to be apart of this new team. I cannot wait to get started playing. Thanks for all who have supported me, and look out for 3D.NY in '08!

I write this from my hotel room in Austin, Texas after day one of the CGS Combine. Finally getting here makes me look back on the events that have led up to this point. We've spent the last nine months working hard day in and day out for this event, and now it's finally here. We've attended six LAN tournaments, and played two full seasons of CEVO-Pro together during that time frame in preparation for this. I'm proud to say we have never placed outside the top four in any one of those events - we're the only team to achieve that level of consistency. While I wish we could've been crowned champions at more of those events, I look back at them with no regrets.

The event thus far has been awesome, and the best is still yet to come - the draft. While I am thrilled to be here, and the opportunity to even be considered to play in the CGS is a dream come true, the whole scenario is somewhat bittersweet. If I get drafted, I would (likely) get split up from my longtime teammates and friends. I've been teammates with n0it and paradox for more than three years, we've played in more than two dozen CSS events together - it'll be the end of an era the day we get split up. I've formed close friendships with all of my teammates and regardless of what happens tomorrow, I intend to maintain those relationships. Tomorrow will shape the future of my gaming career, but for now I must settle down and get some rest. Be sure to tune in live for the draft at 4pm CST at www.thecgs.com. I'll post again tomorrow my thoughts after the draft.

G'nite all!