alkis21 wrote:Rodolfo, how would you have reacted had someone told you five years ago that you'd host a Spanish Champs in Jerez with 8 native players?
I had given up looking for other Spanish players many years ago. I used to enter forums, or to make comments in sport webs, and all I got as answers were several "So cool memories, I loved it" without any mention to wanting to play again, or also "it was my favourite game until Sensible Soccer appeared". It was hopeless. But then, never forget that when the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers: now I am happily surrounded by good and nice players, but I am no longer FEKO #1
It is still wonderful that we could have, for the first time ever, a Spanish Championship with 8 Spaniards.
Above all I thank all of them for coming here to Jerez, because I probably would not have been able to make it had the tournament been otherwise located. But it seems I have a perfect place, my own office where we can play and shout without annoying anyone, and also we are very lucky that 3 other players live at comfortable driving distance, in Málaga and Sevilla, so they can help with the extra hardware required. It is terrific luck that several of the FEKO players are very skilled in computers, and know a lot about building joysticks, putting the ADF into a disk (thanks again, Serafín), or making every technical aspect of a tournament work properly.
The whole tournament went so well, and these people are so reliable, that I do believe that FEKO should think about organizing bigger KO2 events.
However, this is not simply good luck: it is the KOA facebook page that made Serafín comment, and then I was warned by Jorn, and contacted him. It is the KO2 Online that Steve created that has made possible for Fran and Samu to connect with the rest of the community, and they have been very well received by Steve, Lee, Andy and others. The whole KOA is responsible for bringing us together, and I am very grateful.
For this tournament, we even had the luxury of playing a new version, with graphics made by Gianni and put in the game with some lovely extra touches by Steve, so please receive the biggest and warmest thank of all. We have been praising you both the whole saturday.
The tournament was smooth and quick. Even too quick: having 4 stations for 8 players, we could play non stop. The plan was to play a 2 legs league, that is to say 14 matches each, 7 before lunch and 7 after. But since we had booked a table at 15:15 and we had finished the league first leg at 14:30, we decided to play a Cup, just to kill some time. It was terribly fun, and the final was between the Astorri brothers: Leo 5 - Luis 1. So Leo, besides being a firm favourite for the league, also could enjoy winning this unofficial Cup tournament.
Question: Can (and if it can, in which conditions) a Cup be an official KOA tournament?
We finished the league after lunch. It was a hard-fought tournament, with many close results. Malgré moi, the clearest victory was the 10-3 that Luis inflicted on me. It was a massacre with 7 lobs in out of 8 attempts. That lobbing thing is a skill that both Ibiza brothers share, but as disgusting as it is, still is a legitimate way to score, so well done. Cabrones.
My own performance was irregular, and two matches before the end I was already discarded for the tournament victory, that was going to be decided between Samu and Leo. David had already warned me that Samu had grown a lot in KO skills thanks to Online KO2 regular practice, and it was clear from the beginning that it was true: although still does not score a lot of goals, he builds his victories in a strong defence, that was too hard to beat for most of us on saturday. As you can see in the final table he only received 20 goals, and that is 15 less than Leo, the runner up. Although the league was only decided by one point it was more or less clear before the last match that Samu would lift the trophy. Well done, public congratulations, and now you know what you have to do: book tickets to Athens, and meet the rest of the KOA.
Our new player, Serafín, was clearly out of practice, but he managed to get a draw against the champion, which is more than what I can say for myself. He is a hardcore and knowledgeable retrogamer, and I believe that in spite of finishing last he enjoyed spending the day with us, as we certainly did with him.
Luis and Fran had also evolved and grown in KO2 skills since the last time we met, and took a lot of points from almost every other player, making the league funnily unpredictable, which is always healthy for any competition. David, Jaume and I played as usual. We are the lazy students who do not like working harder, no matter what is the price, so I guess we cannot complaint about our final positions.
By the way, after the league was finished, it was still early, so we played a Supercup between Leo and Samu, and Samu won his second (although unofficial) title of the day.
In the evening, those who could drive home left, and the rest of us enjoyed some drinks, dinner, and drinks, and spend some fantastic extra time together.
I do hope that this year we can get 4 or 5 of us into the World Cup. And sincerely, I can't wait.
Thanks for coming, for helping, and for reading.
