My apologies for my role during Apex 2012

[prog]

I'll take this opportunity to apologize for my commentary. First off, the USA vs the World crew battle, I may have been out of line. Apparently, the joke wasn't well received, so I'll apologize for my statements again. Nothing I said should have been taken to heart, I guess my attempt at satirical mockery didn't go over and was viewed as shallow. If anyone found my statements to be offensive, I sincerely apologize. I was taking the role of the "heel commentator," and wanted to do something different from the common play by play/color commentary that has been entrenched in the mind of the viewers.

Secondly, I'd like to apologize for my words during the Grand Finals set. As a player, I understand the mindset of both Hbox and Armada with pride and a good amount of money on the line. As a fan, I was disgruntled. From someone who knows the mocking that the standard FGC does in relation to the Smash series (as evident during the UMVC3 portion of the tournament's commentary), grand finals would show case the creativity of the players as well as what makes Melee special. However, that didn't come to fruition. I have a ton of respect for each player and their drive to win, however, I became frustrated. Various iconic FGC commentators were disgruntled with the commentary, however, it was very difficult to continue without feeilng repetitive. You can only talk about the players so much over the course of a weekend, matchup and what not without feeling repetitive. And lastly, the high from seeing some of the fasted paced matches and upsets that I've witnessed going into that also contributed to my somewhat biased commentary.

In regards to the perception of the FGC during commentary, during day one (pools + USA vs the world), the stream had been told that the FGC events were taking place the next day as well as on the second stream (The one hosted by bifuteki). However, for the Sunday's events, of course the stream monsters sat in and berated the game. In addition, we had a lot of FGC mainstays viewing and commenting. So, if in any way, my commentary could be used as ammunition for the traditional FGC to berate Smash on the whole, my apologies.

Commentary is supposed to remain unbiased and down the middle, however, I'm also a fan. My own personal hopes and aspirations slide in as well, and may have tainted a lot of things. So, my sincerest apologies to the staff of Apex 2012, the players, the community on the whole, and the viewers.

 

[Strong Badam]

we love you prog

 

[Xyzz]

Your "anti - America" commentary was fun, and the fact that there was actually people who took it serious just contributed to the fun; though, them muting you and just turning you back on whenever you started to eat that sandwich was hilarious as well

Well, and grand finals WERE boring (except for those people who successfully convinced themselves otherwise). "As a player, I understand the mindset of both Hbox and Armada with pride and a good amount of money on the line. As a fan, I was disgruntled. " describes them perfectly.
One could argue that the commentators shouldn't openly talk **** about the match at hand, though iirc someone was calling their last meeting "whack as ****" and refused to consider them "real melee", and nobody minded him doing so. Non-smashers watching the stream shouldn't matter at all. Some people from other fgc hate are going to hate smash for whatever reason anyways, I doubt anybody switched from the "hey this game is looking super cool" to the "lolpartygame" - faction over the matter; it's just one match, and all the others were packing a lot of action.

edit: just realized I forgot to state that ALL of your commentary was super entertaining and fairly informative (fine for me, if people needed more information they should just send you their questions anyways. There is not really that much news which you could tell me, so I am mainly looking for entertainment from commentary ), thanks for the great job!

 

[Battlecow]

You didn't do a terrible job.

The "America sucks" thing got old after a while, but it was funny for part of the time at least.

 

[Prince_Abu]

ur black but u sound like a white guy

 

[Geenareeno]

Being Canadian, it was really funny the whole time. Good stuff.

 

[Ministry]

i hate Americans so it was funny.

 

[-ShadowPhoenix-]

wasnt that bad

thing that got to me was that there was literally no informative commentary

 

[Joe Tuber]

I'll take this opportunity to apologize for my commentary. First off, the USA vs the World crew battle, I may have been out of line. Apparently, the joke wasn't well received, so I'll apologize for my statements again. Nothing I said should have been taken to heart, I guess my attempt at satirical mockery didn't go over and was viewed as shallow. If anyone found my statements to be offensive, I sincerely apologize. I was taking the role of the "heel commentator," and wanted to do something different from the common play by play/color commentary that has been entrenched in the mind of the viewers.

I'm sure most of the viewers realized that you weren't entirely serious. The problem isn't what you were saying about America; it's what you weren't saying about the match.

I think your commentary was good when you stayed on topic, and the America-hating schtick was even funny until the crew battle started. It was old the minute it got in the way of real commentary, though.

 

[hectohertz]

prog, you're a great commentator

made gf's more fun to watch.

and i thought that the commentary for USA vs The World was perfect, one commentator for each side. that's how it should be (or both neutral, but honestly i'm more for hype)

 

[Gea]

Prog, the issue wasn't you saying those things, though they weren't particularly classy. To be blunt, it's that you don't know when to shut up. We don't need ten minutes of exaggeration to go with that joke.

Thanks for the apology. If anyone needs to apologize about the stream though, it's Pierce. What a stain on the smash community.

 

[twizzlerj]

I died at the papyrus part that was amazing.

 

[>Bert<]

Prog, the only other commentators I would take over you would be Husband and Wife (and that's just for the obvious reasons like they have so much knowledge of smash its ridiculous). I truly thought you did a great job and you definitely kept me laughing. Your voice is really easy to listen to and I never once got annoyed (even at the America sucks thing lol). Trust me man, the viewers loved you.

 

[mesa23]

hey prog, i enjoyed your commentary.

the whole anti-america thing was funny and with dogysamich to keep you in check it was pretty enjoyable

keep on keepin' on, broseidon

 

[Fuss]

I'm American and I could tell you weren't being entirely serious, still love your commentary.

 

[Wolfy!]

I loved the commentary. Though the joke did get stretched out a little too much, I still thought it was funny. Keep on keepin' on, prog.

 

[Deadandlivin]

America is far from the worst country in the world but all americans seem to think it's the best in the world which Imo is far fromt he truth.

So seeing an american speaking the truth about his own country(Most things you said are true) was very amusing. What was even more amusing was when people started to call you a terrorist for not being a patriot. Hillarious...

 

[Mr Postman]

ur black but u sound like a white guy

This.

I would have never guessed you were black

 

[bossa nova ♪]

lol some of it was funny


let me get on the mic next time i can actually play off you





EDIT:


also, **** america

 

[Massive]

Seriously though, less jokes more game explanations.
You guys even announced that you were told to break down some of the basics of the game (dashdancing, explaining common strategies, etc.) and despite the "ask us questions on twitter" thing, I never saw much of it happen.

Part of the reason why Starcraft streams are so easy to watch is that the announcers are good at explaining what's happening even if you have no idea how Starcraft is played. That game isn't even very flashy but they can make highly entertaining even to the uninitiated by explaining the significance of events and directing our attention to the important parts of the match.

Luckily, Melee is also reasonably entertaining and flashy to watch at high levels of play. I know a lot of other FGC players who wish Street Fighter or Guilty gear had the flashiness Melee has. It's easy for them to understand who's winning or losing and appreciate cool combos because they already look cool. If you could toss some minor game facts or explanations of why someone is doing a certain strategy (I remember some decent commentary about the sheik/falcon matchup when Hax was playing, for example), that would greatly improve the stream and make us look more credible as a community.

All-in-all I think you did a decent job; you have clear, deep voice which is good for announcing. Just try to limit the jokes to one liners, that way if you unintentionally say something you may regret it's just a single "oops" instead of an anti-America tirade.

 

[MonkUnit]

I didn't mind the commentary all that much but it did get a bit old after a while.

Although, I found it more hilarious when you got muted and Dogy kept egging you on saying "you mad". lol

 

[Bing]

I find it funny that anyone that he was being serious

To prevent this, next time they need a Canadian to do the Anti-American ****.

 

[Veetaak]

I'm glad you realized your mistakes.

I think you did a pretty good job except for the things you pointed out (world crew and GF) The anti america talk got very boring very fast.

 

[Sephirothxxx]

I'll take this opportunity to apologize for my commentary. First off, the USA vs the World crew battle, I may have been out of line. Apparently, the joke wasn't well received, so I'll apologize for my statements again. Nothing I said should have been taken to heart, I guess my attempt at satirical mockery didn't go over and was viewed as shallow. If anyone found my statements to be offensive, I sincerely apologize. I was taking the role of the "heel commentator," and wanted to do something different from the common play by play/color commentary that has been entrenched in the mind of the viewers.

Secondly, I'd like to apologize for my words during the Grand Finals set. As a player, I understand the mindset of both Hbox and Armada with pride and a good amount of money on the line. As a fan, I was disgruntled. From someone who knows the mocking that the standard FGC does in relation to the Smash series (as evident during the UMVC3 portion of the tournament's commentary), grand finals would show case the creativity of the players as well as what makes Melee special. However, that didn't come to fruition. I have a ton of respect for each player and their drive to win, however, I became frustrated. Various iconic FGC commentators were disgruntled with the commentary, however, it was very difficult to continue without feeilng repetitive. You can only talk about the players so much over the course of a weekend, matchup and what not without feeling repetitive. And lastly, the high from seeing some of the fasted paced matches and upsets that I've witnessed going into that also contributed to my somewhat biased commentary.

In regards to the perception of the FGC during commentary, during day one (pools + USA vs the world), the stream had been told that the FGC events were taking place the next day as well as on the second stream (The one hosted by bifuteki). However, for the Sunday's events, of course the stream monsters sat in and berated the game. In addition, we had a lot of FGC mainstays viewing and commenting. So, if in any way, my commentary could be used as ammunition for the traditional FGC to berate Smash on the whole, my apologies.

Commentary is supposed to remain unbiased and down the middle, however, I'm also a fan. My own personal hopes and aspirations slide in as well, and may have tainted a lot of things. So, my sincerest apologies to the staff of Apex 2012, the players, the community on the whole, and the viewers.

I thought your commentary was hillarious. No worries.

 

[TheCrimsonBlur]

Prog your commentary sucked.

There.

Now you don't look stupid for apologizing for something no one had a problem with lol

I gotcha back homie

<3

 

[The Irish Mafia]

as a community we should really take note of prog's maturity
this is an apology, and i'm sure whoever was offended understands that
good ****

 

[Stray Sheep]

Was OP the one constantly *****ing about GF during the set? That was really annoying. Not like I didn't have to hear everyone else ***** about it later, could have at least had some peace during the actual set. oh well.

 

[KishPrime]

I don't envy your job in announcing the GF. That was perhaps one of the greatest tests any commentator could face. It's not hard to see that commentating is much easier when matches are exciting, up-tempo, and close than when they are slow, drawn-out, or blow-outs. This was a hard test.

That said, I appreciate the apology regarding how you talked about the game, because as a prime representative of the community and someone who will be heard on match replays forever (of the finals of a massively important tournament), you simply can't go where you did. If the commentators that represent the game decide to lash out at the game itself simply because the players involved choose to exploit certain parts of the depth that are less entertaining, that completely tears down the desire of any spectator to get excited or interested in the community. It is also disrespectful to the players involved as well, because they are both striving to win with all of their focus, concentration, and skill. Melee is a fantastic game precisely because there are so many effective ways to play it. It's as diverse in style and depth as any fighting game out there, and that should be a massive point of respect. No one apologizes for fireball wars in SF, and no one should apologize for YL/Puff in finals.

Anyway, the fact that you would man up and put yourself out there is impressive, dude. You clearly are already aware of many of these points, and I have full confidence that you'll find your balance and look forward to seeing your growth in the future.

 

[Dr Peepee]

<333333 you prog

<333333333333

 

[Holder of the Heel]

What? He in no way sounds white. But more to the point, I wouldn't worry too much about it, the only people who really think it is a big deal... have a big problem. It is nothing for us to get upset over, seriously. It must have been extremely uncomfortable and challenging to do something so exhaustive and tedious, lay Smashers would do worse or remain silent most of the time.

 

[Djent]

Other people have already said it, but here it is anyway:
The nationality jokes were overplayed, but your commentary was still good overall.

 

[rhan]

Prog **** what the haters say.
I'm gonna be fighting for our country America and I still laughed at every joke you made.

 

[HomeMadeWaffles]

prog you're okay, you didn't do anything wrong

you and dogys commentary is legit to, the best ever

trust me dude you'd end like me if you messed up.

 

[Zoler]

I didn't hear ur commentary prog but..

YOU ****!!!11 <3

 

[Spelt]

I realized from the start that the crew battles commentary was a joke, that doesn't make it any less ridiculous and out of line. Especially when you go on like that for almost an hour.

Your commentary on sunday was much better, though. I don't think you made one negative remark towards hbox. That shouldn't be a big deal but unfortunately it is.

 

[Metal Reeper]

People like Prog because they think he made Yonkers.
Wa-blam.

 

[Krynxe]

Sounds like commentary johns to me

Maybe you should just counterpick "swag" and never lose commentary again

Until "swag" learns the mu, that is

 

[kevo]

I thought you were a little annoying the first day, but overall you and Dogy did a good job. It's hard doing this and I understand with all the Apex hype its easy to get carried away. You're easily one of the best commentators, so +respect for stepping up and acknowledging your criticism. I thought you tried your best to make Hbox vs Armada exciting, but maybe hyping every hit instead of lamenting what could have been would be better. I know just about everyone calling you out couldn't do better. You're the bomb, prog, you're well on your way to becoming a commentary legend with an entire video game franchise named after him.

 

[Wolfy!]

This is ****ing awesome.

 

[Roneblaster]

I didnt watch GF, but i think its probably good that you did atleast some *****ing about the situation.

That isnt what most melee matches are like and the people who dont play melee need to know that.

@ mr. Prime people and commentators do ***** about lame play in SF, but lame play is much more common in SF so its not as big a deal to the spectators.

People who were offended by the anti-america talk are too stupid to deserve an apology and those who didnt like it arent worth ur time to write an apology prog.

<3