News On Prog And Evo's Top 8 Smash Commentary

[LiteralGrill]

This year Evo 2015 will have the largest Smash events of all time for both Melee and Smash for Wii U. Only one game will take the stage on Sunday. This top 8 looks to be a major point in the history of Smash, and the person who will be on commentary will be in quite the spotlight. Just yesterday, Evo announced that Prog, one of the most famed commentators of Smash, would be one of the honored to take that place.

@progducto the return of prog for top 8! Only at Evo, baby!

— Evo (@Evo) June 22, 2015

It seems this put the community in distress however. A thread about this announcement on /r/smashbros, the Smash subreddit, quickly passed the 290 comment mark and got over 900 upvotes. This lead to several reactions from Joey "Mr. Wizard" Cuellar, founding member of the Evo Championship Series on Twitter. A recap of all the Tweets can be found here.

There was a problem fetching the tweet

Amidst this community strife and also his own health problems, a day after he was announced to be doing commentary he stepped down from the honor. He shared his full reasoning and feelings on the matter in this Prog Blog on MeleeItOnMe.

There was a problem fetching the tweet

Prog's thoughts on who gets the commentary spot? "Either way, I know what EVO means to so many people. I’ve had my moment. Hell, I’m fortunate enough to say I’ve had more than one. Someone else deserves that shot. Whoever does, I hope they put on a pink shirt and remember how we got to this point. I wish them the best, and I hope to be in the pit, screaming my head off, and being a fan of the game, of the players, of the scene. One more time." Who will take his place? Stay tuned to Smashboards for updates on who will do commentary for Evo's Smash top 8.
SmashCapps knows the pain of health issues and wishes Prog the best and hope his health can continue to improve so he may enjoy the games he loves. To keep up with SmashCapps follow him on Twitter.

 

[NachoOfCheese]

Yay commentary.

 

[Spoice]

I'm disappointed in the way this community reacted, especially to Prog. A man who put so much of his life into this game.

 

[Papapaint]

I wouldn't be even remotely involved with melee if it weren't for Prog. Looking forward to working on Last Stock Legends with him.
Remember your roots.

 

[TheHypnotoad]

I never realized Prog had been suffering so much. He didn't seem ill at E3, EVO, or Apex. I figured that his health problems weren't actually that severe, because he seemed perfectly healthy just by looking at him. He certainly put on quite the facade.

 

[PillsBuryDopeBoy]

I was looking forward to hearing him commentate, but at the end of the day this is his decision. Hopefully whoever does end up commentating will do just as well as Prog would have done.

 

[Dylan_Tnga]

Too bad he can't do it finally, prog is my favorite commentator.

 

[Sp1nda]

Prog and D1 are the two who really made Smash exciting for me early on. Every time either one of them were on the mic in matches I would watch, it made the match better. I respect Prog, and I never realized how bad his health issues were.
He still puts what's best for the community over himself, even if he suffers when he does it. Seriously, it brings tears to my eyes to see how much this man cares about the Smash community.

 

[Kidney Thief]

As I've always said, I respect Prog and I think he's legendary in this community. Get well soon

 

[Phoenix502]

the fact that a very vocal (and very irritating) minority is grabbing this much attention is just... ugh...

I'd love to do something about those people who tend to cause trouble for immature reasons... but since I'm mostly "just another Smasher", I got no idea what.

 

[mobilisq]

It seems this put the community in direst however.

Duress

 

[Dr. Tuen]

He's a great man, and I hope his health returns sometime soon. Soon enough to hype up EVO from the pit!

 

[NGUY (guitarstage)]

GG GL HF prog you will always be remembered as a representative of the community

 

[WT!]

First let me say that I am pissed, and that I don't really have the forum guidelines on my mind right now, if you know what I mean. F*** all of you on reddit! How dare you talk like that even indirectly to Prog as though he were a WTA tour player coming out of retirement for the 9th time. Nobody has ever commentated any smash title better than he and D1 commentate Melee as a team. Personally, I don't care if he "retired" and keeps coming back whenever he can, in fact I think that is an incredible thing for him to commentate any match. He does it for you guys, and although I know his heatlth problems did discourage him, I blame you for forcing him down.

 

[KillerGum]

First let me say that I am pissed, and that I don't really have the forum guidelines on my mind right now, if you know what I mean. F*** all of you on reddit! How dare you talk like that even indirectly to Prog as though he were a WTA tour player coming out of retirement for the 9th time. Nobody has ever commentated any smash title better than he and D1 commentate Melee as a team. Personally, I don't care if he "retired" and keeps coming back whenever he can, in fact I think that is an incredible thing for him to commentate any match. He does it for you guys, and although I know his heatlth problems did discourage him, I blame you for forcing him down.

Lmao are you 5 years old? You sound like a rampant fanboy who is mad because not everyone has the same opinion as you do. Copy pasting what I put on reddit: "People aren't pushing Prog out. He even said it. And, just because people don't like his commentary, it isn't an attack on him as a person. If the entire community wanted him there, he would've obviously done it. But he sees that people want some fresh blood and other commentators deserve a shot, so he is stepping down. He even told people not to point fingers and even told Mr. Wizard himself to stop blaming the smash community after he made some angry tweets."

Also, to quote Prog himself: "But the biggest thing as a community leader is making decisions. The community deserves to be represented by someone who is always there."

 

[T0MMY]

With every freedom comes responsibility; let those who speak be responsible for what they choose to say - the internet is still young and children on the internet younger still.

Prog is a great man and I can't believe he's had the strength to give so much with what little he has. Hallmark of a legend.

 

[KMAL]

Totally my own opinion but to me this is a prime example of why people don't take the smash community seriously. We cause many of the problems that present themselves in our community. Feel free to disagree but this is how I feel.

 

[Puppyfaic]

God, that article actually brought tears to my eyes. I had no idea, Prog.

 

[4nonymous]

SmashCapps you done goofed again bruh. Smash WiiU/3DS and Smash 64? bruh

 

[MasterIcarus7 (SHADE)]

Well, maybe juice.doom will get the spot, considering at Apex people were hating on him being announced for commentary.

 

[lordvaati]

God, that article actually brought tears to my eyes. I had no idea, Prog.

seriously, I am crying right now too. To Think he had such a burden to bear. I honestly don't know what to think now.

 

[Purin a.k.a. José]

That's bad. Prog, along D1, is a legend of commentary. Hopefully he will get better...

 

[SmashJC]

, but anyway, Smash 64 was a good choise.(luigi's victory dance)

 

[Takehiko]

That writing was beautiful. I wish that he would have that ability to commentate again. However, I understand full. Thanks for your controbution

 

[BorktheBrat (Carl Brody)]

This year Evo 2015 will have the largest Smash events of all time for both Melee and Smash for Wii U. Only one game will take the stage on Sunday. This top 8 looks to be a major point in the history of Smash, and the person who will be on commentary will be in quite the spotlight. Just yesterday, Evo announced that Prog, one of the most famed commentators of Smash, would be one of the honored to take that place.

@progducto the return of prog for top 8! Only at Evo, baby!

— Evo (@Evo) June 22, 2015

It seems this put the community in distress however. A thread about this announcement on /r/smashbros, the Smash subreddit, quickly passed the 290 comment mark and got over 900 upvotes. This lead to several reactions from Joey "Mr. Wizard" Cuellar, founding member of the Evo Championship Series on Twitter. A recap of all the Tweets can be found here.

There was a problem fetching the tweet

Amidst this community strife and also his own health problems, a day after he was announced to be doing commentary he stepped down from the honor. He shared his full reasoning and feelings on the matter in this Prog Blog on MeleeItOnMe.

There was a problem fetching the tweet

Prog's thoughts on who gets the commentary spot? "Either way, I know what EVO means to so many people. I’ve had my moment. Hell, I’m fortunate enough to say I’ve had more than one. Someone else deserves that shot. Whoever does, I hope they put on a pink shirt and remember how we got to this point. I wish them the best, and I hope to be in the pit, screaming my head off, and being a fan of the game, of the players, of the scene. One more time." Who will take his place? Stay tuned to Smashboards for updates on who will do commentary for Evo's Smash top 8.
SmashCapps knows the pain of health issues and wishes Prog the best and hope his health can continue to improve so he may enjoy the games he loves. To keep up with SmashCapps follow him on Twitter.

Bull****! Wait what health problems?

 

[Johnknight1]

I'm disappointed in the way this community reacted, especially to Prog. A man who put so much of his life into this game.

The amount of disrespect in this community by some select groups of individuals (a lot of which reside solely on /r/smashbros) is so toxic it basically gives people cancer.

Prog basically struggled to stay alive. As someone who has dealt with some serious crap health-wise that is similar to that, I know his pain, and trust me, it sucks. The worst part of that isn't the fact you could potentially die at any time, it's the people who don't want you to succeed after you beat that. Because as it turns out, a lot of people don't give a damn what you overcome, they only ever want to see themselves succeed.

Like really? To those kinds of people, I got two words for you: Piss off.

 

[Keman]

Here is an interview with prog if people haven't seen it. He kinda talks about some of the health struggles at some of the events he had in it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvEqg-zXOeI

 

[SphericalCrusher]

I do hate that Prog isn't going to do commentary, as he's my favorite... hopefully D1 will be up there. D1 and WIFE would be a good combo. I am happy for Prog though, as it sounds like he's going to have a blast in the "pit" just enjoying the tournament and not having to worry about playing or commentating.