My Counter-Strike team, Marsborne, went to Fragadelphia X Block in Philadelphia. It was my first time at a Counter-Strike event. You bet I brought my camera. We arrived missing most of our VRS points. I asked around about it, but nobody seemed to know exactly why, and to be honest, I never really found out. I drove up from Atlanta with my brother. Eleven hours through the night. The gas stations in Virginia all looked the same. At one of them, a hunched-over man stared at us for so long I started to wonder if he was also going to Philadelphia.

The venue was crowded. People sat at computers, yelling at each other. It reminded me of every internet café I never went to, but it seemed fun. At the entrance, they offered me a discount if I signed up for some gambling skins website thing or other. I politely declined as I said a small prayer for the youth of this country. Finally, I got to meet our players in person for the first time. They were normal, which was a relief. Nobody smelled like they had been living in the venue, and most of them made eye contact. We did not have much time to chat because the action started right away. Our first series ended in a 2–0 victory. That sounds good, but in both maps we were behind late. Then we pulled comebacks and stole the wins. It looked neat on paper. In person, it just felt like being dragged through a car wash.

The second series started with us getting crushed on map one. Map two looked the same. If we lost it, we were eliminated. Grizz pulled off a massive clutch that turned it. We barely scraped through in overtime. Map three was finally easy. I had almost driven 11 hours just to turn around and drive back the same day, but we were saved and moved on to the semifinals.

That night, we took some pictures of the team in their new gear for updated HLTV pics. The boys were looking fresh. I was a bit jealous I did not get to take one myself after seeing them.

The next day we played Getting Info in the semifinal. I quickly learned that everyone in the building hated them. I was not even prying. This information was offered freely to me by multiple folks. As someone who loves a good story, I was instantly energized. We all know every good story needs a villain. The match was close at times, but the team showed up ready to rock. When we beat them 2–1, the crowd reacted like we had restored order to the universe.
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The finals against Blue Jays started well. We went up 2–0, MOTM making huge plays. Then we lost a big eco round on Dust 2. That was the turning point. Blue Jays reverse swept us 3–2. Truth be told, I barely watched it. My five-year-old had recently gotten into Portal 2. I swear I had nothing to do with it. The only issue was that he always needed me to help him through the harder puzzles. My mistake was not realizing once you start grinding Portal, you do not want to stop. While my wife fended off all the requests of my other two children, I had the pleasure of being on a FaceTime call with my son, trying to explain to a five-year-old how gravity and companion cubes work. The craziest part is we almost beat the game via a FaceTime call while headshots rang out from the main stage. What an odd experience. Right before map five, I got a call that my other kid had fallen trying to climb into a dresser drawer and broke his elbow. Between Portal 2 Chapter 6, a wife and a son at the emergency room, and our lovely neighbors watching our daughter, you could say I missed a fair amount of the finals.

I had planned to take the team out to dinner after the event, but instead I packed up and started the eleven-hour drive home. If I delayed in getting home, I can only imagine I might end up with more than a broken elbow when I eventually got there.

Losing the finals was not fun. But we did get a pile of VRS points, which are important even though the rules seem to change weekly. My son will eventually figure out Portal 2 without me. My other son’s elbow will heal. My wife will eventually forgive me. So the drive back was not all that bad. Just my brother and me, the highway, and a full pack of cigarettes. It was not perfect, but it was memorable. And for my first Counter-Strike event, that felt about right.

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