Smiley's MLG Meadowlands 2008 Photo Essay
By blandestk | Published: April 17, 2008 7:48pm EST
We tasked Smiley with cataloging MLG Meadowlands 2008 photo-style. She produced in spades: I just got home from MLG Meadowlands! The entire trip was a lot of fun and it was so great seeing everyone after so many months. I got to the tournament Friday morning after an overnight flight with my friend Allie. After crashing for a few hours, I made my way down to the venue and it was so exciting to see the massive crowd lined up outside the building. This is usually my favorite part of events because you get to find all your friends, but this being the first time since the off-season made it all the more exciting! I was really curious to see how the venue would look since MLG had new sponsors such as Dr. Pepper. There was a really sweet Dr. Pepper lounge where they gave away free drinks and there were also huge pictures on the walls of MLG Pros. What is really exciting about this season is the fact that it is a brand new game, so pro status is up for grabs for virtually any team willing to work hard enough for it. I was really impressed by a lot of teams who were coming out of nowhere and making names for themselves. Saturday morning I was especially drawn to the game of Str8 against a team called Rainbow Riders. To my surprise, almost every game was neck-and-neck. A lot of new teams are looking really strong and don’t seem intimidated at all by the old pro teams. Everyone seems a little nervous about the new intense competition this season. I can only imagine what is going to happen in San Diego and in general with Halo 3. The entire tournament itself was really fun, other than me being sick on Saturday. It was so good to see everyone after so many months, like a big family reunion! I was so lucky to randomly end up having the same flights with both Allie and Rob Simpson. The plane ride home was absolutely hilarious. It started out with them playing the movie "PS I Love You," where Allie and I cried like babies for the entire movie. Afterwards, Rob, Allie and I got into a super serious Go Fish game. We ended the plane ride by falling asleep on each other for the last two hours. Overall this tournament was definitely a good one and I can’t wait to see what happens in San Diego. I am really excited that there is a California tournament :D We are definitely taking a road trip there and I’m pretty sure we are going to have people fly out early to LAN. See you all there! P.S. You can find all my pictures from the Meadowlands on myspace.com/smileypms. 
I absolutely love Friday mornings when you go to the venue and see the massive crowds of people waiting to get inside. There is just so much excitement and so many familiar faces, which is always great.
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