“OctopusOnFire, I have not played a better Blanka” – Gootecks
Some know him as OctopusOnFire, I just call him Ben. Around 2009 when our Street Fighter scene sprung up in Grand Rapids this kid Ben started coming all the way from South Haven to play. He was pretty new to it, and played mostly shooters. He got wrecked.
He didn’t like that very much so he hit training mode, hard. The scene is small in Michigan, and he wasn’t even on the Detroit side of the state where the larger scene is. He had to make due with us, training mode, and online.
In just a short time this guy was beating everyone at our weekly gatherings, hands down. It was very apparent that he gained a deep understanding of the game. He wasn’t a natural, he worked for it.
Recently he was featured on an episode of The Excellent Adventures of Gootecks and Mike Ross. They seemed to think he was Evo Material, and so did many of their viewers. Ben is a student and doesn’t have bags of cash lying around. I would send him in a heartbeat if I had the money but we’re not a big company or a sponsored team, we’re a grass-roots community. So instead I’ll create this grass-roots effort for him.
Please donate and get Ben to Evo!
Sincerely,
Slappy (webmaster)
