Previously in CNN : CNN : 2004 Nov.
Previously in CNN :
CNN : 2004 Nov. 17th<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Sent by my newspaper editor for an animal report about the famous Yeti playing golf in Tibet (China), I just received a call from New York when I was boarding at Beijing airport to XingXang.
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Michael Koel international speaking ! My boss yelled at me : I cant believe it : youre not aware of the international Counter Strike tournament in Ningbo ? You ?? Michael Koel international !!??? Let me explain what your job is : you should always be at the right place at the right time ! Who took the picture of the Chinese student in front of the tank in May 1989 in Tienanmen square ? I guess you didnt! So forget your f~&#~é@ Yeti stuff and rush to Gulou Ningbo Zhejiang China ! Be there at 9:00 Oclock pm. ! CLACK.
So I changed my airplane tickets, went surfing on the web to know what Counter Strike was about !?? And reached Ningbo at 8:30 pm. Quick stop at KFC : yummmmy
.
I just arrived in the lobby of the e-surf internet café on time and there I met the famous international players such as Laurent Fignon (as impressive as during the 1987s Tour de France), Johnny Utah, BLACK MAMBA, The last Karate Kid, Bob, lola, Nina Myers, mafalda, Ken shuri, boris le hachoir, Gunther Streik, Pancho villa, trigger, Dr evil, Yoda (you are the best ;-), el barbudo, xavtor, Jack Bauer, and as special guest stars : Yuk, Estelle and
Gérard!
How can you explain such a success for a simple video game ? To be honest I dont know but thats a fact. Every Wednesday night for 3 hours, streets are empty, nobody in the many bars and night clubs, Ningbo looks like a ghost town! This week, according to some key witness, this session was highly exciting, friendly and well organized.
If you want to join : you are free to go in and go out whenever you want, these guys will welcome you as if you have always played together, you can even ask for a training session with Nina Myers or Black Mamba ! Then during the game every body helps each other. It was my first time and it was amazing : a great moment of fun.
As the tournament qualification started yesterday, everybody concentrated but always in a cheerful and friendly way. And here I am : Involved in the now famous Counter Strike Ningbos tournament.
The National Geographic can wait for my Yeti paper for a while because Im not leaving Ningbo until the end of this tournament : somebody has to cover this HUGE International Sports Event.
