P.S. I apparently blog a lot about playoffs and championships. LOL
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
IBM Basketball League Playoffs
Back in February, the IBM Basketball League started and this was the first year as a captain. I drafted a team of friends, bringing along with me 2 guests and in fact, my entire squad except me was new to the league. 7 weeks later, I am happy to say that we found our way to a 6-1 record and enter the playoffs as the number 1 seed!
My team is very well-balanced and should be a good favorite to win the entire thing. However, we can't get too confident out there. Just have to take care of business! I'll be hoping to get my second title in basketball, wish us luck!
P.S. I apparently blog a lot about playoffs and championships. LOL
P.S. I apparently blog a lot about playoffs and championships. LOL
Thursday, March 22, 2012
IBM Bowling League: Championship Night!
NEW UPDATE!
It's all come down to this: 24 weeks later, it's time for the championship night in the IBM Bowling League! You may recall from a blog I had in December that our bowling team had won the first half of the season, thus securing us a spot in the championship match. We'll be facing a very strong team that we've faced many a time, but we've been here before and just have to take care of business! Looking not only to hold my 190 average tonight but to win my 3rd bowling title in 4 years! Wish us luck and look for an update to come!
POST-GAME UPDATE: The first game, our team bowled strongly but so did their's so we were only able to gain a small 17 pin advantage. The following game was tough as they started to heat up and we ended up down a total of 50 pins. In the championship match, total pins are all the matter since whoever wins total pins will win all the points anyway. And finally it came down to the last game. One of our bowlers started out red hot with 6 strikes in a row. However, we ran into a BUZZSAW when one of the opponents finished with 10 strikes in a row, easily having his best game and ultimately his best night of the season: 278 pins in game 3. It was just too insurmountable of a deficit to overcome and we were denied the championship. :'( But you just have to tip your hat. When a player shoots that well on championship night, well, his team deserves to win. :) Congrats to the other team and all-in-all it was a great season. Personally I was really happy as I was able to finish with a 190 average, a new milestone in my career as a bowler! I look forward to next season!
It's all come down to this: 24 weeks later, it's time for the championship night in the IBM Bowling League! You may recall from a blog I had in December that our bowling team had won the first half of the season, thus securing us a spot in the championship match. We'll be facing a very strong team that we've faced many a time, but we've been here before and just have to take care of business! Looking not only to hold my 190 average tonight but to win my 3rd bowling title in 4 years! Wish us luck and look for an update to come!
POST-GAME UPDATE: The first game, our team bowled strongly but so did their's so we were only able to gain a small 17 pin advantage. The following game was tough as they started to heat up and we ended up down a total of 50 pins. In the championship match, total pins are all the matter since whoever wins total pins will win all the points anyway. And finally it came down to the last game. One of our bowlers started out red hot with 6 strikes in a row. However, we ran into a BUZZSAW when one of the opponents finished with 10 strikes in a row, easily having his best game and ultimately his best night of the season: 278 pins in game 3. It was just too insurmountable of a deficit to overcome and we were denied the championship. :'( But you just have to tip your hat. When a player shoots that well on championship night, well, his team deserves to win. :) Congrats to the other team and all-in-all it was a great season. Personally I was really happy as I was able to finish with a 190 average, a new milestone in my career as a bowler! I look forward to next season!
Monday, March 12, 2012
After Hours Gaming League: PLAYOFFS!!!
After 8 weeks of Round Robin and Seeding play, the After Hours Gaming League is entering the playoffs!
IBM finished with a 7-1 record and enters the playoffs as a #1 seed in their division. Here is a picture of the championship bracket:
The championship bracket is a Single Elimination tournament. IBM played Twitch.tv this past Sunday and was successfully in sweeping the matchup 3-0. Facebook upset Microsoft, which is great for IBM since they match up better versus Facebook than they would have against Microsoft! IBM is now 2 rounds away from the finals in Santa Monica, which we really want to make just so we can fly out here and meet the other IBMers we've been playing with from across the nation these past few months. Wish us luck!
Here are some AHGL Statistics:
Player Statistics
Zai 9-0
Thudbang 5-1
ATrain 4-1
Diophant 3-1
Kuma 1-0
Invariant 1-0
Iso 1-0
VDeezy 1-0
GreatArchon 1-1
atomicUpdate 0-1
theRobot 0-1
http://afterhoursgaming.tv/sc2/teams/ibm/
http://under-rated.com/AHGLPlayerRankings.html
And recently an article was published on the IBM interal community:
Making a difference
Playing video games for IBM and charity? One IBMer explains how he and other IBMers are doing just that.
Robert David Erwin joined IBM in 2009 and is a Software Engineer working on IBM Installation Manager and related install technologies and services. He also is an avid gamer with a passion for evangelizing gaming and eSports and helping grow and cultivate the eSports community.
I’ve been playing video games fanatically ever since I was a little kid. And while gaming was always a great hobby, I could never even have imagined back in the ‘90s someone telling me, “One day, you’ll play those games competitively, like a sport. And it’ll be broadcast and have commentators just like football, to hundreds of thousands of viewers globally! And you’ll do so while representing one of the largest companies in the world, against the biggest names in the business.”
Yet with the After Hours Gaming League, that is exactly what is happening. The After Hours Gaming League is a new corporate eSports league, with gamers representing 30 companies such as Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Amazon, Intel -- and now IBM – pitted against each other in a friendly competition to claim the title of corporation with the best gamers. Team IBM consists of 12 IBMers from across the company who have come together through their passion for gaming. The game of choice is Starcraft II, which is often described as a high-speed real-time chess game – something IBMers should excel at given our company history.
Besides industry-wide bragging rights and great fun, however, there is a greater cause: winning the tournament means that $5,000 will be donated to the charity of our choice. Team IBM is playing for Youth Service America. YSA is all about service learning – teaching life skills to youth through charitable services, empowering them to be leaders and make positive changes in the world.
Team IBM members are also involved in a pilot e-mentor program with YSA that starts in March, advising middle school students on science and technology careers. It is a wonderful organization to be involved with.
Getting IBM involved in the gaming league also has been a great way to inspire camaraderie and to interact with our fellow IBMers worldwide. As fellow team member Chapin Anderson puts it, “In just the past few weeks I've gotten to know two dozen IBMers from across the world that I never would have met without joining AHGL.” Team member Andy Lin likes participating because, “I get to play a game I love and form a team with IBMers around the nation who possess the same technical background as myself.”
And as team member Kathy Pham explains, “The idea of AHGL fits right in with many companies' desire to be more open, more global. Now instead of just gathering people around the local office, we can gather folks from around the world to play on a more flexible schedule after work. It builds a community that is unlike any other.”
We invite every IBMer to follow Team IBM and root us on as we represent IBM and our charity.
IBM finished with a 7-1 record and enters the playoffs as a #1 seed in their division. Here is a picture of the championship bracket:
The championship bracket is a Single Elimination tournament. IBM played Twitch.tv this past Sunday and was successfully in sweeping the matchup 3-0. Facebook upset Microsoft, which is great for IBM since they match up better versus Facebook than they would have against Microsoft! IBM is now 2 rounds away from the finals in Santa Monica, which we really want to make just so we can fly out here and meet the other IBMers we've been playing with from across the nation these past few months. Wish us luck!
Here are some AHGL Statistics:
Player Statistics
Zai 9-0
Thudbang 5-1
ATrain 4-1
Diophant 3-1
Kuma 1-0
Invariant 1-0
Iso 1-0
VDeezy 1-0
GreatArchon 1-1
atomicUpdate 0-1
theRobot 0-1
http://afterhoursgaming.tv/sc2/teams/ibm/
http://under-rated.com/AHGLPlayerRankings.html
And recently an article was published on the IBM interal community:
Making a difference
Playing video games for IBM and charity? One IBMer explains how he and other IBMers are doing just that.
Robert David Erwin joined IBM in 2009 and is a Software Engineer working on IBM Installation Manager and related install technologies and services. He also is an avid gamer with a passion for evangelizing gaming and eSports and helping grow and cultivate the eSports community.
I’ve been playing video games fanatically ever since I was a little kid. And while gaming was always a great hobby, I could never even have imagined back in the ‘90s someone telling me, “One day, you’ll play those games competitively, like a sport. And it’ll be broadcast and have commentators just like football, to hundreds of thousands of viewers globally! And you’ll do so while representing one of the largest companies in the world, against the biggest names in the business.”
Yet with the After Hours Gaming League, that is exactly what is happening. The After Hours Gaming League is a new corporate eSports league, with gamers representing 30 companies such as Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Amazon, Intel -- and now IBM – pitted against each other in a friendly competition to claim the title of corporation with the best gamers. Team IBM consists of 12 IBMers from across the company who have come together through their passion for gaming. The game of choice is Starcraft II, which is often described as a high-speed real-time chess game – something IBMers should excel at given our company history.
Besides industry-wide bragging rights and great fun, however, there is a greater cause: winning the tournament means that $5,000 will be donated to the charity of our choice. Team IBM is playing for Youth Service America. YSA is all about service learning – teaching life skills to youth through charitable services, empowering them to be leaders and make positive changes in the world.
Team IBM members are also involved in a pilot e-mentor program with YSA that starts in March, advising middle school students on science and technology careers. It is a wonderful organization to be involved with.
Getting IBM involved in the gaming league also has been a great way to inspire camaraderie and to interact with our fellow IBMers worldwide. As fellow team member Chapin Anderson puts it, “In just the past few weeks I've gotten to know two dozen IBMers from across the world that I never would have met without joining AHGL.” Team member Andy Lin likes participating because, “I get to play a game I love and form a team with IBMers around the nation who possess the same technical background as myself.”
And as team member Kathy Pham explains, “The idea of AHGL fits right in with many companies' desire to be more open, more global. Now instead of just gathering people around the local office, we can gather folks from around the world to play on a more flexible schedule after work. It builds a community that is unlike any other.”
We invite every IBMer to follow Team IBM and root us on as we represent IBM and our charity.
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