The real "LOL" here is, my comment totally went over your head and your deduction is based upon your own guilt. It had absolutely NOTHING to do with who you were, but how you were playing then and there. Bass, you placed where I thought you would based on what I saw from you before and during your first matches of the tournament. I do this with ALL new players. I never saw Rich play before or knew who he was, and I expected him to place at least top 4 based on how he played offline and the other players there, and the only reason you beat him was because he didn't "show his hand" just as you said you didn't want to do before. If you beat him in casuals, and lost to him in tournament, and you were both online players, it's a wash right? Well no, because you lost to him where it counted. That's just how it is. Hopefully you both learned something, I know Rich did.
So don't think that I'm saying I knew who you were, but Rich knew exactly who you were. I don't make things up. I don't front. I don't pretend. I am a straight shooter. I have a reason for everything I say, in and out of MK. I don't base players off netplay, which is why I just ignore it. Had I known who you were, I still wouldn't have known how you played before because it would have been based from netplay, I would have waited to see you in person. I evaluated you because I had a feeling you were a ringer or a shark to some extent based on your demeanor, and then you wound up placing exactly at the top of my estimation, which is a good thing. Not everyone shows up to their first tournament and walks out better than 0 and 2.
Again, this doesn't mean anything to me. "20,000 vs 5000 speaks for itself" if it doesn't mean what it sounds like, they what does it mean? What it means to me is you played 20,000 people in a less accurate representation of the game than originally intended. There are no players who frequent Live anymore who would help me get better even if I played them in person, so practicing my existing tactics and timing online is 100% worthless to me, and will damage my offline play, which is infinitely more important since I compete offline. Even if I could play other top players all the time, it wouldn't help any of us to do so. Someone like Phil could benefit to an extent against me online, but it would only hurt my gameplay. Eventually it would even out and we'd have to take it to offline for the matches to make a difference again, and he'd have to catch up again. This is why we play in person. I can bet there are netplayers out there who live within a half hour of each other and would rather play online than meet up. It's just a personality profile that exists for online gamers, but not true fighting game players. The average fighting game player craves the experience of one on one in person competition, this is why the average MK player doesn't match up to the average fighting game player, since the overall desire from the community is not present, but being instilled by the growing groups of players and potential multi-regional activity. They thrive on it. FPS players are far less likely to desire meeting others in person, but they still do.
When someone deliberately contradicts facts because they want to feel better about their gameplay (personal gain and clouded judgment), I will lay all my cards on the table and say it's a cop out. Sans Power is wrong about a point he's trying to make, and there are plenty of other points he could make, and be right about, but he's focusing on something he's 100% WRONG about. There is no skewing on my part, I know more about the game than he does, this is something you both will have to accept even though you don't like it and at the same time would most likely be critical of that same point.
I would like you to point out where I am skewing anything, that isn't a matter of "Well I'm gonna break the 'status quo' and disagree with Shock because I can." No one on this board, or ANY MK board needs my help to correct him, I just happen to be one of the first. In case you didn't realize, Juggernaut and I are not exactly cozy, and we are both saying the same thing to the same guy. So stop living in your dramatic fantasy world of oppression from the might of Shock, because it doesn't exist. Your stomach should jump when you realize just how far off you were on your accusation that I thought I knew who you were. You couldn't be more wrong and this is exactly the kind of thing I talk about. You don't ask questions, you make accusations, and I've seen it happen time and time again from different players. The fact of the matter is, most of these players understand the situation because they play on and offline against multiple players of different levels on a consistent basis, and they aren't going to disagree with me on this because they know I'm right based on their own knowledge. The base of comparison exists for them, it doesn't for you, at least not anymore, you could have very well played the Hell out of UMK3 in arcades, but clearly, you don't play like you did.