Congrats to Amy Austin

Steve Dunn | June 13, 2009
It seems appropriate to point out that Amy Austin deserves all righteous props for being a top Goo Game player. Her loss to Russ by 38 seconds this round must have been tough to swallow after coming so far.

Amy, though we may disagree at times and differ in our style and approach, I am certain everyone who is engaged in the Goo Game joins me in respecting your skill and determination. You are one of the very best. You could have won this one and you deserve to win as much as anyone.

I consider myself a second tier Goo player, and I must say all you top players really blow my mind. Bravo to all of you, and especially to Amy.

Lori Lancaster | June 13, 2009
[hidden by request]

Steve West | June 13, 2009
Amy inspires me to play better. I look at a new goo and wonder if she's gotten it yet. And when she gets it first I'm unsurprised and then wonder if this will turn out to be her next Imelda. I've little doubt that as she continues to play, she will surpass all current records. Go get 'em in the live version!

Steve Dunn | June 13, 2009
I can generally gauge the difficulty of a goo by waiting a couple days to see how many people get it. More than ten? No problem. Only two or three? Better hunker down.

Amy Austin | June 13, 2009
Thank you, Steve, for starting the discussion (and for the private messages I also received)... I definitely appreciate the sentiment. Yes, it was extremely hard for me to swallow -- my night was effectively ruined, as my mood had not been so great up until then anyway (personal issues that still exist as a matter of my divorce)... the least of which was the fact that my cable/phone/internet services were interrupted day before yesterday at about ten o'clock at night, before I had submitted the answer to the last untimed goo. Since the very upsetting final minutes of the night before... after 23 hours and 45 minutes of being the sole guesser on that goo (which I immediately recognized and very much wished had been the timed goo, because I then would have been the shoo-in for the win!) and being let down on that front, I assumed this to be a kind of strategy. Thus, I was waiting until roughly the same time to submit the next guess on the following day... even though I already had the answer the same night. However... once my services were interrupted (and I could not pay until today), I had to go to a friend's house, where I submitted my answer at five to midnight.

It would have been my usual strategy to go ahead and open the next goo, knowing it would be timed (and I believe it is already well-known how much I detest the timed goo), but since it was midnight at a friend's house, and I didn't know how long this might take (I could search at my leisure at home, if necessary), I chose instead to leave it until the following night -- when I would have to go back to my friend's house again to use the internet connection there -- and hope that I wouldn't see another answer and time already in place (since yes, another answer gotten in very near a minute is extremely distracting to try to find the correct answer in the same amount of time or less, and I find it rather paralytic for a precious few seconds). I knew that I would, though, and I also knew, by the time I had the answer, that I would be too late. And I was. And yes... I am feeling very much like a very, very... very... poor sport about it right about now. Yes... I did almost cry about it. Almost.

So thank you again for those comments -- they mean very much to me. Not having won since 2005 and once upon a time being considered someone extremely difficult to defeat... I really thought that my time may have come again. Considering the heights to which certain streaks have risen and the growing deficit between myself and the level of Goo Master (from 50 at its closest to 70 now), I also don't see any Imeldas or other record-breaking feats coming my way anytime soon. But thank you... really. I do appreciate the thought and sentiment behind it.

Steve Dunn | June 13, 2009
Egads! It was even worse than I thought!!

Bitter pill to swallow, but I predict many wins in your future.

My own tournament story is a lot less dramatic this time around. I couldn't get the first tournament goo. The End.