Adam plays for Separate Intelligence of the 2009 Winter league. His primary duty is carrying the ball and is considered by many to be one of the better runners in the league. Adam and his team are currently in the league championship, facing an 0-1 deficit to Gaming So Hard in a best of three series.

1. How long have you been involved with the sport of Grifball?
I played my first game the night after hammers were added as the main weapon. Kroze kept bugging me on IRC, and I had nothing better to do. I guess he doesn’t do EVERYTHING wrong.

2. What kind of player are you?
I like to think of myself as a smart carrier, and a pure carrier as well. I think I’ve proven over 4 seasons of Grifball that I can stiff-arm fairly well, but I’ve chosen to focus my game more on working with my tanks and picking my rushes carefully. I’ve played with RomanArrow every season, and I’ve learned to read what he says during the game as a guide as to how to carry and how to keep my tanks happy, without sacrificing any solid scoring opportunities. This typically shows up as slow gameplay on my part, few turnovers, and a low rate of stiff-arms per minute, as I choose typically to lead defenders into my tanks (hammers have lower failure rates than stiff-arms unfortunately).

Everyone else just calls me a pussyfooter.

4. Is there a player/team that has inspired your style of play?
As I had mentioned earlier, I’ve been around for a LONG time, and I’ve pretty much been figuring things out as I go along. If anything I’ve DIVERGED from the styles of other notable carriers in that I’ve largely shunned any “tricks” of running, including launching (never completed one in a league or tournament game). I prefer a very straightforward and “meat and potatoes” style of play. I wouldn’t say that makes me overly unique or a pioneer, but it does mean that I never really based anything off of another player’s style.

5. Name one player who always gives you fits when you play against them. What makes them so difficult?
There’s a few. I used to have all kinds of problems against GrayFox (I can’t spell his current name, I’m a Celcius kind of guy), for one. Some combination of his connection, his southern accent, his split screening, and his affinity for hammer jumps always threw me off, and I’ve had to be VERY careful around him for a few seasons. Luckily this season some of his wonkiness has evaporated, and I scored 8 times against his and the rest of Anonymous in my single playoff game this season.

The one other player I’d categorize as “an absolute bitch to kill” for me is Superstarx35. I realize he took a season long “vacation” for a very serious offence, but I’ve liked the guy since we were Spring League 08 rivals, back when he was on the Demolitionaires. Something about his connection made him near impossible for me to stiff-arm, and his overall skills helped him make his way slowly towards me and make me do something I wasn’t comfortable with. I haven’t played AGAINST him in hardly any games over the past couple seasons, but from what I hear he’s changed from “incredibly difficult to kill” to “worst host over,” and then to “seemingly banned forever,” so it remains to be seen whether or not he still poses a problem for me.

6. Name one player you think is underrated by most. Why?
Until he finally got his day in the sun I would have said Spud Head would be my #1 underrated. After we (SI) stole his tanks and forced him to play for a new team last season, his skills went somewhat unappreciated on a somewhat unpopular team (CRR). We picked him up this season to fill in the many gaps I knew I’d have in my possible play-time, and he’s pulled through fabulously.

However, if we’re talking most underrated NOW, I have to go with an old friend/acquaintance of mine, Jedi Tiin of Fizzlewinkie. I met him in Spring when someone mentioned that he had something like .1 fewer goals per game than I did (I was currently at something to the tune of 6.5 gpg), and I decided to add him and see how he played. He impressed me then, and he continues to impress me now. He tends to get almost no credit, as Fizzlewinkie is far from one of the best teams in the league, but I would not hesitate to say that he is one of the best carriers in the league.

7. Name one player you think is overrated by most. Why?
This is a loaded question, and I think I might hurt a feeling or two revealing my thoughts on this, but I suppose you can’t please everyone while being completely truthful. I don’t think Scet Shin is very good. I’ve never played a game with him or against him in which he impressed me, and from my viewing of game film with him involved I’ve seen nothing to change my mind. He knows what he’s doing, but from what I’ve seen he’s nothing more than a run of the mill, everyday carrier, and he’s built up a reputation as a better carrier than he is.

Who knows though, I could be entirely wrong. I’m certainly no be-all and end-all of grifball skill, so there’s obviously a margin of error on this judgement call. That’s just how I see it.

8. Besides Grifball, what other games/sports do you play?
I snowboard, curl (with the rink and the rocks and the sweeping), and play tennis casually. I played competitive hockey for 10 years, lacrosse for 4 years, baseball for 2, and I played Junior High basketball. I do a variety of other things randomly with friends, etc.

9. In your opinion, do stats matter in Grifball?
To some extent stats matter. For a juking tank or just straight kill/death tank, kill/death per minute is nearly a perfect indicator of how good they are at their jobs. Goals per game is a very useful measure of a carrier’s ability, but is limited in that stronger teams will allow higher goals per game. A lot of the issues with statistical comparisons between players and teams stem from a lack of interdivisional play, but HOPEFULLY we’ll remedy this next season. No promises, but suffice it to say that I’m working on it (along with the rest of the Administration).

10. If you could offer words of advice to rookie players, what would they be?
Ignore EVERYTHING about the legacy (and now Elite) league unless you’re able to look at it entirely objectively and never make comparisons between rookie and legacy. Your opinions are made to look completely useless when you choose to compare your success with the success of teams in the upper leagues, and nobody up top will take you seriously.

Aside from that, just get a lot of games in, as well as a fair few games with people a good deal better than yourself. Giving yourself something to work towards is a good thing, and learning from those who have learned most of to all of it already is probably the best way to improve.