[ADSL] Malevolent Rage passed away last night ...
Yes, unfortunately this is no joke, and no he did not quit tfc, he did in fact lose his life last night on January 20th, 2002. [ADSL] Malevolent Rage's real name was Steve Barrett. Steve was 31 years old, married, and father to a beautiful 8 month old daughter named Morgan. Steve was celebrating his one year wedding anniversary last night with his wife and most of his close friends. Everyone stood up to make a toast and after Steve gave his speech to his wife, collapsed all of a sudden and instantly passed away. Within a split second, he had lost his life. Friends around watched horrified for 30 minutes as attempts to rececitate him continually failed. Cause of death is unknown, he had no known health conditions and did no drugs.
I first met Steve because he was the manager of my apartment complex. One morning I went into the office to give them a tie that I found on the floor just outside the office. I handed it to him and he said "You play TFC, don't you". I said "Ya, how do you know?". "Cause I was walking in last night at 3 AM and I could hear you beating on your sentry gun with the wrench from the other side of the apartment complex". I got scared cause he was the manager and I thought he was gonna get mad at me, instead he said "That is my favorite game". So then he asked what my nick was and I told him [ADSL] DUCK OF DEATH, and he said he remembered me because he remembers the top scorers that play in the Vortex Server (I played that server a lot cause [ADSL] Toad got me hooked on it). So later that night, I was playing in the Vortex, and someone named (VxD) Jackblack said "hey DUCK, I live down the hall from you in 108". And I said, cool, how do you know of me, and he said "I can hear you from my apartment, you crank your shit up real loud". I said cool, and then continued to play. He then said "Malevolent Rage just got here, why don't you come over?". And I said, OK. I then walked over there to meet them in person, and from there we became really good friends and he joined [ADSL] as soon as VxD disbanded.
Many of you guys shared with me a favorite pass time of Steve's, which was Half-life Team Fortress Classic. Steve has always been a big gamer, but when he started playing TFC in 1998. He began as an Engineer, and soon became one of the best Engys the TFC community has ever seen. He then joined a clan because of his favorite map that came out, the Badlands. He played that map probably more than anyone ever has, and loved it, so he joined the Vortex Diehards (VxD) because Badlands was their map and they ran the 24-hour Badlands server. Rage was the best primer I had ever seen, even to this day. He would kill people through walls, floors, and ceilings with is EMP's and do the same with the concs. [ADSL] Malevolent Rage was also the most agressive TFC player I had ever seen and it was from him that I learned sugh agression in the game. Watching him play you could sometimes just see his fingers in a blur they would move so fast. Rage ended up to excel to the best status in the following classes, Engineer, Medic, and Demoman. He will be remembered always. (VxD) disbanded after they started competing in ladders, for they did not have the type of communication that we have. I myself even rung for them a few times as (VxD) Taskmaster because Rage would call me up and ask for help. They then did in fact dissband and he then logged on with [ADSL]. He led defense while I led offense, then he got married and had a baby and did not play very often, but was "[ADSL] for life" he said, and was absolutely right. His memory will always be honored by [ADSL] as well as many other clans.
Rage was extremely competative, even moreso than myself. He played under an Alias called Prime Directive, and was extremely skilled. He was one of the best Engineers out there, but that was not enough for Rage, he wanted more, so he decided to play offensively last year as a medic and became one of the best offensive medics there was. He had some ninja concs indeed, and was very skilled at taking out sg's, killing defenders as well as capping the flag. It was an honor playing alongside him in the battlefield and I will never forget him. Prime Directive
http://www.theclq.com/ Rage was a true friend, a great player, a great team player, and had a love of the game that was unsurpassed. He loved the teamwork more than anything, he even had fun if we did not win as long as we fought as a team, but of course enjoyed the win tremendously. [ADSL] Malevolent Rage's memory will continue to be honored both in [ADSL] as well as the rest of the community. In honor of [ADSL] Malevolent Rage's memory, we will not compete in any matches for 2 weeks and think about how important life is and just practice until then and try to organize things the way Rage would have wanted it.
[ADSL] Malevolent Rage, you will be truly missed, may you rest in peace.
Your Friend and Teammate,
[ADSL] Duck of Death