Now maybe because I’m a boring kind of guy, but I’ve never really understood what is so funny about trolling people, or shit talking.

I often think it’s a waste of time, and sometimes kinda stupid. Here in Melbourne, we don’t really have a shittalking/moneymatching/trollingyourfellowman culture that seems to be quite prevalent in Sydney.

So I won’t lie; sometimes the antics from the Sydney community throw me for a loop. It’s probably because I  myself don’t really understand the fun or motivation behind it, that I often find myself standing there and thinking, “Why would you do that?”

But what I do admire from Sydney is that by Melbourne-bashing, shit-talking and trolling each other, is their singular cohesive identity as a crowd.

I remember at SS2k11, every time Furyblitz would hit a rekka, the Sydney guys would scream out curdling Bruce Lee yowls. And while they call each other free all the time, they all seem to be laughing all the time.

Maybe Melbourne is just more laid-back as a city. But whatever the reason, Sydney as a community seem more loud, obnoxious, and willing to butt heads with each other. But at least they do it as a group.

And is that such a bad thing?

It reminds me of the East Coast in the US. Back in Vanilla, post Bar-fights II, it could easily be said that East Coast was the dominant coast in SSFIV. They beat the West Coast team at Bar-Fights II, sans a extremely hype Demon from Ed Ma, in extremely convincing fashion.

And most of the people on their five-man team didn’t even like each other!

The guys from the East Coast shit-talk and troll each other endlessly. They have huge rivalries between themselves, and bear lengthy grudges.

Maybe that’s what it takes.

Maybe you need hate and anger to reach the next level in Street Fighter. You need SALT!

Then of course Valle did his whole motivatory speech. The West Coast levelled up. Justin Wong moved to Cali.

We might see some of that rivalry at this year’s EVO MvC3 5 on 5, but I think “beat the Japanese” seems to be a more dominant feeling than any regional rivalry.

But anyway, Sydney. Now I don’t really understand the Sydney scene too much, and maybe they don’t understand us too much as well. Maybe it’s just a clash of cultures.

So when I sat down to listen to the pilot of Shit Talk that Igor did with Acedizl, KG and Bomb, I really didn’t know what to expect.

I came out of it with a greater understanding of what makes a Sydney player think. I kind of understand a bit more why they do some of the things that they do.

And I found myself enjoying it. It might be vulgar and rambling, and all over the place, but hey. I love Alphaism Radio. So this is totally right up my alley.

And I guess it’s nice to see some collaboration between Sydney and Melbourne for once. So I hope to see future episodes from them, good work guys.