I can actually pinpoint when it happened for me. The two week delay we had before the 2008 contest. It's not the delay itself did anything. I was still excited going into 2008, despite not liking the format, but I guess those two weeks just allowed my excitement to wear off, and it's never really come back the same way again.
This was kind of inevitable I guess. From 2008 onwards, I got more of a social life/more complicated work and school commitments (although 2006 and 2007 were still "magical" despite the influence of college on me), and I guess this ultimately meant that contests just wouldn't do as much for me. They were a cool part of my summers during high school, but they haven''t really been that way in a while. I barely even play video games anymore, so I'm sure that doesn't help matters much. And I don't like either 4 ways or 12 hour matches as a format that much, so in a lot of ways for me 2006 was the last real contest.
But from 2002-2007, man those were the times.
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My bracket wasn't good enough to beat SuperNiceDog's in the GameFAQS Rivalry Rumble. Congrats!
This is Yesmar.