Tennis Staff Multiway: Difference between revisions

|STARTDATE=May 25th, 2009

The '''Tennis Staff Multiway''' is an ongoing [[tennis chain]] that began on May 25, 2009, conceived to be exclusive match played only by the [[Tennis Staff]] on the original [[YouChew|YouChew Forums]]. Originally started as a giant multi-way match between the active members of this staff of the time, it soon become part of a "rite of passage" tradition, where new rounds largely became made by the most recent additions to the staff as sort of a celebration of their promotion. Even so, any member of the staff past or present can volley, with second volleys being contributed by {{RAKninja}} and {{strong414bad}}. The match has continued following Youchew's closure, extending to the Tennis Staff of YTPMania, with the most recent round being by {{dani}} on April 2nd, 2020.

<small> ''"A legendary tennis match as old as time. Or, at least, as old as 2009. This decade long match and counting has long been written in stone by the Fucks of old and through successive generations of time and staff turnover. It weaves a multi-directional, evolving narrative of the warrior CHEN, born from the serve of the fabled Moogle, who has lived to survive 15 grueling tennis rounds of absurdity, complexity, humor, music, and NINJAS, which have been and continue to have been served only by those who have been presently or previously chosen by the Golden Bunny Breasted Racquet of Servitude, now represented equally by the Silver Racqueted Shield of the Knights of Justice (“We Don’t Care Who You Are, We’re Ready To Meet You”). CHEN The Warrior is themselves never seen until the fabled TheChutley's Round 15, but their immediately recognizable Battle Cry has pierced the heavens and cut through every tennis round gauntlet they have found themselves faced with, aided with by the awesome strength of their mighty weapon, The Incredible Laser Sword. Truly, nothing can stop The Warrior CHEN. In short, This is The Tennis Fuck Story. A theoretically endless multi-way in which only café staff may volley."''

dani_phantump's Round 18 precipitated a five-year hiatus for the match due to VidTens443's protracted progress as the original intended creator for Round 19, the longest gap of time experienced for the match thus far. On July 19, 2025, the current staff members along with a small group of former ones organized plans for the chain to officially continue, with {{TheChutley}} taking over in VidTens' spot. Enough subsequent spots were then confirmed and/or taken to allow the match a clear path towards Round 30.  

Round 2 of this match, Crash2991's "Want Me to Play With the Very Fabric that is Your Life?"(2009) was one of the 33 Round 2's sampled in GameBop's "Seconds, Anyone?"(2010), their serve for [[GameBop vs. Sploltoen vs. MycroProcessor|their match with Sploltoen and MycroProcessor]] in the [[3-Way Tennis Tournament]].

Originally the match was planned to go to about 30 total rounds, with a proposed volleying order being "{{Moogle}} vs. {{Crash2991}} vs. {{RAKninja}} vs. {{theHappyFungus}} vs. Emperor Ing vs. {{RabbitSnore}} vs. {{strong414bad}} vs. {{Gamebop}} vs. {{MycroProcessor}} vs. {{DaftPunkYoshi}} vs. {{NS2}}". While {{NS2}} showed enthusiasm for contributing to this match, he never ended up making a Round 11 like originally planned, which eventually became RAKninja's second volley. Almost every round that has been submitted to the match since (with the exception of {{strong414bad}}'s Round 14) has been by a newly added member of the Tennis Staff.

Nuthead and NS2 are the only two members of the original staff to have not made a volley, although sources signature to them both were used in RAKninja's Round 3 and ChrisGendo's Round 12 respectively. Other members of staff who have not contributed to the match include {{trepmaws}}, {{CorruptionSound}}, {{Metroid998}}, {{LaVieCestLol}}, {{Biodegradable}}, {{VidTens443}}, as well as all staff appointed after {{dani}}.

[https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLApT4ypNEuw3svdooA1nfrr8S6z4uLU8h&si=WH6l7OHs16U0U2kb Click here for the complete match playlist. {{RabbitSnore}}'s round 6 is missing.]

{{Moogle}}'s nearly 5 minute serve, uploaded on May 25, 2009, utilizes many different sources associated with the different members of the active Tennis Staff at the time of its making, along with many of {{Moogle}}'s usual stylistic flourishes. These include:

''Ninja: Silent Assassin'' (RAKninja and Emperor Ing)<br>

Kukori Es Kotkoda ({{GameBop}})<br>

Ralph Bakshi's ''Lord of The Rings''(1978)(Emperor Ing)<br>

''Higurashi When They Cry'' (NS2 and theHappyFungus)<br>

The ''Chrono Trigger'' Anime pilot (Crash2991)<br>

''Metal Gear Solid'' (NS2 and RabbitSnore)<br>

''Myst'' (MycroProcessor)<br>

Also included is a segment containing much of the original [[conradslater vs. Misselaineous10]] match sped up and treated with various color effects. In respect to the rest of the match's company, the serve edits all of these different sources in a mostly classic-based humor style, to leave room for any directions desired to be taken.

Crash's Round 2, uploaded on the same day as the serve, cuts out a good portion of the original source pool, preferring to focus just on largely Norm Augustinus, the ''Ninja: Silent Assassin'' Footage, the ''Chrono Trigger'' anime, ''Higurashi'' and much of Moogle's source representation, singling out the CHEEEEEN at a notable moment where Jim Kelly in the blaxploitation film ''Black Belt Jones''(1974) performs a judo chop on another's neck. The line "I'M GONNA KILL YOU LIKE I KILLED YOUR WIFE" is repeated from the serve, and the depiction of Adolf Hitler from ''Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo''(1978) appears for the first time very briefly. After the brief Gato's Theme interlude from the Chrono Trigger anime is shown, the full song from the original game plays over footage of Charles Gordone as the character "Preacherman" in one of ''Coonskin''(1975)'s live-action segments. The round ends with a brief coda following the THE END title card, with "EE-EE-EE-EE....BURRR-?" over Ninja Silent Assassin footage, immediately followed by a brief clip of Lupin smiling mischievously. A product of his "[[Windows Movie Maker|WMM]] year" of late 2008 to late 2009, this was the only time that Crash and Moogle shared a direct tennis exchange with each other.

theHappyFungus' Round 4, uploaded June 21, 2009, features probably the most inscrutable source additions in the match, almost entirely of live band footage both professionally and independently recorded. The previous round is given many simple juxtapositions and is probably the closest the match approaches at this stage to a style more "cutting edge" to the prevalent trends of the time, with quick visual moments, pitch shifting and other faster paced edits including the multiplying and replicating of the Hitler face. A main feature of this round is a british female vocalist speaking to the audience about what sounds like "trying to add to the fucking wheels puuuuuulllsating", before getting all the audience members from London to join in with a shout of "CHEEEEEEEN!" The song "Sweet Road" by Animal Collective underscores both the violent Higurashi sequence and the round's ending, featuring the first-mentioned added source with the rotating THE END added in multiple layers over the top. This was the third and final time after their first complete match and their aborted rematch that Happy and RAK shared a direct tennis exchange with each other.

Rabbit's Round 6, uploaded July 9, 2009, is notable for being edited with his trademark style of picture-in-picture layering, and for introducing Sonic The Hedgehog (OVA), one of Rabbit's signature sources, into the match's pool. Among notable moments are Tails' line "Oh Sonic, thank you!" with the frame proceeding to zoom in on Sonic winking at Tails with loud and distorted audio, along with Tails yelling "You're No HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!" The original upload was viewable until about early 2010, and then able to be viewed unlisted in the original [[YouChew]] thread from January 2013 until October 2019, when {{RabbitSnore}}'s YouTube account was deleted. A saved copy of this round by anyone who has it remains highly sought after to make the match complete once again. This was the second and final time after their original match that Rabbit and Ing shared a direct tennis exchange with each other.

strong414bad's Round 7, originally uploaded July 13, 2009, adds in Hotel Mario and James Earl Jones counting to 10 on Sesame Street, the latter whom, true to the videos title, does proceed to recite 9 digits of pi interspersed throughout the response (3.14159265). CHEEEEEN is heard over a zoom in onto Mario's nose and over a screen-flipping of the "Gandolf Wizard Stare", and the "sleep will ease your mind" song is repeated over the word "problems", increasing in volume to the point where James Earl Jones reciting 2 and 6 is only barely audible. As the second WMM response of the match, much of the editing is simplistic yet effective, with many repetitions, stutters and and drastic speed ups of the previous round that were well received by the other participants. This was the second and final time after [[strong414bad vs. RabbitSnore|their Tennis League 2 match]] that strong and Rabbit had a direct tennis exchange with each other.

Gamebop's Round 8, uploaded July 16, 2009, serves as the first appearance of the second generation of tennis staff into the match, and marks the round number by duplicating the "8" from the James Earl Jones footage across the screen. Lots of Kukori Es Kotkoda footage is added to the round, including a clip of Kukori next to Kopasznyakú holding a microphone as "Sleep will ease-" is heard. The CHEEEEEN now players over a zoom in shot of James Earl Jones' chin, making for a clever visual pun. (WIP, more to be added soon). This was the third and final time that GameBop and strong had a direct tennis exchange with each other.

* "NO ONE WINS AT TENNIS EVER"<br>

* A depiction of RabbitSnore's persona, drawn by Black_Puffin circa 2008<br>

Round 15, uploaded October 26, 2014, almost four years after {{TheChutley}} was first promoted to staff, is a product of her now famous middle period (once referred to by {{dani_phantump}} as "Cool Mode") and is thusly edited in her much more humorous, irrelevant and stream-of-conscious driven style from that period. It was also the only time that TheChutley and strong414bad ever shared a direct tennis exchange. Chen makes her actual first on-screen appearance, sliding down the quill of a giant Sandslash to the sound of CHEEEEEEEN before being impaled by another, followed by the text "Loading Chen.... Please Wait" with a screen flipping gif of David Bowie (from his ''"Heroes"''(1977) album cover) that was being used by {{dew}} around this time. Following this, The Ninja: Silent Assassin clip of the phone being answered is redubbed with {{TheChutley}}'s own voice, with an image of an old woman appearing on the opposite half of the screen, voiced to say:

Also added in the video is "Monica" by The Kinks (very beginning), "Rain" and "Tell Me What You See" by The Beatles, "Astronomy Domine" by Pink Floyd (played over just "here." on screen) along with several other song snippets and several seemingly random and goofy images and gifs. The Silly Symphony short ''The Wise Old Hen''(1934) is added, with a rhythmic clip repeated with the caption "ytpmv" over the video. After a clip of TheChutley's voice saying "Whatcha doin at the club ON A THURSDAY", CHEEEEEEN is heard over a drawing of a Slyveon, interspersed with TheChutley's voice going "UUUUUUUUUUUUUU" with a 8^( face superimposed over it.

Round 18, uploaded April 2, 2020, ended up as the longest round of the entire match, surpassing the first two rounds by over a full minute. It was the second time that dani and doog had shared a direct tennis exchange, occurring concurrently with the early stages of their separate match.

Adding the Akira Kurosawa films ''Ran''(1985) and ''Dreams''(1990) and the Quentin Tarantino film ''Kill Bill: Volume 1''(2003), the round is presented with the opening card for a dream sequence from the second added film: ''"Once I had a dream....."'' The Bride opens sliding doors into the field of "tennis dinosaurs" from the previous round, and focus is placed on the David Bowie gif in the corner of the next sequence, with a fragment of "Gone to Earth"(1986) by David Sylvian being heard, as a way for dani_phantump to mark their meeting with their previous influence on the match. THE BIG SIX title card appears over a segment where a boy asks a girl in pink, "Aren't there six of you?".  

The "Tennis Fuck Story" is then told in the form of a montage of scenes from the first added film, featuring select intersperses of edited moments from the previous round, edited moments of the previous round composited on top of the mostly unedited added footage and many instances of the previous rounds audio playing during it. The Critic and Norman both answer the phone and say hello to each other, sit in silence, and then both hang up. Stuart's face is mirrored onto itself as his cranium duplicates itself into a tower, before a video frame appears at its base to declare the structure is "BRAIN PALACE", thereby acting as a way to introduce [[JazzDanceForChildren + TangerineImpz vs. RAKninja + Crash2991|"GOING TO EDGAR SNYDER'S PACHINKO BRAIN PALACE"(2009)]] as another added source into the video. Audio of this video's ''Dragon Ball Z'' fight sequence then soundtracks the arquebus assault upon the Third Castle, with Taro's last words shown to be "Is this the Krusty Krab?" before meeting his demise. "CHEN" is heard as Jiro's forces charge the gates, Hidetora's retainers commit ritual suicide, and Lady Kaede is executed by Kurogane, with the previous round's "G Major" editing of this sound-byte and accompanying visual used to obscure the extreme blood shown during these moments.  

The most visual section of the previous round becomes purposed for a subsequent segment that additionally adds ''Unico and the Island of Magic''(1983) and the Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Sylvian song "Forbidden Colors"(1983) which plays to the end, with the previous round being rhymically and tonally edited to the songs central motif. The lyrics are augmented with the previous round to be heard as "the blood of Christ, or the WRITING ON THE WALL". The final moments of the previous round, in which RabbitSnore's missing Round 6 of this match is portrayed as a missing map texture, are underscored by a moment of "Peg"(1977) by Steely Dan, repeating the lyrics "it will come back" - an expression of hope towards the videos return. The video then ends with a subsequent sequence introduction from ''Dreams'': ''".....Another dream......"''