oh man
Have I ever told you guys about the Halo 2 tournament at my high school?
Apart from what a bewildering idea it was that they held a high school tournament for a 17+ game, it was actually incredibly awesome. Basically it went by elimination. There were only two people who were actually good, and everyone knew that they would eventually face off against one another. The finale where they finally did was (and I speak as somebody who neither plays nor cares about Halo) beautiful.
Whoever got to ten kills first was the winner. It went back and forth, perfectly even, perfectly matched, whittling down to nine kills apiece over the course of about ten minutes. That on its own was filled with "holy shit" moments, but then came the most drawn-out, tense, ten-minute long showdown in FPS history. I don't remember the conditions of most of it, but I do remember this.
One dude has a rocket launcher of some kind, and the other guy can't find him. Guy 1 clearly has a massive tactical advantage, but knowing that it's better to be safe than sorry he decides to move in for a close kill.
He gets above Guy 2 and jumps down onto him, firing at point-blank range. Guy 1 whips around, throws down a shield, and contains the blast. Both are instantly killed, resetting each to nine kills apiece. The entire crowd of people colelctively loses their shit, teachers included.
It was the most incredible thing I've ever seen.