Welcome back to another edge-of-your-seat week of Ask Ken. I’m your host, Ken Krouner. I want to thank you all for answering the call to arms I made on Friday. My inbox filled up quicker than Tim Aten at a Chinese Buffet. That cold chill of death I feel can mean one of only two things. Either Skullclamp isn’t going to be banned starting June 20th or it’s time for a little Reader Mail! Hey! Dodged a bullet there, all we need is another year and a half of that card breaking Standard in two.
Today’s Question comes to us from Derek Rollins of Philadelphia, PA. Derek writes:
Kartin Ken,
Where did your nickname come from? I have had the pleasure of seeing you play the famed Mario Kart so I am fairly certain your name couldn’t have come from your proficiency at this great game. Please fill us in, inquiring minds want to know.
Best Regards
Wario
Well Wario, your suspicions are correct. The nickname indeed doesn’t come from my skills in that game as they are sorely lacking. The precise origin of the name is as vague as a lot of Magic lingo. But here is what is known:
The speds, before the team all quit playing, consisted of Jamie Parke, Ben Farkas, Joe Weber, Bryan Manolokos, Adam Lemke, Dennis Speigel, and Lyle Cohen. These fine men were all addicted to the Mario Kart franchise. They became so entrenched in the world of Mario Kart that they took to switching every hard”c” sound to a”k” when it was in print. In fact, they were kompletely obsessed with the letter”k.”
When they met me and saw that my initials were KK, well that was all I needed to bekome part of the group. I was never officially a sped, but I was one of their greatest supporters.
We would often go to PTQs together in the same car. In my younger years, I was kwite the speed demon. I would routinely drive over ninety miles an hour to get to a PTQ on time. It was from this penchant for speed that I was given my moniker. There is still a lot of debate over which sped actually gave me the name. Jamie, Mano, and Lyle all klaim patent rights on the name. This debate will likely never be settled, but now you know as much of the origin as I do.
The source on all things KK,
KK
That’s about all for today. I hope you all enjoyed this extra special glimpse into my life. G’ngiht Everybody!