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Championship Gaming Series Announces North American Protected Players for 2008 Season

General Managers to Fill Remaining Team Spots at Tomorrow’s Draft in Austin

As Day One of the Championship Gaming Series (CGS) 2008 North American Combine comes to a close and the 2008 North American Draft inches closer, the North American General Mangers revealed their official lists of Protected Players for the 2008 season. These protected players have been selected to return to their teams on the basis of their skill, performance and leadership during the previous season and at this year’s North American Combine.

“The process of deciding which Carolina Core players to protect was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do,” said Carolina Core GM Mark Dolven. “There were so many factors beyond just who were my best players in 2007. I had to consider not only how well they performed at this year’s Combine but also intangibles like how hard they would be to replace, whether another team would draft them and if I wanted them back on the team. The people that I chose were the right ones, but I could have easily protected any combination of people.”

Joining the North American Franchise Players previously selected by their General Mangers, the 2008 CGS Protected Players for North America are:

Carolina Core:

Sam "devour" Chamma -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Chad "DAFF" White -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Cyrus "org" Habibi -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Joe "Phantom" Tackett -- Forza2 (Protected Player)

Ryan “Offbeat Ninja” Ward -- Dead or Alive 4 Men’s Division (Franchise Player)

Chicago Chimera:

Wesley "Ch0mpr" Cwiklo -- Forza2 (Protected Player)

Jason "JaSoN X" Exelby -- Forza2 (Protected Player)

Corey "tr1p" Dodd -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Marjorie "x kasumi chan x" Bartell -- Dead or Alive 4 Women’s Division (Protected Player)

Jeremy “BlackMamba” Florence -- Dead or Alive 4 Men’s Division (Franchise Player)

Dallas Venom:

David "zid" Chin -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

kevin "CHAOS" parrish -- Forza2 (Protected Player)

Josh "dominator" Sievers -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Eric "brawwr" Neer -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Emmanuel “Master” Rodriguez -- Dead or Alive 4 Men’s Division (Franchise Player)

Los Angeles compLexity:

Tyler "storm" Wood -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Ronald "rambo" Kim -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Marcus "zet" Sundstrom -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Felipe "KreeganBG" Stoyne -- FIFA 08 – (Protected Player)

Danny “fRoD” Montaner -- Counter-Strike: Source (Franchise Player)

New York 3D:

Tanya "coolsvilla" Underwood -- Dead or Alive 4 Women’s Division (Protected Player)

Salvatore "Volcano" Garozzo -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Kyle "Ksharp" Miller -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Michael "method" So -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Matt “Wizakor” Wood -- FIFA 08 -- (Franchise Player)

San Francisco Optx:

Laurent "Warmach1ne" Keoula -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Yazan "clowN" Ammari -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Moe "moe" Assad -- Counter-Strike: Source (Protected Player)

Alessandro "stermy" Avallone -- FIFA 08 -- (Protected Player)

Vanessa “Vanessa” Arteaga -- Dead or Alive 4 Women’s Division (Franchise Player)

The Protected Players represent one of three player classifications. In addition to the four Protected Players for each North American team, each General Manager has previously chosen one Franchise Player. The remaining five members of each team will be released into the general draft pool, where they will join the other Combine participants.