used to go to Mass Insanity Clan #2 24/7 arena_badlands, and of the people were regulars on the server we had a comp player named ohnoes/brandon. he was the best player on the server so I respected him and would even just spectate and watch him play (was the best scout I had ever seen by far). I ended up watching my first match because I knew brandon was in it, it was open finals when he was on hostile faction/nxzl.
I think he inspired a few of us(me, gorilla, kleptomaniak) to venture out into tf2lobby and eventually create our first team. i remember being very nervous because none of the players I pub'd with for almost a year never heard my voice before