[blub]

I gave up playing 1...e5 because it's akin to asking white to smack you over the face with their favorite variation which they practiced to perfection while black has to learn dozens of variations to cover what white can throw at them.

This Fried Liver thing is the least of black's problems.

[soup10]

reading this i realized i haven't played e5 in years, pretty much never looked back after i started learning the french

[cutler]

The French can be a great choice for black in the right hands. White often plays for a quick attack on the king side with Qg4 while risking losing control of the center. Allow black to get a rook on c8 with an open c file after c5 x d4 and black is looking good.