Two knights-share your ideas!

Who gives a flying fart what you play.

There are a lot more worse responses than e4. e4 is considered the second best reply to e4. For example, 1... a4 or 1...a5 is probably worse than 1...e5

There's lots of different ways to play black after e4 e5, and most of them are good

youtube.com/watch?v=ex8eilkWxgM

I like playing Black very much in the mainlines of the 2N. In a few cases avoiding a draw is quite difficult, in some others you have great chances, but precision is needed.

My last try did not fare so well:

I do not know why I settled for 18...Bf5- I guess I could try something more ambitious. After that move and white's response there comes a predictable short tactical sequence, and the game becomes completely equal.

Maybe 9...Bd6 is a better winning try- next time I may give it a try.

I don't play the main line, but it would work out very well for some players

Assuming against weaker opponents. The best answer is 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Bd3.

Did they play ...Kg8 and ...h6?

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6. 3. Bc4 Nf6. 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 is tried and true.

1. e4 e5 and White is in the throes of defeat

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 and Black plays best to draw with Nf6

when u do it in a plane.  unsure about birds tho'

@BongoMan I love the Polerio Defense. I've made a bunch of vids on this if anyone's interested.  

Black sacks a pawn, voluntarily destroys the Queenside, and puts his Knight on the rim but gets to play with the initiative in almost every line. The comp gives Black "equality" in most lines (slight edge to White on 7.Bd3), but Black must use the inititiave wisely and attack precisely or he loses. It is a great challenge if you are working on improving as an attacking player and overall a sound opening even though it might look crazy to people who don't like it or understand it. 

In response to the OP, I like the center fork trick line for Black (only available when White plays into it). 90% of the time, my opponents seem to respond with Bxf7+, which, although it displaces the Black King, leads to a great position for Black. So actually White shouldn't play it, but, at least at my level and lower, the move must seem irresistable to people because I see it all the time. 

It is far from boring but I prefer 6...c6 to Bd7.

I agree with SaintGermain. 6...c6 forces a decision by White:

A. White must retreat the Bishop and lose a tempo (Bd3 is best but Black is still fighting in this game, and it's by no means easy for White to preserve the advantage into the endgame--nice game by Kasparov in this line as Black. Be2 is playable but allows Black more play. Ba4 is plain bad for several reasons, but it's played a lot at lower levels because the White player only sees the immediate pin on the c6 pawn and doesn't see the potential ramifications of the unprotected piece).

B. White can play Qf3. This move is playable but in my opinion is not very good. Yes, White wins another pawn, but at the cost of giving up his best minor piece for Black's worst minor piece and, in the process, giving Black a huge initiative after Be7 (this is even better than Rb8), castles, and all minor and major pieces fly to life while White is bumbling around with poor development and poorly placed pieces. 

In either case, it's up to Black to prove the compensation, and this can only be done by precise use of the initiative and attacking. It's very easy to go wrong as Black and give White just the couple tempi that he needs to consolidate. However, if Black plays strong and precisely, he will actually have at least a slight advantage in many lines because the initiative will usually either win back the material with interest and/or will force concessions from White that lead to enough counterplay. 

@ WeLearnChess : u think 6...Bd7 is busted because u won a game?

Many GM are unable to find something against it, so i doubt u can...

U won because your opponent made mistakes, thats not due to the variation.

He played pretty well till Qd6, which is not in the spirit of the variation : development and quick action!

So anything, Rfe8-Rae8, Nc4, or if he really wants to move queen, Qb6 (at least making something).

I prefer black, even if pawn down...

However, i have to admit that Qe2 followed by Nf3 is probably the best way for white to handle this variation, thats the way i recommend to my students ^^

Li Chao won some games with it, but black missed some moves...

@OP:  After your game (at #7) did you go back to the position just after you promoted and work out the numerous ways to mate in 7 (instead of in 16)?

Practice at mating in the least number of moves can come in handy someday when you're about to run out of time.

I have to agree, an opening is not busted until someone finds a refutation that can't be refutated

The IM's post: I read it and I scratched my head. The person's username after the "@" seems like it should have read not as WeLearnChess (but read as Weseedoh, who did not say the Bd7 move got busted).