Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Major League Paintball Held Hostage: Weekly Update

On the USPL front I'd like to encourage everyone in the neighborhood to come on down to the beach this weekend and check out the Huntington Beach event. Get loose on Friday if you can 'cus the Pro prelims are Friday pretty much all day on center court. If you are any kinda fan of big time tourney paintball you won't want to miss it. Besides, it may not happen again anytime soon. I hate being Mr. Negativity and I'd like to be wrong but with or without my rose-colored glasses (John Lennon style for you all old time hippies still living the dream) I just don't see it.

Over in Millennium Land the numbers are looking better. Malaga Beach is still about 3 weeks (or so) away and the CPL has 12 teams registered (with a limit of 16.) The SPL remains at 24 teams registered in a closed division of 32 max. And D1 made a big jump this week up to 25 teams in a closed division of 32/35. Thanks to Fred we learn that teams may be listed by the MS as registered without necessarily having paid in full. (Last week I was under the impression a team wouldn't be listed if they hadn't paid.) This complicates our efforts to keep track of how the MS is really doing but hey, it is what it is. One thing we know for sure is that the payment schedule deadlines have all passed. Whether everybody listed has paid in full is an open question.

For the upcoming MAO the PSP has 122 teams registered with 45 having already paid. Final deadline for payment is April 21st. Three weeks out from end of registration I'm a little uneasy despite the influx of team entries right at the end for the Phoenix event. D1 is looking thin and the new additions to semi-pro may prove to be a one-time thing. If so, the trouble building a solid upper division continues.
Regarding the release yesterday of the new reserve player rules for the pro division I would first like to thank the PSP for addressing the issue. I, among others, asked that the situation be reconsidered and it was. However, being the ungrateful bum that I am I don't find the change very helpful nor does it make a lot of sense. There was league resistance to simply changing the size of the roster. And apparently this isn't strictly an issue of cost to the teams because the new rule allows the teams to go to the expense of carrying a non-playing reserve player. For whatever reason the league wants the active roster to be 8. In which case they should have simply adopted the Millennium's CPL rules--since they appear to be going in that direction with the UPBF (and UCP) anyway.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

your missing something here baca

8 players is the way to go.

Its easier for teams to be competitive.
(in paintball, we have more $$ then we do bodies ALOT, and we need it to be competitive without bringing 10+ guys)

Millenium DOES have reserve players, according to the m-7 rules (capped at 7, with a couple reserve).

It makes X-ball what x-ball is supposed to be, the most intense thing ever created.

Lower roster= more teams. Its that simple. There are 2X as many teams with 8 players on them as 12. From a logisitics standpoint, 10 people is very hard to have every weekend/tournament, and the death of 10-man proves that.

They should have capped it at 8 for every division.

2 rental cars, 2 rooms, and (same entry, same paint fee's), 33% less air fare, compared to 3 cars, and 3 rooms. Cost of an event goes from (>7,000$) down to (<6,000) for a D-3/2 team. Playing time goes up from 41.666 to 62.5

That means you are paying 750$ to play 62.5% of the time, or 585$ to play 41.66 for those of you bad at math, lets say theres (100 points in an event) thats 12$ a point compared to 14$/ point.


THAT, on top of the fact that it will be easier for teams to practice, easier for teams to be created, more fun, more points for flying so far, less useless people on the roster (number 11 and 12), and the sport actually starts to become.....



a sport.

Anonymous said...

whoops. psp got it wrong to.

THe player needs to be able to come in aka a relief pitcher, the other player cannot come back in.

Baca Loco said...

Anon
Actually, I'm not. Missing anything that is. :)

First, you're competitive argument isn't logical. You might as well say an NBA team would be more competitive with a roster of 8 than the 12 players they currently carry. If my 7th and 8th player isn't better than your 11th and 12th that's when I'm in trouble--not simply because you have more bodies.

Yes, and in the MS they roster more but assign match by match active rosters. And I'd be fine with that.

If you're watching an xball match and all the players wear the same jersey please tell me how many players I'm using in the match. By that reasoning the most intense, best paintball would be a roster of 5.

Limited rosters doesn't serve the economic interest of lower division teams--which is why they howled about the rules initially until the league relented. Cost per player is more important than total cost.

And limited to 8 rosters has an adverse effect on practice--particularly for pro teams not on the left coast.

Anonymous said...

(in reverse order). Paintball players can learn all the skills they need in about 6 months to be competitive. It then takes a lifetime to learn how to work as a team.

With a roster of 12, you (if your smart) you send to VERY good lines of 5, who work well together, nad who have practiced every weekend together. I take it back, because there's nothing "more" or "less" competitive about the roster limit. It changes what skills are neccasary.

@ 8:
More athleticism (ie conditioning)
You have to have 5/9 guys to get the most out of a good practice.

@ 12:
The opposite things.
You have to have 5 of 6 guys at a practice to really make it worth your time
More of a "sprint" type conditioning, because you get more of a break.

Paintball players are stupid, and hate change. Price per point is the MOST IMPORTANT statitisic, as well as total point played over the tournament (ie, point/time away from my girlfriend, house, job, school).


The "5 player would be the most intense". Your assuming a linear relationship. Its a bell curve. Look at hockey as a limiting case, its MORE intense due to roster delimiations. Each sport is different.

TO quote you "Yes, and in the MS they roster more but assign match by match active rosters. And I'd be fine with that."

QFT...
I DONT UNDERSTAND. I am about to pull my hair out of my head. Why the psp made the change the way the made it. The millenium series (and i have been saying it for a year) hit the nail right on the head with the way they do their rosters. For those of you not in the know, its 7 + 3, and the 3 can change every game, and can also be subb'ed in for an injury, and can also help with the pits.

can you think of a more perfect way to run a pro to divisional team?

This leaves the (stupid) cost/(event*player) as low as ever, but for those of us looking for less $$/point (smart) can stay in the game.

There is no way a team who COULD take 10, would take 8. Its just way too much harder on the body, and I have only done it simulated in practice.

kert. said...

But they held a draw for CPL groups.

http://www.millennium-series.com/news.php?news=cpl_news

And even broadcast it live.

http://www.spirit-of-paint.tv/SOPtvMillennium2009PULL/index.html

Baca Loco said...

Anon
We're getting closer.
You're still mistaken about practice because it appears you are assuming practice = scrim which is the norm but is not how I do things.

6 months? That only tells me there's a lot you still don't know. :) Now if all you mean is they can play a local event without embarrassing themselves I would agree.

Too hard on the body? Simulated in practice? Those sorts of issues are the least of my concerns related to roster size.