Major League Paintball Held Hostage: Weekly Update

The PSP's Chicago Open concluded over the past weekend and World Cup registration hasn't opened yet. (Which isn't a great surprise given the event is 3 plus months away.) However, the WC venue and dates have been announced. The location will be Fantasy of Flight in (or near) Polk City, Florida, from Oct. 7 - 11. Does anyone else find the name of the venue ironic given the efforts in past years to "launch" tournament paintball? (Okay, maybe it's just me.) I also find some of the internet squealing about the loss of Disney rather amusing as well as if the WC had always been at Disney. Hey kids, how would you feel about parking two miles away and being shuttle bussed to the Wide World of Sports site every day with your gear? (That was going to be a condition of going back this year.) And on the plus side Kissimmee isn't all that far off. Anyone who wants to hang out in the old haunts needn't be more than a half hour ride away. Even better, Polk County puts the "Cracker" into traditional Florida Cracker culture. (If you're wondering if VFTD has slipped into crude racial commentary, it ain't so. It's part of Florida's unique heritage, not unlike West Virginia genealogies that have no branches.)

News out of the USPL remains much the same but we're now into the final week(s) countdown to the West Coast Open. Now is the time hop on board to get your 7-man on. There's some serious local promotion going on as Giovanni pulls out all the stops and in case you missed it, you can bring your own paint or purchase from KEE on site. Not sure how you can go wrong on that count. And Camille dropped me a note hinting at some big news for the league hopefully coming soon. As I've said before, if 7-man is your deal (or if you haven't tried it but aren't excited by xball) now is the time to check it out. West Coast Open is in July and the DC Challenge will be held in August. Heck, even if you're a regular xball player there's nothing for you until World Cup so why not come out and play some 7-man?

Over in Euroland the MS is mere hours from the beginning of the Paris Open event. What I presume are final numbers (or mighty close to it) puts the D2 contingent at 16 teams which means the MS came up 9 teams short of filling all the spots for the Millennium Cup. In the separate M5 event there are 36 D3 teams registered which is better than Bitberg but fewer than Malaga. I imagine the numbers have to be a little disappointing and I wonder if this be the end of the "open" event experiment.
In the better late than never category the MS has finally announced the finals schedule for the Malaga event in the locked divisions. The games will be played Friday morning in Paris. Way to build suspense, Millennium.
For those interested in a preview of the upcoming CPL action one of VFTD's Eurofriends sent this link along the other day. Seems a number of the CPL teams will be getting in some last minute practice on the July 1 & 2. And if your Francaise isn't so good try looking here. (You will need to be a registered Facebook user though to access the page.)

Next on the Grand Tour schedule is the Graz, Austria event which looks like it may get the largest turnout of the season so far with 39 teams already registered. The event will take place toward the end of July.