I think I'ma keep this one simple and work my way back into the more complex polls. No point in overdoing it, right?
In keeping with my newly formed interest in Euro teams coming to Cup let's focus on that for this week's poll question and a few other questions besides. Should MS teams register to compete in the PSP at their MS ranking or is it okay to sandbag? Or is it sandbagging? Are you an insufferable elitist American or do the Eurokids really suck? And when they register below their MS rank are they admitting they suck? How many divisions down is okay? Shouldn't the MS help the PSP police player rankings.
Aren't we really talking about a kind of paintball apartheid here with the Eurokids accepting, no, asking for second class citizen status with us being all paternal and understanding of their inferiority? I thought competing against the best made you better. Does that only work when you aren't paying WC entry fees and flying across the pond to play?
Admittedly some tough questions but aren't they completely fair?
The poll will allow you more than one response. Please vote either yes or no and if you vote "yes" then feel free to vote for some limitation or no limitation on where the MS kids can play.
UPDATE: I see in early results reading comprehension remains a concern. Well, I can't make up for the failures of our educational system and blog about competitive paintball too. C'est la vie!
Monday Poll in Review
What poll? It's been so long I've forgotten what the last poll was about. No really. I wish. Okay, so it didn't work out so well for the obvious reasons and so far this year's numbers seem to suggest changes made and entry fees remain acceptable to the large majority. So we'll let it go--for now--until I can figure out a better way to discuss it in the future. (Suggestions are always welcome.)
I am dancing around my old bugaboo (again) of limited participation up the upper divisional ranks--27 teams signed up in D2 for WC--and I'm wondering (again) if cost isn't the primary limiter, at least right this minute, then what is? Are we really reduced to only 27 teams that believe they can compete at this level of play? And, yes, this means I remain convinced that dumbing down our upper ranks is exactly the wrong thing to do if the goal is to create strong, sustaining upper divisional brackets.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
7 comments:
i'm torn on this one. are we allowed to hear what you think before we vote? i just want to conform.
seriously, now: if paintball is (or we are trying to make it become) an international sport, one international system with universal standards, the answer is clear. MS pros should play at PSP pro level. Or, remember that unversal classification thingy? How does the MS measure into that? Except, nobody seems to be using that. I don't think it ever got off the ground really?
Which takes me to reality: we're trying to say paintball is international and should be standardized between Europe and the US at WC, but we can't even standardize within our shores, a'la XSV (not picking on one team simply the only one that comes to mind this early in the morning). So have we a double standard between MS gents and state side folks when it comes to playing down? Or do we not consider NPPL 3.0 to be a real enough league to matter yet?
If there's going to be a universal standard, it needs to be followed. However, at this point, we don't have a universal standard yet so let them (XSV, Joy Division, et al.) play where they will. All the pro slots are full anyway.
But, then again....
i might be tripping, but i've heard, last december, the big guys of the industry, the PSP and the Millennium talked about going towards the same rules, same fields (dimensions, bunkers...), same classification for the teams... and... oh, wait! so i guess all that fell flat ?!? 'cause for what i saw online, the rules ain't the same (just the buzzer thing instead of a flag is a pretty big difference), the fields ain't the same, and for what you say, the euro teams can register in any division they want...
I guess half of me would like to see Paintball with universal rules, on TV, Pros making money... and the other half is bitch slapping me, for even considering that as an option.
Which half will win ?
It's not an option. At least not right now.
A unified ranking system is a decent idea, but not implementable at this point. Today, a pro team is not a pro team is not a pro team. European teams v PSP teams v USPL teams v AXBL/CSXBL teams. These leagues are in competition with one another, so no one will take a back seat and say, "Our Pro division is really just semi-pro". At the same time, each league wants to increase the number of teams they get, so the PSP is not going to turn away European or USPL pro teams playing below that ranking. Not to mention, PSP Pro is apparently invite only, or something like that.
As usual, Jeff, is on target but it wouldn't be much fun if all we talked about was what is and not what we'd like or what ought to be or ought not to be.
I'm glad you picked up on the XSV example because I think it's particularly instructive of the current situation. I supported Rich's move to semi-pro (in an old post from that time now lost somewhere in the archives) because I thought it was a smart move for his team. As we've been discussing lately we can't even define "pro" to any universal standard in paintball but we still have certain expectations of those we consider pro. In XSV's case the meaningful distinction is owner versus customer, not playing up or down.
Personally I think the MS crowd ought to play in their division--if possible--but then I seem to have a higher opinion of their ability to compete than they do.
Isn't the whole deal with Pro and Semi-Pro for the past whatever years that Semi-Pro teams are just the teams that didn't oganizationally fit in the Pro division? I don't think ANY team is 'playing down' in Semi-Pro, they're just not taking whatever organizational steps are necessary to be in the Pro league (whether that be playing Semi-Pro the previous year and winning a spot in Super-7 or getting the invite in PSP or whatever)
It would also be handy if Europeans would adopt a player classification system that worked. But maybe those guys just enjoy waiting hours to pick up ID cards. Millennium is missing a big revenue opportunity not having their registration line snake around a beer garden.
The universal classification system would be a nice unifying vehicle to say to potential sponsors: "look, we have 'x' number of players tracking in our data base, here are the demographics, who plays where, etc. .paintball need to go this route.
The problem is dollars are scarce, egos are large, and everyone wants a piece of a very small pie.
The Euro's should play their own division, with the exception of the Pro's, who should have to play Semi-pro unless they are in for the season. Of course I would rather see Joy play pro, and hope that they will, but that doesn't make it easier to understand how the this reconciles with the existing league structure.
Lane could stick to the structure, and disappoint everyone who want to see Joy play the bigger teams, or he could make an allowance, keep everyone happy and further improve the attraction of the Pro spectacle. I think he will do the latter, and I'd certainly be happier that way, but what happens if the TonTon or 'insert team here' want to play Pro too?
If nothing else, they need to understand how good/bad they are, and the WC is traditionally the measuring stick. Just because its a nice vacation, doesn't mean they should be given an easier ride than anyone else.
Post a Comment