Friday, April 9, 2010

HB Special Friday

This is the only on site report because the browser hijacker just hit me again. Dammit. (Next week everything will be cool again.)

Arrived around noon Cali time today. Site is much closer to the pier. Still on the south side. A bit cooler than I expected but it seems like it always is. Beautiful, breezy--but chilly. Some slow games going on on the center court and of the few I've seen a few real mismatches too. We'll see how it shakes it tomorrow. Organizationally everything appears to working well though it's not rushed because the divisional kids were doing all the registration stuff yesterday.
Wahoo's is still excellent. Had a Number 4 with wet burrito & taco, carnitas for both. Good stuff. I think the vendor layout is perhaps more inviting than last year as it's highly visible from the beach-side boardwalk. Don't know if it will attract the curious non-paintballer but it adds to the pageantry of the event.

Apparently the pro schedule is two groups with some cross over games. Everybody plays 8 on Saturday and 8 will move on to Sunday morning. At least that's what I've heard. It may be a bit more convoluted than that but with 8 of 13 moving on if you don't make it you don't really have any room to complain. Or so it seems to me. Game schedule has focused on the pro field so games will be running until around 5:30 pm. That leaves us the one hour break tomorrow before our games start to walk the field and check or shots, etc. Most everybody else seems to be in the same position. Also seems like about half the pro teams got any real practice in on this field so it will be interesting to see if it has any effect on the outcome of the prelims. From what I saw the field is playing as I expected but divisional players aren't pro players.

Whatever happens I'm halfway to my dream HB. As I write this the sliding glass door to our beach view balcony is open with the sounds of Pacific Coast Highway rumbling softly like the crash of the surf. Bright sunlight is beginning to cast long shadows and a misty horizon gives way to a blue canopy sky. All that's missing is the pitcher of margaritas but we have some games to play first.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

5-4-1, due wiping and faking a failed box?

Share the drama!

Anonymous said...

Why does Damage play NPPL?

Baca Loco said...

Anon #1
No faking involved. When Holliday realized his gun wasn't shooting he completed his primary run. Since the refs didn't clean a prop all weekend he slid into a bunker covered in paint and proceeded to pull off his loader. He didn't wipe any paint off the loader (which was covered in paint from the bunker) and was attempting to separate the halves because the manual "trigger" wasn't freeing up the blockage. The loader was still blocked in the pit after the game. Is it possible the hopper was shot during the run? I didn't see it but it's possible. In any event Holliday didn't wipe anything and there is no 5-4-1 in the rules.

Oddly, the same ref pulled 5 guys on us in Vegas last fall on a playing on call.

Anon #2
Because of the potential upside. In essence the team's entries bought them a share of the league last. If the NPPL actually works it benefits the team. If the PSP works we keep paying whatever price they set while they retain the right to allow or disallow S-P and Pro teams.
More on this topic in the delayed Post HB post. In any event none of those decisions are my call--although I agreed with it originally--and still do. I just remain unconvinced the format is sustainable.

Anonymous said...

Anon #1 here. I see, I was just repeating what we heard on webcast / via announcer.

Btw. if Rotor jams like that, its almost always fixed by turning the gun upside down and pulling the lever. It pushes the gludged ball from the rotor arm. Also tuning the tension clip outwards from motor pretty much prevents those jams.

ps. even on shitty local leagues bunkers are better attended. Did you think at somepoint to order your players to clean them up before a game just to spite nppl? :P