Thursday, November 3, 2011

Random (paintball-related) Rants

I'm in the middle of  part 3 of the World Cup Practice posts but didn't feel like finishing it. Or perhaps more accurately got side-tracked, again. One thing I've been meaning to talk about are the logistics of a merger in the sense of how it might affect the actual competition irrespective of any format change. And then there's a couple of items that came up today.
The first isn't really new but my resolve to do something about it coalesced today. I am referring to the seemingly endless fount of email pressers the big event series spam you with as part of their "service" to their sponsors. I have objected to the volume in the past and nobody cared. (Which is fine.) But even as I ranted about it I let it continue resignedly accepting it as a personal sacrifice for the good the game sorta thing. Yeah, well, I'm done with that. Before I continue maybe I ought to make it plain that I am not a gearhead. Never have been. (If you are your tolerance of such mailers may accordingly differ from mine.) Never had more than a passing interest in the stuff of paintball so getting slammed with notices of those new barrels or that new shoe or whatever I couldn't care less and with the rising volume it has just become a nuisance. But the good folks at PALS have taken it beyond annoying and into stalker-ish territory. 18 email promotions in the last four days was the final straw. I couldn't easily unsubscribe so I relegated all PALS email to my Junk folder. And odds are they won't be the only ones. (I don't like direct mail either.)
In the last day or so somebody started a thread in the PSP forum over at the Nation ostensibly querying views on the Coaching Question. Referring, as usual, to sideline coaching, hollering, incoherent screaming, sign waving and the like. He did so by setting up the false dichotomy of more run throughs versus sideline coaching and equating run throughs as competitive paintball's version of the slam dunk. Once upon a time in basketball the dunk was exciting. When it didn't happen that often. Today, the way the pro game in particular is played, there may be a dozen dunks in a game. Whoop-de-doo. The more routine an action becomes the less interesting or special it becomes--not the other way 'round. Personally I'd rather see 48 minutes of good hoops than a highlight reel of outsized men jamming the rock through the hole at close range. But I get the analogy--even if it is flawed. The problem here is, that much like the OWS (and all the lookalike protests it has spawned) they may have identified a legit issue but their "fix" doesn't actually address that issue. A sideline coach never stopped a well-executed take down. Period. End of story. Now if the real issue is getting the take down and living to tell the tale that's a different issue--but even that isn't because sideline coaching makes it impossible or even nearly so. Time to move on.
Separate from the will-a-merger-change-the-format chatter is the question of what the Pro division looks like in the aftermath and how the merger might impact the other divisions. In recent years the Pro field in the PSP has been the exclusive province of the Pro teams until Sunday and even then the pro refs are exclusive to pro matches. In the PSP not only does the format contribute to a best outcome but so does the quality of the officiating. (It's not perfect but it's a damn sight closer than anything the NPPL has ever put on their center court--with one exception.) A continuation of the basic practices will either limit the number of pro teams or force an expansion of the pro reffing cadre and its supervision. And that is not a minor consideration. There has also been some talk of bringing back the Semi-Pro Division. Part of the problem is that NPPL has 10 pro teams that do not already participate in the PSP and the showing of (Pro 7-man competitive) Portland Uprising recently has to be viewed as a cautionary tale by the rest. So, A) there isn't room under the current system for everyone, and B) it isn't unreasonable to assume that some number of the potential new guys aren't going to be competitive--at least initially. Toss into the mix that only 11 of the current participants in the NPPL have "owner" status (and that may not mean 11 teams) and the plot thickens some more. One would have to assume that "owners" have a leg up but even then there are a few teams that currently have rostered players who also play on other teams and there's no telling exactly how that could shake out--although that is almost certainly part of the reason there are board members dead set against a merger. Whatever happens it isn't going to be as easy as simply deciding to do it. Part of whatever happens will be predicated on what already is.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mark said:
Extreme boredom was the only reason I added my $0.02. At least he used dunk rather than feasting ;)

Ain't there 2 PSP D1 teams wanting to move up too?

Mike said...

My idea (if leagues merge):

Bring back the semi pro division. Make the Pro + SP have equal or close to equal, numbers of teams.
At the end of the season, PROMOTE the top 2 from SP, and RELEGATE the bottom 2 from Pro. Makes teams fight to earn their spots, and fight not to lose them.

Now the hard part is just sorting out where NPPL Pro teams (which don't play PSP), and the PSP D1 teams end up.

Anonymous said...

SemiPro plays on Thursday and Friday. Pro plays on Saturday and Sunday.

Do something like 10 Semi-Pro teams and 8 Pro teams, and the top two Semi-Pro teams advance into Saturday's Pro tournament. If they finish ahead of any Pro teams, those Pro teams go back to Semi-Pro for the next event.

Anonymous said...

Once again, the Fox News arm of paintball spews out more complete crap. You and Raehl should just quit and start your own league with your small minded ideas. You can put the rest of the leagues out of business, and crush the companies you dislike (for sending you too much spam).

Hey, why don't we just declare you the king of paintball and call it a day?

Here is a novel idea - how about attempting to offer solutions and working with the powers that be to make effective changes - rather then bitching and moaning all day?

Oh ya, that's all you do when you're not "coaching". Man I can't imagine how you coach your crew, probably by crying and moaning about how bad they all suck..

Reiner Schafer said...

Crying and moaning behind an anonymous post makes it so much better though, right?

Anonymous said...

FWIW: True screaming-libs spell it Faux News. Now, King Baca does have a nice ring to it. I'd vote for him, less some moistened bint lobbs a scimitar at him of course :D

Missy Q said...

Haha, it's the Fox-news-analogy-guy again! I think this guy's great, just wish he had some new material. He comes here regularly to have a bitch-fit at the Loco for not offering solutions, but always leaves before offering any himself... Weird.

Anonymous said...

I was actually just thinking the same thing, Missy. I wonder who it is. And I wonder what he does for a living, that he has so much time to read and post on this blog when he so obviously disagrees.

Baca, if you give me his IP address, I can probably track down who it is.

Don Saavedra said...

I think the only rational response is to post a picture of the World Cup Trophy. No captions needed.

Anonymous said...

Hail to the King!

Baca Loco said...

Anon #2
HAIL TO THE KING, BABY! Where's my tribute?

Do you know why I leave your comments up? Because they amuse me. They are so utterly without merit I would have a hard time making you up. Although pairing me with raehl was a really cheap shot. :)

Jeff
Thanks but no worries. One of these days his balls might drop and then we could have some real fun.

Guys
I appreciate the support but everybody needs to lighten up. It's no big deal.

Allan Phang said...

Hi Baca,

I just realised I have not thank you for your assistance on the layout review previously. Thank you for the tips!!

Also, apologies for all the email I sent to your inbox on WCA. I am sorry about the spam and will stop sending WCA emails to you after this.

On another note, appreciate your help if you could do a layout review on WCA 2011. Please find attached the field layout for WCA 2011.

I will promote your website links to the review.

Appreciate your help on this matter.

Once again, my sincere apologies and thanks.


3 days till Paintball World Cup Asia 2011

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Allan Phang
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Paintball Asia League Series (PALS)

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