Galveston Day 1 & 2

Somehow we have been transported into an alternate universe where Texas is wet, cold and dreary. (Curse you Southwest. Bags may be free but this isn't the Texas I signed up for.) Oh yeah, and it's pouring rain. I've been here before. In 2006. Freezing rain and snow that time. It's one thing for Galveston to be prime spring break real estate for high school dropouts but after today Galveston is now at the head of the VFTD not-a-suitable-competitive-paintball venue. The fact I spent the whole day cold, wet and miserable has nothing to do with it. (Okay, maybe it has a little bit to do with it.)
Anyway I heard early Friday morning that interest in the webcast crashed the PSP server. Apparently a generator (or two) went down and, like last year, the wind tore down some more fields this evening during the downpour. We arrived late Thursday reaching Galveston around 11 pm. Given our late arrival we were glad to be scheduled for afternoon matches. Later that would prove to be less beneficial than we initially thought. Friday pro matches got behind early. A combination of conditions, a new hierarchy of authority and the heavy focus put on the webcast saw the schedule running close to an hour behind late in the day. And then it rained; Texas deluge end of the world thunderstorms. Our second match of the day, against Vicious was postponed mid-match and the anticipated match between Russian Legion and Houston Heat was carried over to Saturday. That was before late night storms brought powerful winds ashore that demolished most of the fields. Late Friday the PSP hoped to have the fields rebuilt over night with only a short delay. As night turned to morning the delay grew longer and longer and the pro field am session didn't begin until nearly noon.
Originally the idea was to plug in the missing matches between morning and afternoon Saturday sessions. Between posted schedules and flooded fields and makeshift netting supports we played the remainder of our Vicious match late in the afternoon Saturday. Followed by Heat vs. RL which couldn't have been a tighter match with a thirteenth breakout with the teams tied 6-6. Heat captured the last point and a 7-6 win. The league held the Dynasty vs. Shock to provide a time buffer as we were the first "afternoon" match.. As that match began we were given the word that the pro event would be finished a day early prior to Phoenix. That means the morning sessions teams to move thru are decided but the whole afternoon session from Saturday will need to be completed before the quarters can be played. Then the semis and finals.
Sunday the focus of play will be on completing the tournament for the divisional teams--as it should be. The outcome is less than ideal but the pros will compete at every event and that can't be said of every divisional team and they need to have their opportunity to win.
When we left the sun was going down. Dynasty and Shock had begun and plans were in place to run divisional games under the lights deep into the night.
For what was lost here in Galveston Phoenix doubles down. Two pro wins over one weekend will be at stake. And with any luck Sunday's webcast will feature the best of the best of the divisional kids and we'll get an extra day in Phoenix as the pros finish the Galveston event.
And--here's a guess--after two years in a row with the wind nearly ruining the tournament the next time the PSP comes to Texas it probably won't be to Galveston Island. Besides, if you were looking for the hot Spring Break babes they're having fun on South Padre.