Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Bitburg Update

I have reviewed all the video I have and unfortunately none of it has what I was looking for. It was shot from outside the net on the spectator's side and while of decent quality it doesn't have sufficient detail to highlight any potential problems. It also only covers one not two of our prelim matches. (When I mentioned it the first time I thought I'd be getting 2of 3 matches.) Additionally the videographer somehow chose to film the other team half the time cutting the amount of potentially useful material in half--again. The match in question however is the one where two refs high fived one another after calling a major on us--but apparently that happened during one of the points when the other guys were being filmed. (I know, pics or shens.)
Should anyone else have raw footage they'd be willing to share I'd love to see it.
VFTD is still waiting for a follow-up response from Ulrich S. of the MS. In the meantime I have gathered some more information, from both public and private sources, related to the incident in question. A couple of interesting side notes; both Ulrich and Jabba, the field ultimate, were (apparently) present and part of the dialogue that led to the punches being thrown. And the ref who was punched was seen later that evening hanging out with a group of his fellow countrymen (and women) in front of the hotel seemingly no worse for wear. The former suggests that MS reps know exactly what was said and what wasn't and the latter suggests that perhaps the damage done has been overblown in some quarters. (No, that doesn't alter the fact the punches were thrown in the first place.)
I have also passed on information regarding the behavior of at least one CPL ref as it relates to a contact with some of my players initiated by the ref and others with him off the field during the event. The one individual should be very easy to identify. It will be interesting to see what the MS does, if anything. More as it comes in. And if I do not hear from Ulrich or another rep of the MS in the next couple of days I will assume they no longer have an interest in sort of dialogue.
[Should they be concerned about fair treatment--and considering how they've treated me so far I'd be worried--they should look at the interview conducted by VFTD of Mr. Steve Baldwin a couple of years ago. It was scrupulously fair and gave Mr. Baldwin (an MS board member who had threatened VFTD with legal action) final review over what was published in the blog and even privately recommended he consider amending some of his remarks so as to put him in a better light. Whatever our disagreements VFTD has a record of fairness.]

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Last comment made me think. I believe that PSP is the only major league who actually care about and try to be fair. I'm not saying they get it right all the time. As a matter of fact they may get it right no more frequently than the others. But it occurs to me they do indeed have the intent to do the right thing.
With the others, it just always seems they have other ideas ahead of fair - TV, profit, ego, personal business interests, etc.
Am I off base Paul? Would you agree that PSP is ahead of the others when this area of concern is looked at?

Anonymous said...

I disagree

I think, at top level, the MS IS concerned with fairness.

However, they are not always given the right information, and they are often plagued with minor officials with an agenda.

Anonymous said...

I think the only thing true about the first anonymous commenter is his accusations are a pretty good reflection of the way he thinks. Often if you want to know what the intent of a person is, look at how he accuses others.

Baca Loco said...

Anon #1
Do they care more? I don't know. I would say the PSP does a better job of actively dealing with similar or related issues primarily because they have more accessible and accountable people in position to handle such things.

And as a practical matter claiming to care or to give basic fairness, if that's what we're going to call it, a high priority isn't the same thing as actually doing so.

Nick
What are you disagreeing with? The original question was one of degree. If you want to claim the MS board is as interested in basic fairness as any other big PB league feel free to make their case. However the fact you begin by making excuses for the people in charge isn't helpful.

Anon #2
Reading comprehension. No accusations were made. He simply offered an opinion and asked for one in return. Since we're playing amateur shrink re-framing somebody else's statement in order to make false claims might tell people something about you, too. :)

Anonymous said...

Oh, I am not excempting them from responsibility, they are in charge ultimately.

I just think they tend to delegate to the wrong people or not give the right people the needed authority.

I don't think it's a lack of care, I think it's more a case of poor judgement of caracter in many instances.

If you talk to people like Laurent, Barry or Ulrich, you will get a feeling they actually do care about their league being fair.... they just don't quite go about it in the most effective manner, to say the least :D

When all is said and done, I think the major difference between the PSP and the MS is Lane.... remove him from the equation, and I think there is suddenly very little difference between the two.

Anonymous said...

i've got a solution for your bitburg incident , don't go anywhere without baines ;-)

Anonymous said...

Lol, the cloud of dope smoke would definitely have a calming effect.

Anonymous said...

Nick,
The impression I've gotten from Laurent is he cares about setting up schemes whereby he can profit from the players and industry by setting up schemes. The impression I've gotten from Ulrich is wants to craft and control things as much as possible because every player is a cheater and he can't trust them to not be a cheater. They should know the rules and abide by what he says, because he said it. Other than that, both are very nice guys.

Anonymous said...

Come now, no league in existence is non-profit.

Laurent singlehandedly revolutionized tournament paintball, and Ulrich moved reffing in Europe decades forward.

I do not for a second think those achievements were born out of a lust for profit or being a control freak.

Now, they both have flaws, we all do (waiting for Missys knee jerk reaction here), I do not dispute that..... I am one of the most frequent and vocal people to criticise them when I think they are wrong..... many know that.

But I also think credit where credit is due, is called for, if you want to be able to have a balanced and intelligent dialogue on the issues.... and not just be perceived as a "hater".

Anonymous said...

That should have said "no major league", because without doubt, someone will otherwise be dragging up some backwater non-profit tournament league :D

Missy Q said...

Nick, you know better than this. - Laurent did not single-handedly revolutionise tournament paintball. He happened to be invited to the testing for the first Hyperball tournament in 96 with the TonTon, Banzai and Joy Division, and had the idea to make the arena's more portable by replacing the pipes with inflatable bunkers. More a case of right place right time, but to say he is the guy that revolutionised the game gives Laurent too much credit and Ged Green too little.
My memory is a little hazy from 96/97, but you may even have been there for the 96 Hyperball championships, which is where the most drastic changes really happened. It was even televised, on ESPN, and a DVD was produced, which is still actualy quite entertaining.

Knee-jerk? I think not. Just a solid steel fact-hammer.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I was there in 97 - and that event is to date one of the best paintball events I have ever played.... we were all aweinspired by the whole setup.... and by Jacko running around with a weird pink contraption called an "Angel".

So, I have no problem giving Ged credit for getting the game out of the woods.

But Laurent made it cheap (comparatively), flexible and easy for any field owner to run a tournament style arena.... he's the one that took the format global in a major way.

He may very well have been inspired by Hyperball (I don't doubt it), but the fact remains that Hyperball died fairly quickly because it was too costly and impractical, while Supair is still going strong 15 years later, and generally the universally accepted tournament format.

- Yes, Karl Benz made the first practical internal combustion engine automobile, but Henry Ford made the car "everymans".

Anonymous said...

So by that analogy, Hyperball is what everyone would prefer to play, as I can't imagine someone preferring to drive a Ford to a Benz.

Supair is the poor mans Hyperball. And since paintball leagues have no money that probably explains why we don't get to play on those cool fields anymore.

Is there anyone who prefers the playing experience of airball to hyperball?

Anonymous said...

Yes, I do absolutely - no spray, no people getting hurt or breaking equipment slamming into the bunkers - maximum versatility in terms of layouts.

Baca Loco said...

Maximum potential versatility of layouts perhaps but in practice anything but.

Anonymous said...

I agree with that.... I have only seen a few really good layouts in the last years (Bitburg a few weeks back being one of them IMHO).

The rest, have all been tapeline battles, playing straight up and down.

And, it's even worse for the PSP, with the larger field size, and still the same number as props.

However, it still beats playing the same Hyperball layout again and again and again ;)

Anonymous said...

Same Hyperball layout?!?! Only a European who has never played Chicago could say that!

Anonymous said...

I played Chicago with the Hyperball fields - I even won there ;) - My point is that each Hyperball field was unchhangable, or at least was without great difficulty and expense.... and in that, Supair is a far superior concept.