Nuggets

A few semi-connected thoughts for a Wednesday before I hit the road. I'ma revise my World Cup participation numbers estimate. I think they'll break 300 now or come mighty close to it. Registered teams hit 336 last night. I was looking at the teams listed curious to see how many appear to be international teams. Euro representation may be down a bit--not unreasonable considering Paris-Disney is 2 weeks before Cup--but it looks like South America will be well represented. One thing I did find surprising was the appearance of "Hulk" in D3. Now it may be the rosters won't be the same--easily checked (but I haven't yet)--but Hulk Kiev is a Semi-pro team in the Millennium and if it's mostly the same guys they ought to be embarrassed about playing D3. (I noticed a couple other team names that might be in similar situations as well.) But that's as may be. The other thing that occurred to me is the place we need universal rankings isn't at the bottom of the divisional pile but at the top. It may be all well and good that APPA has expanded into "World Rankings" (in quotes 'cus APPA doesn't yet cover the world) but I remain unconvinced that Bobz Militia in D4 playing in Georgia has more than a passing acquaintance with any random D4 team from the Northeast or Cali or wherever. Just because the numbers work it doesn't mean anything until they play each other. And even if the rankings were excellent predictors the place we need them is in the upper divisions except, oops, neither the NPPL or MS use APPA. Granted, that isn't APPA's fault. Now if the Euros are as intent on their international organizations as they claim maybe it's time they put up or shut up and got with the program. Integrating the player base would be a big step in the right direction. (Btw, I'm hardly wedded to APPA but until or unless there's a better, cheaper system APPA is the default choice.)
While I'm at it there's also the bidness of letting Impact and XSV slum World Cup. For one thing it's gonna alter points results and will skew final season rankings for the other Pro teams that played the full season. It devalues the league's stature and could somebody tell me how it serves anybody's interest other than the NPPL? Is Impact gonna switch leagues? Not hardly. What about XSV? Yeah, right. So why give them an opportunity to polish their image at your league's expense? I don't get it. Sure, it could go the other way and knock both teams image down a notch or two but so what. And yes I realize requests came through sponsors to let them play but that decision [who sponsors would support] was made for 2012 before the season started--by everyone involved.
There's one other thing annoying me at the moment--and it's nothing new. I really like (most) of what PBAccess is doing, I really do but--Matty is killing me with all his trips down memory lane. I get that PBA isn't the PSP but right now the two are intertwined and PBA ain't gonna work without first succeeding with the PSP. That being the case more focus needs to be put on what's happening now--today--not ten years ago. Case in point, Mr. U. Great guy, good stories--has he played in the U.S. or the PSP in the last 5 years? Same thing with Sonny Lopez and the Hitmen. The Hitmen play mostly in the NPPL for goodness sake. (They're playing Vegas but not Cup.) It's all about as relevant as a 'Where Are They Now' TV show tracking down members of 80s hair bands. I'm pretty sure PBA isn't planning on being the living history museum of 90s era paintball so how 'bout getting with the program already?
(And just so's there's no confusion I am off the table when it comes to interviews, pod casts or anything else the PBA is doing. I am not looking to be included, I'm simply expressing an opinion about the way things are currently being done.)