Okay, this week's poll--which will close Friday morning before "Pro" matches begin in HB--wants to know which three teams will stand atop the podium with the giant checks come Sunday afternoon as the NPPL season gets underway this coming weekend in Huntington Beach. (Hypothetically the NPPL season kicked off a while ago in Hawaii with the non-existent four star event but that whole non-existent part is tough to overlook.)
(And why you ask is pro in quotation marks? Do you really have to ask?)
Yes, it's a lame Monday Poll. I agree with you 100% but then they can't all be gems. Can't all be exciting, stimulating, consciousness-raising mini-masterpieces of paintball incredulity--can they? They can't. Take my word for it. So sometimes you just have to lower your standards and vote anyway. (You have voted in the *real* world before, haven't you?)
While the NPPL team list still doesn't confirm the total number of competing "pro" teams--much less a schedule--for purposes of today's weak poll VFTD is assuming all fifteen teams will show up. When you vote pick the three, in no particular order, you expect to finish either first, second or third in the competition and as a result walk away with the big money.
Last weekend in San Antonio Warped Army joined X-Factor for a day on the grind getting ready for this event. Hopefully it was a positive learning experience for them and they can bring the lessons learned to the competition. This past weekend the team called in some former players and friends of the team to stock the ranks of the opposition as we spent two days working through every conceivable option, goofy breakout and continued to push for greater and more consistent communication. Now all that's left is to play the tournament and see what happens.
And later this week I'll begin trying to catch up with the backlog in Baca's Mailbag.
Monday, April 8, 2013
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16 comments:
I haven't even heard of the last six teams on the list. Competition is obviously heating up in the NPPL Pro division...
Well then lemme help you out. Dynasty is .., you've probably heard of them.
CP Raiders played D1 before. Warped Army is the latest incarnation of an old team name outta the South, mostly Louisiana area. Flashpoint--got me. Energy is the latest plaything of the Giant Paintball family, d'Egidio, pere et fils. Outlaws are the Trade My Gun team and CRUsh is connected to the crew in central Michigan and there have been other PB Gateway teams in the past with mostly anonymous rosters. Okay, so maybe not much help.
Anyone else wanna jump in with some better I.D.'s?
No hype anywhere, not hating, just saying..not a drop of excitement and HB used to be the "show"
The result after the weekend will determine whether any of the newcomers are worthy of a Pro bracket spot. If Dynasty, X-Factor and Explicit skip their way into the final 4 then questions will be asked. But this is paintball and we've seen in the past that under-rated teams like CP and TonTon have managed to to stand toe to toe with Pro teams. The bizarre field layout will also come into play I expect. (How I wish there was going to be a webcast!!!!! - even the Russian all girls comp managed to get a webcast going from Moscow last month!!!!)
Also, I think Chuck really has to delegate marketing NPPL to someone who can devote more time to social media on a daily basis and not just every 4-7 days. And why don't they delete the FB posts about Hawaii or at least make a statement?
For those playing Surf City I expect they don't care about the Pro bracket politics or the poor media management. It's still a great public venue for paintball and I can only hope Baca can coach his new team into a top spot over the smurfs...
What will it mean if a new team does win? Could it legitimize anything? The team or the league? I hate to say this but this kind of scenario is ripe for fixing. Especially without a broadcast. Too many interests are now involved with the business of keeping this pyramid scheme afloat.
Orange County Flashpoint played the 2012 season as PBLyfe Elite D1
I still get excited about HB despite your teachings. Does this make me a bad person, or worse - a newb?
Anon
I teach paintball--I have opinions about the various leagues and people involved. And newb or not you are entitled to your opinion as well.
How do you improve field awareness and understanding where players are? Or what is the best thing to work on to improve making good moves?
Does it come down to walking the field more often?
I understand you need communication with your players and over time it will come with experience.
There should be a "who gives a shit" answer option as well.
CP raiders should have more votes. They have some vets on that team that are no strangers to winning
Philly Energy is Dynasty 2 a D1 team from years prior with the addition/return of Ian Trainer, Bear D'Egidio and one other pro I believe.
Outlaws are the TradeMyGun D1 team
with Mike Paxson, Chris Lasoya, Cody Marcowski, Jerry Devisreux, and old BLAST pro players possibly another shock player. They have capable players also on the roster who are currently ranked d2.
Crush is a new team, and the only player that I know of that is noteworthy is Joe Barrett who is guesting, but I could be missing names.
CP Raiders are a good team, and if I recall correctly have some former pros in the mix.
Look at it this way - there are more Pro teams now than there ever were - More teams wanting to play at the Pro level anyway.
What would we be saying if there weren't enough pro teams to fill a division, and only 7 teams wanted to play pro in 2013 'because of the costs'?
Every cloud...
Wow I think a few of us have to eat humble pie...
Uprising beat Dynasty by a margin of 2
in the semis and over the pond Tontons come back at Impact to beat them 5-3 at Millennium. Looks like more than a few teams have what it takes to take on some of the best players in the world...
The TonTons were not one of the teams in question. Their credentials gave them access to the REAL(psp) pro division. And Uprising is an established team that has been playing pro 7man at least a couple years now.
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