Tuesday, September 24, 2013

A Very Special The Monday Poll--on Tuesday

Aight, I might as well 'fess up upfront. It ain't really special. Nothing special about this post. It's all about the presentation, the packaging. A little lesson in there somewhere for the kids from Valken. If you build it they will come. Um, no they won't. Not if they don't know anything about it. In this instance 'special' doesn't mean special, it's just part of the title. Kinda like when you see the word 'real' on any can of aerosol cheez spread. It doesn't mean the contents have anything in common with an actual dairy product. It's part of the product name. Sneaky, ain't it?
Which reminds me VFTD has a very special consumer warning to share with y'all. (See, I did it again.) To all you iphone fanbois--do not, I repeat, do not test how well that new (and fake) waterproofing app works by submerging your phone. It isn't real! The app, that is. You've already been fooled once, don't get fooled again.
This week's poll provides you the opportunity to recommend ways the PSP can improve their events. Bring back the Masters division. Bring back Masters and make it R2-2. Include 10-man at every event. Offer 10-man as Open & Amateur when available. Include a Cali event every year. Have the top Challengers play the bottom Champions in order to move up. PSP Huntington Beach. Restore the 6 event season. You will be limited to one vote so make it a thoughtful and well considered decision. Next we'll review the results and during the week I will withstand another verbal drubbing from our friends at the PSP for continuing to be a rabble rouser. (I'm the rouser, you're the rabble.) Until next time.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Challengers/Champions has the biggest impact.

Think a lot of times the bottom 2 champions are still way stronger than the challengers coming up. At least one is every time.

plovell said...

Basing my vote off of total league impact(not just pros) I'd say it has to be the Cali event, or at least a West Coast event in general(think Phoenix).

While it had the lowest team attendance of all events this year, that was by a whopping 7 total teams(truthfully the number would be bigger since it was 16 less xball teams and 9 more r2 teams) to MAO.

I'd estimate that once the NPPL folds there will be more West Coast teams looking to compete in PSP and it would add to that. Plus, why not give some love to the West Coast teams that already compete in the PSP?

Dave Painter said...

How about splitting the league up into 3 divisions (at the pro level), Eastern, Central, Western and play 5 events while the PSP hosts 7 events. I know this idea (at least in general terms) has been discussed before at some level.

2 western events, 2 central event and 2 Eastern events plus world cup.

The pro teams would play their “regional” events plus one even in each of the other regions and cup for a total of 5 events. This would also help cut down on some travel costs – while not an issue with all the teams, it is an issue with some.

Western Division Teams: Dynasty, Impact, Ironmen, DMG, XSV, Royalty, Thunder

Central Division Teams: Heat, x-Factor, Aftershock, Infamous, Vicious, Storm

Eastern Division Teams: Legion, Damage, 187 cRew, CEP, Jesters, TonTons, Topgun (Drop jesters and add Art Chaos?)

By doing this it would help create a rotating schedule of who you play as not all teams would be at all events. It would also create a process where you could have 20+ pro teams but only have 12 or so at any one event (except cup).

This also provides more national level events at a regional level – creating a bigger draw for the local teams at the lower divisions.

You would have to rank each team at the start of the season and give them seeding for the schedule. The first Eastern event would be all Eastern teams plus all ODD numbers teams in the Western Division and all EVEN number teams in the Central division. Your ranking at the start of the season would be used to determine the entire years schedule.

I could also see adding an 8th event (Chicago) where all the teams come together.

Or if you’d like we could do 2 in each region and 1 “major” in each region – HB, Chicago and CUP – were all the pro teams come together. Then you’d play all your “regional” events (including your major) plus the other two “Major” events. But this would mean your two regional events only had the regional pros, not a mix.

Admittedly not entirely thought out.

Anonymous said...

Most those ideas were bad and you should feel bad for suggesting them.

This one I like though: Have the top Challengers play the bottom Champions in order to move up.

And I think the PSP should have an event in California.

Baca Loco said...

648 Anon
Those are all ideas that have been proposed one time or another.
And since you favor 2 of 8 I'm even batting .250 with you which is good enough for an MLB career.

Baca Loco said...

Dave
How long have you been noodling on this idea? :)
Given the status quo it seems like a lot of changes just to move one event from Texas to someplace east of the Mississippi--in the case of Eastern teams.
Then there's the issue of more events with fewer pro teams does not necessarily serve the best interests of the PSP that has an approximate baseline for fixed expenses for any event. I think it's a reasonably fine line between too few, too many and just about right.
Then there's the webcast to consider and all the associated costs there. It's vastly better for them to have all the pros together and better for the audience.

DQ said...

I'd rather see UWL combined at PSPs, but then again I always did like tilting at windmills.

MissyQ said...

PSPHB would have way more impact than tweaking the format (again) in my opinion.
..and besides, tweaking the format can be done by a Raehl-powered tech-squad in 10 minutes, not exactly a big deal as far as resource-allocation goes. HB would be more of an undertaking but it would achieve multiple goals.

Baca Loco said...

Missy
What is it you think a PSPHB would accomplish? Anything different from what any other HB event has "accomplished?"

The Ingenious Gentleman said...

It's certainly good for the public perception of the sport.

Compare the long term impact on the sport of having 10 seasons of bottom ranked pros play top ranked semi-pros with the long term impact of 10 years of paintball in a high traffic location.

Surely, HB has done more "for the sport" to use that nebulous phrase than virtually anything else on the poll.

Thousands of people have played paintball as a result of HB. Likely tens of thousands.

Baca Loco said...

The IG
Really? Predicated on what? The conventional wisdom? 'Cus everybody wants to believe it? Does any actual proof exist? Any tangible result that can be credited to HB and HB alone?

Besides the question was about improving the PSP.

Missy Q said...

PSPHB delivers the final blow to the PSP and in that they gain.

There are also a lot of Cali/West coast teams that come out of the woodwork for HB. PSP would have to do a better job than the NPPL in enticing those teams to play more than one event, and this can be encouraged through inventive pricing (play one event, pay x, sign up for 2, pay y...)

There are a lot of opportunities that present themselves when you hold the HB event. More sponsors want to be involved. Outside sponsors actually want to be involved. Same deal for them. HB costs x, etc.


HB can also make hella bank. If PP had just run HB every year, and then fired everyone, they would have been financially better off than running the whole season. It is a solid, profitable, season opener without peer. Starting with HB and ending at WC makes total sense.

I feel there is a lot that you don't know or understand about the HB event and how it will benefit the PSP. This does not make it less valid, or true.
Camille at least does understand, and would have the connections to make it happen if that's what they want to do.

Missy Q said...

final blow to the NPPL - geez

Baca Loco said...

Missy
I'm opened to be convinced but are you really gonna claim the first HB was profitable? How many of the ten have turned a profit? Isn't correct that the expense plus turnout of HB is what put NPPL 3.0 in the hole they never climbed out of?

What are the max number of fields any league could put on that beach? NPPL never had more than 5 or 6 tops. That limits the capacity to numbers the PSP can and does get anyway.

Yes, it's a cool location and one everyone claims to love to go to--though recent turnout doesn't support that. Yes, it upped the ante on how and where paintball could be presented but as for the rest of the mythos I'ma need more than your feelings to convince me.

Anonymous said...

I have a family that's lived in HB for years. They know quite a few people that got into paintball from seeing it there.

Pete said...

I attend HB regularly and meet people that are interested in paintball because they are seeing it there. Explaining to new people, parents with their children, what paintball is and having them see it in the open, having fun watching it, I'd say it's attracted more people to paintball than any other tournament Iv'e been to, but I'm strictly west coast so my experience is limited.