Friday, March 7, 2014

After Dallas

I thought the team-by-team review would be of general interest to VFTD's audience and might (ha) spark some dialogue and/or debate but not so much as it turns out. The problem that arises, such as it is, is that without much in the way of feedback I am left to my own devices. And if I'm being totally honest while I am on occasion curious what you the audience think it's not a serious priority. Even so, I have some interest (and the willingness) to cover topics you're interested in. (Btw, if this is the first time you're reading this sort of post I do one like it every couple of years or so. I have no idea why.) So if there are any subjects of particular interest to you post them up in comments--and if they have any appeal (and don't require a lot of work) I'll get around to them in the not too distant future.
In the meantime the ideas currently on my radar are of course the new gig with the PSP and all the things being done to modernize and improve the process but I've stayed away from that stuff on purpose so far assuming it's rather like making sausage--you may have an interest in good sausage but that doesn't mean you want to know how it's made. I will also be keeping a slightly jaundiced eye on the CPS, the APL and the Millennium plus who knows, maybe some CXBL and one of these years live blogging World Cup Asia. Some post-Dallas analysis probably is in order and maybe a post or three on the ins-and-outs of playing some key positions like the snake.
I should also probably take this opportunity to mention that I'm always open to answering specific questions submitted either in comments or by email.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

The more we build our sport on technology the more it crumbles in extreme environments (or when the right/wrong person quits).

That's to say, Tom Cole can show up anywhere in the world with a couple flags, find some PVC pipe, and has long as he has paint and air, he can run a UWL event.

The PSP is increasingly making themselves dependent on technology, which not only requires good weather and infrastructure, but more important technology experts and people who are sufficiently trained to administer it at the lower levels.

That's the only I have with the direction of the PSP is headed. Now to be fare, in a lot of ways that bridge was crossed a long time ago. But the further you go, potentially the more fragile things become.

Small case in point. We've seen game delays in the past because the webcast wasn't ready for whatever reason. They were perfectly able and ready to play, but couldn't. Like wise, we've seen game delays because the entire thing depends on a scoreboard. Everyone was there and ready to play, but couldn't.

The more layers you add on top of what is actually taking place (10 guys on a field shooting at each other) the more those other things begin to own you rather than you owning them.

All that being said, the technology enthusiast side of me says it's awesome and I hope it works because you can easily see how this will be integrated into every field/point in the near future!

Unknown said...

I disagree with the above poster. The fact that the PSP is becoming more dependent on technology is just the natural turn of PROFESSIONAL sports. Do you need a scoreboard to play baseball/basketball/soccer/football? No of coarse not, but to watch it, and make sense of what is going on from an outside perspective, you do need some form of displaying information to the standby audience. Look at any other professional sport on TV or the Internet, all have some form of scoreboard, multiple cameras, wireless microphones, stat keeping, and connectivity. All these things are part of growing a sport for an audience, not the players. With out the push for better tech, we wouldn't have the amazing webcast that we do now. We could still be stuck with a webcast that looks like it was takin from a cell phone (APL). The natural order of things is that no matter what everything builds in complexity. Adding more layers of things to take care of is just the natural way anything builds.

Anonymous said...

I enjoy your team analysis. I can't really respond to them because they are just about spot on.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the team analysis has been really fun to read. Maybe you could do an abbreviated version of it after each event. Breakdown how the teams improved or regressed each time.

Unknown said...

Would / could you do a blog about the differences or foreseeable issues with changing the format from 1st to X into a play by halves?

I am interested to hear your opinion on why one system works over another.

And now that I know you're reading the comments, I'll start posting more.

Nick Brockdorff said...

I have played both race-to and play by halves quite a bit.

The only thing you achieve with halves, is that you get a lot more boring game minutes to watch.

First of all because, when one team is up 5-6 points early, it becomes evident that you are just watching slaughter, or maintaining the gap while letting the second stringers get gametime - and that is of interest to nobody.

Secondly, play by halves tends to favor the slow methodical teams, who win the war of attrition by being defensive and carrying a lot of paint.... while the opponents wear themselves out playing fast.

Anonymous said...

"Small case in point. We've seen game delays in the past because the webcast wasn't ready for whatever reason. They were perfectly able and ready to play, but couldn't. Like wise, we've seen game delays because the entire thing depends on a scoreboard. Everyone was there and ready to play, but couldn't."

The big pro sport have things like 'TV timeouts'. Some delays due to the broadcasters having issues is the price to pay for having broadcasters. The alternative is shrinking the audience down to just the people in the stands.

doIcare? said...

apart from the vocal minority, no-one cares. The only thing most of us care less about than this, is the vocal minority themselves. We really, really don't care what happens to those guys at all...

Pete said...

Revisit paint limit in tournaments and the impacts you would predict from such an experiment?

Unknown said...

Keep up with the world news stuff imo - educate the unwashed masses and perhaps relate it back to how it will impact the paintball scene.

Baca Loco said...

Back from Dallas where I had neither the time or to be honest--the inclination to post. This whole concept of working at a tournament is foreign to me. :)

Anyway, Pete I think limited paint has real value in developing players but I'm not convinced it's a viable option for top tier play--but still worthy of a conversation sometime. Don't hesitate to remind me if I dither. :)

Bruce, I will certainly continue to do what I can in that regard.

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