Galveston Round-up

Aight, it's been a long day. Been a good day, too. But a long day. We arrived in Phoenix from Tampa (via Atlanta) around midnight Arizona time Wednesday night. Collected our bags and enjoyed a bit of drama trying to collect our rental. ("This reservation isn't in your name, sir. Give me your driver's license, a credit card and your left foot, please.") Since nobody had dinner we hit the drive thru at a Jack-in-the-Box on the way to our hotel. ("I'll have a number 9 medium with curly fries and a root beer." "Will that complete your order?" "Not even close--") We rolled in around 1:30 am with a team text message letting us know we needed to be in the lobby at 6 am ready to go. Our first match of the day--at 8 am vs. Heat--was part of the last half day's prelims to be made up from the Galveston rain out. We played well enough to pull out a tight win not because we were playing particularly well but because the guys don't let the situation or the score get into their heads and they've been down before and know what it takes to pull games back. Next up for us is Upton 187 who played some tightly contested matches in Galveston and thumped Viscious earlier that morning. This is their first event as pros. With the Infamous win over Legion we were confident we knew how the seeding would break down and focused on improving from our first match. With a good win over 187 we were ready for "Sunday" play.
Before the first quarter-final match started we'd already been on site for seven and a half hours. We stayed in the shade as best we could and constantly encouraged the guys to drink more fluids. There were questions early on exactly how the quarters and semis would be seeded. Divisional has a formula but some of us (myself included) lobbied for a simple formula where the higher seed from bracket A would play the lower seed from bracket B and vice versa--but that ain't what happened. The reason for the suggested formula is to assure fresh match-ups and avoid circumstances like those that occurred when Infamous and Heat played a second match of the day against each other in the quarters. And the Ironmen played Thunder--a team they had also already played in Galveston. Hopefully common sense will prevail by Chicago. (I don't hold out any hopes for this weekend--at least in that respect.)
Moving into the semis was Ironmen and Heat. We played the 'Men and Dynasty played Heat. (Despite the fact the divisional formula seeded the "Sunday" teams for match-ups it doesn't re-seed after the quarters. Instead assigns the winner of the 3/6 match-up to the 2 seed and the winner of the 4/5 match-up to the 1 seed regardless of quarter-final results.)
The finals was us & Heat--who did a great job reaching the finals in their first pro event and will likely be a power to be reckoned with in the foreseeable future. By the finals we were working like a well-oiled machine and pulled out a couple of wrinkles we hoped Heat might not be expecting and took a somewhat misleading 7-1 win--most of the points were hotly contested--for our third PSP pro victory in a row.
And that was just Thursday.

PSP Phoenix begins tomorrow.

Top 5 Worst MLP Events [*]

[*] Given the caveat 'within my memory.' Doesn't mean I was there. Only that I'm semi-confident contemporaneous reports told the real story. And before you start whinging--(tossed that in for our UK friends)--I know I promised it a day or so ago. If this is the first time in your memory I have failed to deliver a timely post you'll get used to it. Foolishly I decided to do a bit of research and make sure my list was impervious to challenge. First, it was taking way too long and second, somebody is always gonna disagree no matter what so there was really no point in over analyzing the possibilities. Instead I've decided to offer a list that not only delivers a Top 5 but also a few honorable mentions. And do it off the top of my head--which means, among other things, I'm not even exactly sure which year it was for some of the events. Y'all can fill in the details--or, of course, suggest your preferred alternative events. Instead of the definitive list consider this a conversation starter.
My criteria is simple. If I wasn't playing paintball when it happened it ain't on the list. Mostly. If I don't consider it to have been a major league event it isn't included. That's it.
I wanted to say that rain alone wasn't enough to get an event on this list but that's not quite true. I've been to so many events where it rained that I can't put a number to them but there's rain--and then there's rain. So without further delay--

Honorable Mention
Sometime in the mid-Nineties there was a Mayhem Masters? that I seem to recall was a massive mudfest.
It rained relentlessly at NPPL Pittsburgh in '98 leaving puddles and small ponds (and larger ponds) on the mounds field(s) and while not completely unplayable a snorkel would have come in handy.
A couple of Mardi Gras events not including Muddy Gras--I'll explain down the list.
It might have been the first NPPL (Pure Promotions) Miami held in a park not far from the airport. The rain came down in sheets and if it had continued for the duration there wouldn't have been a tournament.
NPPL Houston, cancelled in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike [?] which left the entire Houston area devastated. (Didn't make the list because the event never got started.)
PSP Texas in '06 when it dropped 50 degrees overnight and snowed turning the fields into mush and while not unplayable the conditions were singularly unpleasant.

The Top 5
5. There's a 3-way tie at number 5 'cus it let's me fudge the numbers a bit. MS Charleroi which saw high winds tear down field stanchions and enough rain to produce nearly knee deep mud. NPPL Jersey in '03 next door to the dragstrip was another massive rain and mudfest. And then there's Muddy Gras. I distinguish the various wet & muddy Mardi Gras events by two things; being a PSP-sanctioned season opening event and by the crazy winds that tore down the fields and sent some of the props into the bayou in, I think, 2004.
4. PSP Chicago at the Badlandz in 2010.
3. PSP Los Angeles in Pomona. I want to say '05. Rain, rain, rain and more rain. Mike Ratko on the NXL field digging runoff trenches. Mid-calf puddles at both starts. Players diving the snake literally disappearing.
2. MS Malaga Beach in 2008 [?] Only other event I can recall that wasn't able to finish play the Mills did the same thing as the PSP by carrying over pro play to the next event. Severe and sustained winds not only blew the inflatable net supports hither and yon they tore the traditional fields apart as well.
1. PSP Galveston 2012. Sustained high winds and a chilly rain flattened the majority of the venue and lasted long enough to make immediate reconstruction impossible. It also kept the PSP from completing an event for the first time in their history. (I think.)

Galveston Webcast

I know I called this post Galveston Webcast but that's mostly 'cause I didn't know what else to call it. And this post is about the webcast, sorta. Yes, there's a new media company in the mix but I don't know much about it beyond the fact it seems to be PSP peeps and already-active-in-the-process-webcast peeps. And there are rumors of bunches of money spent in upgrades in the off season. That and other rumors about big changes and improvements. I know there's gonna be an effort made to incorporate more statistics live into the broadcasts, whatever that means exactly. But what really caught my attention is some of the prelim match-ups.
The biggest of the big prelim match-ups is Houston Heat versus Russian Legion. Who doesn't want to see that? Given the drama surrounding the 3 Legion players who went to Heat in the off season and the hints of bad blood--along with will the Russian Legion still be the Russian Legion?--it should be an epic match even though it's only a prelim match-up.
There's the new Northeastern Hope in 187. The Dynasty face lift. The rebuilt Infamous. And enough new faces and changed situations to leave the outcome up for grabs. That and the bonus of a 12 team division: two extra Sunday teams. The top team in each bracket gets a bye to the semis and two other teams in each bracket make it to Sunday where they'll play an early morning quarterfinal (of sorts). What that means on Friday and Saturday is more uncertainty and more opportunity with the results often undecided until the very last match is played. Should be fun.

Last Word on the New Snake Props

Let's get the big question settled up front. The PSP Galveston layout is a playable design with a potentially very active snake that is capable of promoting (or inviting) explosive action. [In large measure because it's going to be damn difficult to intentionally shoot anyone out of it. It will however be possible to spray a lot of paint around and clip careless, large, clumsy and unprepared players all day every day.] Will that necessarily happen? No. How a field is played is ultimately in the hands of the teams and players but this layout is not the slower play norm propagated last season--although I suspect that's more of a happy accident than anything else.
It could also very easily prove to be a very difficult field to play but that too will be dependent on how teams analyse the layout and execute their game plans. If you want to play vanilla it will play vanilla and you can drag points out--particularly if your opponent settles for the same. If they discover a trick or two you aren't aware of it will also be possible to lose a few points very quickly. Do your homework.

Okay, that's the short term positive. What about the longer term? I think the layout confirms every concern that VFTD and others had from the first release of information and images of these new bunkers. The bunkers clearly don't function independently. They do not free up props for other uses or placements. They dictate the rest of the field in order to accommodate the new props and they certainly don't help fulfill the PSP's desire to offer a fully competitive but more forgiving playing environment. Did I leave anything out?  Probably but if you've been following the prior debates you know the score. No need to re-hash it again.
Here is where I would have liked to tell you why this decision and not something else. I can't because I don't know. I do know a number of options were considered. I strongly urged a different decision and I did so based on my concern for how these props will play in the lower divisions. (Of course all dressed up like this Galveston layout it's a different scenario.) Even so the apparently widening gulf between rec and competitive paintball at the grassroots isn't helped by this new, technical snake either. Still, I'm not privy to all the in's and out's and it's easy to focus on one potential concern perhaps to the detriment of others I'm unaware of.
Unfortunately there is also something of a Pandora's Box quality to having chosen to go this route. Even with the limitations involved it shouldn't be a problem to generate 5 designs that will satisfy the PSP and its player base for 2012. (That said by mid-season and after there's a good chance we see some consistent themes emerge.) But it will be an ongoing issue. What happens in 2013 or 2014? If everyone acknowledges the bunkers were a mistake what happens? Another kit undoing the effects of this one? Or a different kit of new props making the new snake more versatile and no longer holding the rest of the design hostage to the snake layout? Or the status quo carrying over trying to avoid another year another bunker kit upgrade? I'll be honest, none of those options sound like winners to me but I also don't see a better option given the path we're now on. For whatever reason the PSP made the call to accept the new props that choice also locked them into some future decisions.

Preseason Look at the Major Leagues

With registrations open for all 3 major leagues and the first event, PSP Galveston, about a month away it seems like a good time to check the pulse of MLP activity. (In the past I have included the rather eccentric Grand Tour kids because they feature a Pro division but their website hasn't been updated since autumn and it's unclear if they are producing a 2012 season.) The PSP & NPPL have chosen to expand this season to a 5 event season again. The MS is standing pat at 4 events. What impact this might have on the overall seasons of each league is uncertain but it seems clear that both leagues are counting on a continuation of last year's unexpected if modest growth trend. The conspiracy minded might see the move to 5 events as a mutual passive declaration of war against the other--and it may work out that way--except there was talk of adding an event last year long before the merger talks failed. Of course then the red pill crowd would say each made the move to 5 preemptively certain that the other league was going to do so. Whatever the motivation it's a five event season with the top 4 scores counting toward divisional series titles--at least in the PSP. (I haven't seen anything from the NPPL on that yet.)
The PSP currently has 146 teams signed up (with at least a few more to come) and 105 paid. There are just over two weeks left to pay and the price increases after midnight tomorrow. Last year Galveston had 126 teams and at this rate it appears the PSP will have similar numbers this year. And that covers the recent brouhaha over Sup'Air's last second introduction of a new snake via an upgrade kit. Efforts to pre-sell the kit has created confusion and animosity in some quarters that threatens not only participation at events but a backlash at the local field level. While there has been no formal response from the PSP yet CEO Lane Wright did post a statement in a field owners forum attesting to the fact the PSP was blind-sided by this new bunker kit release. Nor has there been any official statement forthcoming from Sup'Air or Adrenline Games.
The MS opens their season two weeks after Galveston with the French Riviera Cup at a new location in the south of France. In recent past seasons the upper divisions (CPL, SPL & D1) have been locked and last year the MS introduced a team cap in the open divisions. (D2 & D3) While the cap effectively limited the overall size of a Millennium event it appears to have served its purpose well. It is clear the MS's goal isn't to maximize the size of their events and the cap does a couple of positive things for them. It fixes the logistical requirements well in advance and it creates a scarcity--the limited number of open slots--that pushes interested teams into action. It also serves, for the time-being, as a sort of protection for the upper divisions as the open divisions are the path upwards. (While not altogether true--spots can be purchased and divisions jumped--that is a function of availability. Should those spots fail to be available in the future the option won't exist. At least theoretically.) The defined path to success, scarcity of open slots, closed upper levels all function to establish and maintain the MS's preeminence in Euroland--which is particularly important with the growing strength of national leagues in Germany and France, for example.
Assuming numbers matching last year the Riviera Cup will have 126 teams participating. That isn't a foregone conclusion because there is no info available yet as to the status of any of the locked divisions. Last season the MS worked frantically behind the scenes to fill in upper division slots lost to attrition and they scoured all of Europe to do it. Since there hasn't been the same level of off season talk about teams dropping out VFTD is assuming that the locked divisions have remained relatively stable. This year VFTD will be able to deliver live post event reports on all the MS events.
Overlapping the end of March beginning of April is the NPPL's now customary opening event, Huntington Beach. In a positive move, except when you're parking, the league has moved the venue to the northside of the pier this year which is where is was originally. For whatever reason it is a much preferred location. The one drawback is that it will limit, to some degree, the logistics of the venue although one supposes the NPPL is expecting the MS style Race 2 formatting to allow them a more compact venue. And the league has posted that there are limits to available spots but haven't posted any numbers. A check of the team list indicates 64 teams signed up so far. the new Race 2 brackets are very light with the majority opting for the standard 7-man with a couple of teams registering in both. (Presumably in order to pick one or the other at some point.) The numbers look a little thin but there is more time to register and pay for this event than either of the other two.
At this stage it is also hard (or perhaps impossible) to judge the impact of off season changes other than to say the NPPL made more of them than any other league. Much ballyhooed was the move to 5 events--including one in Vancouver, Canada, the introduction of a Race 2 format option, changing Pro and D1 to a Race 2 variant exclusively, the hiring of Tony Mineo as Commish [and head of officiating], an increase in entry prices and finally the introduction of the mandatory Virtue chip to confirm the ROF cap and provide collateral statistical data.
If participation comes in under expectations (and even if it doesn't) HB will be the first and most important test of how well all the changes will be incorporated and what impact they will have further into the season.

The countdown has begun. Tick, tick tick ...

It's Official: Tony's & Dan's Big Adventure

The Catshack has the NPPL presser posted--even before the NPPL website or their (assorted) Facebook page(s). Link is down on the sidebar--see the kitty in the toilet. (Yes, it is so a link.) Is it because of the new Canadacentric thinking in the NPPL? (That was a joke. No, it wasn't.)
Anyway, there are only a few things to say about this move. First, it's an admission, despite the presser's jargon, that the officiating was broken before. Second, it's going to cause a major culture clash. Third, we don't know how many, if any, of the PSP pro refs they took with them.
If  the PSP refs went with Tony then it is, at a minimum, a short term problem for the PSP that could become an endemic problem. If the core of the refs stayed then the PSP will carry on and decide how they want to replace Tony's role.
Bringing in Tony means, among other things, that the NPPL agrees to do things Tony's way--not the other way around. The only way that isn't true is if there's so much cash on the table Tony will acquiesce to league requirements. And if that's the case then the league has simply thrown a bunch of money around without fixing the core problem--their own inability to follow the rules. It will be interesting--and perhaps even entertaining--to see how the "owners" and the pro teams respond to the Mineo Regime. It will also be interesting to see if there's any noticeable improvement across the board over the course of the season.
At the end of the day bringing in Tony has the potential to actually solve their problems as well as appearing to solve their problems. Will the league let Tony do things his way when push comes to shove? Will that way produce more consistent officiating? Will pre-existing NPPL refs feel undervalued? How will the experiment in Millennium style Race 2 work out? What will the PSP do? Will refs demand more money across the board? And most importantly what choices will teams looking to play national events decide to do?
To the great unwashed it's a PR coup. To the knowledgeable it's still an open question: Can Tony overcome the institutional dysfunction or will it overcome him? Only time will tell and it will, at least, make for an interesting 2012 NPPL watching season.

A Monday Poll First

This week's Monday Poll is a VFTD first. Two polls in one! (Kinda) Two questions, two polls but aimed at one thing. The predicted finishing for the 2012 season in the PSP Pro Division. Top to bottom. Bottom to top. The results of both polls will be combined to create the most seemingly scientific poll ever at VFTD. (Though of course it won't be because, as usual, all voters in every VFTD poll are self-selecting so the only thing we know for sure is that VFTD voters aren't quite the lazy slackers the rest of you are.) Mostly we're doing two polls because I decided one poll with open voting was unlikely to be effective as most of you would use the opportunity to vote your favorites along with the teams you thought most likely to win. If I could have limited you to three choices that would have been fine. But since I can't you will only get one vote in each poll. Which team will win the PSP Pro series in 2012? & Which team will come in last in the PSP Pro series for 2012? (Keep in mind the series winner is the high score after, and including, all 5 event results.)
If you vote, please vote in both polls.
The teams listed are last year's teams plus 187 Crew. While VFTD does not expect an 11 team division  these are the teams that would be in as of today.
Be a part of VFTD history. Vote--then vote again--in the first twin Monday Poll.

UPDATE: What the hell, man?! Clicking your mouse twice was too much for some of you? Determined to skew my already unscientific poll results? Didn't want to anonymously hurt any team's po' widdle feewings by voting them most likely to come in last?

Monday Poll in Review
Last week's question wanted to know which team(s)--from the list given--were least likely to compete in the NPPL Pro Division in 2012. Even taking into account those who misread the question--or didn't read it at all--looking at the raw numbers proved to be, er, confusing. Everybody received some votes. And nobody was seen as an overwhelming choice not to compete. The top vote getters (those teams seen as least likely to compete in the NPPL Pro division) were Vicious and Top Gun (Top Gun Evolution was the series winner in D2.) Mutiny was a no-show at the Vegas finale last year and didn't come in last. Nor did Blast--which announced they would not be competing in 2012--while the poll was still open! In fact neither Blast or Mutiny received votes from more than 50% of the voters. Hello!?
Despite the goofy looking numbers there was some order amidst the seeming chaos. NPPL Pro has 16 teams. The poll list included 24 teams; all 16 from last season plus the top 2 D1 teams, top D2 team, the rumored possibles plus Vicious. The list didn't include any Euro teams or the other 3 PSP Pros; Legion, Ironmen & CEP since all were deemed as highly unlikely at best. If the final poll results are listed in the order of fewest votes (most likely to compete in NPPL Pro) to the most votes the result is kinda interesting. The top ten begining with number 1 are, Dynasty, Avalanche, Legend, Impact, Vendetta, XSV, Xplicit, Uprising, Thunder & Arsenal. 11-13 are X-Factor, Damage & Infamous. Rounding out the top 16, the poll's projected NPPL Pro Division for 2012, are HK, Aftershock & Unnamed Canadian team. Tied at 17th are New Mystery Team and Miami Devious(Rage). Listed in order it almost rounds into shape and despite the actual numbers it even makes a kind of sense. And while I know it's silly I'd love to see Unnamed Canadian listed amongst the teams at HB.
So--will the NPPL have a full 16 teams in the 2012 Pro Division?

2012 PSP Divisions & Entries

And prizes. (Such as they are.) I threw that last bit in for the D3 podium deserves fat cash crowd. Look, I don't have a lot to say about this yet. Maybe ever. I'ma wait until the PSP posts their series prizes but otherwise it seems okay to me. But then I don't favor big prizes to the lower divisions even if there are more teams there. the PSP is about the competition and that means, among other things, that everybody who thinks they belong in D3 or D4, legitimately or otherwise, don't believe they can compete in a higher division. And if the object of competition is to reward excellence and success one of the ways you encourage that is to help motivate players and teams to be excellent and succeed if they want the best prizes.
Mostly I'm surprised by the lack of a hue & cry today from the prize hunters because it's been such a popular topic in the past. (Of course, it's early yet.) Otherwise the only thing that gave me pause was double value points World Cup for divisions D3-X and below. (I'm good with less stringent series requirements for the lower divisions.) I'm not sure what I think of the double value Cup points just yet other than I would object long and loud if it had extended to the Pro division. More on this when series prizes are announced.

Baca's Mailbag, December 15

Have you been able to find out anymore information about what actually happened at the merger talks? Who ended up sinking the deal? From a few posts around the internet it appears it was the NPPL that ended things.

To answer the first part of the question, yes, I've found out more about what happened. Without assigning blame here's roughly what happened at the end. As everyone (who cares) now knows the meeting in Vegas ended badly. There was an effort made after that via a series of conference calls to get back on track the day before the NPPL announced their 2012 event schedule. [The joint the-merger-is-off statement came out November 30th and the NPPL announced their complete 2012 schedule the next day, December 1st. The PSP announced their first two events on December 5th.] Proposals and counter-proposals were made and rejected and neither party apparently could agree to any middle ground between the proposals offered. To the best of my current knowledge format wasn't the make or break issue--it would have been dealt with after a basic deal was agreed to. It seems the core issues were ownership stake(s)--who ended up with what--and something VFTD remarked on back in September, uncertainty about the legal structure of the NPPL and the status of its team/owners in some instances. (Both parties agreed months ago, during the process, to release records to a third party for review and it took the NPPL months to comply.) How much bearing the later issue had on an inability to agree to the former I've no idea--nor can I break down the numbers or dollars being discussed. (If I can get the-rest-of-the-story and be reasonably certain of its accuracy I'll tell that tale when I can.)

I don't think either league left the bargaining table unhappy with the outcome and from here on out we will see what sort of line the industry takes, along with the players. (And I do mean players, not the etools who have never played either one but insist on repeatedly declaring their opinions.)

Baca's Mailbag, Dec 4

A couple of quick notes. Yes, GI has in fact bought Procaps--and the deal is officially done. VFTD was supposed to receive an early copy of the official Press Release (which may still happen)--I foolishly agreed to delay posting in exchange for the presser--but it didn't matter as they proceeded almost immediately to leak the information, AGAIN. This time after having signed all the appropriate documents or at least while in the process of signing them. Let that be a lesson kids. It's one I'ma take to heart. Trust me. (As soon as I realized the cat was out of the bag--this time for good--I did post it on VFTD's Facebook page and will be commented on events of the day there during December.)
Mailbag questions aren't being answered in the order received. It's whatever happens to catch my fancy really. For example today's question provides an opportunity to compare the two major leagues and demonstrate, for the uninitiated, that I'm an equal opportunity hater.

I, along with others I'm sure, was wondering which format you think is better and why. I've been following for a while and can pretty much figure its not going to be the NPPL, but I guess I was wanting to know is what sets the PSP apart as being the premier league (if that is your position).

The obvious answer is Bacaball! (Excepting of course it's only suitable as an expensive spectator-friendly, sports-legitimizing version of competitive paintball that, er, nobody has actually played--yet.)
Between traditional 7-man and Race 2 the simple answer is Race 2 for all the same reasons you've already heard. The big one is of course that the outcome of a match is more likely to be determinative of which team was actually better on a given day. For me, sideline coaching or no coaching is a non-issue. Communication has always been a key element of playing the game and remains so whether or not someone outside the field of play is communicating or not. And for the record I do not believe sideline coaching has nearly the impact that is often attributed to it. (Although at the lower levels it can have more of an impact but that is directly related to the skill & confidence of the players.) But once you start talking about officiating and things like gun rules we're now in the territory that sets the leagues apart from one another.
In one sense the dividing issue for the players seems to be format preference. Which is fine. And if that were the only factor at play I would be (and am) fine with peeps playing what they like. On that count my issues with both leagues, heck, with all leagues, has always been they deliver the best product possible to their customers and since we're talking about tournament paintball "best" means a fair and impartial competitive environment in which to compete. That's my baseline. Everything else is an extra as far as I'm concerned--and secondary. Is it fun to have an unusual or exotic venue? In an unusual or unique location? Absolutely. Do any extras ever make up for a lousy competition? Nope. At least not from my perspective. Your mileage may vary--but I doubt it. In the past when various iterations of the NPPL clearly focused more on delivering an experience instead of a competition--apparently assuming the competition part would handle itself--they ended up in the unenviable positions of always having to try and top themselves and eventually couldn't, no matter how much money they spent. And it cost them on both sides of that equation. It cost them the experience seekers and the serious competitors.
On the other hand there's the path the PSP has followed. The league pays APPA for a registration system that actually works and has the potential to incorporate every tournament player at every level because it's a necessary feature of providing a fair competition. (Does the league still make a few bucks on ID cards? I hope so. I'd hate to think Chris gets all that money--but the point is one league has a real system, the other has another revenue stream.) The PSP pays a salary to the Head of Referees to travel around and train refs and oversee their on field efforts at events in an effort to maintain the highest quality they can manage. The PSP also pays extra for a dedicated crew of refs and their supervision on the Pro field. Is it less than perfect? Sure but the league is willing to spend real money to provide the best officiating they can. And anyone who has been around more than a day or two knows the history of the NPPL, in every version, is fraught with one reffing scandal after another--and not just on the outer fields among the lower divisions--but front and center on the grandstand field. The difference isn't bad luck. It's that one league makes a concerted effort to get it right and the other has different priorities. Same with gun rules. The PSP has clearly defined and enforceable gun rules--whether you like them or not--and as a result significant gun-related penalties are almost unheard of anymore. The NPPL, on the other hand, has a history of unenforceable rules, subjective reffing judgments, arbitrary penalties and widespread cheating. Today's NPPL 3.0 has at least capped their "semi-auto" so they have an enforceable limit (thanks to Virtue) while they continue to turn a blind eye to the ramping they supposedly don't allow. And then there are the rest of the rules. In the PSP there is a clearly defined hierarchy of authority in place to see to it the rules are followed. (Is everybody always happy? Nope, but that isn't the point of the rules.) In the NPPL the rules are inadequate at best and incomplete at worst and the Ultimate Ref's job seems to be making stuff up as he goes along. Does it matter? Most of the time probably not but it is symptomatic of the NPPL's routine practice of half-assing the actual competition while touting what a great job they do at growing and promoting paintball.
Bottom line is what sets the leagues apart in my mind is one is focused on the on-field competition and the other isn't--and never has been.

Numbers Game

The final numbers are in for the 2011 season major league paintball participation. Back in July I posted on the mid-term--(Buy the Numbers?)--and while the numbers are correct I got it wrong. I predicted by the end of the year participation numbers would stabilize across both leagues and end up similar to 2010 numbers. As it turned out both leagues saw real numbers rise. Good for everybody.
Since my views are already pretty well known I'ma just give y'all the rest of the numbers and you people can fight about what it means, or ought to mean and what comes next. In keeping with prior practice I've left the Pro teams out of both equations. (Read the other post if you want to know why.) I've also broken the numbers down by format; 7-man teams compared to Xball Lite teams (even though 5-man in the NPPL doesn't directly compare to Race 2-2.) In four events PSP averaged 160 teams and the NPPL averaged 79 teams. [There is a discrepancy however. NPPL's team list for Vegas had (has?) 136 teams but after the event the league only ranked 103 teams in the various division rankings. They left out the new D4 7-man so I used the Team List number of 15. And then of course Mutiny was a no show which left Vegas turnout at a potential high of 135 to a low of 117. Similar discrepancies exist between the Chicago & DC lists and final rankings as well with the lists in all 3 cases being the larger number. The total plus/minus over the season is 33 teams. I used the rankings because those numbers reflect post event results and seemed to me more likely to be correct with respect to teams that actually competed. To be consistent I also checked both the APPA's paid list against PSP's ranking results and those numbers matched for each event.] For the NPPL it was a significant bump. Between 2009 and 2010 NPPL 3.0 only improved by four teams per event average whereas this past season the bump was up 13 teams per event on average (although virtually all the gains can be attributed to HB & Vegas.)
The direct format comparison saw an average of 53 7-man teams per event and 90 Race 2-X teams. That is an 7-man increase of 9 teams per event over last year. So of the plus 13 teams per NPPL event 9 were in the primary format. And the 90 Race 2-X is a decline of 3 teams per event over 2010 but the PSP more than made up that difference in Race 2-2. Much of the PSP losses in recent years have been from the 5-man ranks and the gains of 2011 were plus 21 teams (80 versus 59) over 2010.
So there you have it.
I would ask one question though. While I know the industry wishes for a single national league what exactly do the players who want one league think it will do either for them or for paintball? Riddle me that.

And just so the Eurokids don't feel left out--it seems one CPL spot is already up for sale and if this off season mirrors last year the MS will be scrambling to try and find teams. I suspect it won't be as bad--assuming the goal is to hold the line at or near 2011 team numbers--because the league had event limits in 2011 that were below 2010 attendance numbers (for the most part) and if the Euro trend is similar to the U.S. (which saw rising participation numbers) there should be teams to fill in the spots that might otherwise have gone missing from normal attrition. (It's a good thing too since the MS went far and wide last year scouring the east and all the distant corners of near Euroland for replacement teams already so that is an option that won't be available again in the near term.) Of course all bets are off if the failing eurozone economies explode the Euro and the whole things starts tumbling like falling dominoes.

What Doesn't Happen In Vegas

I don't have anything new on the merger (Kaboom!) front but when has that stopped me before? If, in fact, this signals the end of serious talks about a merger for the foreseeable future--and there seems little doubt that it does--then a post mortem is in order. And if it's all some sort of misunderstanding--I didn't know she was your wife when she stepped out of my shower--we can consider it just another one of those wacky Vegas misadventures along the rocky road to happiness--but it's not. But seriously, odds are, given the rumors exploding last weekend in Vegas, and the sudden posting of an HB event schedule for 2012 it sure sounds like everything went Kaboom! So what happens now? Is top flight national competition paintball in trouble? And what about some of the reported rumors? And how does the sale of Procaps effect national level competitive paintball, if at all?

While I'm not privvy to any first person insider info--go figure--I think there are a few reasonable conclusions that can be drawn (and I'm willing to climb out on a limb and offer a few up.) Back in September I posted a couple of merger-related posts. The first one, Merger Counterfactual, addressed the possibilities of what happens if there is or isn't a merger. I stand by that post and have a rumor or two to toss into the pot as I go all in. In Monday's post I alluded to the rumor that KEE was threatening a hard line with its sponsored teams if there was no merger. A hard line that favors the PSP. (There's even been some talk of a united industry--minus PE--determined to break the 2 league sponsorship cycle--but color me skeptical of that one.) If true that would mean KEE would likely pressure teams like Dynasty, Infamous and XSV to abandon the NPPL. (Of course the reverse could also be true but that isn't the way the rumors were flying.) And think of all the teams shooting Axes & RPS paint. That doesn't paint a pretty picture for the NPPL's future success.

Merger Machinations was also posted in September. In that post I identified some impediments to the merger I believed to be accurate. (And I've had no reason or received any info to suggest otherwise since.) Admittedly there are more current rumors but only the folks in the room discussing the merger know what actually happened and why and I would be very surprised (shocked actually) if the whole process wasn't covered by non-disclosure agreements. [I use them with some regularity and while not foolproof non-disclosures provide some extra legal protections again sensitive or proprietary information being leaked.] That is however just a supposition on my part. That said all the "insider" rumors about the meeting are coming from one side; the NPPL side.

What's perhaps more interesting than speculating about exactly what happened is speculating about what will happen next. Rumorology has suggested (for some time now) that there will be more events next season--rumor says 5 but who knows, is back to the old schedule of 6 events possible? I would guess not but that would only be a guess. Further I would expect the PSP to maintain the status quo when it comes to rules and format and such. After a reputedly successful 2011 (and the general playership aversion to change) a little continuity would likely prove quite popular. (Although a return to the shorter field might be change everyone could appreciate--and would help reverse the more paint, fewer points trend of 2011.) And then there's the sale of Procaps. Richmond has always flagshipped his paint brand with high visibility sponsorships--the current GI Sportz line-up for example--and there's no reason to imagine that will change. The question really is--will DraXXus be retained as a separate brand line (that incidentally ends up competing with GI) or will  Procaps be subsumed into GI? And what happens to DraXXus sponsored teams as a result? Does GI spread the wealth and go with the numbers or focus their resources on a few well chosen teams? (Last year, KEE picked up a number of teams on the relative cheap with their Axes & RPS deals because there wasn't any real alternatives available.) Will the Procaps sale force further belt tightening and if it does what will that mean? In the Pro division it will likely mean a number of the NPPL only Pro teams won't have any real option about where they play; it will be NPPL or nothing.
And then there are the players. How many players play for multiple teams? How many teams are made up largely of players who also play elsewhere? Back in the day the NXL attempted to restrict player movement and I can imagine a time, in the not so distant future, when that becomes a more viable policy. When the NXL tried to restrict player movement there was too much money and too many options available to make it stick but that isn't the paintball universe of today.
Recently the league wars have been relatively mild low grade conflicts, schoolyard pissing contests if you will, but if the industry really does pick a side will it signal a heating up of the war? In the aftermath of whatever caused the merger to fail are there hard feelings, bruised egos and bitter recriminations? Frankly that's the stuff of paintball wars past--will it be the basis for a hot war going forward?
So many questions. So much unknown and/or uncertain going forward. At least there will be something to talk about over the winter.

Last Word On Merger Madness

Okay, probably not really the last word but hopefully the last for a while. Mostly I wanted to reiterate a couple of past comments on this subject. First, a prediction: If the merger results in a format change it will take about three weeks for new state and regional leagues to pop into existence offering Race 2 variants and perhaps six months after that for some of those leagues, plus some of the ones already operating, to plan on a cooperative national championship event to be held wherever. Nature abhors a vacuum and if the mergents, in their collective wisdom, move away form the most popular format functioning today somebody else will make sure it's available. (Yes, mergents is a made up word. It means those participating in a merger.) And since the local and regional level can offer the format for considerably less cheddar than the national league those lower level leagues will instantly cannibalize some significant percentage of the divisional teams.
One reason that will prove to be true--should those conditions emerge--is because everyone who claims they don't care about the format is either a liar or a poseur, or both. Now there surely are a few players and/or teams prepared to go with whatever format but that doesn't mean they don't have a preference--it just means they are unwilling to admit it.
Then of course there's the fact none of this would even reach the discussion stage if the Industry could police itself. Virtually all the impetus to make this happen comes from a collective that can't seem to make a decision either individually or collectively as to where their actual interests lie. They say they want one league to support but that's a red herring, a blue mackerel even. Nobody has ever put a marker to any of their heads and forced them to support anything. And a merger of the NPPL & PSP does not, I repeat, does not, guarantee that there will only and ever be only one national league. At some point the Industry has to decide who and what they will support (or won't support) and it isn't the leagues, either one of them, that put the Industry in that position--it is their fellow industry members and their own intransigence. In essence the Industry is pressing for the merger in the hope one league will protect them from themselves. (Until another league, or leagues, come along and then it's right back where we started.)
Those of you who have been around long enough will know that I'm not a big supporter of the Race 2 format. That, in fact, each time Xball was watered down I railed (even "raehled") against those changes and would love to see something more like Xball return. Nor, despite some of the naysayers, do I dislike or disdain 7-man. (I've coached teams to series championships in both Semi-Pro & Pro in the NPPL.) Personally, I'm content to see two national leagues. I understand and sympathize with the aspirations of the pro team owners in the NPPL. The fact that I comment on the weaknesses and/or failures of one or the other league only means I'd like to see them get better and deliver a superior service to all the competitors. However, at this stage, if there is to be only one national North American league it makes zero sense to insist on some 7-man variant as the format. Look at the rest of the world. If Xball Lite has been good for anything its real claim to fame is that it has largely united the competitive paintball world. It would be foolish to move away from it now or make it even more difficult to compete. 7-man xball? Really? How big will that field need to be? Look at the chaos and ruckus adding twenty feet to the PSP field length caused last year. Are we in for a repeat performance of that? My point is simple. For better or worse the world plays Race 2. And so does most of North America and that is what the vast majority of fields that cater to competitive players is set-up to offer. It makes no sense to kowtow to the wishes and egos of a handful of team owners in order to effect a merger that will not, cannot, do what the Industry that is pushing for it wants.

Merge. Don't merge. Whatever. Try not to screw it up for everybody else.

World Cup field posts & practice coming next. (I didn't forget.)

Format Wars

Okay, "wars" is definitely over the top but the whole topic is just plain silly. It's laughable. Deserving of ridicule. (That's where VFTD comes in.) And if that wasn't enough the proponents are positively delusional. They haven't just jumped the shark, they were jumped while they jumped the shark. (And yes, even I'm a little confused by that one.)
But as a pretense of being fair and open-minded let's first list the virtues of the glorious 7-man format. It doesn't have much of a history. It's only been a nationally recognized format since NPPL 1.0 (Pure Promotions) transplanted it stateside from Euroland circa 2003. Less than a decade. Even by paintball standards that's not very long. (Yes, 7-man was around before that, here and there, played mostly as the poor man's 10-man.) (And, maybe you can make a case that 7-man as a format and style of play continued in the tradition of 10-man--after 10-man was gone--minus 3 guys and on a field a fraction of the size. Of course for a couple of years the NPPL's 7-man was competing against the remnant of the PSP's 10-man format so, then again, maybe not so much.) But (and it's a big but) 7-man is played on a field that's longer and narrower than xball. With carwash bunkers. Can't forget the carwashes. And 7-man still has semi-auto and sneakiness. Well, except that it doesn't really. Is sneakiness a format feature? Or is it a result of no sideline coaching or crowd participation? And then there's the factoid that the recent All*Star demonstration allowed grandstand side crowd participation so ... Okay, but hey they've still got semi-auto! Capped. At 15bps and as every semi-auto aficionado knows tons of 7-man players can easily exceed the cap with their crazy fast twitching skillz. And no way to determine if the guns are ramping, bouncing, etc. Only whether or not they go over the cap. Which is a warning and/or a penalty.
Maybe the best thing about 7-man is the NPPL's willingness to change with the times. To hold on to tradition and still reach out to the majority of competitive players. Why over the last year they've considered multiple point matches, crowd participation, capped markers, shorter points and they're thinking of adding buzzers and getting rid of the flag, at least the station flags. Can bells & whistles be far behind?
And then there's the fact the rest of the world plays 7-man and if we're ever going to legitimize competitive paintball we--what? The Eurokids don't play 7-man anymore? The Asians either? They play what?!? Xball Lite? Race to 4 or 5? Really? Well, that's not very helpful, is it?
But still, at least 7-man isn't xball, right, and that's what's important.

Time to be serious for a moment. The move to capped markers is a concession to the fact the NPPL has never been able to adequately regulate guns or enforce legitimate, workable rules--until now. And anybody who spends 5 minutes at a NPPL tournament knows 98% of the guns are ramping, bouncing, adding shots, whatever you want to deny in order to rationalize the "skill" involved. (The other 2% are pumps.) The move to multiple points is a concession to the fact the outcome is both fairer and more likely to advance the better team. Everything the NPPL has done to improve their format has brought it closer to xball (Race 2). Undeniable fact. All that's left is the dimensions of the playing field and the number of players per point. So here's your compromise. Use the current PSP field dimensions as they're closer to NPPL than old xball layout. Add a few bunkers to the basic set. 4 will probably do the trick. Keep the current PSP rules regarding sideline participation and keep the spectators far enough away that all the noise is just that, noise. Field 5 guys because now isn't the time to try and force the world tournament community to change--again. And hey, we'll all go "semi-auto." Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Merger Machinations

As long as I'm already digging myself a hole, what the hell, let's keep digging! This post is in response to some of the comments in the 'Behind the Scene at DC' post questioning the possibility of a merger or assuming it's a dead issue or ought to be after the DC shens. I won't address what ought to be but I do want to shine a bit of light on the situation. As I have stated before the impetus for the merger is coming from outside either league and is being spearheaded from within the PBIndustry. The industry wants one league because they are incapable of acting cooperatively even in situations where they all might be best served if they could cooperate. Instead they are pushing the leagues to merge, regardless of outcome, to achieve a result they (the industry) can't accomplish themselves. (If there is only one league to support it will be cheaper than two and there won't be any room to maneuver for advantage by any of the industry players. At least in the short term.) That is the core of the merger effort.
It's rubbish but it's their rubbish. (For more on the subject check out 'Merger Counterfactual'.)
Frankly I'd be tempted to call their (industry's) bluff because somebody would break ranks and as soon as that happened they'd all fold--like they've always done before--but then I'm not the one risking the league 80% of the players play which makes it an easy call for me.
However there are impediments to a deal being done. (I suspect the conduct at DC wasn't helpful but also probably wasn't a deal-breaker either.) I have, in the past, alluded to a larger problem when it comes to the merger. (A problem beyond personalities and personal priorities and egos even. Who'd a thunk it, right?) I'm talking about the practical fact that there is no NPPL really. At least not the sort where you can review the ownership structure, the participating teams or individuals, the terms of their internal agreements, shared assets and liabilities, etc. There's a few teams and owners who have, or think they have, some claim on an ownership stake but there is no legal entity for the PSP to deal with. Which is going to make doing a deal a little tricky unless or until that "problem" is addressed.
But it could also be that there's a solution within the "problem." We know that the current NPPL board is split on the merger. (Those against it would either have no team as the majority of their players also play elsewhere or they couldn't afford it or be competitive.) And therein lies the beauty of the "problem." What if the PSP, instead of negotiating a merger, proposed, by invitation, to negotiate with a limited number of teams and owners--largely those already receptive to the idea--and simply ignored the rest? (As it stands now if there's no Bart Y. in the NPPL there's no NPPL. You gotta wonder how much Bart enjoyed getting screwed by his own league.) If there is no legal entity that identifies and gives substance to the NPPL there's no need to pretend there is and deal with the collective. Instead come to terms with the stable, substantive teams and owners and call it a day. Tell the industry if they can't say no to whatever scraps of the former NPPL are left over that's their problem and as far as the PSP is concerned they are the only legitimate national tournament series organization.

Next time, Format War.

Merger Counterfactual

This isn't the next coaching post. Big shock, huh? Relax, I will get around to doing them, the other coaching posts, that is, because the topic interests me (too) so be patient. In the meantime I couldn't resist a follow up of sorts on the latest NPPL rumorology particularly in light of a couple of comments under that post.

Oh yeah, before I get started a counterfactual (for those of you not steeped in geek speak) is basically a What If scenario. Roughly the idea is to create a scenario based on a set of conditions that might have been or could still be. At one end of the scale you get alternative history novels and at the other end you get hypothetical models that are (theoretically) useful in thinking about all manner of complex situations. For paintball purposes we's gonna keep things simple and stick with the What Ifs.

In the Mr. Curious comments Joe suggests that no merger means the end of pro paintball. Joe's statement is predicated (I assume) on the notion that the industry support of the leagues has been shrinking for years and that elements of industry have been making noises like they intend to play hardball over this merger issue. They want one league and one league only. So Joe's comment seems to have some merit but--

What If one league makes a good faith effort? What If the industry isn't united? (And we know that it isn't.) What If a merger happens? What does it mean and what will happen in the aftermath?

What If one league makes a good faith effort and no merger results? I ask the question that way given the split on the NPPL board but we could as easily ask What If both leagues make a good faith effort and no merger results? Will the PB Industry refuse to support either league or any of the pro teams as a consequence? It seems highly unlikely. For one I think it's impossible to make the case that industry is united--which it would have to be to enforce a no support decision. Two, it's not in industry's best interest to offer no support. For example, KEE is believed to be doing well with their new Axe in part because of the number of pro & divisional tourney teams using the marker. And if the rumors are true KEE signed up a number of pro teams for a relative pittance of paint. The cost versus the potential return definitely favors KEE. So while the industry, or elements within industry, may be making hardline noises it seems unlikely it would actually happen regardless of the circumstances.
What If the PB Industry isn't united? I ask this as the follow-up even though I've already decided it isn't because it's important to see what the ramifications of that lack of unity might be. Let's say for the moment no merger occurs and the industry--or some key players--announce they will no longer support the NPPL as a result. (Insert PSP for NPPL if you prefer as it makes no difference.) How long before some element--Let's, for the sake of the example say, Oh I don't know, Valken--steps in and offers to support the league? Five minutes? How long after that before everyone else jumps back in out of fear of somehow losing out? The point is that without a unified industry elements within the industry will seek to advance themselves if the opportunity presents itself. The issue has never been two leagues; it's been a divided industry that is constantly at odds and unwilling and/or unable to formulate a policy with respect to tournament paintball and two national leagues. The merger matters to parts of industry because they want forces outside the industry to do for them what they can't (or won't) do for themselves.
What If a merger happens? Does it preclude the possibility of another league forming? No. All it really can do is limit or preclude the participation of any of the principles involved in the merger. Is that enough to merit merging? I don't know but if it were me I would be taking a very hard look at what benefits I derive from a merger. I would also be looking at how such a deal would be accomplished. (Rumor has it the NPPL isn't in any legal sense a formal entity. If true who does the PSP make a deal with? A dozen different individuals or teams? And how do each of the "owners" represent and protect their interests if the NPPL exists in name only? That's a whole other What If post all by itself. And a serious complication to a merger if true.) If the best we can say is that a merger unites the existing leagues and leadership but does nothing to limit future league formation and competition how much does it really accomplish? If a merger occurs will the industry all of a sudden start throwing more support at the new unity league? (If you said when pigs fly, you guessed the likely correct answer.) It seems to me the industry hardball line is all threatened stick and no carrot at a time when the leagues have gotten used to barely enough carrots to flavor a weak broth. Not a whole lot of incentive to make a merger work (or so it seems to me.)
What does it mean and what will happen in the aftermath? I'm not sure there any answers to those questions except to suggest that perhaps a merger doesn't solve all of competitive paintball's problems--it may only defer some of them--and it may create new ones. It doesn't mean that multiple leagues will never again compete at the national level. It doesn't even guarantee united industry support--though that may be the default short term result. Is that good enough? For anybody?

Mr. Curious Hears A Coup

Yes, the title is a rather awkward play on words that isn't precisely true but I find amusing. Hey, you get what you pay for. (Whatever that means.)

But before I loose Mr. C on y'all I have a correction (and an admission) to make. VFTD incorrectly identified one of the two new-for-WC pro division teams as Seattle Thunder. It is, in fact, Portland Uprising. While not altogether my fault--yes, I was still wrong--enjoy it while you can--I'm still perfect statistically--I could have checked as I had some roster info but that would have been work. And really who cares? No disrespect to the teams or players but Portland? Seattle? What's the big difference? They drink ridiculously expensive coffee, eat soggy croissants and never need sunglasses 'cus it's dark, dreary and rainy all the time. It was an easy mistake to make is all I'm saying.

Mr. C's latest big news comes from the NPPL camp. Where else? That could have an impact on future merger negotiations. (Btw, if the NPPL crowd find this post either irritating or embarrassing feel free to take potshots at the messenger but the facts is the higher ups in the PSP were well aware of this stuff before Mr. C was although the info didn't come from the PSP side. Mr. C is just a lot more diligent than I am in following up. Apparently.) My, I wonder, what that info could be? Trying to drag out the revelation to build suspense doesn't work in print very well, does it? At some point you're just going to skip ahead and ruin all my fun. So I might as well get on with it.
It seems the NPPL board, whoever they are, are divided--nearly evenly--over whether to proceed with the merger talks or not with a narrow majority favoring ongoing talks. That's a new wrinkle, isn't it?

Guess Who's Coming to World Cup

It seems a couple of teams requested entry to the Pro division at Cup and that permission has been granted. Rumor has one of those teams has already paid their entry but that remains unconfirmed as the team hasn't yet appeared on the list.
It also poses a couple of questions. Who are they? (I'm getting to that.) And how, if at all, will that change the event and potentially impact the season for the regular competitors? (There's other questions too but I posed the ones that interest me. Feel free to pose your own.)
Since the PSP Pro division has operated with 12 teams in the past that part shouldn't be a problem assuming the league simply returns to past practices. That would result in a tighter prelim schedule--more games per day by a couple, if I remember correctly--and a quarterfinal round on Sunday as 6 teams would go through with each division's top seed getting a bye to the semi's. Whatever the league does once the added teams actually pay up the league needs to clarify what will happen for the rest of the division.
The only downside, other than turning WC into a one off for anyone, more or less, who wants to show up instead of the culmination of a competitive series is the way in which Young Master Raehl--henceforth known as YMR--produces the prelim schedules. He has the goofy notion (I'm being kind) that his view of parity supersedes ranking in creating a prelim schedule. What I mean is YMR in essence rewards the new guys and less prepared and/or capable teams by giving them an easier schedule while at the same time giving the best teams a more difficult schedule. At least on paper. And as every sensible competitor knows this is completely bass-ackwards. So one might hope he will be directed to produce an appropriate schedule rather than one to his liking. (This only happens when the divisions have more teams than prelim games. 5 teams, everyone plays everyone in 4 prelim matches. 6 teams and not everyone plays everyone else.)
One of the teams hoping to compete in Cup is from the NPPL perhaps looking to get a leg up if the merger goes through or at least get their players some experience. The other team is from the CPL.
How long can I draw this out before I tell you who they are?
A little longer at least.
The NPPL team is--
Seattle Thunder.
And the CPL team is--
London Nexus.

Monday Poll in Review

I heard from a reliable source this past week that powers in the PSP weren't exactly thrilled to see last week's The Monday Poll. (And given the results I suspect the NPPL kids liked it even less.) So let this be a teaching moment on why Baca is always right. The point of the poll was a) to give voice to you, the competitive player, and b) to make painfully clear that whatever reasons may be offered in favor of the 7-man format widespread popularity isn't one of them. (More on this coming later.)
(Reason a is also why I am on occasion frustrated at the lack of participation. Outlets for expressing your moods, views, opinions and general thoughts are relatively few and far between and trust me, participating here, at VFTD will get you a lot further than bitching & whining will over on PBN. On the flip side your apathy is a green light for the paintball powers-that-be to do what they want, when they want.)
Allow me to demonstrate. (We're talking about the poll again.) Given all the different options let's add up the percentages that favor any form of 7-man. That total is 16% of the vote. The total favoring some form of xball or Race 2 is 73%. In the debate over what format a unified major league ought to offer the answer seems pretty clear, doesn't it? Also of interest 18% voted for the current form of Race 2 while only 2% voted for the current form of 7-man. That, my friends, is 9:1 in favor of xball. (7-man collected most of its votes [14%] in the S7 category of Best of 3 competition that I am certain most of those voting for haven't actually played. Largely because it turned out to be a confusing pain in the --) And of course there is no way original Xball , despite receiving 24% of the vote, makes a surprise return because a) nobody could afford to play it (unless the PSP turned into the CXBL and nobody is gonna commit major league resources to playing two matches or whatever per event) and b) divisional teams would scream bloody murder if they were forced to return to a double elimination format or something similar. (I'll believe there's a real market for 10-man [5%] when somebody offers a 10-man tourney and anybody shows up.) For better or worse Xball Lite is where we're at. That is what has the majority of the grassroots support. That's what most of the regional leagues are playing. That's what Euroland is playing. That's what the developing paintball world aspires to compete in. The debate is over. For better or worse xball is the dominant competitive format.

NPPL Owners Extra: Sorry, kids, you got nothing. Stick with the claim of marketing superiority. Minus the revolving pro teams merry-go-round your events have averaged less than 70 paid teams per event in your first two years. Take the 5-man & pump teams out of the equation and the number of teams actually competing in 7-man drops noticeably. There's no real debate here, only your delusions. While I'm at it here's a prediction for y'all: Any format decision that isn't basically Race 2 will, within about ten minutes, spawn a new competing league or some cooperative competing national championship among the regional Race 2 series.

Edited for accuracy: I changed the number of paid teams on average in the above paragraph after double checking my recollection. More data can be found in the post Buy The Numbers. And if you remove 5-man & pump the number of divisional teams competing in the 7-man format averaged 40 teams during the first two years of NPPL 3.0.

Post PSP Jersey Open Report

Yes, we're thrilled with the win in Jersey. The guys played great (for the most part) and we now have the rest of the season to live up to our standards. Thanks too to all the well wishers. Now to the rest of the story.
The venue was somewhere in north/central New Jersey and continued the by now well established pattern of hiding major league tournament paintball in plain site, er, sight. There was a giant Howdy Doody-looking figure out front but nary a sign for paintball or a PSP logo large enough for anybody not trying to find the place to notice. (I'm also not sure such efforts really make much if any difference anyway but I continue to hear about it from some peeps who consider it a failure of both imagination and to adequately promote events.) There was some talk prior to the event that the area we would be playing on was heavily overgrown and would needed to be cut down (or cut out) of the lushly wooded and verdant countryside. If that's what they did they did a good job of it. The fields weren't pristine but then they never are. (The NXL played a couple of years at Disney--yep, Disney--House of the Mouse--with green mats covering drainage grates on the field.) Our field was fine and the paint trucks were close. What else do you need? The vendors were arrayed in lozenge-shaped semi-circles around the entrance and I, for one, appreciate the fact the PSP didn't create a maze of vendors we were forced to walk through to get to the fields. (Can you say, Phoenix?) They were handy if you wanted to check them out but we weren't driven like a herd of cattle past them one by one. A good--and fair--impression of the venue can be seen in the Gary Baum aerial photo PSP events is using on their front page--oops, they've substituted that photo--(which you can probably see at PaintballPhotography)--with a photo of the winning team. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Once again the PSP provided a live webcast hosted by Matty Marshall & Friends and once again--except for some occasional weather-related difficulties--was a smashing success that enabled fans from around the world to tune in and watch the action. Always a good thing for competitive paintball so thanks to the PSP for making it possible--along with Patrick S. and the rest of the technical crew. Which is all well and good but I'm curious about a couple of things. Even with a reduced presence and fewer cameras, etc. it must still be a significant expense, right? Is it being underwritten by any particular sponsors? If you matched up the co-hosts with their employers or primary sponsors it seems to make sense--with one glaring exception. As I said, I'm just curious.
How 'bout a breakdown on each of the pro teams? (I know, I'm just asking for trouble but I want to make a couple of specific points. Players should be less fans and more students of the game when they are watching the pros play--and maybe it's just me but that seems to be lost on most of y'all. Why aren't most teams more consistent? A lot of what's going on is influenced by factors other than simply playing the game. And of course the field layout can have an impact as well. More later this week.)
Let's begin with CEP. I like this team and I like the kids playing for them. It's a positive organization focused on learning and improving--which they are doing. It hasn't shown up in their match results yet but they are a better team than the one that began the season. Not unlike Vicious in their first season but I think CEP is a more versatile team.
In their first outing without Greg Pauley Vicious looked on Friday like they were lost and demoralized. Somehow overnight Friday they turned it around and came out and played much improved hard paintball with an intensity they didn't have the day before. That is the kind of resilience teams & players must have in order to be successful at the highest level but the jury is still out on whether or not the team has the horses to really challenge the top teams.
In the case of Infamous I think a number of factors likely played into their unexpectedly poor performance. It was a difficult bracket regardless of the Russians misfortunes. It was not a layout that played to Infamous's strengths. Some bad luck and a penchant across the board to gunfight hard. While never a bad thing the team had some difficulty locking things down when they needed to and, so it appeared to me, tended to engage in some battles they didn't need to fight and lost more of them than they usually do. Given the layout of key positional loss frequently started the dominoes falling on a given point.
What to say about the Russian Legion? A very uncharacteristic performance punctuated by very poor performances from some of their best, most experienced players. Have they had poor events before? Yes, but I can't remember anything quite like NJ. I consider this an aberration and assume the "real" Russian Legion will be back at Cup. (More below in rumorology.)
X-Factor is a tough team to get a handle on. Any given day they are capable of being world beaters and other days they beat themselves. Fundamentally they don't make many mistakes and they tend to mix conventional tactical play with bursts of wild unpredictability though less so on this layout as it didn't provide those sorts of opportunities really. They played a lot of close points and at the end of the day they simply lost more of those than they won. Always a dangerous team to play.
It seems that almost every event one team or another falls foul of some rules arcana and unfortunately that's what happened to 'Shock in New Jersey. (If you were interested I'm sure you know by now how all that worked out from other sources.) Of more interest to me was the turnaround 'Shock made in Jersey over the first two events of the season. This was the first event the team played under the leadership of former Aftershock legend Mike Bruno and it was a telling change for whatever reason. (It may be as simple as providing active support to a group already gung ho.) Shock always plays hard and is always aggressive but can sometimes be scattershot in the process. In Jersey they were also an effective team playing with no pressure to perform and no where to go but up. It will be interesting to see how things progress for them up to Cup.
I had some doubts about Impact leading into the season. Not so much about their talent, which is first rate, but about their chemistry given the roster changes the team has been making over the last couple of years. Even so the team continues to contend event after event with great consistency and I think they remain capable of winning any event they enter. I tend to think of them like an X-Factor but less prone to extremes as their temperament and style matches that of their coach, Jason Trosen.
The Ironmen have done a remarkable job this seasons without Ollie. The mix of experienced pros with some young, hungry and coachable players has produced solid results. And the team has bought into the system and it allows them to play smart, aggressive and controlled paintball. It may coaches vanity but I tend to attribute much of that to SK's efforts and the fact he clearly has the support of the team's vets. They don't beat themselves even when battling through penalties. I'd also like to take a moment to suggest to all young divisional players you could do a lot worse than emulate Kyle Spicka. For those who have known him in and around paintball for a few years his determination, dedication, will & perseverance ought to be a model of the right way to overcome obstacles and achieve success as a player.
The mark of a truly great team is the ability to consistently perform at a high level and by any rubric that is Dynasty. Most teams can only dream about Dynasty level success and most players would consider it a great career to achieve the kind of success Dynasty has often managed in single seasons. Before this year Dynasty looked like they might be on the wane but the return of Ollie and the addition of Mike H. & the youth movement has proved to be just what the team needed to reinvent itself. While they don't have weaknesses in the normal sense on the NJ field there were a couple of elements we had some success focusing on. Some of the younger players tended to be impatient and try and force certain rotations and as a team Dynasty perhaps lacks some team speed and if they can be forced into situations where they have to get wide a disciplined team can make them pay. (Or anybody else for that matter, D'oh!)
Despite the lack of household names Damage has world class talent in a mix of experience and youth. Damage's only significant fault is the occasional loss of focus that at times leads to a sudden loss of confidence. When they play together, play in the moment, they are capable of contesting with the very best and being one of the best.
One ongoing discussion over the course of this season has been long points and paint usage. (We shot nearly 20 cases in the final match.) Heck, it's a subject VFTD has commented on numerous times. Within the context of the NJ event there are a couple of additional things to be said. The rain may have contributed to some long points on Sunday but the rain didn't cause them. Nor did the rain alter the way most teams chose to play the field. Everybody I saw was playing the same ways on Friday and Saturday. The field did not encourage fast play though it was sometimes possible to press a power point if it was timed correctly or executed in concert with a key elimination OTB. But what I want to address in more detail is this notion of defensive paintball versus offensive paintball because it comes up when there are a lot of long slow points. A key element of competition is the imposition of a team's collective will on their opponents and paintball is no different except we do it with paint and position. (I'll be discussing this in more detail in a separate post this week.)
In the rumorology department there was lots of Legion talk at the Open. (This is not Mr. Curious material, just the on site scuttlebutt.) There was curiosity about the apparent name change--the word being that Sergey was unhappy with the old NXL nomenclature of "Boston" and wanted Russia back front and center. Then there was also the rumor that the Legion had lost its backing from Sergey and was scrambling to reorganize. And this is where Bear D'Egidio fits into the picture. (There has also been a fair bit of discussion on how Bear got a spot on the Legion given the majority opinion seems to think he isn't a pro caliber player.) The dominant rumor being that his dad (a partner in a number of large Cali paintball operations) greased the skids, so to speak. Even if the rumors are accurate it wouldn't be the first time such things have happened in prime time paintball. Whatever the truth is the Legion struggled mightily at NJ and it seems to me there must have been more to it than missing a couple of players.
(Rumor segue: Remember when Mr. Curious told y'all HydroTec would begin producing paintballs in mid-August? Facefull confirms. Sort of. I know, but still ... would you believe HydroTec?)
In closing a VFTD shout out to all the Florida players and teams that performed well in New Jersey. Way to go, kids. Okay, that about covers it from my perspective. If any of y'all have any questions post them up in comments and I'll (probably) try to answer them.