Pony Back in Harness

Paintball.com reported recently that Chris Lasoya will be playing for Aftershock in 2011. Looks like the PSP changes are working.

(Sorry, Chris, I couldn't resist. Truth is it will be great to see you on the field again. I'm looking forward to it.)

The Back from the Beach Edition of Paintball Stuff

It's Monday and that means a new entry for Baca's Blog over at the Big Bullet (68 Caliber) and this week's entry is a doozy but it isn't exactly hot off the presses. It's a slightly updated version of an old magazine piece--because it's Monday and I didn't take my laptop with me to the beach and I haven't slept since Saturday night. Caught the redeye out of LAX last night and had every intention of trying to sleep (planes and sleep don't typically work for me) except for the odd little man in the middle seat of my row. I'm sure he wasn't a regular flier and was probably claustrophobic because as soon as the lights were dimmed he started talking to himself and making peculiar noises. Nor could--or would--he sit still. He sat there in the dark grunting, squeaking and fidgeting for four hours and when I politely suggested he knock it off he turned off my air nozzle. As a fan of spy movies I considered snapping his spindly neck and putting a blanket over him but the cheap bastards at USAir don't offer complimentary pillows and blankets anymore. The post is called, So You Wanna Play a Big Game? and if it doesn't ring a bell take a look.

Met DPA legionary Don Saavedra at HB this past weekend and it's always cool to put faces to names. If you've read Don's posts at PaintballAgenda --and if you haven't what's wrong with you?--you know Don has an interest in the stories and history of the game. In pursuit of that interest he's begun working on a podcast project. Long story short I made a nuisance of myself until he pretended to do a short interview with me. In the longer term it will be interesting and exciting to see--and hear--how it turns out.

Another very cool project I heard about at HB should be going live online soon and I will fill y'all in as soon as it does just in case you somehow miss the big reveal. The brains and heart behind the project are two of the most creative guys in paintball. I don't want to steal any of their thunder so I'm just teasing y'all for right now but I'm really looking forward to it. It will be a must see.

Talked to Chris (Pony) LaSoya and the rumor of his playing xball (Race to Whatever) with the semi-pro Vipers is a possibility. From our conversation it didn't seem to be a done deal but he was excited about the prospect of getting back on the field. And it will be with a Dye team. I asked him the secret to his longevity and he started talking about some guy named Paul Mitchell. I don't know who that is and I'm not gonna judge so I nodded a couple of times and backed away slowly.

I missed the enlistments last week but I'll catch up this Friday.

And, yes, I know, I didn't post Field Design: Phoenix 3 because it just wasn't ready. It's close so it'll be soon. You know where to send your complaints. I will also get around to checking out comments soon.

Finally, a quick word or two on the first USPL event. It went off without an obvious hitch. The set-up offered some innovation and far as I could tell everything worked out well. I'll do a longer report tomorrow. For the players and those who were there for the paintball I'm confident it was a solid performance. On the showcase of paintball/Huntington Beach coolness factor I think a couple of things conspired against it. The weather wasn't great. It was south of the pier. The vendors were kinda interposed between the beach goers and the fields of play. And there was a surf comp as well as a big craft gimmick going on this past weekend. From my perspective I've never seen the kinda crowds or interest from the public that existed when the event was north of the pier. Of course, I'm not convinced that Paintball Meets the Public on the scale of one Cali beach community is all that relevant right now anyway. But what do I know.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Pony plays Euroland. Or at least wants to play Euroland. Mr. Curious wants to know if that means Pony is still a stud or is he being put out to pasture? (Hopefully it means Pony is 100% healthy.)

VFTD: bringing you the best in obscure movie references and bad animal jokes since 2008.

Pacific Pulls Plug

Bad news: one less national paintball league.
Good news: everybody who wanted one league only got their wish. Albeit, not quite the way they had hoped for.
What inquiring minds really want to know: What's next for Pony? Is it back to the outrageous party-go-round that is Denver? Say it isn't so.

On a more sober note: there were dedicated and sincere people who worked for the NPPL over the years and made a large contribution to its successes and the pleasure those of us who competed enjoyed. Thank you all.

Not Their Finest Hour

The PSP's Northeast Open is in the books and as usual there are a million stories to tell. Unfortunately I do not feel at liberty to tell the best of them. And by best I mean those that would scar the innocent and shock the naive.
On the other hand I also feel the occasional pang when criticizing one thing or another because there are peeps involved I either like or respect and sometimes both. Even so I accept that pain for the pleasure it brings, if you know what I mean.
Some will disagree but all things considered it wasn't horrible which is a victory of sorts given that the site had no business hosting a national event. C'mon on down folks and watch the greatest players on the planet from a tiered pile of rocks and mud on a non-regulation layout while we deny those same players the opportunity to participate in their matches except when on the field. Hurrah! And then there's the image it presents. It's a poor idea to have a league owner host an event when that owner also has a particular stake in the outcome. There's apparently already been some internet chatter about Philly and Dynasty practicing on the NXL event field and everybody with any stake in the matter has made every possible excuse as to why in this instance it didn't matter. But if it didn't matter why all the excuses? And if it really didn't matter how bad does it end up looking when those same teams end up in the finals? It's a no-win situation and could have, should have been avoided. There was another turf field right next to the NXL field. Why didn't they practice on that one? That wasn't so hard, was it?
There's a reason the league long ago decided to stop allowing teams to practice the actual competition fields and there was absolutely no reason and no excuse for it being allowed this time.
Along similar lines I'm hoping someone will be able to explain how it is that the rules are the rules except when they aren't. The rulebook goes to fairly precise detail about how a field should be set up including the pits et al. Well, of course pre-existing structure required some modifications to those rules and some for this event only judgments (modifications based on the modifications of the rules) that were, IMHO, assinine at best. But beyond that when you scrape away all the particulars what's left behind is that the league will alter rules for the sake of convenience. Now you may say in this case it wasn't a big deal and I would agree with you but if you've been involved in paintball for any length of time you also ought to recognize that coherent, comprehensive rules are the only things that make a sport a sport and the history of paintball makes deviation from the rules a very short and very slippery slope. Consider yourselves warned.
One good story I can tell you involves your hero and mine, Chris LaSoya, of Aftermath. The reason I'm telling you this story is because of the one I've already posted about Pony in last month's archive. It seems Chris had a tiny little fit during an Aftermath match not unlike the one he had at Buffalo NPPL in the Spyder field deadbox. The button for conceding a point didn't work and Chris got upset at the loss of time, etc. and slapped the button and housing around a little and got into a shouting match with Dan who objected to his equipment being treated so poorly. It was ugly, abusive, angry and most excellent entertainment. But the point is the league, in the person of the commish, dealt with it directly and it resulted in a brief suspension for Chris. I've yet to hear anything about the Buffalo incident except for the swoosh of brooms working overtime. That in a nutshell is why I personally tend to favor and have some faith in the PSP over the NPPL and also why things like the bent (but not especially important rules) continue to put the nighborhood cats in jeopardy.

Wild Pony Sighting

During the prelims at the recent Buffalo NPPL event Chris LaSoya let loose with a tirade from the deadbox on the Spyder field that resulted in the tent covering being ripped down while Chris expressed his unhappiness with a certain amount of high decibel invective aimed at pretty much everyone within earshot.
Now I'm not put out at all by Chris's tirade, it's cool with me. But not with the NPPL. (Unless you happen to be Chris, apparently.)
They made that abundantly clear at the Pro captain's meeting when they passed out a page entitled NPPL Rulebook Amendments (2008) that added a new suspendable offense and altered the penalty for a different infraction. The new 3-game suspension applies to any failure to place your marker in the cradle before proceeding to the deadbox. You see, in Jax a few peeps got suspensions for dropping markers onto the cradles --it was apparently ruled to be a form of throwing--so it is now a new suspendable offense. And you may have heard about a bit of sideline coaching that occurred in Jax, too, and according to the rules in force during the Jax event any team caught sideline coaching would receive an immediate 1-4-1 penalty. Thing is the offending team wasn't caught--except on video that ended up on You Tube--so the NPPL changed the penalty to a 6 game player suspension and applied the new penalty in Buffalo. For those scoring at home that would be a retroactive application of a rule that didn't exist when the offense occurred. But those videos sure did make the league look incompetent.
There are a couple of ways of looking at these changes. One, the league is learning as it goes along and acting when they see a needed amendment. Another way of looking at it is the league is not only unwilling to acknowledge its own past errors but is using its power to punish anyone who runs afoul of the league. You decide but here's one more bit of info.
Remember the Pony incident? Where does it fit in with the latest edition of the rules? Verbal Abuse maybe under 23.04? But what about the tenting? Or conceivably 21.07 under Embarrassing, Dangerous or Destructive Behavior? I can't find a specific tearing the tenting off the deadbox offense so maybe it will be added for next event. Or maybe not.
Yeah, turns out Chris is a recent high profile hire of Pacific Paintball which owns and operates the NPPL.