Paintball Awards

The kids at ProPaintball have posted--out of the blue--a "best" of 2011 list. If you missed it the post title is a link. But before I get into the subject of this post I would be remiss if I didn't thank ProPaintball for the honor bestowed on me. And I will refrain from thanking everybody I've ever known but it remains a fact that no individual succeeds in team sports alone and I am very fortunate to be part of a first class organization and surrounded by some of the best players in the world. Okay, enough of that.

While there is nothing new in doing best of lists or handing out annual awards I'm beginning to come around to their utility. You see, the thing is I've been, in the past, rather ambivalent about the whole idea of awards, player of the year, team of the year sorta thing, even All*Star players for the simple fact it often seems either political or a popularity contest that fails to acknowledge teams and players that don't have sponsor ads touting them or videos featuring them or who go out of their way to put themselves in the public eye. As a consequence I tend to view such things cynically. But it has occurred to me that such things might serve another purpose beyond simply recognizing excellence (to whatever degree of accuracy.) They might serve to help make competitive paintball more accessible.
For example, what if PBN did power rankings over the course of the season for each of the major leagues? The ranking needn't follow results alone but could include match-up results in the prelims, point margins, etc. or be voted on by members or players of the particular league. At the same time perhaps ProPaintball has the Insider's or the Expert's poll running concurrently doing much the same thing but with a limited list of voters chosen for their insider knowledge or expert opinions. Do such things change the results of matches or events? Of course not but they do create a potential for dialogue amongst fans of the different teams and leagues. And once you begin with an opinion you have to have reasons and before long people are talking about competitive paintball the way sports fans talk about other sports.
And while All*Star events have at best a checkered history there's nothing wrong and a lot right with the idea of awarding the best players All*Star recognition. Maybe mid-season each team nominates 3 or 4 players and over the rest of the year fans vote and the teams vote for the best players on their competitors' teams and at the end of the year when the series titles are handed out the individual All*Stars are acknowledged as well.
Which still leaves Top Tens, Best of's and whatever other annual awards anybody wants to assign and what better time to start drawing those up than after the final paintball has been shot in competition for the season and the off season is looming. It would be an excellent way to keep people interested and actively involved if, say, social media and networks were used interactively or to collect votes or whatever. And under those circumstances more than one batch of awards is both welcome and adds to the potential debate. It seems to me that the good outweighs any potential negatives and every handle that gives players and fans a positive, fun way to talk about competitive paintball is a plus.

How Big Is Paintball?

Our industry equates the size of paintball with sales numbers. The let's get along crowd wants paintball to be a big all-inclusive happy family with a shared passion and others acknowledge the diverse possibilities under the banner paintball but tend to focus on the form of paintball that interests us. The numbers of participants for assorted tournaments or scenario games are bandied about and compared with past participation. Some of our local fields are doing great business while others are veritable ghost towns. We wonder about players in other parts of the world. What does it mean--in actual numbers--if we read that paintball in Indonesia is exploding? I don't have any particular answers. Just another way of answering the question: How big is paintball?

Earlier this week on Facebook Freddie Brockdorff got the (paint)ball rolling with an open group called, How Big Is Paintball?

In Freddie's own words--"Lets see how big paintball really is, please add all your friends playing paintball. So that we can get outside sponsors to enter the sport of paintball ...
Just wanted to clarify why I started this group! I work on a global market meeting with a lot of big brands so I wanted to bring them all in to spend marketing money in the paintball world. To help in that effort I want to be able to show how big the following and how loyal paintballers are to the sport by starting this group!"

Since you and I know Facebook is an evil plot to pacify the proletariat (while Google invidiously invades our privacy) using it for good is a revolutionary act. That means go sign up and join the group. Yeah, I know you're a slacker but odds are you're also on Facebook twelve times a day already or your phone has an app for that. And really, wouldn't it be kinda cool to see how big is paintball as a giant Facebook group? It won't answer the core question of course but who knows, it might make a difference some day--and if it doesn't, at least you'll know who your real friends are.

PS--don't bother telling me I could have signed you up myself (if you're a friend) and why aren't you? (Because you can't even be bothered to click the damn "Like" button on the sidebar.) Besides, I didn't even do either of the VFTD-related Facebook pages myself. And you know how I do things like add numbers to my phone? I call my daughter.

More VFTD Facebook Page(s)

Here's the latest on my efforts to make social networking work for VFTD. I've had the unauthorized Facebook page for VFTD removed since no one came forward. It was obviously not intended to be malicious and I appreciate the effort but since I had no access I've re-done the View From The Deadbox page--not to be confused with my personal Facebook page. (I know, you're thrilled to find all this stuff out. No doubt you're also an avid fan of the Housewives of Orange County and think Lady Gaga is a musical genius.) In the process, which included putting up a link and a like button on the sidebar, the site lost all the previous "likes" so please click it again if you already had and as for the rest of you lazy slackers, click the new button now. Not next time you drop by. Not sometime. Do it now.
That means there's now a personal Facebook page and a View From The Deadbox page active and I invite y'all to check them out, put in a friend request, leave a comment, etc.

Also, a special thanks to Jarmo N. from Helsinki Cyclone for getting the VFTD page started.

VFTD Facebook Page

I need your help. Some generous fan of the blog has set up a VFTD page on Facebook. I discovered the page, created on November 12, when Jarmo N. from Cyclone was helping me set-up a, you guessed it, VFTD page on Facebook. Okay, I didn't discover it, Jarmo did. Just like he was doing all the work on the new page. First, I would like to thank whoever went to the trouble and second, I need access to the page. So, please, if you're responsible drop me a line when you see this--and thanks again.

Deadbox Puppet Army

First and foremost I would like to thank the latest recruit, Chris, for signing up. (Thanks, Chris.) And I would also encourage all you lazy slackers who can't be bothered to reconsider your failure to date to join the DPA. Our agenda is world domination and VFTD needs you.
If you're new around here and uncertain as to what the DPA is, that's easy. The DPA is intended to be an ironic poke at paintball's penchant for generating lookalike armies and the impulse for everybody to be individuals in large groups. (Can you say, agg?) If you were hoping to park your brain at the door and march in lockstep with your fellow puppets I'm afraid you will be disappointed. There won't be any of that here. We are all just simple victims of paintball, friends with a shared insanity--no strings attached.

UPDATE: Way to jump on the bandwagon, Warner. You too, Koker. But hey, it got you a VFTD mention and your DPA secret decoder ring is in the, er, mail. (I do want to warn you tho the post office frequently "loses" them. It's a conspiracy.)

If that's too hard at least hit the damned "Like" button on the sidebar. Even Stephen Hawking could manage that one.

While I'm at it I'd also like to thank the latest batch of Twitter followers and Facebook friends. Y'all make me look normal.

Its the End of the World as We Know It

and I feel slightly nauseous. Couple of reasons. I've got some good Off Season rumorology but am currently sworn to secrecy. I'm a sunshine laws and transparency kind of guy so staying silent sucks but I'm also a paintball realist (cynic) so I'm not sure I believe anything I've heard. Contributing the lion's share to my current queasiness is a decision to take the social media plunge with my Facebook page. Sure VFTD is already tweeting but VFTD doesn't follow anyone--okay, it's actually 6 but one of those was a pity follow. The end result of that is that Twitter hasn't really expanded VFTD's audience, it's just another avenue to inform regulars of what's been posted. (Although I do put original material up on Twitter occasionally and, no, it never has anything to do with the mundane activities of daily life.) From today forward VFTD will be making an attempt to use these so-called social media tools for my nefarious and self-serving purposes. There is one problem however. I still don't totally get how these things work--and I don't handle rejection well. What if somebody I don't know and doesn't know me doesn't want to be my friend? Will the rejection be devastating? I hope not otherwise I might soon be tweeting about how I cried myself to sleep--again.
If you're into the social media thing please drop by. You're even welcome to point and laugh about how I insisted I'd never do this. I deserve it--but I do have a plan. It's a cunning plan and if it works it will be worth the loss of dignity. If you're not now is the time to get started, while VFTD is the focus of mocking attention.
To get started I'm working on a couple of things. First, I've set-up a TBD group for team members only. So far Jason is the only one on board. Since I know some of the rest of you can (and do) read (this site) you need to get on board. It'll be an easy way to keep in touch--for me. (Btw, there's also a team page on Facebook.) The other thing I'm trying to figure out is how to do a unique poll--the sort of thing I don't do on VFTD but still paintball-related. (Which reminds me, there will be a new The Monday Poll coming out on Monday you won't want to miss.)
The Facebook page will have some unique content and be less structured than the blog. It will also be the primary contact as I (slowly) move forward with my assorted coach-for-hire schemes.
So there you have it. Let the slings & arrows begin.