Galveston Day 1 & 2

Somehow we have been transported into an alternate universe where Texas is wet, cold and dreary. (Curse you Southwest. Bags may be free but this isn't the Texas I signed up for.) Oh yeah, and it's pouring rain. I've been here before. In 2006. Freezing rain and snow that time. It's one thing for Galveston to be prime spring break real estate for high school dropouts but after today Galveston is now at the head of the VFTD not-a-suitable-competitive-paintball venue. The fact I spent the whole day cold, wet and miserable has nothing to do with it. (Okay, maybe it has a little bit to do with it.)
Anyway I heard early Friday morning that interest in the webcast crashed the PSP server. Apparently a generator (or two) went down and, like last year, the wind tore down some more fields this evening during the downpour. We arrived late Thursday reaching Galveston around 11 pm. Given our late arrival we were glad to be scheduled for afternoon matches. Later that would prove to be less beneficial than we initially thought. Friday pro matches got behind early. A combination of conditions, a new hierarchy of authority and the heavy focus put on the webcast saw the schedule running close to an hour behind late in the day. And then it rained; Texas deluge end of the world thunderstorms. Our second match of the day, against Vicious was postponed mid-match and the anticipated match between Russian Legion and Houston Heat was carried over to Saturday. That was before late night storms brought powerful winds ashore that demolished most of the fields. Late Friday the PSP hoped to have the fields rebuilt over night with only a short delay. As night turned to morning the delay grew longer and longer and the pro field am session didn't begin until nearly noon.
Originally the idea was to plug in the missing matches between morning and afternoon Saturday sessions. Between posted schedules and flooded fields and makeshift netting supports we played the remainder of our Vicious match late in the afternoon Saturday. Followed by Heat vs. RL which couldn't have been a tighter match with a thirteenth breakout with the teams tied 6-6. Heat captured the last point and a 7-6 win. The league held the Dynasty vs. Shock to provide a time buffer as we were the first "afternoon" match.. As that match began we were given the word that the pro event would be finished a day early prior to Phoenix. That means the morning sessions teams to move thru are decided but the whole afternoon session from Saturday will need to be completed before the quarters can be played. Then the semis and finals.
Sunday the focus of play will be on completing the tournament for the divisional teams--as it should be. The outcome is less than ideal but the pros will compete at every event and that can't be said of every divisional team and they need to have their opportunity to win.
When we left the sun was going down. Dynasty and Shock had begun and plans were in place to run divisional games under the lights deep into the night.
For what was lost here in Galveston Phoenix doubles down. Two pro wins over one weekend will be at stake. And with any luck Sunday's webcast will feature the best of the best of the divisional kids and we'll get an extra day in Phoenix as the pros finish the Galveston event.
And--here's a guess--after two years in a row with the wind nearly ruining the tournament the next time the PSP comes to Texas it probably won't be to Galveston Island. Besides, if you were looking for the hot Spring Break babes they're having fun on South Padre.

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.

Return of The Monday Poll

Hey, hey, hey. Finally, something different. (Between you and me I was beginning to bore myself. No wise cracks. Not that the player performance thing is boring but everybody needs a change of pace now and again. Which reminds me--I could use a few mailbag questions. I'm almost desperate enough to answer some. Not that I'm whining, you understand.) So here's the deal.
I finally broke down and started reviewing the major paintball websites for something, anything of interest worth talking about. Bzzzzt! Nada. Cup is coming up--so where's X-Factor?--and tomorrow is the last day to get your entry in. Last time I checked there were already 240 teams plus ready to go. And the NPPL kids were around 90 teams for Vegas--last I checked--with time to spare. All good but not particularly exciting. So imagine my surprise to remember hearing about Vegas being a PPV event. (I wonder who is fronting the cheese to attract those mice. And is the league gonna deliver more than two snake wire cameras? I mean they have to, right? Hopefully they'll do a better job of getting that word out than they have the option of signing up to play D4 7-man at Vegas. Oh yes you can. Apparently y'all are better off visiting NPPL's Facebook page than the website.)
Here's the thing about PPV. That first P stands for pay. And this time around they don't mean out of their pockets, they are expecting you to pay. If you're at least as old as a couple pairs of my shoes you'll remember this has been tried before. I'm curious what you think the likely result will be. Will it work? Is a NPPL webcast good enough to pay for? But all that is for comments.
The poll is gonna ask you how much would you be willing to shell out to see the NPPL Vegas PPV? I'ma give you lots of choices--but not so many it confuses you--and you pick the max amount you'd be willing to pay. Sound like fun? Okay, fun may be pushing it but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye. (It is so.)
What are you waiting for? Vote already, dammit.

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.

PSP Brings Webcast Back

At least for the Chicago event in June. Rumor has it that not everyone at the PSP is on board with this decision. How, you may wonder, could anyone in their right mind object to another awesome and entertaining webcast? From a player and fan perspective it looks like a win-win but there are other points of view. One source suggested it may cost the league upwards of 30K. That's a substantial piece of change for a league that is perpetually pleading poverty and telling its customer base, players and vendors alike, that survival depends on sometimes significant changes even though their costs won't see any relief. Fair enough but doesn't a complete turnaround in mid-season send at least a conflicting message? Can the league afford to do this or can't they? And if they can't, why are they? Heck, even if they can, why are they?
It is not from the gooey butter cream goodness of their hearts so what's the motivation? Is it because of the other guys? (The guys who did HB but not Chicago. The guys who are rumored to have turned down ESPN3 because ESPN wasn't gonna kick some cash into the project and the league had no more to spend. Those guys?)
I'm glad in a selfish way there's gonna be a webcast but we've been down this road before and nothing positive has come of it. Will a webcast generate enough paintball-wide interest to encourage new (or other) teams to participate in the PSP? Is the PSP doing a webcast just because the other guys did one? Is the PSP working on their own let's get back to TV angle? (Not that I've heard.) Maybe it's just me but I'm not seeing the point. And I'm not seeing the payoff. I don't see how a webcast in Chicago benefits the PSP or ever begins to pay for itself unless we're headed--once again--toward some sort of pay-per-view effort. Could that work? I'd like to think so but the track record ain't great.
What am I missing?

No Chicago NPPL Webcast

That is the word from an impeccable source buried deep within the bowels of the NPPL. (And I can't--don't want to--imagine how unpleasant that must be.) The source pleaded ignorance when it came to the details but was willing to assert that a dialogue remains open between the league and the ESPN3 peeps. Additionally a different source suggested that xbox numbers are more difficult to assess with final xbox numbers likely available the end of this month. What impact, if any, that might have is unclear.

NPPL Pro Division on ESPN3

It's not news. I know. (Unless you've been living under a rock in a Geico commercial lately. I can't for the life of me remember if I used that lame joke recently or just planned on using it sometime. Either way you're stuck with it now.) It's not news, it's a reminder. A reminder to check out the live streaming video next weekend, the 1st thru the 3rd of April, on ESPN3. It will be available most everywhere although for much of the world it will be pay-per-view. (The title is a link to the NPPL which is presently prepping a links and connections page for all the tournament action.)
For those of you finding my mildly upbeat attitude disconcerting (distressing) (disorienting) (discombobulating) (I could go on) relax. I do not have my fingers crossed. I am not jumping up and down with glee. Or excitement. Or even repressed anxiety. I am not even slightly hopeful that this latest foray into competitive paintball on (almost) TV will work. Paintball's track record isn't good. This is but one, modest hurdle that must be surmounted before additional hurdles are put in our path. Yet, for all that, it remains an opportunity. An opportunity whose success you can contribute to simply by signing up and tuning in. (You don't even need to watch if you don't want to.) If you have any interest in competitive paintball being on TV tune in. (My laptop will be tuned in at our HB hotel while we're at the field.) It doesn't matter if you're skeptical. Or that you expect it to go no where--again. It's about making the most of the opportunities that come your way, and make no mistake, this is an opportunity. Tune in.

PSP Webcast Blues

The PSP's webcast is on hold. I mentioned it in this week's MLP on Suicide Watch. There's info and opinions over at ProPaintball. It was a decision nobody wanted to make but the simple fact is the history of the paintball webcast weighed heavily on that decision. There's always been lots of talk about the willingness to pay but somehow those dollars never materialized when the time came to ante up. And the quality of the PSP's webcast isn't cheap--at least not according to paintball's current means. Pat's webcast premiered during WC '08. It was free the first two days, and the numbers grew from Thursday to Friday. The league charged $5 for the weekend and viewership dropped 75%. They didn't make anything close to covering the cost and worse, nobody watched. (Relatively speaking. A very few thousand peeps paid.) The webcast was brought back for '09 and the decision was made to provide it free to viewers and see if sufficient numbers could be generated to make it worthwhile to PBIndustry and outside industry advertising. The numbers were better but not good enough. For WC '09 the league made pay-per-view games and a VOD option available that generated less income than the $5 per viewer of WC '08. The highest quality webcast the PSP knew how to provide has cost the league around 300K including the capital investment in equipment. That is the history of the webcast to date. But that history doesn't have to be the future.

The PSP does have a plan for the future that includes a webcast but there are no guarantees they will be able to make that particular future happen. Or how far in the future it will be should it arrive. However, it seems to me there may be alternatives worth exploring. How about pre-sold subscriptions for WC '10? Tier 1 is the live webcast. Tier 2 is live webcast and the post event download of x number of matches. Tier 3 is the live webcast and a post production WC '10 DVD. Pay for as much or as little of the webcast as you want and the league knows going in approx. how much they'll make. How big a hassle would it be to set-up to take those sorts of subscriptions? I don't know but if enough people are willing to pony up something in advance it just might be possible. And how 'bout a special rate for stores and pro shops to receive the live feed? They could organize special events or sales around the opportunity for their regulars to see the greatest competitive paintball on earth. Would it be enough? I don't know. It could be the logistics are crazy complicated. One thing I know, bitching about it won't change anything. If you've got another idea let's hear it. If Camille got enough emails from peeps willing to buy an advance subscription to a WC '10 webcast the league would at least have to look at the possibility, wouldn't they?

NPPL Live Webcast Recap

If you missed the webcast last night I have two words for you: Shawn Walker. And here's another word: stakeholders.
Was that unfair, unkind, cruel even? I don't think so. The broadcast opened with Chuck asserting (once again) that the USPL is no more and that this is the NPPL (3.0), the once and future 7-man paintball league. Say it loud, say it proud. I'm willing to take him at his word. And of course some of the same themes were repeated as well. (Walker's RPL was also identified as a feeder league which was mildly curious given that it's based on 5-man ...)

The broadcast was about an hour long with a brief intermission in the middle. Leading up to the broadcast I thought was a good idea, answer questions, drum up more interest & generally promote the league. Afterwards, it seemed long on talk and a little thin on content. A lot of territory was covered but largely in a superficial manner. So before I get into some of the details here's a list of items discussed I won't be responding to;
the admission that last year was financially rough but this year will see a turnaround,
while the USPL is no more there's still an enormous U in the middle of the playing field,
anything related to classification, ranking & player id's because seriously, really?
the disconnect between the press release and the broadcast,
when asked "why 7-man?" Chuck's response of it's great for TV and semi-auto. Or Alex's hyperbolic follow-up that we'd still be in the woods without 7-man,
the oft-repeated mantra of being a league run by the players for the players.

Using the press release as a topic guide I want to go through the list and briefly give the league's responses to the broadcast topics.
Rule book changes--yes, there will be some and most revolve around gun rules and most will relate to penalizing players and not teams though how that's gonna work was not stated. And there will be something about how to catch illegal guns too.
HB field layout--everybody likes it except Rodney and while it hasn't been played yet a field is a field is a field. It'll be fine.
Event paintballs--nope, didn't hear anything about this though it could have occurred during the brief period the audio was down early in the broadcast.
Sponsorships--working on stuff, KEE is a big supporter as are Kingman, Spyder, the Army and working on energy drinks and more stuff. Making a bigger effort to connect with locals.
Ref clinic report--last year's refs were dedicated and hard-working but the NPPL is determined to have the best refs possible and it begins with communication, or something like that.
Pro team updates--3 new teams, Dogs, Entourage & Vancouver Vendetta; 3 teams out, Rage, Elevation & United, so 15 teams. Except there were 16 last year and if 3 drop and 3 replace them where's the missing team?
Rankings--no worries, the NPPL has years of old NPPL records to rely on.
Hotels, travel and HB special events, promotions and parties--Chuck thanked the Hilton for the use of the suite for the broadcast.
Special Guests (local field operators, HB city officials, hotel reps, Vip Girls and more)--one field operator, Gio d'Egidio (and new volunteer), no officials, reps or girls. Perhaps we could count Junior from Ballers Cafe (also new volunteer), Chris Iaquinta from Splat! (also new volunteer) and Justin Mason from ProPaintball.com as more.

Stuff not mentioned in the press release that got mentioned was the all volunteer reorg of league duties, introduction of 50 cal guns & paint, webcasts for HB & Vegas and a new D4 division. Chuck remains Commish, Frank Connell is registration, Dennis Olson is finances, Rich is rules, Eric Crandall is General Manager, Bart is pro team liaison, Rob (I missed), JB is sponsors, Iaquinta is marketing, Gio is promotions and marketing, Tom Cole is Ultimate and at the end Chuck mentioned Dante for event set-up. D4 will be exclusively for D4 ranked players. And GI Milsim will presumably be a sponsor too--and they probably said so--as the league will allow 50 cal use side-by-side with standard 68 but otherwise nothing else about it.

I originally intended some more in-depth commentary but this is even more tedious the second time around and I'm rapidly losing the will to live so you're out of luck.

The Monday Poll

Prior to World Cup we had the projected "winners" of World Cup poll and with the help of hindsight it's time to choose the World Cup losers. You may choose more than one answer and if you can muster the energy I'd be extra interested in comments explaining why you picked the answers you chose. Some are serious, some not so much. Some are probably fairly self-explanatory but others aren't. Have an opinion and share it. Dammit!

Monday Poll in Review
74% of responders watched, intended to watch and/or loved the webcast. More to the point of those familiar with the webcast only 9% either found it unappealing or preferred the NPPL webcasts. (And who are we kidding? Chuck and only 3 of the 16 USPL owners voted for their product. Okay, now I'm kidding. I have no idea who voted for what.)
The poll was mostly intended to generate awareness and interest in watching the World Cup webcast anyway. I hope you took advantage of the opportunity always keeping in mind that the road to real sports legitimacy isn't an easy one and that how the sport is promoted and how many people show an interest matters. And matters a great deal.

PSP Chicago: Thoughts & Observations

Wednesday: Gots to get you one of them Pro Paintball T-shirts. Enter a contest. Beg if you have to. They are hot and very cool. I’m just saying and it isn’t because I’ve got mine. Thanks, Guys. It was hotter than Hades’ greenhouse today. The cooler temperatures promised for later in the week will bring us closer to Death Valley-like days. (Okay, maybe not quite that bad but ballpark.) When the crew arrived last Tuesday the venue had a small lake where the Pro field used to be. So that was at least partly responsible for the venue this year. It’s 2 rows of three fields with access to the fields from the middle of the Pro row. The Pro field is the center field and everyone who parks across the street passes the vendors to get to the fields access point or to the Pro field bleachers. Beyond that are few more vendors and registration and refreshments. No final word on the Doritos logo dealio yet. So far most of the games I saw today were marked by the lack of discipline on display. Which was matched, fortunately, by a decent level of aggression. The result was often entertaining if not first rate paintball.

Thursday: the promised relief from the sweltering heat failed to appear today. Maybe tomorrow. As a consequence--at least on the Pro field--Commissioner Mineo is giving the refs extra breaks which has extended the schedule a bit. If the weather remains this brutal I would expect him to continue spelling the refs with extra rest even on webcast Saturday. The Pro teams began play today and the scores were more consistently lop-sided than I’ve ever seen before. At a guess I suspect it’s a result largely of limited practice for some of the teams mixed with the peculiarities of this design--and a continuation (for some) of yesterday’s lack of discipline. [I’ll talk about that more next week when VFTD recaps the event.]
There’s more on the webcast front, too. You may remember VFTD suggested one way of getting more of the D-wire action might be to put cameras in protected brackets on the penalty boxes to give mid-field and D-wire shots. (I was mostly just throwing it out there while trying to abide by the 180 degree rule. [It’s a film maker’s thing.]) Turns out the webcast will have those shots and more. (And bigger and better besides.) Patrick "Monkey With a Gun" Spohrer--and webcast mastermind--was kind enough to credit VFTD with the idea but the truth is the crane mounted remote control cameras at each end of the field are way beyond our idea and should provide tremendous shots of the game play. (And be the kind of shots that will let viewers see the points unfold and allow you to follow the hows and whys along with the action.) The only question I have now is can I Tivo the webcast so I get to watch, too?

Webcast: The Final Word

For now, doh. There is never a final word final word around here and the sooner you accept that the easier it will be to maintain your mellow.
First, I'd like to thank Pat for hanging around and putting up with us (and by us, I mean me.) It is more than annoying to be told how to go about your business. I know that. And when peeps do it to me I may remain serene on the outside but inside I want them dead and buried in unhallowed ground with every sign of their existence destroyed and churned into the earth. (Okay, so maybe I overreact sometimes.)
That said I'm gonna do it anyway because, well, it's my blog and you can't stop me. It's not a great reason but it's an undeniable one.
Keeping Don's suggestions and the 180 rule in mind here goes: 1) remove the cameras from the pits. They aren't used much and without sound their descriptive power is--wait for it--muted, at best. What could help convey the intensity and emotion of the game is, without sound, mostly time filler. 2) Take those cameras and place them on the penalty box in a protected bracket and aim them to show a portion of the D-side of the field. (It might be seen as a minor violation of the 180 rule but not by much and should visually assimilate easily in the context of the field and the players' uniforms.)
The result is no additional equipment expense and at least partial coverage of the D-wire from both ends of the field. My only question is the quality of those cameras relative to the camera set-ups on the snake side. If the disparity is too great obviously that would be less than ideal.

Eventually (assuming this whole competitive paintball thing actually survives a week or two) as the webcast expands, the game grows and its reach broadens more improvements will be made and among them will be the issue of displaying more of the action on the D-side of the field. It will happen so why not address it? No harm, no foul, just an annoying know-it-all insisting on offering up an idea or two, wanted or unwanted.

Oh, and if it occurred to you that there is a measure of irony in this post given my admonition in 'The X-Factor' post below--it occurred to me, too.

Paintball Stuff: PSP edition

Just a few items worthy of quick comments.

The new PSP website. The old site wasn't flashy or exciting but it worked fine and was simple to navigate. The new one is a mess. It looks like a bad high school media class project. Seriously.

The Chicago layout that first appeared on Pro Paintball and over on PBN in the PSP forum (from the Canes forum) is now up at PSP Events. I was hoping it was a fake (because I didn't get my copy Wednesday) and because it's frankly just plain poor. Obviously we'll play it like everyone else if it comes to that but it's a mediocre design that looks mostly like they were trying too hard to be different. I'll break it down next week.

As brilliant as the webcast has been, and it has, I'm wondering when we're going to get to see more of the D-side action. Pat? Matty? Anybody? (I've heard the concern is the angle changes on the D-side will be confusing compared to the snake side but I'm not getting it.)

The Dynabrats (at least Alex and Johnny) have channeled Shepard Fairey and come up with a scheme to sell Red stickers to finance Red's plane fare to Chicago. (Was I the only one surprised when Red didn't appear at MAO after the PSP used him in their promo?) I think it's only fair the kids work the street art angle made ubiquitous by Fairey seeing as he jacked most of his images and ideas from uncredited sources. (Okay, that last bit wasn't very paintball but here at VFTD I take seriously my obligation to expose you lazy slackers to a little culture once in a while. And in Fairey's case it's damn little. *bada bing*)

UPDATE: Added the links I forgot to include last night.

PSP Phoenix Open

This review of the Phoenix Open is less an autopsy and more like a game of Operation. I'm gonna skip around to the items of interest to me and if there's something I don't cover feel free to ask. (Unless it pertains to arcane divisional minutiae. I don't know and I don't care. Okay, that's not completely true--I do care but mostly in an intellectual for the good of the game sorta way and not in the I must know every division 4 Race 2-2 result. If you know what I mean. And I think you do.)

Did you catch the new Race 2 ref jerseys? Pretty snazzy, right? (Snazzy is too a word. My Dad used to use it regularly.) I'm not exactly mocking the new jerseys because they look fine. Hard to go wrong with your basic black and white stripe ensemble. But I do have a couple of thoughts: The new austerity sure seems to have carried over some of the old excess with it. Not unlike the Obama Justice Department. Anyway, I get the whole unified game theory and while my inner anarchist cringes I'm less concerned about the "unified" part than the "game" part. Cutbacks are hitting everybody--Race 2-less, less Race 2-time and so on but apparently this was as good a time as any to job out the design and production of new officials jerseys. Maybe it's just me. And no, it's not a big thing. Still.
The other observation is for all you divisional types who would like to see a more progressive--when I say progressive, you mean more--Race 2 structure the jerseys are on your side already. The little paintballs? that expand across the bottom of the Race 2 design have numbers in them; 2 - 7 including 3 and 6. So it wouldn't be like, no, sorry, we can't extend your race 'cus we'd, like, you know, have to have all new ref jerseys made. Au contraire.

The Legend of Frank the Tank [insert punchline here] continues to reach new heights. I am less interested (this time) in the incident than in how it was handled. If you haven't heard Frank was upset during a match and there was some physical contact with one of his own players. Within the rules he was penalized but the full brunt of the penalty was borne by the team. I understand a ref being more concerned in the moment for the safety of any player and taking action in accordance with the rules. But for future reference shouldn't there be a better way? In essence Frank loses his cool, grabs one of his kids and as a result the teams is assessed major penalties and has to start down two bodies for two points in a critical post-prelim match. That's adding injury to insult.

The webcast continues to surpass expectations--or at least it ought to--though it seemed to be dropping out quite a bit on Saturday. (As was I so maybe you had better results on that score.) I did not break down Matty's door to get on the webcast but since they allowed Trevor Pearson on I'm confident they'll put just about anybody on--so maybe next time. (Love you, Trev. Get a haircut. That may pass as hetero in the androgynous and sexually confused state of Minnesota but not in the Carolinas.)
The graphic bar was lean, mean and informative while carrying a subtle PSP styling cue or two. Its only weakness was font scaling which left a few teams abbreviated like a Wheel of Fortune puzzle. Although, that was probably a conscience decision in preference of uniformity.
The complete presentation continues to improve from an already high standard and I have no doubt that with another event or two under their belts we will have a hard time differentiating the quality from broadcast.

More in a while.

Major League Paintball Held Hostage, Day 37

T minus 5. And counting. As of 12:02 PM EST there were 95 teams paid and 157 teams registered including 8 pro teams. Phoenix '08 had 123 teams competing.

Yesterday the PSP announced that the Phoenix Open will be webcast live and that it will be free. Yes, free. In addition there will be more cameras in place providing greater coverage that will include the d.wire. Hopefully fans everywhere will take advantage of this opportunity to tune in. (And hopefully the PSP has made every effort to inform their potential audience. I can come up with a number of reasons for making it free but all of them depend, in one way or another, on the size of the viewership.)

Last week Mr. Curious wondered how it was that an apparently no longer in the paintball biz Craig Miller remained a big wig at the PSTA. No thanks to you slackers one of VFTD's ever vigilant correspondents noticed a largely overlooked press release that may go some way towards explaining. It seems Mr. Miller was/is a partner with Milt Call in Brimstone Enterprises, makers of Ultimate AirBall bunkers. It further seems that Miller & Call now hold the U.S. patent rights to airball bunkers and Adrenaline Games was "happy" to sign a licensing agreement with Brimstone the other day. And apparently Brimstone will be back in the bunker biz with a '09 relaunch sometime soon. You can check out the whole thing--an amusing read between the lines--in the News forum at the Nation.

WELT #9 has hit the cyber shelves. If you aren't signed up to get it delivered direct to your email inbox what the hell is the matter with you? Well, what are you waiting for?

The NXL in '09

Where do the days go? Seems I forgot to renew my Prozac prescription and nothing good will come of that. An inclination toward pessimism now heightened by burgeoning chemical dependency issues has me despairing so naturally I began thinking of the future of, what else, competitive paintball. If you thought I was gonna say the economy--the Amazin' Kreskin you ain't--I said I was despairing, not suicidal.
I also thought I'd get ahead of the curve and offer up some predictions early--before the Cup crowd of Paintball Illuminati gather to chart our collective futures (think of this moment in time as the few days leading up to the activation of Skynet)--and save yourselves all the anxiety of waiting for the inevitable rumors and half-truths to start circulating.
The following is a prediction. It is not based on advance information I've been made privy to or disinformation either. It is an educated guess.
8 teams. The league might manage 10 but I'm having a hard time seeing how right now. Some very important decisions are going to made between Cup and, say, Christmas. There's a new variable in the mix I hadn't previously considered (which was stupid on my part because the precursors were there some time ago.) Anyway, I won't name teams as I can't be positive and speculation along those lines would be grossly unfair. 5 or 6 teams are virtually a lock and the shake-out will come from the others and the couple (or so) teams that currently are thinking they want in.
In a previous post I suggested in passing that I hoped the PSP managed '09 with no more than a 30% decline. I'm afraid that may have been too optimistic. Unfortunately there is also no way to implement the Pro Circuit between now and the start of next year--assuming the highly unlikely event of the PBIlluminati actually considering such a change. And without the Pro Circuit alternative methods of supporting the NXL would almost certainly conflict with the operation of the PSP. If the option to restructure the NXL isn't on the table then I hope the simpler course of cutting costs will be seriously considered--and which might add up to 10 teams but there is still a huge complication in the offing. (If you're a newcomer check out the Pro Circuit posts in the Archives to see what it's all about.)
More likely might be a reduced season schedule. Given that one way of looking at dropping one event would be a cost reduction of 20% for teams (and something less for the PSP) intending to compete for a series. And for everybody else a one or two event option would remain. The calculation for the PSP then becomes how many teams do we need over 4 events and when and where are the events held? The other question is how does a 4 event season impact league income from sponsors, etc?
One more prediction: the webshow will not have enough paying customers to make the PSP happy this time around--and if World Cup can't draw the numbers they want then what? Regardless, this is a project that ought to be pursued. Easy for me to say but even so. (I'll have more on the webshow and the Big Picture once I find out what all the PSP has in mind. )

PSP Webshow

Pspevents.com added an intriguing tease today promoting the upcoming webshow with an audio snippet that plays when the site first comes up. It's brief, it's atypical (for paintball) and it's great. A timely reminder that Pat has been the creative lead in much of the very best of paintball on film and that Matty is the undisputed voice of paintball. Cheerleader is not my usual role, nor is it one I'm particularly comfortable with but to be honest I'm more than a little concerned for (at a minimum) the short-term future of competitive paintball. That, and I'm reminded how easily those of us involved in big ways and small with the traveling circus that is Paintball on and off the field settle for good enough. And then decry the latest setback. Good enough is never good enough.

Update: turns out the audio piece is likely part of a video trailer that will be posted sometime today on the PSP website. Check it out.