Houston, We Have A Problem

The NPPL has cancelled the event scheduled for the weekend of the 19-21 in Houston. I can't see that they had any other option given the timing. Hard to imagine just what the fallout will be.

Channeling Sam

I've been concerned about the NPPL. For real. And now there's the whole hurricane thing thumping Houston and damaging the stadium. Thank God the parking lot is okay so far as we know.
My concern began before the current regime. It began when registrations event-to-event, year-to-year started to slip. But then Pacific Paintball stepped up and took over and everyone felt sure a corner had been turned. Pacific was backed by a large forward thinking advertising company and the word was they had a plan. A plan only a chosen few were privy to (I sure as hell wasn't included and no reason I should have been) but even so everybody said these were the guys to save paintball. With their secret plan.
So what did they do?
Took all the goodwill of positive press and being the new guys and did the same damn things that contributed to sinking the old guys; change nothing but hype it like crazy--aw--awwwwwh, turned a blind eye to (obviously) poor reffing--Awwwwwwhhhh, while insisting they do so have effective gun rules--AWWWWWHHHHHHHHH!
Find themselves hemorrhaging divisional teams and offer discounted Pro Division entries.
But they --aw--awwwwwh--Awwwwwwhhhh--AWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHH!--have a secret plan!
See the 7-man format struggling and decide the way forward is to directly compete against themselves with the XPSL.
But they--aww--awwwwwh--AWwwwwhhhh--AWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHH!--have a secret plan!
Buy a magazine to promote their vision when virtually every dead tree print publication in existence is concerned about its survival.
But they--awww--awwwwwhh--AWwwwwhhhh--AWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHH!--have a secret PLAN!
Focus on another paintball TV show (they insist the network is paying to produce) that to every appearance hasn't made one iota of difference!
But they--awww--AWwwwwhhh--AWWWWWWHHHH--AWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHH!--HAVE A SECRET PLAN! AND THEY ARE MARKETING GENIUSES!

Aw, I feel much better.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Sam Kinison check out the link. Rated:R
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P1QtBmPHGw

TV or not TV

Is not really the question.
After all the hype and fits and starts I honestly don't pay paintball on TV much attention but since OA asked I'll address the current situation and the bigger picture. (My lack of interest isn't because I don't believe in TV as a vehicle for presenting paintball. I've just never been a big believer in paintball as the next Big Thing.)
Any paintball on TV is a good thing. Maybe that needs to be qualified. Any positive programming dedicated to making paintball more acccessible to the public is a good thing. Loosely defined any show portraying paintball as entertainment is fine--local news reports of some dim-witted little pukes doing a perp walk for shooting at a school bus full of kids, not fine.
Are some portrayals more to my liking than others? Sure, but it's not really important. What is important is that TV has the capacity to reach the biggest, widest audience. And as such the placement of paintball on TV is a no-brainer. What TV isn't is the be all and end all of paintball.
The backlash of negativity (from some quarters) toward TV is not so much the result of the paintball that has been presented on TV or even the size (or lack thereof) of the calculated audience as much as it is of perception and unmet expectations. When the whole tourney world has been primed for paintball to explode in popularity and legitimacy those are some serious expectations. And when those expectations are raised repeatedly without being fulfilled--going all the way back to the Jerry Braun Debacle of '96--it's a huge letdown. And when so much has been (at least implicitly) promised with seemingly so little to show for it, it's small wonder the general perception is of abject failure. But none of that means that paintball on TV can't succeed. I am inclined to believe that paintball on TV will continue to be an ongoing process and that ultimately paintball will likely settle for being a niche activity and niche sport. That doesn't mean it can't succeed on TV or that pro paintball as truly professional sport is impossible. One real problem of the past was starting with a definition of success that had to be a home run (to mix my sports metaphors.) [Of course if I was committed seven figures deep that would be my definition too.] And that definition was built on the assumption that all paintball needed was to get non-ballers to tune in to a reasonable facsimile of tourney play and they would instantly see how cool it was and want more. Or if not quite that then enough for ESPN to decide to produce more paintball for their network. Same result, slightly extended time frame. [There are/were issues over control of product that influenced decisions too but I'm leaving that part out.]
Which brings us to NPPL/FSN TV. What exactly are the expectations for it? If it was intended to pump up interest in competing in the NPPL that hasn't seemed to work out. If it was intended to be an introduction to paintball for a wider audience then we'd have to see the ratings to even make an educated guess as to whether that may have happened. If FSN is paying to produce the programming (which I seem to recall was the claim last year) then what is their definition of success? And will they keep doing it? (And why is it only ever on in the one mid-week afternoon time slot alotted to it?) Whatever NPPL/FSN is accomplishing it ain't sudden glory and respectability for tourney paintball.
While we know paintball on TV didn't result in X Games level popularity I'm not sure what else we do know about the impact on paintball of TV. We know (or more correctly have been told) the ratings for the 2 ESPN/NXL and the Miami NPPL shows shared ballpark numbers. They were not fabulous numbers but they weren't terrible either. Apparently though they weren't enough. To what? Get ESPN to produce more? To generate ad rates that would sustain more production? To demonstrate viability to outside of industry sponsors? Whatever.
I think there's a couple of things though that can be said. The current environment means PBIndustry can't (won't) support paintball on TV. I think it's also probably accurate to suggest that any data from past shows isn't conclusively positive or negative in terms of marketing impact. And in the current economic environment I think it probably remains difficult to evaluate. (Which doesn't bode well for the expansion of paintball on TV except perhaps for cable access variety shows that lack production value and look like high school video class projects. And if that remark resembles your show...)
Lastly I think most of what's been on has had some crucial error though I'm not sure those errors kept any of the past shows from garnering the hoped for success. For example the Miami NPPL shows were probably the best for communicating play of the game but once the teams figured out they didn't need to win (they played body count ball) the games filmed were boring. Really boring.
So where does that leave paintball on TV? Same place paintball not on TV is. The largest failure I've seen is the desire to shortcut the process, leaping from obscurity to next Big Thing in a step or two. In hindsight it didn't work. In any other sight it was unlikely to work. So far nobody is really "selling" paintball and there are lots of ways to do that. [Whole other topic.]
Frankly I'd sooner see a hundred or more fields from around the country buy some advertising spots on their local cable outlets and promote themselves and paintball at the local level than see another on the cheap paintball product advertisment masquerading as a magazine type show. Better JT or Spyder produce a generic commercial that their regular local field and store accounts could use for the aforementioned local cable advertising. Paintball on TV that either works or it doesn't in results that can be counted. But that's probably just me.

Viral Paintball

What's going on all of a sudden? In the last month of making the usual website rounds my computer has been attacked 4 times. The front page of three different sites have been (were or perhaps still are) infected by some lame malware that my firewall etc. kicked to the curb but it's something new in my experience. And I'm not liking it very much.
I don't want to talk down anybody but it ain't cool.
Anybody else having the same problem?

To Relegate or Not: Is That the Question?

(H/T to PBReserve) This talk isn't new, it's been on the table for awhile (as the article notes) but the fact it's getting out now is worth commenting on. (Yes, it's been in the background and people knew but until now nobody put it out there. Why now?) One answer is it's that time of the year where everybody starts thinking about next year and what comes next and the decision-making window is only open for so long. Is this intended to gauge the response of the pro teams or the response of the NPPL? That would be worth knowing.
There is a faction within the NPPL Pro division that has argued for the discontinuation of promo/relegation. There has also been some serious talk about some teams bailing (just not as publicly as over in the NXL.) Then you've got the 6 teams paid in the Semi-pro division for Houston (as of today.) Doesn't exactly make a strong case for bringing up fresh, hungry teams and talent, does it?
[btw, rumor has it Jersey Authority will be temporarily "relegating" a couple of their best players to M.O.D. in order to solidify their hold on a semi-pro promotion slot. Oops!]
The argument is the division needs continuity and to establish itself in the mold of American pro sports and more importantly the teams need both the security and the accompanying added value. Without promo/relegation a mid-tier team struggling for sponsorship can now offer assurances they are and will remain a pro team, one of a limited number. See how security adds value? This is not a small thing--especially to the teams.
Against this you have the perceived value of promo/relegation which is making all games played important and the contention it forces all the teams to compete even if they are out of the series running or unlikely to outright win an event. (Don't play for love of the game, play outta fear of relegation.) The reality is nobody in the pro bracket accepts losing games nonchalantly and nobody in the pro bracket gains anything from losing.
But-- (There's always a but, isn't there?)
The problem is that promo/relegation is only a mechanism for dropping and adding teams. And getting rid of it doesn't really achieve the result some think it will. The reason for this is because there is no formalized relationship between the teams and the league. This isn't a pressing issue today. And it won't be one tomorrow if the league fails. It will only be an issue if the league begins to succeed in a bigger way. In the meantime even without promo/relegation the status quo would remain and that arrangement pits the teams collectively against the league in the effort to build support and develop sponsorship.
However you look at it--glass half empty, glass half full--it's a step in the right direction, I think, if this rumor becomes reality.

Brave New Paintball World, Part 3: The Beginning?

If you're still reading you can breath a sigh of relief as this is the final installment. In case there's any confusion here's a short outline of where things stand.

THE PLAN
1) Ditch the multi-division national tourney format
2) In its place, the Pro Circuit
3) PBIndustry sponsors the Pro Circuit
4) Re-focus existing resources and relationships to create 4 or 5 regional series for all levels of play except the pros. (Or integrate existing regional series under a unifying PSP umbrella.)
5) the Pro Circuit becomes a tour "visiting" the existing regions once each season
6) season finale like World Cup becomes a true championship event as regions send their best representatives to Cup to compete for real national titles.

Right, let's flesh this out a bit one point at a time. (I'm gonna base this off a PSP assumption on the basis that PSP already has a successful World Cup and, I think, more of the potential regional building blocks exist in the xball format but I remain totally in favor of another league and the 7-man format.) This isn't intended to be comprehensive. The goal is simply to suggest a viable alternative, to think about where paintball is going and what paintball needs outside the outmoded (stagnant) (failing) framework of the past.

1) For a bunch of reasons. The current structure exists to support the Pro event (at least that was the genesis of the current tourney structure) but it demands an unwieldy scale that can't survive on either too few teams or function on too many teams. The expense to the lower division teams limits their opportunities, places the bar to national competition too high for many teams and directly competes with local and regional tournaments which actually inhibits grassroots development of the sport. A move away from an all-encompassing national series will improve tournament paintball particularly when part of the process is a unifying rule set, format, and standards & practices packaged with the payoff of a true championship(s).
2) The "new" Pro Circuit is the pre-existing pro bracket or whatever form is agreed upon; open, expanded, etc. It becomes the only division playing a national series in the sense the pros continue to travel to event sites around the country. (What's the real alternative? There aren't that many pro teams even today. And besides, I hear PSP has a plan in the works intended to be used within the present structure that will integrate seamlessly with this conception and enhance it. [Sorry, that's another one you'll have to wait for an official press release.]) On the plus side pro level competition becomes more important as it becomes less directly accessible. A Pro Circuit experience becomes a special annual event designed to showcase the epitome of the sport and bolster the different regional series.
3) How this works is, admittedly, a complicated proposition but the core concept is that the sponsoring vendors and PBIndustry follow the Pro Circuit. The result is an annual appearance in each region that coincides with the Pro Circuit appearance and means that instead of expecting the same teams and players to spend money at multiple events you reach a different customer base at each event and in all likelihood draw a much larger local turnout than is the norm at most of the current events.
4) There are already some xball based regional series. The goal is to establish a unified rulebook, universal (to the league and its members) standards and practices including refereeing programs and use the regional series to replace the national series for all the am divisions of play. Where regional series exist bring them in if they want to be part of the Pro Circuit and participate in World Cup and where they don't exist find partners and begin to make it happen. The expertise already exists and there is no reason each region must conform in every detail of how they operate. The upside is enormous. Build a regional base that is more affordable for the players and teams, you develop local rivalries, the teams support their region and once a year when everybody gathers for World Cup the resulting competition is a true championship. In addition the Pro Circuit makes the pro teams and players more relevant because they are no longer a commonplace feature of every event. Pro Circuit stops become uniquely special as does WC.
5) The Pro Circuit visits each region once a year. Each region functions independently of the others. Where a CFOA type arrangement works in the east a west coast regional series may operate out of only a couple of locations and that's fine. The draw is the format, the association with the other regions and operating under the PSP umbrella that delivers a Pro Circuit stop and an opportunity for the real best of the best to compete for a WC title. There's plenty of flexibility. When the Pro Circuit comes to town it is held in concert with a regularly scheduled regional series event. Consider the effect a Pro Circuit stop could have in generating interest and excitement and serving as validation of the regional series and competition. A distinct Pro Circuit also increases the promotional and marketing value to the supporting PBIndustry.
6) Imagine the level of excitement and interest pulled from every competing region when the best teams in each division from every region come together to fight for a real honest-to-god World Cup title. And best of all if the promoters of Cup want to also offer a big annual celebratory tourney for anyone who wants to come, like it is today, they still can. The more the merrier. In that way WC remains the greatest event in paintball and becomes an active marketing exercise that promotes the league, the regional affiliates, pro paintball and tournament paintball in general.

There ya go, kids. Sure, there's nits to pick and details that have been glossed over and plenty of possible objections but those are all beside the point. The reality is the status quo might, and I mean might, be sustained for a while but is that really good enough? I don't think so. And yes, this plan means those with power now may have to divest themselves of some of it. (On that score the issue is what do they want out of tournament paintball?) However, in exchange they will get a leaner more efficient tourney series that builds at the grassroots level and allows then to focus their attention on the Pro Circuit which will retain all the future potential that was the goal of the original NXL.
There's more but either you buy into the concept or you don't.

Um, I don't quite know how to break this to you but I'm gonna do one more post on this subject. That one will be about building a productive relationship between the pro teams and the league(s)--which doesn't come close to existing now.

Extreme Paintball: Without the Paint

(H/T to PBReserve) Its being claimed that Procaps is charging their pro teams for paint overages against their sponsorship limits. I don't doubt it's true but I'm not convinced it's altogether new. Years ago, but not too many, my then team went substantially over in its annual allotment (using Draxxus) and got called to account for that overage. Now exactly how aggressively Procaps pursued that overage payment I don't recall for sure but as I remember it another sponsor took on (some of) that charge. Take that last bit with a grain of salt as I wasn't directly involved in the process and didn't really want to be.
Otherwise I'm kinda ambivalent about this situation. Pro teams have a history of not being terribly responsible even though the last couple of years have put the screws to everybody. So if this is what has to happen then I guess I'm okay with it. You know, if you want free paint from the Procaps crowd it takes some brass ones to agree to one number and then blithely shoot however much you feel like and expect somebody else to pick up the tab. (Yeah, I know, that's happened before too but still.)
And on the flipside you got all those am level teams shooting wheelbarrows full of paint and paying for it themselves. (Irrespective of the assorted deals that get done with stores and fields.) How sympathetic are they gonna be? Not very would be my guess.
And the numbers given looked to me to be on the high side for the current environment. Almost nobody gets those kind of numbers anymore.
Lastly, maybe this will help make the case I tried to make last off season about practice. The standard is to go out and run scrimmage points on the tourney field against a competitive opponent. It works pretty well but it also burns paint like a Hummer sucks down unleaded. Maybe it's time to run a series on how to practice without using so much damn paint. If you're interested let me know 'cus that's gonna be some real work.

Paintball Media

Time to alienate some more peeps. With the demise of PGi paintball media is diminished. Oh sure there are still plenty of mags about; digital Splat (paintball's FHM wannabe), PB2X (media mouthpiece of Pacific Paintball), Paintball Sports (defunked but not defunct) and Rich Telford's World of Paintball, er, FaceFull. Yeah, there's a couple others but seriously... None of them are terrible. (Your mileage may vary.)
I was gonna dog the remaining mags for the things they aren't and the inclination to play it safe while delivering their personal brand of vanilla sludge. Instead I'd like to encourage all of them to consider the opportunity they have now. That opportunity is to break out of the mold and become something more than just another cookie cutter paintball cheerleader. An opportunity to step up and take a leading role, to be a responsible advocate for the good of the game, to exercise a little honest paintball journalism. Does Paintball need another snap-shooting article or puff piece interview of some soon to be forgotten "pro" or could Paintball use some vocal leadership, some fearless voices asking the big, tough questions and stirring debate with uncompromised positions?
The answer of course is high-minded journalism doesn't pay the bills and the first irate phone call from an advertiser unhappy with an editorial position is a no-brainer. Lose the attitude. Reality bites.

PGi is gone

After twenty years. It's a real loss to paintball and a personal loss as well. I was fortunate enough to have been a part of the PGi family for over 4 years and enjoyed every moment of it. I'd also like to take a moment to publically thank Steve Duffy (editor, group editor, masochistic mountain biker), Matt Tudor (publisher), Ant Jones (editor), Jason Manning (sales & editorial and all-purpose paintball slave) and finally Pete Robinson (master of the universe). Steve in particular was instrumental in my opportunity with PGi.
PGi had a unique style and wit. And in recent years it pushed the envelope on what a paintball publication could and should be. It was the first (and sometimes only mag) to consistently tackle the controversial issues of the day. It will be missed.

Edit: Seems there is the usual confusion around the net about parts of this. What about WELT? There is every intention for WELT, the digital mag, to continue production. Adding to the transition problems August is vaca month for the Eurokids so everyone is just getting back to their cubicles.

Additional edit: The other reason I posted two full past columns, besides their relevance to a current topic of interest, was to demonstrate how PGi was different. No other mag would have published either of those columns and in fact other paintball mags have either rejected or spiked similar columns since.

Brave New Paintball World, part deux

(Almost) Everything Tournament Paintball Needs to Know

Paintball’s universal reply to any criticism is to respond, oh yeah, then why don’t you share your answer? Or, better yet, if it’s so bad why don’t you step up and make a difference? Neither of which is necessarily unreasonable except what is really meant is shut up and go away. Seeing as I have offered more than my fair share of unrequested criticism–and I ain’t going away–it’s that time again where I pass out a few answers to help balance the scales of–er, criticism to answers, I suppose. Not that anyone seems to like my answers very much. My personal favorite answer to all the league wrangling and woes was to suggest the Pro teams cut all the deadweight loose (both the leagues and pay-to-play teams) and take the risks and reap the rewards themselves but realistically so many of the Pro teams are tied up in sponsorship knots it wasn’t going to happen even if the Pros had the collective cojones to, you know, step up and make a difference. And I’m taking partial credit for the positive changes the NXL made in the off-season last year as they very closely resemble suggestions I made in PGi in an earlier answers column called, ‘How to Fix the NXL.’ Not that I’m tooting my own horn but I feel compelled to point out some of my answers aren’t totally off the wall. (You see, I know what I’m about to suggest further along and you don’t and I’m hoping I’ve stored up a little credibility.) Anyway, here goes. But first–
Let’s narrow the scope a bit, shall we, as Paintball is in need of lots of answers and I haven’t got space for all of them. There’s gun cheats, out of control technology trickling down to the local level, bonus-balling, sideline coaching, officiating standards, broke ass leagues about to implode, disappearing dollars as the mainstays of the industry are crippled either by economic forces beyond their control or past poor decisions in a changing economic climate (take your pick), a leadership and direction chasm at the national and international level that may or may not be holding back the sport’s development, etc. Etc. Where to begin?
Before I start with the answers I need to ask a couple of questions. Do any of the list of current concerns stem from larger concerns like tributary streams from a river? Or are there concerns that must take priority because failure to find those solutions has larger ramifications–like the whole bigtime tournament edifice could come tumbling down. Well, yes, there are. It seems to me that if the leagues really are trapped in a financial death spiral like a pair of parachute-less WW1 fighter pilots (you know, losing significant amounts of money to operate) then solving that problem takes priority over the others. Lucky for everyone then my answer to this particular problem has some fairly far-reaching effects and implications. Okay, that’s probably a gross understatement so here goes–
Jettison everything except Pro paintball at the national level. Radical sure, but hear me out. I’ve got a plan. The exception is World Cup which continues to be promoted by the group/promoter/sanctioning body, whatever that operates the Pro Circuit. More about the Pro Circuit in a minute. All other divisions of competition play in regional affiliate series. Affiliate series use a unified rule book and format(s). World Cup becomes invitation only as the regional series become the point of access to a real, season ending, honest-to-goodness world championship event. And there’s no reason not to include international series teams as well as long as they function by the same rules and format as the affiliates. How the different regional representatives are chosen is open to how many competing teams you want as the important feature is the exclusivity of the competition. The fact the competing teams earned their way in is what matters and what makes the result a world championship event. (If you think you’ve seen crowds of fans wait until the family, friends and supporters of the regional reps show up at a real World Cup.) And no, it ain’t free. Everybody should have saved quite a lot of money over the season not having to travel everywhere to compete.
Back to the Pro Circuit. Depending on format events are down to one or two fields tops. (We’re ignoring TV for the moment.) The Pro Circuit becomes precisely that, a circuit, with event stops at different regional series events. The appearances can be subsidized in a variety of ways. (Back to this too cus the money matters.) Each stop becomes a major event for that regional series and the Pro Circuit concept elevates and separates the Pro teams from the rest of tournament paintball and creates a new level of value and makes Pro appearances unique and special events. Otherwise each Pro Circuit event operates exactly like any other and, more or less, like they always have. Just without the extra weight of sustaining a national circuit for all the other divisions at the same time.
Here’s how it works. When the Pro Circuit comes in so does Big Paintball. When the Pros make their annual event stops industry and national vendors can bring in their road show too and you have a ready market that doesn’t see the same stuff a few times a year while paying thousands of dollars for the privilege. Instead you have a fresh market anxious to see the latest gear and guns and nearly as excited about the outsized vendors village as the Pro competition. And imagine the benefits to the regional series. The support and appearance of national industry helps strengthen the regional bases while the Pro Circuit validates the format and brings a special excitement. Grassroots-wise the goal of a unified tourney scene comes closer to reality as it’s supported and built brick by brick on a scale that promoters, teams and industry can sustain.
The result is the current league(s) aren’t trying to run huge events anymore. The Pros make annual stops in the various sanctioned regional series and the whole thing culminates with World Cup which becomes the one and only all-inclusive international tournament and justifies the world title status of the winners. In the process the regional series take on a completely new validity and importance which should, if properly developed, see an influx of teams as the place(s) to compete and to take aim at the goal of competing for legit world championships at World Cup. Paintball Industry saves money or more correctly can re-apportion their money in more productive ways while still gaining the marketing and promotional benefits of tournament paintball and teams will save money while investing in the development of the game on a localized level that builds a solider foundation for the game’s future. The downside is really only that those non-pro teams that can afford to travel around the country won’t have to. It will also mean that World Cup alone would be the measuring stick of true divisional greatness. Well, there’s also the fact those currently in control of Paintball would remain in control but do it by actively controlling less than they do now in a more sustainable environment.
What about TV? Yeah, what about it? If the SPL (or another assortment of capitol letters) actually takes hold then it’s all gravy. The important aspect of the TV dealio is to keep it separate; cost, expenses, accounting, everything. What the integrated PSP/NXL experiment should have taught us this season is you don’t toss a drowning swimmer a sack of concrete and you don’t "fix" the economic woes of one enterprise by making it somebody else’s problem.
In conclusion, you may have noticed I left a few specifics out–like which format and which league, though I do use World Cup, and I don’t mention any particular regional series. I don’t mention the reunification blues or any of the other current stumbling blocks either. That’s because they don’t matter. What matters is the concept and the mental and physical restructuring necessary to even take a first step toward implementation. Besides, the plan gives everybody; promoters, vendors, industry and teams a fresh paradigm that should work for everyone–unless the fact it also requires certain forces to give some stuff up too in exchange for the positive benefits makes it a non-starter.
Admittedly it isn’t that simple. The nuts-and-bolts of actually organizing such a venture and making it work would take a huge effort but I think the upside is pretty huge as well. But since talk is cheap I’m also prepared to make a personal sacrifice for the good of the game. (Yes, I confess, that was just a wee bit sarcastic but I’m totally serious.) If Big Paintball needs some help making this happen I’m willing to do my part–assuming the price is right. Like Latrell Sprewell said in turning down 8 million a year with the Timberwolves, I got a family to take care of, kids to feed.
So, whose prepared to step up and make a difference?

Brave New Paintball World

Is the title of the first column I wrote on the subject of the future of major league and/or pro paintball. It appeared under that title in issue 189 (December '04) of PGi. Below is the full copy of that column as I still can't archive it. It is plainly out of date in some respects but will begin to lay the foundation for what comes next. After that I'll post another column on the same subject that offers a fuller vision. It appeared in issue 212 (November '06) of PGi. With a distinct lack of imagination it was titled in the mag as, Brave New World. I called it, (Almost) Everything Tournament Paintball Needs To Know. This one is more of a blueprint and is the one my post will build on.
I'm posting the two columns for a few reasons: to demonstrate I've actually been thinking about this for a while (which is really quite sad) and to further delay having to marshall a cogent argument in the post I've been promising for a while now. In addition the two columns will give enough information and detail that I won't have to re-do all that background and argumentation in the update post. There's a further reason as well that will become clear all too soon.

Brave New Paintball World

Years ago on PBS, yeah, I know, PBS (the government subsidized commie-pinko arts and croissants crowd television network), but even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then. Anyway, they had a show called, 'Connections,' that was about the history of ideas and inventions that contributed to Western Civilization. In particular it showed how the discoveries of different people at different times and places were all necessary pieces to the puzzles of the singular inventions that changed our civilization, like Gutenberg's moveable type that was the forerunner of modern printing and typesetting. If that's too confusing just think of cool stuff like the Ronco Salad Shooter or Popeil's Pocket Fisherman. And, despite the way it sounds, it was truly fascinating. It also demonstrated that even though we tend to look at the past and imagine a sort of inexorability to events things didn't, and don't, really happen that way.
In paintball the concept of civilization is a stretch but connections occur. Steve Bull, known as Bully, a series promoter and respected figure in UK paintball, is taking a page from motor racing and applying it to paintball. Many racing series not only compete for the season long driver's championships but also award titles for makes, manufacturers and tire producers; all the major components to successful racing. For the '05 season Bully's series will award a paint suppliers title to recognize the contribution of the paint companies and perhaps encourage more sponsorships for the leading teams in the series. Bully's idea is both fun--creating another level of competition--and potentially practical, improving the value of the series to both the teams and paint suppliers. If nothing else it also promotes a similarity to traditional sports.
Last month's column took a look at the future public face of Paintball and made some connections to already established sports. But there is a more fundamental point than asking, How should Paintball be portrayed or promoted? That question is, What is tournament paintball? That may seem like a stupid or an obvious question but it's one that is also mostly taken for granted. Before the advent of the NXL the evolution of tournament paintball was a direct outgrowth of its origins. Regardless of the number of players per side or the size or location of the playing field the basic game remained the same. As did the ways tournaments were organized and presented. At its' inception the NXL offered something unseen in Paintball before; a new format, Xball, and a different organizing structure, a closed league made up of franchise teams. The NXL is taking aim at mainstream recognition using a structure based on the prototypical American sports model. The prospect of a stable organization capable of delivering a broadly comparable sporting product is the result. Making it more attractive, applicable models of how it could all work already exist, including the development of real professional paintball athletes.
The reinvigorated NPPL has moved forward in a different direction by refining the preexisting tournament concept while at the same time also working towards the target goal of mainstream accessibility; i.e. TV. This has led to something of a race to reach TV first, to become the public face of competitive paintball. The NXL was designed to fill that role. The NPPL, having positioned itself as the leading proponent of traditional tourney ball, is embarking on establishment of the NPPL name as the competitive paintball brand in order to distinguish itself from all other similar leagues or series with the goal of making the NPPL synonymous with legitimate paintball sport. While both ideas have generated a lot of excitement both versions of competitive paintball, to varying degrees, view the players as disposable commodities.
Shocking, I know. And here you were imagining yourself to be an athlete, a player, or at worst, a customer. Actually, only the top players are commodities and the rest of you are, at best, tiny trickles in the revenue stream. Don't be offended. You can still be players, athletes and customers, too. Just don't lose your grip on reality is all I'm saying. (This seems like a good place for a disclaimer as I think I can hear lots o' peeps sharpening their machetes right about now. Though it should go without saying all views expressed herein are my own and further, y'all should be grateful PGI is willing to risk your outrage to offer a diversity of opinions on their illustrious pages. And if you've got something to say visit P8ntballer.com and take your best shot.)
So what's the point, you ask, between snorts and a losing battle to control your tendency to curse uncontrollably. Or is that just me? Just pointing out that at this point in Paintball's evolution (lots of points here) the lack of player power doesn't seem to be of any consequence to most players but if and when there is real money, the prospect of professional athlete type money, it will certainly have been in the players' interest to be prepared instead of simply going along for the ride. It's easy to assume that like the NFL, if the money is there the players will get their fair share, but any revue of football's history shows that it was a decades long struggle by the players to receive recompense in relationship to their value to the sport.
Why not a third alternative, a new paradigm? Competitive paintball has, for the most part, operated on an organizational model that encourages centralized power and the status quo. Like that? See if you can wrap your heads around this one. It has constricted the growth of the game and will continue to do so as long as near monopolies of power exist. (For those of you who believe teams should be run democratically or owned by the players why do you put up with power politics from everyone else involved? Oh, I know, you're hooked on that sponsorship toot and you can't play without it. I'm sympathetic, really I am.) Make some new connections and start with an old idea.
Remember the original NPPL? It began with the teams. It could again. What if a select group of the Pro teams decided to organize their own league? A closed or restricted league of, say, 24 teams. All of a sudden the players and teams that were glorified commodities are co-owners. Unlike the early days a support system already exists. Don't need large venues or all the added expenses associated with running events with 100 plus teams. Two fields will fit in lots of arenas that support basketball or hockey. Two fields isn't even strictly necessary unless you’re running Xball. Oh, yeah, if it's your league you can play whatever kind of paintball you want. Run a 7-man season, run an Xball season, it's okay, it's your call. Don't need a boatload of officials either. And who controls video rights now, biatch? Sell those seats to spectators. Have the teams take turns working autograph sessions and passing out free posters and see if you can't turn paintball into a real sport. Simplified schedules, only the top teams and personalities, tons more venue options, hardcore action, spin-off league money-makers and where's corporate paintball and the possibility of TV gonna go if it isn't with the best?
Of course it isn't all strawberries and cream. There's real work and risk involved. I guess the question is do you want to control your own fate or are you just happy playing ball? The teams or their representatives would have to agree on and implement an organizing structure. It would have to cover everything from finances to on field operations to rules enforcement. However, on the plus side everything the league chose to do would be decided by the teams and players. You want a voice that matters, you got a voice that matters. An interesting by-product would be a new measure of accountability. Where's the incentive to cheat on the league when you are the league?
Imagine a new Pro league with teams fighting it out for a seasonal championship. Or even two seasonal championships! Event winners and league champs. Toss in manufacturers titles, too. A points race for paint producers and gun manufacturers.
I know what you're thinking --Wow, what a great idea! What do you mean that's not it? You're wondering why bother when there's already two leagues out there working hard. How 'bout if the Pros don't show up nobody has an event anyway? Or try this: Perhaps some people other than the people planning on buying that country home or little red sports car with the profits should be deciding what's in the best interest of the sport. Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to making an honest dollar, but it's real easy to think that what's good for your wallet is what's good. Period. When the same folks have the power to enforce their vision of your game everyone else is pretty much just along for the ride. Call me crazy but when even the notorious do-gooders at the United Nations fatten their Swiss bank accounts on the continued suffering of the unfortunates they are supposed to be looking out for, being, if not quite cynical, at least cautious can't do any harm. Can it?

Speaking of rumors...

Looks like it may soon be another dark day for Paintball. Following the trend of losses in the mainstays of the paintball infrastructure we could be losing another one. If it's true it will be a singular loss and one that I will be particularly sorry to see.
I know that doesn't tell you anything but if it's happening it won't be long. After the fact I'll have a few comments on the fallout.
Edit: Aight, it's true. Still, I'm gonna wait until it's public knowledge to comment.

The Rumor Game

Wow, somehow I missed out completely on the whole Ollie retires fake post. Apparently somebody phished (whatever that means) Ollie's PBN account and hilarity ensued. If Ollie's account isn't safe what about yours and mine? That would be positively frightening if I gave a damn--and knew what phishing was.
But it has inspired a new game. (The previous game was The NXL Game but 'Lanche ruined that by quitting early...) The new game is drop a name, start a rumor. The rules are simple. In a single sentence you have to drop a name and associate that name with some outlandish rumor. And of course your submissions need to be paintball related.
Here's an example: William Shatner, appearing at the midwestern scenario extravaganza, "Star Trek: We've Completely Run Out of Ideas" insisted that Tom Kaye (making a comeback with a brand new Automag Pump) wear Spock ears and asked everybody he met, "Did you know Sulu was gay?"

NPPL & NXL bleg

Can anybody tell me how to negotiate the NPPL website to find teams listing for Houston? I've stumbled across the listings for past events but can't seem to find one for Houston. Alas, I am that inept and if you have an answer for me feel free to gloat.
Also, seems I'm missing something at the 'new' for 08 NXL website as the last time I checked in team stats and results were only up for Phoenix but given my general computer illiteracy I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong there too.
Edit: seems like NXL site has thrown up some of the stats but I spotted a couple of errors just glancing at them. I don't want to call the effort into question ... but if it looks like a duck and waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck odds are it's a duck--or one of those crazy Japanese robot ducks.

Field Design for Dummies

Don't be offended by the post title if, in fact, you aren't a dummy. It's just a take-off--unless you are a dummy. (In which case you got bigger fish to fry than a post title. Good luck with that.)
And, yes, I'm avoiding dealing with the post(s) I've promised on "fixing" major league tourney paintball. And, no, it's not because I don't have the ideas, I'm just debating how in depth to go. So soon. Maybe. Besides, it ain't like it's gonna happen.
Xball fields in particular developed over time a stagnant design consistency that featured a dorito wire, a snake side (and more importantly) a standardized pattern of insert bunkers feeding the wires along with corners to defend the wires. And, of course, the jumbo X in the middle. Didn't particularly matter which bunkers were in which spots, all the layouts played pretty much the same way. Part of this was the carry over from The Ratko Years and part of this was a lack of philosophical examination. And by philosophical examination I mean thinking about both the limitations of current design and the potential results of making changes. For example, how 'bout the bunkers themselves? Even the shapes in play have an impact.
Most of the recent changes are predicated primarily on three ideas: designs should allow a variety of tactics to be effective because that frees teams up to play to their strengths. (The traditional design tended to make everyone play the same way.) The key to achieving this is twofold; spacing of insert bunkers to create multiple paths and use of the blocking pillars in new ways.
No corners, or inset corners, place a higher value on aggressive upfield movement and forces new thinking about how to counter those moves.
Make elements of the new design purposefully more difficult to play with a focus on trade-off elements. For example, the can on the d-wire or the block in the snake corner at NEO.
The results are as follows: teams can play a style that suits them though the field encourages a faster, more aggressive game. It should also reward more integrated play--and by integrated play I mean the extremes of the Xball and traditional 7-man skill sets. And lastly it will, I am confident, fast track the development of lower division players.
It's more complicated than that and I didn't cover stuff like elevation (difference between laying, kneeling, standing) or a more calculated control of effective shots from various positions and so on. (Btw, if anyone is interesting in this stuff feel free to post something in comments and I'll be happy to chat about it at length. Yeah, I'm secretly a nerd.)
Lastly, we haven't yet seen the end of this process and some of the elements haven't, in my estimation, been fully integrated but end of the day it's a big step forward. Keep an eye on the other major league designs too.