Holding The Wire

First things first, check out the film's Kickstarter page for all the project details and how you can help make it a reality. If you are unfamiliar with this project where the hell have you been hiding out lately? Unlike the run-of-the-mill paintball video this is an effort to produce a fully realized documentary about tourney paintball and the people who play. If you want to help hit the link and check it out. If you're just curious hit the link and check it out.
Maybe this is a hard sell. Maybe after all the past efforts everybody is too jaded to care anymore or too cynical to believe another movie will make any difference. I understand if that's how you feel about it--'cus I know the feeling firsthand. But I'm gonna throw some support their way not because I expect it to revolutionize the game or open anybody's eyes to how great this sport can be but simply because I love the game and I want to see this movie when it's done. (And after excoriating the average paintball video just last week in The Monday Poll I better put some money where my mouth is.)
I'd like to think 'Holding the Wire' could be a break-through of sorts for competitive paintball but I'm not counting it--or even expecting it. I don't even know if it will be any good. What I do know is that there aren't enough stories about competitive paintball and I want more.

Not In The Paintball News

Is a brand new VFTD feature. It's the perfect catch-all category for the odd 'n' ends of all things paintball that don't quite measure up in importance or newsworthiness but at least momentarily catch my attention. After the socks that inevitably seem to disappear from the dryer this is where the remaining loose ends (and solo socks) get tucked away.
VFTD the Facebook page has a couple new items this week. A Father's Day wish for all the Poppas out there ands the first weekly Millennium reminder that so far no decision has been made regarding th drunk CPL ref who accosted some of my players Saturday night in Bitburg. I'ma try to post regular bits & pieces there that don't really merit regular blog posts--except of course when  'Not In The PB News.' So drop by now and then to see what you otherwise might have missed. Or you could follow VFTD on Twitter because I am still tweeting routinely, dammit.
Practice this past weekend went well even though the conditions weren't exactly what we expected. CPX made a special effort to be accommodating and even though we shared the field both days we ended up with productive practices with Infamous prepping for Chicago. Thanks to CPX and Infamous.
Less efficacious was the fire alarm going off in our hotel Sunday morning at 6 am. If I had been on the first or second floor I'd have stayed in bed. Up on the fourth I figured better safe (and annoyed) than sorry. The worst of it was when the fire department arrived and it took the first two firefighters about 5 minutes to decide whether or not to get out of their truck. Either it was a scheduled test or somebody burned the breakfast eggs but there was no real emergency and in a just world somebody would see to it I got that extra hour of sleep back--with interest. However I'm not holding my breath.
More importantly Dave (Bains) twisted his back fairly severely and likely will not be able to play the Chicago event though he will be with the team. (To preserve his reputation I won't tell you how it happened but you can ask him in Chicago.) We practiced on Sunday without Dave so we won't have to rethink too much fortunately and I'm confident the rest of the team will rally and pick up the slack.
So what's up with ProPB these days? Dog days of summer and all that but I kinda miss the old format and certainly the regular updates and postings. I know real life tends to intrude but say it ain't so, Justin.

Monday Poll in Review

That's right. The title means there is no new The Monday Poll this week 'cus it's a short week what with the PSP Chicago event this coming weekend. I could have done the routine who's gonna win poll but it would be cut off early and frankly I couldn't be bothered.
Last week's poll was about the current glut of fast, action-filled paintball clip videos with copycat sound tracks. As I mentioned the first time around I'm not a big fan because the clips lose meaning disconnected from the game and there's only so many times a person with a 3-digit IQ can watch somebody run & shoot a marker or dive into a bunker before the eyes glaze over and the urge to end it all becomes nearly overwhelming--or perhaps I'm exaggerating, slightly. Anyone the poll was aimed at discovering what y'all think of paintball videos in general and, truth be told, how irate some of you might get in defending them. As it turns out most of the makers of paintball videos either don't read VFTD, can't read VFTD or agree with me. Who'da thunk it?
Of the eight options given 5 were positively oriented towards the videos and 3 were less so. None of the 5 positive choices reached double digits in percentage chosen. 'Fun to watch' managed 6%. 'I buy the latest retail videos' fell flat at 4% as did considering the videos 'living history' of competitive paintball. As 'a great way to draw in new players' 8% thought the current videos did that and 7% consider them 'valuable promotions' for the industry. On the flip side all 3 negative options garnered double digit percentages as 14% considered  the efforts generally a collective 'circle jerk.' Less unkindly 38% said they were all 'too much of the same thing' and perhaps more importantly 17% said they 'used to buy paintball videos but don't anymore.'
One of the interesting questions that came up in the comments was whether this short attention span style of video was really popular at all--and if it was did that popularity foster the style or did the style simply find its own (albeit limited) audience? I don't think that a question The Monday Poll can answer but I do think, even if we assume the VFTD audience skews somewhat older than the typical competitive baller that the very strong negative numbers could suggest the current video trend has alienated some of the competitive paintball base audience and the difference between those who buy videos now and those who used to is a very stark contrast. Maybe something to think about for those filmmakers seriously interested in both connecting with a particular audience and those who really have something to say.

Chitown Practice

Outta here around sunrise tomorrow for a quick pre-event run to Chicagoland and a weekend working the layout with Infamous. This time around that means no posts until next Monday as I'm not taking my laptop with me. (All work and no play made Baca a very dull boy a long time ago.) The team has had a day on the layout to familiarize ourselves with it but it becomes truly instructive when and if the opposition brings some real competition to the table. Fortunately Infamous will do that. Unfortunately it turns out we are in the same bracket and play each other Friday afternoon of the event. It complicates things a little bit.
This is the sort of layout we like--if. If we get to do what we want. If we get to do what we want this layout is tailored to our strengths and I'm not in the least concerned about our execution under those circumstances. It is also a layout on which teams can actively (and potentially effectively) deny and contain. It isn't the way we like to play but we will need to be prepared to both counter deny & contain and deny and contain our opponents because there will be matches where our opponents may (and will almost certainly try to) force us into that sort of game. At least I expect there will so we will be as prepared as possible to deal with it.
I guess the point I'm sorta making is that Race 2 against a well matched opponent is often a game of adjustments and if you haven't planned for and practiced those adjustments in advance trying to execute them on the fly when the points count is a very difficult hurdle to overcome. There is a significant difference between knowing what to do and having done it numerous times before.
If you're hanging around the outskirts of Joliet Il this weekend--and who isn't?--or happen to be playing some paintball at CPX feel free to stop by and say hello.

PBAccess

You know what I'm talking about. The kids working the PSP webcast magic. Yeah, those guys. PBAccess. Yeah it's somehow affiliated with, cross pollinated by, shared ownership with or something like that with the PSP. Whatever. That's not why I wanted to mention the site today. It could end up being my favorite paintball website--well, other than VFTD of course.
Here's the thing. If you've been around the major league game for any length of time you know all about the big dreams that go along with it. Big dreams that have been dreamt not only by an innumerable number of players but by the movers & shakers of Paintball Inc. You also know those big dreams have never quite managed to make the move to reality. Even after literally millions of dollars have been spent. So if you're a bit cynical when it comes to big paintball's big dreams join the club. But if you think that's what PBAccess is all about you're mistaken.
Okay, sure, there is a real world truth involved that aims to make money from the project. And I hope they do. I hope they do because it will mean that maybe just maybe bigger things really are possible for competitive paintball but more importantly it will mean another means of supporting this three ring circus we call major league paintball. But all that stuff is the business of paintball. Paintball is supposed to be fun not work--at least for most of us. And the real reason I'm recommending you start checking out PBAccess as part of your routine paintball fix is because serious honest-to-goodness entertaining product is beginning to roll out of the pipeline and a lot of it is stuff you won't find, can't find, any place else.
Are you digging the stats? Did you know there's tons of recent game videos on the site too? Loads of D1 matches for the divisional crowd. The Top 10--which I think you can count on being a recurring updated list with each event. Some in-depth video interviews and my current favorite, the Real Deal podcasts. (Lu always puts a smile on my face.) If you want to learn more about the game or just dip a toe vicariously into the competitive paintball deep end of the pool PBAccess is beginning to deliver. If you're dedicated to competitive paintball it's the place to be--right after you finish up at VFTD. Here's hoping it's just the start.

Affectation or Opportunity?

Since there's not a lot of paintball stuff going on at the mo--beyond final prep for Chicago PSP, practice for MS Basildon-not-quite-on-Thames and early registrations for NPPL DC (and of course all the local events around the country, etc.) I occasionally watch other sports. Like basketball--and hooliganism. Er, I mean soccer (or futbol if you prefer.) Okay, that's a lie. I don't watch soccer. It's boring as hell. I'd rather watch baseball or golf or even (gasp!) tennis. (Don't ask. I have this traumatic tennis experience in my past and even after all these years it's .. well, I'd rather not talk about it.) But the hooliganism sometimes associated with soccer--now that I could get into. Overturning and burning cars. Bloody brawls. Running street battles with the police. That's entertainment. Besides, it's good practice for when the Eurozone goes caput! and Merkel's house of cards comes tumbling down. The Spanish bailout may or may not delay the inevitable but on the plus side it digs the hole a little deeper.
But I digress. Sometime in the recent past celebrities started wearing plain glasses--Clark Kent style--purely as an accessory. A fashion statement, a geek chic perhaps. To look more thoughtful maybe or more intelligent even in lieu of, you know, actual thoughts or an education. I mean who needs an education when you can wear pretend glasses and connect with Google on your phone? Anyway, the trend spread and now when you watch a post game press conference you don't know if it's the players or an Urkel convention what with all the glasses as accessories up on the podium. NBA finals pressers are gonna be legit. Will OKC have more glasses on the podium than Miami? What are the Vegas odds? I must admit it is kinda hilarious. But it also got me thinking: How can paintball take advantage of real professional athletes willingness to do stupid things? If they'll wear glasses how 'bout goggles? If glasses are a statement goggles are a loud speaker.
Do you really want to reach people for paintball? Start wearing goggles everywhere you go. Out with friends. To the beach. When you travel. Don't just talk about paintball, be about paintball. Think how many people are gonna want to know what's up with the awesome goggles. Bring paintball to the masses. People will be coming to you to find out why you're sporting those bitchin' goggles and that's your opportunity to tell them about paintball.
I want rose-colored lenses like Bono. Whose with me?

The Monday Poll: Paintball Videos

I'm curious. At least for purposes of this post (& Monday Poll) let's pretend I'm curious--about paintball videos. You see being old and uncool I'm just not getting how awesome paintball videos are. In fact if the truth be told I find most of them mostly boring and more repetitious than a game of full on Xball. (That was a joke.) Once upon a time real filmmakers made films about competitive paintball. They told a story. They dug deeper than the surface flash; the action the motions colors energy visceral appeals of the game with anchors in personalities and fixed positions in time & place that imbued their stories with meaning.
Today most paintball vids seem like mood suppressants via sensory overload for the ADHD crowd. Snippets of unconnected unarticulated action that are virtually meaningless unless you already understand the basic vocabulary of the game but even at their best there is little more to them than a kaleidoscope of colors and movements swirling at breakneck speed all strung together to the beat some invariably trendy wretched excuse for music.
Is it the paintball equivalent of highlights on SportsCenter? Some might say yes but I remain unconvinced. Even on SportsCenter during the clip-o-rama the scene is set and the highlight is shown with context. Even SportsCenter knows in this short attention span era that without context the highlight loses any meaning it might otherwise have. Without context highlights become a blur of repeated actions endlessly looped.
So what's the deal with the modern paintball video? What happened?
Is the problem the audience? The filmmakers? Or am I so out of touch it's just me? It's not like I'm expecting Citizen Kane or even Big Wednesday but a (seemingly) endless line up of 4 minute videos that all do exactly the same things over and over again does not excite me. And perhaps more to the point are any of them likely to excite anybody who hasn't experienced competitive paintball already? I don't know.
That's why this topic is this week's Monday Poll. I wanna know what y'all think of paintball videos. In that quest I'ma give you a variety of choices and I want you to pick the one that best reflects your point of view. Shouldn't be too hard--and you know by now what that means--it's time to vote. And I know you've got something to say on this topic too. Let's hear it.

[Btw, lest I give the impression that paintball videos are an utter wasteland there are a few filmmakers out there with some chops and even a discernible aesthetic & style now and again. But mostly it's a lot of copycat-ism and too many kids with cameras. Just saying.]

The Banning of HD: Final Thoughts

I have received (and reviewed) all the accounts of the HD Affair that I am likely to and tried to piece the puzzle parts together. It has proved, not surprisingly, to be impossible to reconcile all the details and impressions and recollections provided by eyewitnesses. Much like police reports at the scene of an accident or crime not everyone remembers the events the same. In fact it is routine for stories to vary so that after the fact the best that can be accomplished is to recreate a likely sequence of events. Video and even still shots would probably help resolve some of the uncertainties. I have seen accounts by those disposed to favor HD perhaps and those representing the league and some from individuals who don't, as far as I can tell, have a dog in the fight. And even after all that I can't claim to conclusively know exactly what happened. I think I know what happened--but no more than that.
What I do know is the "current" rule book is dated 2006 and full of anachronisms. I know the action taken with respect to HD was largely outside the scope of the rule book even though the language of the rule book plainly covered such a situation. I know the actions taken were inconsistent with the hierarchy of authority many of the MS board members have championed. And I know the board can act with alacrity, rightly or wrongly, when so inclined.
I don't see any real value in further speculations but I do think it may be instructive to see what the MS does or doesn't do as a follow-up to the incident I reported (involving at least one CPL ref and some of my players) on this blog and to Mr. Stahr. A ref that Mr. Stahr confirmed the league has identified. Will the league take any action? Will they make a public statement regarding the incident? Will they uphold their own standards? We will see. And just to help out I will, on a weekly basis, be reminding them until such point in time they do something.

The Ancient & Honourable Art of Bird-Dogging

Bird-dogging, just in case you aren't familiar with the term (in a competitive paintball context) is when a non-player actively or intentionally identifies the position of a live player (who may have otherwise successfully moved with none the wiser.) Most often it is seen in efforts from outside the netting to giveaway the position of players with movement, hand gestures and the like. It is, in most cases, a rules violation and plainly unsportsmanlike behavior. While there have been some excellent instances captured on video in recent years the most consistent and egregious displays of bird-dogging on display anywhere in the world occur routinely on the CPL field in the Millennium Series. Despite the fact it's against the rules [7.06] it also appears to part & parcel of the techniques the officials are trained to use and it's mighty entertaining to watch them chase the players around like heat-seeking missiles homing in on their target.

First Observations on PSP Chicago Layout

No I am not doing any sort of field breakdown or analysis. At least not for publication here at VFTD. What I am doing is one of my favorite pastimes--one that regulars will instantly recognize--I am disinterring one of the dead horses buried in the back yard so I can beat on it some more.
When the PSP extended the field dimensions and announced a general intent to be more all inclusive in the sense that the league hoped to attract a broader pool of players--kinda like back in the day--with more large props, etc. for the older, fatter & slower players I didn't much care for the idea--and said so--repeatedly. Even though I understood the reasons why, and still do, I thought it was contrary to what the league had become. And was unlikely to succeed anyway.
And it hasn't. Succeeded, that is. And it hasn't succeeded in large part because it hasn't ever been fully implemented--and it hasn't been fully implemented because of a significant failure in communication and cooperation between the PSP and the kids at Sup'Air who unilaterally created a snake this year that is beyond "technical" for most players and shrank the rest of the props by some percentage. Yet Sup'Air's vision of the game is the perpetual run through, treating it like the paintball equivalent of the dunk. (Of course more difficult props means faster eliminations which provide numbers opportunities which encourage--you guessed it--run throughs.) And as the layout designers for the league routinely failed to design layouts last year, or this, that coincided with the PSP's stated goals. (I'm dangerously close to digging up another dead equine.) At the end of the day that is on the PSP. It was their policy. It's their layout and their league. But--
There are consequences. And they are predictable as day follows night. (And vice versa.) The new snake requires lots of supporting props to be marginally playable in a 5 up scenario. It also requires a preponderance of low elevation props--no stand-ups. Since the Pins (trees) are supporting the snake the stand-ups do double duty as lane blockers and are incidentally pulled above the 30's making the Cans in particular easier eliminations--and leaving no larger props in the back as the PSP (once) wanted. Another consequence is to divide the layouts into halves. What I mean is that designs with these characteristics tend to play up and down with much less emphasis on the cross field play often until one wire or the other is blown. Each wire tends to be dominated by gunfighting. On one wire it's played on your feet and on the other it's on your knees.
One complaint of xball oft repeated is the repetition of plays and points. It was a complaint aimed at the layouts but was more correctly seen as a lack of imagination or understanding on the players and teams part. It is a complaint that today could be more accurately aimed at layouts, whatever the features, that more and more reflect recurring patterns, standardized modules of thought and another failure of imagination.

Magic 8 Ball Says

Expect the PSP Chicago layout to bear a remarkable resemblance to the MS London Masters layout.

Banning of HD 2

VFTD has received further communications from Ulrich S. of the MS that clarifies the league's view and offers a justification for their actions after the fact. He reiterated, "Whatever a participant might think, what another participant (player, official, media, vendor, spectator) has said or has not said, will never justify such a deliberate attack. The MS Board will take measures, such malicious assaults will not be repeated by the same persons again."  VFTD certainly doesn't have any issues with that and I can't imagine that anybody else does either, but--I continue to question the way it was done. Mr. Stahr continues to insist that there is a distinction between physical contact and physical assault in justifying the banning. If we were simply going by word definitions he would be correct. However, the MS's guide is their rule book, like it or not, and their written definition of 'physical contact' covers this incident.
I could nitpick the rules issues to death but I am confident that it has reasonably been established that the Board's actions were outside the written leagues rules--and that most paintballers aren't all that concerned about it. So why the immediate action? After all, by rule HD was both ejected from Bitburg and suspended for London. That left plenty of time to take a measured by rule approach if the MS decided further actions were necessary. Or for the appropriate commission of the EPBF to meet and respond.
The precipitating events continue to be disputed. Mr. Stahr insists the referee in question did not lie or misrepresent his or HD's action in pulling HD's card. There is also some question as to just when Mr. Stahr appeared on site. (I am trying to confirm these details simply to establish an accurate record.) While those events do not alter or excuse HD's actions they do potentially reflect on the league's willingness to acknowledge some responsibility and more importantly, act to make productive change.

International tournament paintball as exemplified by the MS and the EPBF are attempting to establish recognized institutions aimed at legitimizing paintball as sport to the international sports community. The foundation of this effort is the rules; rules that define the game played and rules that define the institutions themselves. In VFTD's view this is why the league's failure to act within their established rules matters. Hopefully one upshot of this incident is a renewed dedication by the league to actually be what they claim to aspire to.

On the unrelated issue of the incident involving my players I am informed that at least one ref has been identified and the MS is "interrogating" him. Time will tell what if anything comes of this. At a minimum the known ref was plainly intoxicated and that alone is a violation of the standards of conduct taught, according to Mr. Stahr, "in each Euroref Basic Ref Training Course."  It remains unclear whether any penalties enforce the standards of conduct. And while Mr. Stahr says the standards of conduct aren't secret they also aren't published anywhere or commonly known to the average participant. Perhaps now would be a good time to remedy that.

Bitburg Update

I have reviewed all the video I have and unfortunately none of it has what I was looking for. It was shot from outside the net on the spectator's side and while of decent quality it doesn't have sufficient detail to highlight any potential problems. It also only covers one not two of our prelim matches. (When I mentioned it the first time I thought I'd be getting 2of 3 matches.) Additionally the videographer somehow chose to film the other team half the time cutting the amount of potentially useful material in half--again. The match in question however is the one where two refs high fived one another after calling a major on us--but apparently that happened during one of the points when the other guys were being filmed. (I know, pics or shens.)
Should anyone else have raw footage they'd be willing to share I'd love to see it.
VFTD is still waiting for a follow-up response from Ulrich S. of the MS. In the meantime I have gathered some more information, from both public and private sources, related to the incident in question. A couple of interesting side notes; both Ulrich and Jabba, the field ultimate, were (apparently) present and part of the dialogue that led to the punches being thrown. And the ref who was punched was seen later that evening hanging out with a group of his fellow countrymen (and women) in front of the hotel seemingly no worse for wear. The former suggests that MS reps know exactly what was said and what wasn't and the latter suggests that perhaps the damage done has been overblown in some quarters. (No, that doesn't alter the fact the punches were thrown in the first place.)
I have also passed on information regarding the behavior of at least one CPL ref as it relates to a contact with some of my players initiated by the ref and others with him off the field during the event. The one individual should be very easy to identify. It will be interesting to see what the MS does, if anything. More as it comes in. And if I do not hear from Ulrich or another rep of the MS in the next couple of days I will assume they no longer have an interest in sort of dialogue.
[Should they be concerned about fair treatment--and considering how they've treated me so far I'd be worried--they should look at the interview conducted by VFTD of Mr. Steve Baldwin a couple of years ago. It was scrupulously fair and gave Mr. Baldwin (an MS board member who had threatened VFTD with legal action) final review over what was published in the blog and even privately recommended he consider amending some of his remarks so as to put him in a better light. Whatever our disagreements VFTD has a record of fairness.]

The Banning of H.D.

At the recent Millennium Series Bitburg event a long time pro player, H.D., was involved in an altercation with a ref that resulted in H.D. punching the ref. Bits and pieces of the details can be found at PBN. While I am aware the name of the individual has been made public I'll be sticking with his initials. The point is that from my perspective the who isn't important. I have no intention of arguing the specific details or the merits of the ban given what transpired. My interest is twofold; documented rules that make enforcement transparent and consistent and a curiosity regarding league standards of conduct with respect to their representatives.
Okay, here's where it gets really tedious. Yep, we're delving into what passes for the MS rules. Sorry but it's necessary. All I can find is the rule book (2006) plus changes that are available on the MS website. In conjunction with those the MS also lists player suspensions for the current season. None of the changes listed includes any relevant to this situation documentation. Consequently I am relying on the only documentation I could find.
Throughout the rule book the phrase that is used for this situation is physical contact. See Penalties and Additional Penalties. Under section 39 [Suspensions, Ejections, DQs & Fines] it goes so far as to identify "intentional physical contact that could be construed to be assault & battery" in subsection 39.04 which results in an immediate ejection from the event and a one event suspension. The only place the language changes is in section 40 [Decorum] subsection 40.02 that stipulates up to a one year suspension can be handed out for a physical altercation. Those are the two areas that speak most directly to the H.D. situation. Within the commonly available rule book there is no banning penalty option--of any duration--unless you use ban for suspension interchangeably. Nor even a multiple event suspension option as 39.06 makes clear that continuing unsportsmanlike conduct after an ejection and/or suspension is to be handled with a fine. The only possibility of multi-event suspensions within the rules is covered in 39.05 that stipulates that should a player be suspended a second time in the same season [player] "will be banned for at least one more event." This could be interpreted as opening the door to multi-event suspensions but only under the very specific circumstances of a second suspension within the same year.
EDIT ADDED: Round 1 of contact with Mr. Ulrich Staehr of the MS is concluded. I neglected to ask permission to duplicate or paraphrase his responses on the blog so that portion will have to wait. With respect to multi-event suspensions the MS cites rule 39.04 as justification. In re-reading the sections highlighted by Ulrich it appears the league can reasonably make that case if one of the two events is currently being played at the time of the ejection and suspension. There is much more coming thanks to Ulrich's willingness to engage on this subject.
Btw, having found no supporting rules in any available variant of the MS rules I checked to see if the MS was subject--as a member of the EPBF--to any written EPBF rules governing the subject at hand. Turns out there aren't. Any such rules. (For your own look see go here.) As the EPBF appears to be intended to have direct oversight of Eurorefs I took a look there too for any applicable information or guidelines. That portion of the EPBF is to date incomplete. (See here.) And since the EPBF is (at some future date intended to operate) under the auspices of the UPBF as the world governing body I even took a look there. Sorta. Turns out I could have upbf.com from GoDaddy today. (I passed.) The best information I could find on the UPBF is here. Bottom line, from all sources available it appears the decision of an 8 year ban is outside the parameters of the league's own rules. You may argue so were the actions involved. I would disagree given the language in some of the rules provisions. Regardless the point that remains is if the league can mete out arbitrary penalties to H.D. they can do the same at anytime to anyone else too. And that should be recognized as everyone's problem--and one that needs to be dealt with before a similar situation occurs.
If you don't think the issue is one that should concern you take a look at this page on the MS website. It's the current suspensions list for 2012. You will note that to date this year 3 players besides H.D. have received multi-event suspensions--contrary to the written rules.
EDIT ADDED: As noted above I rescind my claim that the MS has no basis for a two event suspension under the conditions that one of the two events is currently being played.
Now about that other business. Does the league hold its refs and other reps to any kind of standard of conduct? The question arises because part of the story that is coming out claims the ref who got punched lied (prior to the punch) in order to justify pulling H.D.'s card on the field (which constituted an automatic suspension and ejection.) If true it doesn't justify H.D.'s actions. It does go some way to explain how the situation escalated to the point where a punch was thrown. Again, if true, it seems to me to have a bearing on the final outcome. It means the ref shares some portion of the blame and makes the league complicit with the only guy paying a price for his actions, the customer. After all if lying about what occurred on the field is okay with the MS what else is okay? Drunken refs? Refs under the influence? If there are no standards there is no accountability.

In an attempt to assure accuracy and perhaps get a statement regarding the Mill's thinking in leveling a ban of this duration I have contacted the league's head of rules & officials with a series of short questions and a request for a clarification. I asked about justification of the ban in accordance with the current rule book. (Yes, I know but this is serious business so no laughing aloud--or allowed.) I asked about the outcome of any similar past incidents and I asked if the league had any formal or informal standards of conduct for their referees. When that reply is forthcoming VFTD will revisit the topic.

Countering AC in Bitburg 2012

I hesitated briefly before deciding to follow-up the last post with our game plan to counter the AC game. In part because the score didn't favor us in the end and in part because I'm not talking paintball specifics at Bitburg so I can't offer any explanation. Even so, make of this what you will. I remain convinced it was the right call and an effective plan. We won the first two points in less than a minute combined and forced AC to make changes to counter us.

Part 1 of the plan was to mirror AC's breakout in ways that avoided early risk and recognized what their OTB objectives were. The blue circles reflect our core primaries. (Although once established on the snake side we were able to safely reach the other primary options as well, like the corner CK.) As you can see a lot of similarities in the breakout primaries.
Part 2 was aimed at blunting their primary attack and forcing them to do something different. In order to achieve this goal we wanted to do two things; beat them to the center of the field and deny their secondary rotations. Consequently we pushed a player upfield OTB every point and used our widest snake side and D-side players to focus early in the point on the inside angles relying on our Home shooter and upfield presence to control wide movement initially. (Also in the early points expecting AC to be taken by surprise at least for a point or two.)
Part 3 was to attack "weak" points with the purpose of denying AC the opportunity to bring their power to bear. One of the strengths of their inside/out game is that it progresses in very natural, easy and for the most part safe steps that keep their guns rolling and build momentum that finally allows them to sweep down the field irresistibly. The danger of playing a consistent inside/out game is that you get beat wide and give up dominant edges or you lose key bodies early before the momentum builds. For AC the momentum began building as they were able to shift their Home players into their secondaries, or follow-up the wire leads with support guns. We felt that two players in a Home CK was subject to attack along with the D-side Can.
Objective: counter AC early with a more aggressive version of their basic game plan and force them to change. Since they were attacking the center consistently we wanted them to have to force bodies wide OTB or soon thereafter. We also wanted our first eliminations to come from the D-side Can and/or back center. If we were consistently getting an elimination there the result would naturally blunt the force of any AC offensive push.