Naughty Dogs Sign With Empire

[Josh2Xtremes]

Press Release

Sewell, New Jersey

January 1, 2004

EMPIRE Gets Naughty!

Empire, the name that has become the new benchmark for style, performance and quality on the professional level of the game of paintball, announced today the signing of the latest addition to their elite ranks, the Naughty Dogs. As one of the best teams in the world in every format of the sport of competitive paintball, the acquisition of the Naughty Dogs as an Empire team for the 2004 season further evinces Empire's commitment to bringing the best players, best teams and best products in the paintball world together under one banner.

After a stellar 2003 season that saw the Naughty Dogs turn professional and win their first professional title shortly thereafter, then proceed to become the only team in paintball's history to win a professional five-man, professional seven-man, professional ten-man and Division One X-Ball event all in one amazing year, the Naughty Dogs will enter 2004 wearing red and black Empire clothing and shooting Bob Long's now-legendary Intimidator paintball guns.

Already powering such remarkable teams as the Oakland Assassins and Miami Effect, Empire gear and Bob Long Intimidator paintball guns are proven winners, powering proven winners. The Naughty Dogs, once one of the best amateur teams in paintball and now one of the best professional teams in the world, are also proven winners, now powered by Empire for 2004. To see the entire line of Empire paintball equipment, visit Empire online at www.empirepaintball.com and learn more about the Naughty Dogs at their online home, www.naughtydogs.us

[Rocky Knuth]

Yo Josh! U rule!


I'll call you tomorrow

Roc

[Branchvillian]

I still love you rocky. Can I get some empire stickers...maybe some WGP...you won't be needing those, eh?

[robertjuric]

Woah, I thought the Naughty Dogs where pretty tight w/ their old sponsors WGP, but then again I thought the same thing about Dynasty :rolleyes:

[Mango]

Hey Josh, do you live in South Jersey? I live right on the Sewell border. Just curious. :p


BTW: I always loved the way the Naughty Dogs play, one of my fave teams to watch.

[p8ntball1016]

Originally posted by SprayingMango
Hey Josh, do you live in South Jersey? I live right on the Sewell border. Just curious. :p


BTW: I always loved the way the Naughty Dogs play, one of my fave teams to watch. especially when dynasty smokes them.:)

[yeahthatsme]

thats cool....kinda....big loss for wgp, big gain for empire.

[Ov3rmind]

Man, WDP and WGP have sure taken some painful loses as far as sponsorships go. Oh well, Timmys are still great guns (it's not like they lunged for SP ;)).

[1stdeadeye]

Originally posted by SprayingMango
Hey Josh, do you live in South Jersey? I live right on the Sewell border. Just curious. :p

With his accent?:p

I am guessing he lives in the Virgina/Carolina area.

[cledford]

Shows there's no loyality or ethics left at all - WGP made them. I guess Bud (along with a few others) are going to have to pull their heads out of their ***** and start writing contracts. I wonder how much those spanking new Naughty Dog Cockers are going to be price-busted down to?

-Calvin

[TAG]

Josh,
Thanks for the info

Rocky,
Congrats on your new deal with Empire. See ya at the events.

[joshweinerhead]

Originally posted by Rocky Knuth
Yo Josh! U rule!


I'll call you tomorrow

Roc

Rocky... you are one of my fave pball players ... and i would like to welcome you to AO...

[kenndogg]

ok, will there be a Naughty Dogs Timmy?

[Josh2Xtremes]

Deadeye, you're right. I was born and raised in Fredericksburg/Stafford, Virginia, where I still live and work now.

Roc, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Welcome to AO.

Calvin: While I love Bud Orr and the entire WGP family, and I agree that both entitites, the Dogs and WGP, experienced great success due to the partnership between the two, I couldn't disagree with you more. The Naughty Dogs were a strong, established, even feared team before their deal with WGP. WGP will continue to innovate and bring the paintball industry one of the most popular lines of paintball guns and equipment ever manufactured, and the Naughty Dogs will continue to experience great success no matter who sponsors them. I proudly support both WGP and the Naughty Dogs as friends, colleagues and paintball industry leaders.
Josh

[cledford]

Josh,

You and I met during the '02 IAO. We went to lunch with Tom and the guys from FON. If you say it was a decent split then I believe you. I just admired the Dogs for playing pro for WGP and assumed that they bailed for more money. The recent release of the new gun and the Dynasty/SP thing didn't help. Thanks for clearing things up. Best of luck to the team, and I hope they get a custom gun.

-Calvin

[FortySix&2]

Ouch, the value on the Naughty Dogs sig E-Orracle that just got released. Were they ever fully released...lol hope not. Thats great news though. Empire has grown extremely fast and with it's awesome products why not? I'm sure they had some extra $$$ to flash the dogs with and no one can deny the Timmy, they rock (don't flame this thread because of that comment). Paintball players are trying to make a living off this sport much like any other sport and I don't shame them for leaving even if that is the reason.

[Rocky Knuth]

Hey guys thank!

I'm sure Josh will have a full story soon in the latest PB2Xtremes...




Thanks,

Rocky

BTW Cool forum I started lurking about 3 weeks ago and joined last week.

[LittlePaintballBoy]

Bah, no need to lurk, you could have said "Hi" and gotten half a million replies:D :p I'm Connor Millin, now you can say, "I know Connor Millin" and everyone will say "THE Connor Millin" and you can be like "Yep, the one and only" and then everyone will be like "Who's he?":)

[DiRTyBuNNy]

ahhahaha....the guy just signed for fat cash to shoot a timmy and he's lurking on a mag forum...that's rich...guess he knew where to find an intelligent conversation...

[FallNAngel]

Originally posted by p8ntball1016
especially when dynasty smokes them.:)

Unless you watch them play in the 2k3 LA Open where ND rapes Dynasty... :D

[Josh2Xtremes]

Calvin:
I was genuinely hoping my comments wouldn't lead to an argument. :) Like I said they're a great bunch and so are WGP, just in the business world, and in the professional sporting world, which, like it or not we ARE now a part of (albeit a small part), things sometimes go awry and teams, players, sponsors and companies go their seperate ways. This was a business decision for all involved and while I won't sit here and say I'm privvy to insider information, I will say that I don't believe there was any back-stabbing or any other negatively-influenced decision making going on in this deal. If there was, I wouldn't have supported it, or broken the news so publicly through my own name.
Thanks for listening to what I had to say and making our exchange of ideas and concepts as civilized as it has been. I look forward to seeing you again.
Josh

[LittlePaintballBoy]

Originally posted by DiRTyBuNNy
guess he knew where to find an intelligent conversation...

Just like I said, he just has to say he knows me...:p

[Ginjiroku]

I heard about this just before the special e orr-acle came out, so when it came out I was thinking but they're switching to empire timmys why did wgp bother coming out with this new and very cool cocker.

[DiRTyBuNNy]

Originally posted by Josh2Xtremes
Calvin:
I was genuinely hoping my comments wouldn't lead to an argument. :)

Yes...i'm the only one who can argue with Josh...;)

[elpimpo]

man with all these people signing to play with timmies i feel all alone shooting an angel. we need a nice pro team to sign with wdp that way i woulnt feel so alone

[AGD]

Welcome Rocky!!

From all of us at AO,

AGD

[nastymag]

while i see why you guys would do the move to empire.

i feel like it kinda sucks having Pro paintball saturated with all the same guns and gear.

[joshweinerhead]

hehe .. TK is even happy rocky signed up ... and scroll up .. i welcomed Rocky first ... w00t!!:p

[Rocky Knuth]

Hey Guys thanks! This is a great website....

Very informative....

[elpimpo]

tell us the truth rocky. you really wanted to shoot an angel this year right.

oh man i played a tourney u were at once man i have got to say you rocked. i saw u get pissed at a ref. it was at the msts masters of the mountain last year

[Rocky Knuth]

elpimpo,

Thanks bro! That was a fun tournament.I never get mad at refs, just dissappointed.


I used to use a angel in the MID 90's :).....

My first gun was a minimag!

[joshweinerhead]

hey Rocky.. how bout for the 05 season ND shoots Xmags ...:)

and Rocky .. in the PSP 10man game vs Exile .. who did that awesome deadmans walk that eliminated 4 Exile players and won the game ?? its my favorite pb video

[elpimpo]

Originally posted by Rocky Knuth
elpimpo,

Thanks bro! That was a fun tournament.I never get mad at refs, just dissappointed.


I used to use a angel in the MID 90's :).....

My first gun was a minimag!

maybe it wasnt a ref but u were yelling at some dude and i must have just thought it was a ref.

and what do u think of the new a4's

[bokraham]

I'm also on the wgp forum since I own a vf cocker. Over there everyone is very pissed. The naughty dogs change sponsers just when WGP released a special marker for them

[elpimpo]

kinda sux to be wgp right now.

[tony3]

Originally posted by bokraham
I'm also on the wgp forum since I own a vf cocker. Over there everyone is very pissed. The naughty dogs change sponsers just when WGP released a special marker for them

hardely special, just a different color orracle, bob is making them a full custom milled gun.

[bokraham]

Yeah but they called it the naughty dogs orracle. Oh well. I would have traded too. I mean you get payed to play paintball, that must be pretty nice.

Also is there another gun that is named after a team. Like the dynasty impulse. just wondering

[Ov3rmind]

Originally posted by bokraham
Also is there another gun that is named after a team. Like the dynasty impulse. just wondering
Adrenalin Impulse
Adrenalin LCD Angel
DYE Ironmen LCD Angel
Dynasty Edition Cobra IR3 Angel
Dynasty 03 Shocker (not out yet)
Strange Impulse
Strange 03 Shocker (not out yet)
Nasty Impulse
Nasty 03 Shocker (not out yet)
Aftershock Shocktech Cockers
Ground Zero Intimidator
Ironmen Intimidator
Texas Storm Intimidator
NYX Matrix
Ironmen Matrix
Image Matrix
Ironmen Entity Matrix
Freeflow Lockout Cocker
Freeflow Trauma Matrix
Thunderstruck Bushmaster

Yeah, you could say there's a few (not to mention some I likely missed).

[Jackel411]

As every kid in the US who plopped money on the ND Cocker , says DOH and feels like the fat chick that had to go dateless to the prom... hehe

Meh. Congrats... Empire is some good stuff and there Fuel ball looks alot like an acid trip from hell :)

[Mindflux]

Originally posted by tony3


hardely special, just a different color orracle, bob is making them a full custom milled gun.


I don't think any timmies are milled anymore. Isn't it all injection molding. Atleast I've read that several times now. That was (I thought) one of the drawbacks to timmies, injection molding will shrink/swell depending on conditions so your tollerances aren't as tight as a milled block. Perhaps that's why the timmies use macroline in the body for the air path?