Profanity-Getting paintball accepted?

[tony3]

Well, tonight got me thinking. I had a baseball tonight. A kid on the other team got called out on a close play and when he was walking in the dugout, he threw he helment and yelled the d word. I would say it, even though it isnt blocked by the filter, but I know the mods would hurt me. The umpire stops the game, to talk to the kid about it. This league is 15-18 year olds btw. The ump is saying that they don't accept that language in the league and the kid continues to argue and swears up a storm and eventually gets thrown out and suspended for the rest of the season for some other questionable things he said.

This got me thinking about paintball. Swearing is against the rules no doubt. If I was a parent and had a young kid at a paintball tourney, hell I'd have ear muffs on them the language is so bad. Definitely not the kind of stuff I want to see on TV. This isn't even swearing under your breath, it is yelling out swears. Or even warm up circles where everyone is yelling swears and the like. If I was an outside television company considering paintball, it would be hard to air with all the swears people throw around on it. I personally think swearing should be considered a light note with a warning, if someone says something quietly then don't make a big deal about it. How about yelling, swears. If anyone has the 300 fps they have about 5 clips where guys are screaming the f word after they got shot out. Stuff like that imo, should be a 1 for 1. Just another thing holding us back from major televsion and acceptence. Lets compare my baseball game to paintball. The kid swore once and got a strict warning for a not that offensive swear. In paintball if someone said the stuff this kid said over the 10 minute "discussion" no one would think twice about it.

[Skoad]

most fields around here don't allow it, it'll get you a warning, then you sit out for the day

[Digits]

tournys here its a 1 for 1 if you swear

[ScatterPlot]

Swearing has no place in my book, especially paintball. However it is very hard to enforce rules like this, since most of the places I've been to have had refs that do it too. Doesn't help the image of paintball at all, and it should definately be penalized.

[hAppy]

alot of people use profanity at the wrong time, for others it just slips out
i noticed that sometimes i might say something after i get tagged

but uglier cases are when some guy from the opposing field screams "#!$#@ get that mutha &(&90&^* piece of (&^&) you frigin &^$*(" now thats bad profanity, i don't approve of that. it just makes the game look unfriendly, and almost hateful.

[Carbon]

There are no such things as bad words, just innapropriate times to say them. Honestly if i ran a field i would have a no swearing allowed policy.

[Target Practice]

I must admit, I am a curser :nono: It's just force of habit I guess. I play at a private field, so it really isn't a problem (or at least no one has told me 'bout it yet... :() Anyhoo, I'm not a real hardcore swearer, might let a "S***!" or a "S.O.B!" out every once and a while.

I don't think it is appropriate in the tourney scene because that is the "public" face of paintball. But hey, in the outlaw and kickaround games, it's just part of the sport. Just like in a pickup game of baseball, or a friendly round of golf.

*Hits fire alarm to get a head start on the flames*

[RetroEclipseMan]

Yeah, it's a 25pt penalty in the local tournies around here if you're caught swearing during a game, and that's 25pts per swear word. Honestly, I don't see the lanquage being a huge reason paintball hasn't been accepted into the full mainstream yet.I think a lot of it just has to do with how paintball was viewed in the past, and that was more as a war game.

Anyways.look at the kind of lanquage that is present in other professional sports. People just get too carried away and let their emotions get to them if a bad call is made or an error committed.Is it right, no, but it does happen. Heck, tenis players even argue bad calls and slam raquets and that's supposed to be a "gentlemans" game isn't it? If paintball does become mainstream, as in finally getting tons of TV coverage then I think there needs to more penalties thrown in for cussing. I'm sure a team won't be too happy if they max another team but get all their points wiped away from a teamate arguing a call and throwing in a few cusswords. I'm sure they'll learn real quick. But until rules like that are strictly inforced then I don't see anything changing.

[stondroopy]

hehe i swear like a sailor,but not around young kids and women and i try not to swear at someone in anger.But there are those times ya catch one in the junk and a few discriptive words slip out :D

[Bulldog]

I think swearing at someone directly, and just swearing out loud are two entirely different things. One is hostile and aggressive. The other I could care less about.

[logamus]

Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech...


that being said, i do try to watch my mouth around kids and women. but if i let a f bomb slip out, i dont cry about it either.

[shartley]

Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech...


that being said, i do try to watch my mouth around kids and women. but if i let a f bomb slip out, i dont cry about it either.
Free speech in conjunction with the constitution is about speaking out about your government and disagreeing with policy, etc. Congress can not make any law that would make speaking out against the government illegal and that could cause you to be imprisoned or worse. But then again, since it was written folks have been attempting to alter its intent…. and sometimes quite successfully.

However that being said, swearing is not protected by the constitution, neither is slander, libel, death threats, and other things that fall under “speech”. Freedom of speech never meant that anyone could say anything they wanted (to include written speech) at any time, any place, and under any circumstance. In fact there are indeed laws that prohibit certain types of speech, try sending a letter to the President stating you want to kill him…. See how far “freedom of speech” gets you. ;)

For me the swearing issue is about class….. sure sometimes bad language will slip out, but is it the main part of a person’s vocabulary? And is it directed AT someone at the field? I guess for me it all depends on the situation and the amount of use.

But I do see more and more that folks appear to simply not care about what is appropriate to say and what is not. I don’t allow it with those I am around, and will not stay around others who simply don’t respect those around them by swearing left and right.

[brianlojeck]

Do you really think TV would care about swearing in the sport?

Ever wonder why the mic systems are so good in NFL football you can hear the coach fart, yet you never hear them curse?

Ever wonder why the TV mic never picks up the conversation between an MLB batter and the catcher?

Ever see a Shaq Oneil post-game interview?

TV is wonderful at getting around curses. I dont' think they'd require much more then a mild improvement.

I'm not saying it's right, or proper, or that I support it (although I did grow up in NY, cursing isn't such a big thing to me...), just wondering if TV really cares...

[-=Squid=-]

Who cares if paintball is "accepted" or not?

[tony3]

I'd like to tell someone I play paintball tournies and not have them roll their eyes and walk away personally.

[shartley]

Who cares if paintball is "accepted" or not?
I do.... and you should as well. ;)

[68magOwner]

the refs here swear, so they dont care about players, there are some awful young players too

[TDonovan]

Swearing happens everywhere. But I am sick of EXCESSIVE swearing in paintball. I think a surprizing s*** is fun, and even funny, but it's when the F-word gets thrown around constantly that it becomes a real problem.

I saw a kid at the last MXS scenario get barrel tagged, then shot point blank (I know tyger barrel tagged 1 guy, but he says he never shot anyone :) ). While I believe he deserved to yell a couple curses and then hop around for a while, he took it WAY too far.

He yelled the F-word over 10 times VERY loudly so that I heard it about 70 yards away, then proceeded to yell every other curse word he ever knew. And then threatened the unknown tagger that he'd kill him and wait for him in the parking lot.

Of course, aside from the cursing, I thought it was hillarious. That kid shot me in the back of the head from no more than 6 inches away with his DM4 while trying to rip off a string of balls (yes it was friendly fire).

I was also cussed out by a man who was probably somewhere in his 40's (sad considering he's yelling at a 17yo). He shot me fair and square in the leg as I darted for the tall grass and I laid there to make sure I was hit. He walked by (eliminated by the 20 guys behind me) and started screaming at me for no apparent reason. I had called for a medic and when I figured out we didn't have any, I called myself out.

But in either situation, the refs didn't do much about the swearing and verbal abuse. I think that a strict no-swearing policy should be enforced. I'm just kinda sick of it.

[hAppy]

i disapprove of swearing as an attack, but i see little wrong in using it as a exclamation

the refs at SCP in CA cuss like crazy at the players :mad:

[1ofkind]

I was watching this little fat kid playing in a speedball field. It was pretty funny listening to him yell like he was the biggest tough A$$assintion. Sometimes I curse when I redicilously over shot after it was obvious I'm out, or when I get hit in the legs lol.
Anyway, whos parents don't really curse? What can they really say back if you make that point.

[Jaremy Rykker]

As far as the cursing goes, I can see a word or two coming out from a nasty hit. I got nailed once from about five feet on the wrist by somebody who got chronoed after the game because it hit so hard. 350 FPS. That thing hurt like a :cuss: , and it tore up the skin all over the top of my wrist because it hit pretty hard.

As far as the rest goes, I somewhat dislike it. I wouldn't want to bring my nine-year old brother to some joint where over half of what is said would be censored on tv. Refs should grow up a little bit and show some professionalism as well. Its a real mark of immaturity on their part, and I really disrespect that, and it has caused me to avoid one place; not that I'm missing much.

[Lohman446]

I like the rules for PSP and adopted by our field

If the spectators can hear it.. its a problem - thought not enforced at Chicago this idea is a great guideline to the rule.. get hurt, out, whatever, curse under your breath, or quietly fine. Start yelling it theres a problem

[stondroopy]

hehe im gonna start a swear jar,either i learn to bite my tongue or ill get a trip to the islands :D

[mkmckinley]

I can see not allowing swears at your field because you don't want to scare off paying customers, but should tourneys really enforce a no swearing rule? I agree that swearing isn't very classy but I'm not going to tell anyone they can't do it. And be realistic, it's not going to scar your children for life to hear the big kids talking naughty at a tournament, especially if they're old enough to be playing in the tournament. Furthermore I agree with the above post: I don't think swearing is going to keep paintball from getting accepted. People that don't like it will probably never accept it because they're afraid of guns, not because of potty mouths. In any case seems to me 99% of the population is pretty indifferent to paintball so I don't know if acceptance is such a big issue.

[frontrunner]

i think some words are too much but i see no reason i can say a on the field, a few months ago i was over shot and i think i said "did you really need to shot me in the A 6 times" the ref had a manager talk to me about it off the field while this was going on the guy parked beside me was in a fight with his gf(on the phone) about half way through my lecture i said hey he just droped the f bomb and there are young children around our here (maybe 5 or so) the manager finshed and said nothing to the guy on his cell phone i was pretty ticked i shoot up all my paint the next game and left and will not return to that field

[Karizma]

What's the point in swearing during a game? No-one can hear you clearly anyway, except for the ref thats pulling you out, and over here in the UK, the PA refs give you a 25 point penalty straight off, for each occassion you bucket mouth. Why win the game, then lose it on penalties? :nono:

[Torbo]

at team practice, we dont care at all. we'll warn people who are cursing at others, and for open play we'll warn then sit then kick people out, but its not a big deal for practice. For toruneys we warn people. we have way more important things to worry about than someone casually dropping an f bomb.

[elpimpo]

if a ref really wanted to be a d*** about people cussing, he can actually fine the player $250 and if they dont pay its a 3 or 6 game suspension