Are sponsors ever going to listen to players?

[Termite]

I just read part of the post about Lasoya and it seems to me this type of press is getting more and more common. Then I see that someone from National paintball picks him up for a sponsorship.
Now come on......I mean sand bagging at local tourneys, over shooting, being extremely rude to local players that ACTUALY spend money, when is this bad behavior going to end?
I'm sure he is a good player, I'm sure he gets the same thing done to him when he is playing other pro players but if a pro player can't tone it down when they play less experienced player...maybe they should not play with them.
Now as players, we want the best new stuff and we are not going to stop buying it, the paintball world is just to small for that. How can we make sponsors relize that these player are hurting the sport and they should stop paying for them to play?

Brad Waterman (a pro-player) practiced with my team this summer. He is a great guy, he NEVER shot a full hopper in a game when he played with us. In fact there were several games when I would see him calling out instructions to new players that were on his team letting them get the eliminations while he never pulled the trigger. Now there should be ppl lined up to sponsor a guy like that. He is a great player, does he cheat? I don't know but I do know he is very good for the sport, he is never rude and is a pleasure to play with.

Sorry about the long post, I just had to vent. I've been playing for 13 years and am just sick of hearing about the jerk-offs getting the goods.

Termite

[blnk162]

Brads an awesome guy, and hes MAD sponsored....ie aftershock.......

[Hexis]

The little vote you have is with your wallet. Don't support a company that sponsors a player like Lasoya. Don't buy anything from National Paintball. Don't buy anything that came from them. Tell your local field that you don't want to support them, and why. Be nice about it. When they lose more buisness than they gain by supporting him, they will drop him. It's that simple.

[Termite]

Hexis,

Your idea is a sound one that has ben tried and true, Money talks and BS walks.

However, it is all but impossible to boycott certain companies in paintball. I used to own a field, sure I could choose not to buy from National but I could not afford to, most small dealers can't. Sure the players may say "We will support you" But as soon as you raise your prices they buy on-line or some other thing. I'll give you an example. An over welming number of ppl wanted ultimate air ball at my field, I talked it over with almost all of the players and decided to go to field paint only in the new season so we could get the field. In less than two months 60% of our customer base stopped playing at our field and went to another local field that was/is BYOP. So we switched back and didn't get the field. I'm not complaining, I don't realy mind, just trying to give you an idea of the "real world" of paintball.

I guess it would be best just to write letters and e-mails as much as possible to let companies know we are watching and expect something to be done.

Termite

[Kevmaster]

hey, theres Paintball Inc...now they have nothing to do with NPS...i love my boys at Paintball Inc :)

they dont sponsor crap....they acutally do local teams which is what they feel does the most good for the sport..my team being one of them...locations in SC, TX and CA so they can get to anywhere within 2 days

[TheBigRaguPB4L]

Not that I condone the way "pro" players play and behave, but I have to say that there is an advantage to the children that wipe, cheat, play on, ect. You're going to see it at tournaments. Sad to say but there's no way around it. If your team isn't ready for it, they're going to get stomped. Most teams cheat. If yours doesn't, you need to get to a level that all those teams aren't at. It makes it all that much harder playing a bunch of cheaters honestly. If you practice against cheaters, you'll be better prepared to face them at a tourny. Again, I think it's sad that you have to take such measures because of other teams cheating, but that's just the way it is. Hopefully something will come along soon to quell all the bad aspects of "proffessional paintball", but I don't see it coming any time soon.