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View Full Version : The old switcheroo... (long post)



Evil Bob
01-20-2003, 05:14 PM
Played some recball on sunday, had a young man (early 20's I'm guessing) walk up to me and ask about my Emag/Warp/Halo combo, he's got a blue annoed timmy, and matching blue Raven shirt and doo rag...

"How does it shoot?"

I turned toward the field and hit a fence post 50 feet away rapid fire, every round hit. I hear a few people nearby laugh, some swear under their breath, a few "holy moley's" and a couple of "Oh my goodness's", some just shake their heads in disbelief and talk in hushed whispers to their neighbors.

"I can do that, check this out"

He raises his Intimidator and he fires 30 or so rounds, the first 10 miss before he hits the post and only a few of the additional 20 hit the post.

"You just got lucky" he says.

A few of the guys sitting around start laughing and pointing. I turn and shoot the fence post again, not missing a single shot.

"Yep, I'm just lucky."

He left without a word.

One of the ref's move down 10 minutes later with the last of the players that were chronoing and starts to divide up the teams, I see a whole bunch of guys shift over to the side I'm standing on. I know the ref pretty well, he hands me a length of green tape and says...

"Lots of new players today, show them a good time."

"Will do" I remark.

First game is a quick center flag with close starting points, the staff want to get the adrenaline going early and get people into the playing spirit. Whistle blows and I see a blue jersey on the opposite side make a run for the flag. I lay a stream of paint 15 feet in front of him and let him run into it. He dives into a bunker on their side, ref goes in and pulls him, 3 purple breaks on his jersey, 1 on his left arm, he walks off the field. I get 5 guys near me to fan out to the right and we move forward toward the right side of the flag cleaning up everything on the right side of the field. Most of their team went left which is more heavily wooded, so we ignore it and go for the flag itself. Only a couple defenders left, we take them out quickly and send in a newbie with the flag for the win. Back at staging area, mr blue jersey is looking for the guy shooting purple paint. I'm shooting purple marbs but I don't say a thing, just top off on air from my scuba tanks and reload on paint.

Second game, same center flag, teams switched sides of the field. Before the whistle blows I get the same 5 that went with me to get the flag to line up where I was at and get ready to "shoot the lane". Whistle blows and Mr blue jersey again runs for the flag. The 5 of us open up on him, he's pasted again with purple paint and leaves the field cussing and swearing. The 5 with me shift left and work through the upright barrels and plywood barricades. The new guy we had run the flag in last game was on bunker duty, 2 of us would plater a bunker with paint to keep the player's head down and our newbie would run in and make them surrender... he got 6 that game and another flag hang (first day playing and he's in hog heaven). Back in the staging area, Mr blue is looking for the person shooting purple paint again. I top off on air and paint and again don't say anything at all. I find it very funny that he saw the color I was shooting before the games even started :)

Third game, long top to bottom game, more room to run around in, slower pace. Mr blue's team starts up at the top, we get the bottom. Mr blue gets 4-5 guys to follow him on a mad rush to the middle of the field, they wait for us to come up to them, by the time we get there (it is uphill afterall) they have a pretty well laid out line. I move to the right tape and start shooting angles on the guys in the bunkers on the left side of the field, shoot three out in short order. Turn and tell one of the guys with me to grab as many as players as he can and push on the left tape to get the guys in the middle under a cross fire, he runs off and a few minutes later I see 10 guys push on the far left and open up on the middle. Mr Blue gets up and runs back up the hill to another couple of bunkers further up in the treeline. I want to force a surrender on him, so I let him run for it and I move forward a bunker and surrender a newbie long balling the guys on the left. I move forward another bunker and almost step on someone laying flat trying to hide under a bush. I grab his foot and tell him he's been forced to surrender, he says thanks for not shooting him and runs to the dead zone with his marker over his head. Guys on left are trading shots with Mr blue, it looks like he's actually taken a couple out. I stand up and causually walk over to his bunker. My guys stop our way and hunker down, I tell Mr Blue to surrender...

"You can't do that."
"Sure I can, I just did."
"But..."

Ref runs up and tells Mr blue to leave the field. We finish up the game 10 minutes later with a flag hang. Back in the staging area, Mr Blue is irriatated, he comes up to me while I'm topping off air and paint and realizes that it was me shooting purple.

"You know you're starting to piss me off, 3 games out of 3 you have eliminated me, I don't like, you have something against me?"
"Nope, not at all, you just happen to be where I'm firing" I say with a big smile.

Next game, same long game, teams switch sides. Game starts, half my team runs for the middle, I take my time, I'm looking for Mr blue jersey. A few minutes later I spot him on the left tape near the middle, I head over to the left and make my way to the front. He takes out a couple guys in the middle, I lay paint on his bunker to keep his head down. He pops his head out now and then trying to see where I'm shooting from, I force his head down once more then move one bunker to the right. He's figured that he can't expose himself on the left so he starts shooting at my guys in the middle. I line up on a hole in his bunker the size of the bottom of a coke can and lay 4 rounds right into it. He immediately stands up cussing and swearing with the whole front of his goggle lens covered in purple goo, he had just started peeking through the hole trying to see where I was at when I lit it up :) He stomps off the field. We win again 10 minute later. Back in the staging area, the ref comes up to me and tells me this guy is whining and complaining about someone with a personal vedetta against him, and asked me if I knew anyone who fit that description :) He slaps me on the shoulder and we break for lunch.

Game 5, for some reason, mr blue is on my team. The whistle blows and I head to the right tape with 5 others, mr blue follows us. Mysteriously I'm shot in the back of the right arm by someone with white paint, all the rentals are shooting green, so I know it's not a new player. I stand up and calmly walk away and see that mr blue is shooting blue ball with a white fill (I can see it hitting the trees and bunkers). No prob. Our team wins again. Back in the staging area, I suggest to the ref that it's time to switch the teams to make it more even, considering we've won all the games. He makes some switches and mr blue and I are once again on opposite teams. Same old predictable story, I shoot him out, he gets upset again, we win.

Game 7, for some reason, mr blue is on my team again and for some mysterious reason I'm shot in the back again. Ref sees it this time and pulls mr blue for unsportsmen play and tells him if he does it again, he'll be permanently banned from the field. Mr blue gets pissed off, yells alot, and is then escourted to the parkinglot and summarily kicked off the field for good. We lost this game but had a great time.

The remaining games were a blast, I even got forced to surrender by the same newbie I played with in the first 4 games, who was having the day of his life and really digging his first day of paintball.

-Evil Bob

banzaimf
01-20-2003, 05:23 PM
You know, the field where I play, more experienced players often hunt each other and let the rental guys play. Far more fun than kicking the puppies. Although, if I go with a group of friends that have never played before. I do hafta shoot the heck outta them. :D

_Spork_1
01-20-2003, 05:26 PM
corny story...... especailly the" "Nope, not at all, you just happen to be where I'm firing" I say with a big smile. "

your just to cool for me

Hexis
01-20-2003, 05:33 PM
I think the gem of that story is how well you treated the new guy during the first few games. Thanks for helping to give someone a excellent first paintball experience. That was truly honorable of you.

HoppysMag
01-20-2003, 05:35 PM
i love playing with twibs!:D

Evil Bob
01-20-2003, 05:41 PM
The cool part is during the last game, which was a attack and defend scenario, we were defending the top of the hill, my team got wittled down to just 4 of us left, I was on the left, the other three on the right. The new guy had 3 guys open up on my bunker (all three had spyders and agitating loaders, so they rained some serious paint on my position) and he ran in and forced a surrender on me, it was simply awesome :)

There is nothing I enjoy more then seeing a new player truely hooked on the game.

-Evil Bob

yeahthatsme
01-20-2003, 05:44 PM
i wish my first day of play had been like that kids, my first game i get heat sickness throw up, go home come back and get shot:D course after that i was hooked...


anyways, thank you for being such a great ambassador to the sport to that new kid, but you should have laid off that blue shirt kid after you saw he was getting mad, you were kinda immature to keep going after him.

hitech
01-20-2003, 05:44 PM
Originally posted by Evil Bob
There is nothing I enjoy more then seeing a new player truely hooked on the game.


Ahmen! I know what you mean. I remember a newbie that was so excited because he eliminated me (I'm part of the local team and it was us against all the "walk-ons"). It was almost funny. He was REALLY excited! :D

hitech
01-20-2003, 05:47 PM
Originally posted by yeahthatsme
...but you should have laid off that blue shirt kid after you saw he was getting mad, you were kinda immature to keep going after him.

I don't agree. He (Mr. Blue) needs an attitude adjustment. After all, isn't a large "point" of the game to eliminate people on the other team? If you can't take being eliminated (even by the same person every game) you need to find another game to play.

banzaimf
01-20-2003, 05:54 PM
Mapp from Naughty Doggs was out at a local field where he seemed to have his number come up by the same newbie chica 4 games in a row. Everyone was in on the laugh, even him. My point is that you can't expect someone NOT to take the shot at you if it's available just cause it might seem like they are "hunting you"

Hexis
01-20-2003, 05:55 PM
I agree, Mr Blue had no reason to react the way he did. Had he been a mature player he could have seen the situation as a challenge. Or he could have switched sides (like he did) and instead of being a lamer he oculd have tried to learn something. I think he handled the blue lamer correctly.

FalconGuy016
01-20-2003, 06:17 PM
Lesson: You shouldn't wear blue in the woods

Quiet
01-20-2003, 06:18 PM
I'd find it kinda flattering having the "top dog" gunning for me, it is often a sign of respect. I personally try to find out who the top guys are on the opposing team because eliminating them often means that the newer players get to stay in the game a little longer and have more fun. If they keep getting me, it's something I'm doing, I try to figure it out and make the neccesary adjustments.

Blue jersey man was just plain lame. I've seen this story unfold plenty of times before. While playing on a field with a lot of new players my buddies put away their angels and play with mechanicals to help even things out with rate of fire. On one some guy showed up later with an angel, naturally we started gunning for him (and got him every game). Same old story.

I like how you treated the new guy though, too many players hog the glory and don't take pride in helping out the others.

Evil Bob
01-20-2003, 07:00 PM
There is nothing worse we can do for our sport then treat a new player poorly by beating the crap out of them repeatedly with our super markers when they have a rental markers that have half the range and considerably less fire power.

If you want them to stay, you have to really go out of your way and make it fun for them, congratulate them on a good shot when they shoot you, smile and shake their hand afterwards, give them a good example to aspire to. If they see you playing fair and having fun, they will do the same, it's contagious.

-Evil Bob

TigerMan
01-20-2003, 09:04 PM
While I will say what you did to mr blue was completely fair in you eliminating him (nothing says we can't go and get so and so each game), I think you should have stopped at a point where you saw it was getting him really frustrated. You saw how your riding him made him react, and most of us know it's only so long before someones fuse runs out. You just riding him further made it worse, on both him and the field. It made it worse on him because it caused him to react, and it made it bad for the field because it caused a scene. Him being young added to it, because many young people don't think out things, they just react. You in turn making someone's day a rememberable experience ended up turning someone else's day into crap.

Yes what you did was fair, but we must have respect also. I don't think you handled the situation correctly (unless there is more your not telling us about him). Other than him saying stuff about the marker and reacting to what happened to him, you rode him too much IMO for a simple thing as what each other's marker does. It got from where you were just looking to prove a point to where you were looking for this guy every game, as if to provoke something out of him. This in turn caused him to react, which caused his day to go down the crapper, which then caused him to get kicked out, and which might possibly have him to have to look for a new field. Unless their is more than what you have told us about this guy, I think you should've stopped before it became a problem because we for one didn't know this guy's skill level, just knew what he had and how he dressed, this doesn't make someone a pro. For all we know the guy could've have been just a newer player. That's why I think the whole day and situation should've been handled differently.

KamikazeChiKenz
01-20-2003, 09:29 PM
Dude! That was me. I'm Mr. Blue! THANKS A LOT!!!













Just kidding;)

Jonno06
01-20-2003, 09:51 PM
Originally posted by FalconGuy016
Lesson: You shouldn't wear blue in the woods

hahahah falconguy,that was great...but yeaa..

maybe he thinks you..arent...supposed to shoot him?

Halliday
01-20-2003, 10:09 PM
Great story EB. VERY rarely do I ever single out a player on the other side, unless he's honked me off somewhere else that day (no barrel plug, cockey....) I think you handled it well, and when I get a chance to shoot out a player on the other team I always take the shot!

Evil Bob
01-21-2003, 01:15 PM
There is always more to the story once you dig into it deeper, Mr Blue overall was not a very nice person. He swore profusely every time he was shot out, he argued with the refs and staff members of the field the whole day, he switched teams and shot people in the back, the guy had some serious issues to work out.

Hind sight is always 20/20, there is always a better way to deal with any given situation then what actually happened.

From speaking with the owner when helping the staff clean up the grounds, I found out he had wished he had gone with his gut instinct and never let Mr Blue on the field. Apparently Mr Blue had started the day off with the staff at the registration booth by asking questions about the markers the field uses, once he found out they were Pirahna's he made alot of noise about how poor they were for rentals, etc., how the field should invest in a quality marker for rentals. The refs also overheard him commenting to new players in the staging area and in the dead zone how crappy the rentals are, how low class the field is, how blind the staff are, how everyone cheats and wipes, etc, he was heard making comments along the lines of "I'll never come back to this craphole again".

The owner is a really nice guy and is always willing to give people a second chance over his gut instinct, give them "an opportunity to redeem themselves".

I knew very little of what was going on before the games started, what I saw in Mr Blue was a challenge, I can bunker and abuse new players all day long without breaking a sweat, but there is no sport in it, I prefer to take on people with experience, Mr Blue wasn't the only person on the other team that had played before, there were quite a few regulars that I know quite well, we routinely hunt each other down just so we can rib each other in the staging area afterwards and have some fun stories to tell at the bar later on when the sun goes down. Same thing with the side I was on, we had regulars there that were more then happy to help the new players get into the game.

One of the refs mentioned during clean up that when Mr Blue had switched sides, several people on his team were looking forward to shooting him with extreme predujice. Like I said, he obviously had some issues that he needed to work out.

-Evil Bob

covadsucks
01-21-2003, 02:32 PM
Did Mike offer a soda up to whoever shot out Mr Blue? EB you woulda cleaned up on that one! :p :p

omni
01-21-2003, 02:43 PM
That was a good read :D
I think what you did was fair even if he wasn't being a jerk before. If the guy was getting mad because people were shooting at him, in a game of paintball, well tough!

TigerMan
01-21-2003, 05:09 PM
Now that you mention all that EB, I take back all I said earlier in the post. You were more than fair to do it, and I'm glad you did do it now that you mention all that other stuff. I see now how this guy was set out to try and spark something, and I see why you found and why others found it necessary to open his eyes.

It would take a lot for me to single one person out (unless it's a tourney or I'm playing with friends), but in your case now that I know the rest of the story (like good 'ole Paul Harvey says :D) I'd probably have handled it the way you did. And good to your field for not standing up for his behavior.

athomas
01-21-2003, 09:31 PM
I thought the store was very entertaining.

I routinely pick and hunt the person on the other team that I figure is the best player. Its more of a challenge for me and it increases the level of play for the other person, so he will get better as well. If I'm on the field with a whole lot of inexperienced players I have a tendency to hang back, direct traffic, and help the newer players get more out of the game.

It is different if the entire other team goes after one person continuously, although I personally don't mind. It makes for some fun shooting.

I get a kick out of the new players when they get all excited because they shot the guy with the jersey. If it makes their day, then it makes mine too.

yeahthatsme
01-21-2003, 09:47 PM
i still think he pushed the blue guy a bit too much, even if he needed an attitude adjustment doesnt mean you single him out(as bob did on the last few games), that, imho, was immature and wrong.

Aliens-8-MyDad
01-21-2003, 11:10 PM
he shot u in the back and u knew it?! man i wouldnt be able to control my self like u if someone pulled that crap on me. i would un load on them soo badly (i have anger issues sometimes)