paintball and the X-Games

[Spider-TW]

I mean, out of even us paintball players, how many of us record NPPL on ESPN on our DVR's? I don't, 'cause WATCHING paintball is boring as hell, while PLAYING paintball is fun and almost anyone can play the sport to some degree. Most of the reason that paintball is so boring to watch is that it's not terribly videogenic (the paint is nearly invisible and the action is spread all over the field all at the same time) and the protective gear makes individuals very hard to distinguish, so the big names are hard to follow during play. Add onto that the fact that John and Jane Q Public have no earthly idea what paintball is, much less what is going on in a pro-level speedball match.

This never stopped golf (I don't know why ). I used to get a kick out of the camera panning up in the air to follow a drive. Maybe the cameraman could see it, but I just see sky (same thing I see a lot of the times I play too). However, I can sometimes tell what is printed on the paint coming at me.

The protective gear doesn't stop football, either.

Besides the visibility of the action, I think it will just take a while for the number of people that have played to build up the audience. I think this is why drag racing seems to pull a small TV audience; fewer people have actually seen one up close. Once you've been there, you can appreciate the sounds and action a lot more. I used to hate baseball on TV until I watched a good game live. With a little more production and formatting (TV rules) they should be able to put up something entertaining.