xgames rejects paintball

[shartley]

MANHUNT

http://www.automags.org/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000027.html

[Eagle]

I saw part of Manhunt the other night, I think it is mor apt to give us a bad rep. The markers looked to much like real guns, they used inadaquet face protection, and they were shot from almost point blank range.

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Die Screaming

Brass Eagle Stingray
12oz CO2
VL 200

[dansim]

i think we should just have trading cards like w/ pros in action not in action,just there guns,team shots,big company logo stickers bunker shots stuff like that or actoin figures so everyone can blow the heads off the players they dont like

[AGDPaintball]

well actully there rite i used to watch it when i was like 5 they would have 10 on 10 man speedball so that artical is not b-s.. well there are more reasons why they cant put paintball in xgames cause 1 money cause its free to get in so its kida hard for them to put money into it and also where would they have the ppl sit cause u cant get close seats in less u put some kinda see through netting or somethin but u know that will rip or get shot through sometime.

[Eagle]

There is a netting specifically designed for paintball, it's at least ten feet tall and designed to be resistent to being shot through

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Die Screaming

Brass Eagle Stingray
12oz CO2
VL 200

[Hasty8]

Shartley -

I read your post in the above link and while I agree that the show is stupid I totally disagree with your assumption that it will do nothing for paintball.

On one had it could very well drive people to the sport. They see it for what it is, a game where you get to shoot people with paint, and since it is much more in the open now then say ten years ago it will much easier to get information on it. This is good.

On the other, it could, POSSIBLY, lead to the banning of the sport. My reasoning is this. Brass Eagle and one or two other companies sell their products in a lot of sporting goods stores. Most of them are pre-packaged self goods. A kid could walk into one of these stores and walk out with a paintball gun very easily ( or worse yet, a wild and unruly teenager(Not a flame. We were all unruly as teenagers.)). They should not be sold this way. They should be behind a counter where a store clerk has to get it for you. They do this with bb guns, why not paintball guns.

Second, that clerk had better know darn well what he is talking about. I heard something in the Sports Authority near my house last week that made me go balistic on the store clerk and probably saved that kid an eye.

A little boy, in his early tens had talked his mother into coming to the store to get him his first marker. I was there to get some powerlets for my Phantom and was behind them in line. When the mother asked the clerk if her son needed any face protection like the JT masks that were so high up the shelves that you would have to use a ladder to get them the clerk said not really, these toys don't shoot to fast. I immediately interupted him and let her know that not only do these "toys" shoot very fast but that playing and maintainence requires the use of a mask. The clerk then gets all huffy with me, saying I don't know what I am talking about. When I asked him if he ever even played the game he simply walked away. The mother ended up buying the mask and also agreed to go to my local paintball store to get a bit more information on the game.

My point is this. America is currently a very litigious society and people love to ban stuff. If it is seen as dangerous or bad then ban it. Look at skateboarding. Banned in most public places. Snowboarding. Banned from most trails and even a few mountains in my area(This is the one instance of where a major push by snowboarding companies, especially industry leader Burton to educate the rest of the population has made a positive difference as more and more trails and mountains are allowing boarders).

All that we need to happen is for one kid to accidentaly get hurt, because of something he sees on tv and our fun is gone and if you think I'm kidding your deadly mistaken. There are lawsuits going on right now in Texas where adult paintball players are getting sued because they caused a minor to get a bruise (Texas law makes is a misdemeanor for an adult to bruise a minor). And with companies like Brass Eagle selling their products as pre-packaged shelf goods I see the time coming when a kid is going to get seriously hurt. Then some up and comer legal eagle will take up the case and champion the boy, saying that if these guns were outlawed then this never would of happened, public opinion would swell and laws would be passed. At the very least field operator insurance rates would go so high that no one would ever be able to pay the grounds fees.

We can't sit by and hope that a stupid show will just die off. That show reaches millions upon millions of people right in their homes and all it would take is for one kid to get hurt.

This is one time where I would prefer not to take that one in a million bet.

[shartley]

[mxpxpunk1220]

i always thought that watching paintball on espn was kinda cool. it got me pumped to play just like i watch skateboarding videos to get me pumped. i don't see what would be soo bad about putting paintball on the TV for the public to see. sure it may not be the most exciting sport to watch but it is still a awy of introducing it to others. also maybe they could keep us updated on like tourny's and stuff just like they do with any other sport. that would be cool.

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Evan Rapp

[Ninja B0Y]

It was not Bob Long. Bob Long's just a player. Granted he has some pull in the industry, but he's not a promoter and I doubt he would even take the time and energy to sue a company thats owned by Disney.

I believe its more along the lines of some whos owns a pro team...in the NPPL...in the east coast...that's not Lockout...

[Sgt Carnage]

I think our time will come. Hopefully in my lifetime.
If you think that's bad look at what is now an Olympic event.

http://www.allsports.com/olympics/curling/

OMG! What a joke.

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Semper Fi

[Hasty8]

Originally posted by shartley:
Hasty8:
Thank you very much for such a well thought out and respectful post. Good job.

The only thing I will say is that I fully understand where you are coming from.

But with that said, I would like to point out shows like:
"Fear Factor"
"Jacka@@"
"Battle Bots"
"WWF"
etc.

All of them could very well fit into the concerns you feel for this new show. I think the general public should not be judged by the actions of a few idiots. And I think the general public knows "supervised entertainment" (even if totally stupid) VS a true Sport and Industry.

Just my thoughts. I hope I am correct about this one.

Never heard of Fear Factor so I have nothing to say on it. Jack@$$ I think runs disclaimers saying that stuff shouldn't be done. Battlebots? If my kid was building a robot I think I would know about it. WWF? They already got lawsuits. One of the stipulations from their earlier lawsuits was that the actors had to refer to it as sports entertainment and not wrestling.

My point is this. Jack@$$, BB, WWF. All these shows can be blamed for a kid getting hurt because it is easily traceable to he show. Robots for BB, wrestling for WWF and stupidity for Jack@$$

But if some young kid goes and buys a brass eagle paintgun off the shelf and gets huirt with it I'm just really afraid that it will be the sport that ends up getting spanked for it.

Just my opinion. I may be wrong.

[PaintballChannel]

** This message answers a lot of other messages, so it will be long

Originally posted by AGD:

ESPN does not want to show paintball because a big person in this industry sued them the last time they showed paintball. I can't say who it is because he might sue me. We will have to be the number one sport for ESPN to be interested.

If anyone has the specific magazine that this was printed in I would be interested in seeing it.

Thanks

AGD

Yes, I to would like to see this article - so I can write explain to these people that paintball is a SPORT - not something you see in the Soldier of Fortune magazines...and has nothing to do with, as one newspaper reporter once wrote, "watching truck pulls, 'swilling' beer, and eating pork rinds."

As far as paintball needing to be a #1 sport to be on ESPN, then why to they have stuff like poker and billiards? Lord knows I want to sit there and watch people smoke and play cards. :P

As far as Manhunt goes, UPN is considering, and will most likely, pull it. They are under a bunch of allegations that a lot (30+) scenes were re-shot, with scripts, are being investigated by the FCC, and their last neilsen ratings had them in 110th place.

I've said this time and time again that paintball *NEEDS* a body of representatives to defend it in Washington, to the public, and to the soccer moms of the world. Paintball is getting attacked from all sides, but has no defense - except for the grassroots campaigns. Paintball needs something like the NRA, excpet maybe the NPA. Until then, America and the world will go on thinking that paintball players are card carrying members of the KKK or something.

[PaintballChannel]

Originally posted by williamb:
I love paintball. I love playing it. Let's be honest though.. for someone who doesn't play, the current format is really boring to watch.

The current format can be equated to a bunch of kids in clown suits hiding behind blowup dolls with guns.

Actually, the current format of tournament paintball would be good to show. Two factors would make it even better - if players could get more aggresive (bunker diving, slides, etc), and if sideline coaching was allowed.

Now, I know some people may be against coaching, but 1) if people know where you are, you're going to move and 2) if you have a few hundred people in the stands yelling stuff, you arent going to hear much anyway...People coach in all sports - baseball, football, basketball - it's just that the players cant hear them because there are too many people talking at the same time. And, the yell of the crowd does get the adrenaline flowing. Paintball is paintball, not golf or tennis.

And, as far as showing in on TV? It can be done using the same format they use for a lot of the other X sports, by showing the highlights. Skateboarding and BMX Freestyle are just as boring as paintball when watched in their entirety, but they only show the good parts of skateboarding and freestyle on ESPN.



[This message has been edited by PaintballChannel (edited 08-22-2001).]

[st6212]

Other things that would make it more appealing on TV.

Obvious thing would be that it would have to be a speedball/hyperball thing and not a woods game.

Make the fields smaller than it already is...that'll make it even more intense

Also, get rid of the crappy one-foot on the ground rule. I don't know if you guys have that, but in Oz...tournaments have that rule...ie no climbing/standing on bunkers and stuff. Now take that out and imagine some cool moves that you could do. There have been a number of tournaments here where some players get hyped up and do a killer move involving jumping up on a log or barricade of sorts, but then they get eliminated by the ref for doing it.

Or how about....each player has a set time limit allowed to stay behind one bunker....say 30 secs....move before the 30secs is up or your team is penalised or your eliminated.

[This message has been edited by st6212 (edited 08-23-2001).]

[Dubstar112]