A new year, and new rant

[Tao]

Paintball is about putting your mask on, stepping onto a field, and having a good time with a handful of other people.

If your not having fun- Quit.

If you cant respect the fact that some people have a different idea of fun as you- Quit.

If you cant respect people- Quit.

People (and I'm going to say AO in particular) seem to be worried way too much about the future. All you can do is learn from the past, and live in today.

This is a recreational sport. If your playing for anything other then fun your a fool.

Dont be a dick, be open minded, and have fun. These are the basic principals I try to live my life by. I've damn well got the last two down pretty good.

Theres some things in life you can't change. Society (fads) is one of them.

Stop complaining and just go with it. Have as much fun as you can now, becuase tomorrow, you're going to wish you did.

I think what Big Evil is all about is the lack of "skill" based play. Playing stock class takes patience and practice.

Speed ball was designed more around the concept of money=firepower="skill". Unfortunately most people don't realize the roots of paintball (stock class) and are really missing out on a whole aspect of the game.
However sacrificing thousands upon thousands of innocent paintballs is a "skill" in a way I guess....But something about practice in the off-season involving the continual drumming of your right index and middle finger on the table top just seems wrong.....

I like the occasional speed ball game, however my advice to anyone who reads this is play both. I find stock class to get boring after awhile and speedball continuously to be even more boring.
Our circut is great even if it isn't as glamourous as todays speed ball tourneys:
we have a couple speedball tourneys (hopper ball to eliminate "the money game") 1 pure stock class, 1 pump CTF and 1 pump speedball type game. Also 1 bush game involving 4 teams on the field (my personal fav).

I guarantee most (at least alot) of people who are all about firepower and playing speedball would learn to enjoy playing pump if not stock. It seems lame at first but all experienced players know how much pump improves your game (semiauto, fullyauto, or pump).

And hey it cheap! :P

[Lohman446]

Speed ball was designed more around the concept of money=firepower="skill".

Good job using quotes on that. It indicates you realize its not true.

[BigEvil]

Pump is just a different animal than speedball. There are different skill-sets for both. Some skills are shared, some are not.

Myself, I find that I get into alot of bad habits when I play strictly speedball for a while. I rely way too much on firepower, I dont move as much, and I have zero patience. Getting back behind a pump helps me break those habits.