Starting a Revolution

I posted this over at Special Ops, but I have a blog and I'm not afraid to abuse it. So, I post it here too. It's a direct response to the PSP announcement, as seen in the last blog post.

My theory for this is simple. The banning of teams and players is a knee-jerk reaction to what happened. I also believe that it's a reaction that happened because it hit PSP in the wallet, and for no other reason. MANY years ago the All Americans sprayed paint all over a stucko wall at a hotel, and the league at the time didn't bat an eye.

However, we not have a situation that's requiring action becasue it threatens a lot of players. If Marriott does indeed decide to blacklist all paintball players, the ramificaitons are pretty severe. People have recomended we write to Marriott as players and tell them we're not all like that. The letter-writing campaign to Marriott is a good one, as it tells them that most of us are not going to repeat that performance.

I also believe that this is a good time to talk to the powers-that-be in paintball, and express our outrage. It may fall on deaf ears, it may start a movement in the sport. There's no way to know other than to tell people what we do not like what we see. Many people asked me "What can I do?" You can be heard.

One of the ways to prevent this kind of behavior is to have the teams sign what's called a "Code of Conduct". It's a legal doccument that outlines behavior that is expected from the people that sign it. A good code of conduct will outline behavior that is not acceptable (trashing a hotel room) and the expected punishments that the league will give to teams and individuals who break the code. This can include things like fines, manditory sit-outs at events and even banishment from the league.

This way, a player and their team can not say "You never told me that." As the paper is in writing, with their signature on it, they can not use ignorance as a defense. PLUS it shows people outside of paintball that the sport is serious about how it's players act off the field, as well as on it. Believe it or not, all major sporting teams have codes of conduct worked into the contracts of the players.

This is the letter I wrote up to send to the people at PSP, NPPL, and sponsors of teams and events.

--- begin ---

To: Paintball Sports Promotions, NPPL Super-7, sponsors and promoters of these events
From: (Your name here)

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to you today in response to the recent incidents of the Paintball Sports Promotions event, the 2006 PSP Texas Open. I applaud the actions taken by the PSP thus far in publicly condemning the players responsible.

However, it is also obvious that this is a "band-aid cure" to solve the immediate problem and not create a long term solution. Even with banishments and suspensions, there is nothing in writing that says the players know the league, or sponsors, will not tolerate these type of actions. The behavior seen at 2006 PSP Texas Open can, and more than likely will, happen again.

I write this e-mail to urge the PSP, NPPL and major team sponsors to adopt a written code of conduct that can be used to tangibly punish teams that act in a way that reflects badly on the sport. Other professional sports require their players to sign similar "codes of conduct", so there is precedent for this type of action. This code needs to be separate from the official rules, and handed by a separate body than the rules committee. Items covered by the code of conduct should range from on-field behavior to off-field decorum.

This kind of document would provide the league and companies that sponsor them a solid method of punishing players who perform the acts as seen at the 2006 PSP Texas Open. Having a written, and signed, code of conduct would also be a first step in mending relationships with larger corporations as it would show a level of commitment from the players and the tournament series to clean up the sport.

As a paintball player, I urge you to take this one small step in legitimizing the sport of paintball.

Thank you for your time,

(Your REAL name)

--- end ---

Now, the fun part. Who do you send it to? Let me say this first. DO NOT MAILBOMB!!!! One copy to each person / company will get the point across. This is NOT a harrassment campaign, this is the players telling the industry "We want to see action." Another point, do not send it to a personal address. So sending it to "Bill@whoever.wha" is not good, but sending it to "media@whoever.wha" is good. The reason is basic, the right people will see these things if you send them to the right place.

First, take the letter above and copy it to a text editor of your choice. put YOUR REAL NAME at the bottom and top. NOT your nickname, but the name you were born with. If you wish to add your own comments to it you can but be respectful. Nothing will get your e-mail deleted faster than profanity.

Now go to the PSP website, and fill out their form. It's annoying, yes, but it's also the best way to get them mail. If the web page won't load for some reason, wait a while and try again. Make sure you put in your e-mail and name in the top as well, and that the topic is "Suggestions".

Next, open your e-mail client. If you want to save time add multiple addresses to the letterhead. I also reccomend using the "BCC", or "blind carbon copy", feature. The reason is it looks cleaner, and it doesn't create problems when they reply to you.

Here are the best e-mail addresses to send this to :

NPPL Rules : Rules@nppl.tv
NPPL Sponsors : info@kingman.com, sales@wdp.tv, chronicman@zappaintball.com, customerservice@severepaintball.com, techsupport@pminetwork.com, HR@nationalpaintball.com
PSP Sponsors : empire@empirepaintball.com, sponsorship@smartparts.com, sponsorships@dyeprecision.com, odile@adrenalinegames.com

Still need to find : Tippmann, Draxxus, Eclipse. The DYE E-mail may not work, I'll look for a better one. Of note, NPPL & PSP share some sponsors, so overlap has been ignored for the sake of this e-mailing. I also did not include ALL the sponsors of the PSP or NPPL series, as many of them are one-product sponsors or "Offical whatever" sponsors. I'm choosing the MAJOR sponsors. As above, copy & paste the letter and send it to the e-mail addresses above. I titled mine "PSP / NPPL players code of conduct".

I want to repeat this. ONE LETTER per person is more than enough to get the point across. DO NOT send multiple copies of this letter to these people!

Now, what's the overall goal? We want to say to the "powers that be" that we would like to see them hold their players (through promotions or through sponsorship) accountable for their actions with a legal document. It's a very real possibility that they will ignore this. In that case, there's really not a lot else we can do but move on from there. Hopefully, they will listen.

Some time ago people asked me what theye can do to make paintball better, or to fix what's wrong with the game. Now it's time to do something. Be heard. And if they won't listen, we'll go from that point.

51593-060421-433067-22 Rate content:


© 2006 All Rights Reserved.

PSP FINALLY Grows a pair

I want to get some time to think about this before I comment. Short term commentary. I admire that they put this on the front page news of thier site. It's good they're finally putting it out there and saying "Yes, we have problems, we're fixing them."

What's described not only does not surprise me, but it doesn't even phase me. Paintball thinks it's an xtreme sport, but the players don't know how to behave like athletes. Paintball players think they're rock stars and can get away with anyhting, it's nice to see they won't. Now I'm going to wait to see what happens. MY bet is that these teams and players tell PSP to screw themselves and go play Super-7. But hey, it's not like I've never been right before. Just ask a retired pro player.

I swore I wouldn't be smug when I said "I told you so.", but there's no good way to say it. So, enjoy this open letter from Paintball Sports Promotions.

You boys made your bed, have fun cleaning all the crap out of it.

An Important Message from the PSP
Several incidents at the 2006 PSP Texas Open have put a black spot on the sport of paintball. The conduct of teams and players may have reached an all-time low in and around this event.



Based on the number of incidents and the damage caused, both financially and to the reputation of paintball tournaments in general, I have decided to take unprecedented action in hopes of deterring players and teams from making the same mistakes in the future. These intolerable incidents affect the outcome of tournaments as well as the finances of the PSP and ultimately the finances of all teams, vendors, and sponsors involved in the tournament. They also affect the reputation of the sport of paintball and the ability of the PSP and other tournament organizers to find and secure desirable venues.

I feel it is time to hold people accountable for their immature, selfish, and irresponsible actions.

Over the past 5 months, PSP had been engaged in ongoing talks with the Marriott Corporation about future involvement with tournament paintball. The talk had progressed slowly, but steadily. Significant efforts on both sides were destroyed by the actions of teams staying in Marriott hotels in the Austin area during our Texas event.

The day after our staff returned from the event, we were contacted by Marriott and advised that they were not only uninterested in any additional talks, but that they were also letting their hotels in the area of our future events know not to book rooms for paintball teams or players.

This loss of a possible huge outside sponsor and hotel partner was brought about by the selfish acts of several teams who stayed at various Marriott hotels during the event. I have a list of names of people who booked the rooms that were damaged. I have cross referenced these names with the ID system. Until the teams provide the names of those specific individuals who caused the damage, every player on the roster of these teams will be suspended from PSP events.

Members of Team Demolition, Choppapb.com, and Anarchy will be suspended for various lengths of time ranging from 1 tournament to a lifetime ban from PSP events. These suspensions stem from various degrees of damage done to the rooms and facilities of a Marriott hotel in which they were guests. Some of the people on these teams are responsible for the breaking off of talks between PSP and the Marriott Corporation regarding future rate deals, sponsorship, and additional involvement between the two companies.

Team Clutch won the Division 3 Xball tournament. They did so with an illegal roster. This was not simply an oversight, but was a deliberate act of manipulating the ID system, and submitting misleading information in order to have members of the team’s classification dropped. Part of this problem stems from the staff believing the stories told to them and consequently dropping players’ classifications. The other part of this problem was the deliberate and intentional misrepresentation of identity in order to have a team compete below its rightful level. At no point in the future will any player’s classification be changed regardless of circumstances. There is no need for any player to contact anyone in PSP with a request for classification change from this point on. It will not happen.

While I am certain that not all members of the team had prior knowledge of the scheme, I am left with no reasonable choice but to hold all accountable to some degree. The team has been stripped of all points from the Texas event. Several members of the team will be suspended from PSP events for 3 events. Others will be suspended for 1 year. Two individuals will be suspended for life. Adjustments will be made in terms of payout of prizes and distribution of tournament seed points toward year-end standings for the other teams in their division.

On Sunday, Todd Martinez decided to take a PSP-rented golf cart for a joy ride through the awards ceremony. He crashed the golf cart into the guide wires anchoring one of the tripod poles, which hold the net up on the NXL field. The tripod pole was bent and is no longer usable. The golf cart was damaged and PSP has been billed for the repairs. He will be suspended from play for 1 year. He must reimburse PSP for the damages to the golf cart before he will be allowed on the property of any future PSP event.

Here is the list of suspensions handed out to players/teams from the Texas event.

Billy York – probation
Trent Wilson – probation
Grover Srader – probation
Michael Fitzpatrick – probation
Jesse Babb – 1 year suspension
Tanner Russell – Lifetime ban from PSP events
Daniel Orren – 1 year suspension
Adam/Donald/DJ Thomsen – Lifetime ban from PSP events
Todd Martinez – 1 year suspension and reimbursement of costs for damage

The following is the list of players whose teams caused considerable damage and disruption to one of the hotels. PSP has no way of determining specifically which of the individuals on these teams who rented the rooms is ultimately responsible for the unacceptable actions. We are aware of the particular rooms that had damage, as well as the acts of outright stupidity that occurred. Thus, we are holding all members of the teams on which the players who rented the rooms are rostered accountable for the actions of their teammates.

At this point in time, the following players are suspended indefinitely. As more specific information becomes available, there may be changes made in regard to the duration of suspensions for individual players.

Team Demolition
CJ Botsalas
Travis Arango
ChadBustere
Ryan Currie
Ramzi El-Yousef
Graydon Gesner
Dana Klibanoff
John Ossian
Daniel Riney
Arroldo Silva
Alex Spence
Erik Taylor

Choppapb.com
Josh Harper
James Harwood
Corey Jones
Andrew Macaluso
Aaron McCorkle
Robert Mcleod
Corey Neal
Zack Piper
Myles Vann
Richie Wade
Travis Walsh
Daniel Watson
Duane Watson

Anarchy
Adam Hagar
Mason Kane
Devin Peithmann
Cody Rich
Dan Riha

I hope this message gets to the teams and players in the vein that it was intended. I would be remiss in my duties as the head of the world’s largest tournament league if I let these types of actions continue unpunished. The result of the misdeeds of players at this past event goes far beyond the scope of most players’ knowledge. We are losing sponsorship. We are losing respect. We are now losing the ability for teams to stay at hotels of their choice simply because they are related to the sport of paintball. If we decide to have another event in Texas, the PSP will not be able to rent equipment from the most reasonable vendor, making production of the event much more difficult. Other Texas paintball events may have to face these same issues. It is a very real possibility that no paintball players will be able to stay at Marriott Hotels in the future.

This is a simple message – players and teams competing in PSP events will be held accountable for their actions and the actions of their teammates and others involved with their team. Heed the warning!


Lane Wright
CEO/President
Paintball Sports Promotions

Updated Mar 24, 2006 Written by Keely Watson

Minors playing paintball

You found the blog, probably through either word of mouth or you read the headline and came here looking to be pissed off. But I want to put this out there and, hopefully, get people to think. But, more often than not, people make a lot of noise to hear themselves talk.

We're talking about minors in paintball this time. I like playing paintball with the younger generation. When they're open to learn, they learn fast. And I like to do what I wish someone would have done with me the first time playing. "Oh, you're new and you want to know what to do? Lemme show ya."

But lately, I'm really hesitant to play with minors. I mean I'll do it. But I'm doing so while playing with the proverbial "kid gloves" on. And let me explain why.

My E-Mag is capable of shooting 20+ balls per second. I don't shoot that fast, but I could. I know a lot of people who can shoot, assisted or not, at 20+ BPS. Many people set their gun to ramp at 15 per second. This sets up my main problem here.

I looked up the law in Illinois for "child abuse", and Here's the result:

Physical Abuse
All States and territories provide definitions for physical abuse. The term is generally defined as any nonaccidental physical injury to the child, and can include striking, kicking, burning, or biting the child, or any action that results in a physical impairment of the child.

That's the wording of the law. Nonaccidental physical injury. This means that if an adult injures a minor with an intentional act, it could be criminal behavior.

Ok, so let's focus in on that idea. Paintball is sold as a "non-contact sport", but in reality is a contact sport in a different light. We don't physically hit each other, but we do shoot paintballs at each other. We all know they hurt. We all know the "fun" of being hit in a vital or soft spot.

We also all know about the latest trend of "extra love" or "bonus balls". We also all know that it's not all accidental. This is where we start to get into trouble, and where people start to backpedal. "You can't tell me what my intent was." Or "You don't know what they meant to do!" Ok, fine. But let's run a scenario by you.

Older player is playing paintball with a minor. The minor is the last on the field. The older player runs up on them, puts 20 paintballs into the minor form point blank range, and screams "GET OFF THE FUCKING FIELD ASSHOLE!" Then when the kid doesn't move, the older player pumps another 5 into him. "THAT will teach you!"

No, I can't tell you what's going on in either of their heads. But I can tell you that through the actions taken, the older player would certainly be held to task about his actions. Or at least should be.

Now the scary part of all this. For many years I've watched kids play paintball. Some fields will let someone as young ass 12 or 10 play paintball. This is not only dangerous but is also potentially a disaster legally. Ok, sure, you get the wunder-kids who get the point of the game and understand how to play. But more often than not I see these kids all do the same things. They huddle together, they take goggles off because they're too uncomfortable, and they're too scared to move. And I've seen young kids cry when they get hammered too.

A lot of the younger crowd is going to hate me for saying this, but I don't think it's healthy for paintball as a sport to allow younger kids to play. Target shoot, fine. Put goggles on and let it go. But play? No. If I had my way the age limit would be 18. Not a popular opinion, sure. But legally speaking its the most workable. Either that or let the minors play in their own games, and the adults in another.

I don't put things like this out there to win popularity contests. I'm thinking ahead. You don't see NHL players going hardcore at the pee-wee league kids. And yet, a pro paintball player can jump into a walk on game and light up a 14 year old kid. Paintball needs to understand that what they allow right now is more than a little dangerous.

Before people start to get high-and-mighty, let me give you a dose of reality. You may remember that article I posted about the 12 year old girl being charged with battery for playing dodge ball in school. I also like to mention the Bertuzzi incident (video here, follow up news here), and how the police stepped in after the game. Give me time, and I'll find more incidents like these. In all these incidents, people started saying how it was full of bullshit, and how it's just a game, and how you can't let the law step in to arrest people for playing a game.

But in the eyes of the law, what happens on the field is still subject to legal proceedings. Athletes, indeed everyone who's into sports, seems to think that "what happens on the field just happens." And to an extent, they're right. Within the confines of a game, Rugby is a sport. On the street, it's called a brawl. But tossing a ball into a street fight does not make it a game nor the street an arena.

So you put a minor on the field of play, and they may or may not know the acceptable level of violence. They may or may not expect to get hit 3-5 times from one person. And even more fun, their MOM may not expect it either. I can easily see a scenario where some kid is shot in a bunkering run 4-5 times in the head, and the kid goes down unconscious or just hurt. Mom goes after the attacker, whose defense is "It happens." Mom calls the cops and presses charges, and suddenly paintball is on a whole new level of legal wrangling.

And since there is no player's union, or advocacy group, or industry group, or even a unified league the player is on his own when it comes to court. So he'd have to hire a lawyer out of his own pocket. And I've said it before, any hack lawyer will rip a field waiver apart in court AND use paintball's own DVD's to attack the sport. "This player acted in a violent way, just as he'd read about and seen on the media that paintball puts out. He viciously went after a child on the field of play. Get this monster off the streets and into a jail cell." Paintball isn't ready to fight "Mothers against Paintball".

And, while I'm on field waivers, the field waiver covers the FIELD. NOT the opponents. So if you go after the field, they'll claim the waiver saves them. It doesn't, but that's not my point. A waiver ONLY protects the field. NOT the person you play against. So yes, you CAN be held accountable in a court of law for being a jackass on the field of play.

Because of this, I'm really disliking the concept of playing paintball with minors. If I shoot a string off the break and shoot my lane, and get insanely lucky and hit a kid with 7 shots by some miracle, is that child abuse? In the context of the game, it only takes "one ball" to eliminate someone, and anything over that can be legally construed as above and beyond the scope of the game. So hitting a kid 6 more times than is needed could be legal grounds to haul my carcass to jail.

I've said it before. It's not a matter of "if", but "when" these things happen. And when they do, I'm not looking forward to it.

Tournament play & making it presentable to large corporations.

I haven't pissed anyone off for a while. Let's change that. I typed this up as a response to someone else in another forum, but I figured I'd share. Nice guy me.

I want to make this clear. My goals are not to kill tournament paintball. As long as one person says "I'm better than you" there will be tournament paintball. No, my goal is to see paintball do what it's promised since 1991.

Biting the bullet, a slang term "To face a painful situation bravely and stoically." In this case, it's the industry understanding that money spent now means money income in the future.

What basically needs to happen for paintball to be recognized is a few things.

#1 : The sport needs to take itself seriously. Let's start with the clothing. We're still wearing motocross jerseys and roller hockey pants. The jersey evolved from JT's stuff, which was all motocross. They stuffed the Ironmen into colorful shirts and pants, and the trend was born.

The sport also needs to take a new attitude from the players. You don't argue a call and expect it overturned. You don't go after a guy in the parking lot after the game, or throw a punch during it. You are an athlete playing a "non-contact" game. While I'm at it, they could use a media coach as well.

#2 : The sport needs to unify. NPPL, PSP, Super 7, WPL... Garbage. The sport is not a sport when there are multiple leagues trying to say they're the one. "What about arena football? What about world league football?" All are under the NFL umbrella! No sport is taken seriously when the rules change fro league to league, and month to month.

#3 : Separate under one umbrella. Let's use baseball as an example. MLB is the umbrella company. Under the MLB, each team operates independently following the rules that MLB puts down. The players are in a union, and the players will do what the union says because they're looking out for their interest. The umpires are also in a union, separate from MLB. The MLB does not run the umpires. The teams run their own stadiums, MLB does not interfere with how they run business. MLB also does not manufacture or sell the players bats, balls, gloves, uniforms, but they do pass rules as to what they may use on the field.

Paintball, however, the players that ref also play in the league. The rules are made by players, enforced by players, and subsequently broken by them. The players also run the industry. The Philly Americans run Smart Parts, who sells gear to the players who play under the rules they have a hand in making. In most other circles, this is a red flag. Not in paintball. Promoters of events also are in the industry, and run things like magazines (Jerry Braun, promoter of World Cup), DYE (Dave "Youngblood" DeHann promotes too), and more. See the problems there?

Players also need to understand that a "Players Union" is not a bad thing. There needs to be an entity that is SPECIFICALLY looking out for the interests of the players. About 5 years ago Vegas NPPL had rebar and concrete on the fields of play. The players all complained, but they all played. Ribs and arms were broken, and nobody said anything or took a stand. A players union would walk the fields before an event, and give approval for the players to either go or no go. And the players need to go with what the union says.

#4 : Clean up. I suppose that I give the impression that drug use is rampant, it's not. We're not "Trippin on E" as we play. But the weekend tournaments are basically a party. Show up in the morning, play 4 games, go back to the hotel, put on different clothing and go out and drink / party. That's the lifestyle. That needs to change if you want to attract outside companies.

Do you really think PepsiCo will back a sport where it's athletes get plastered before a day of competition, get arrested for drunk & disorderly, and puke on the streets where photographers will see it? How about McDonalds? No. I'm not saying that the sport has to look squeaky clean, just know that when the microscope is dialed in on you the details DO come out.

Leagues also need a publicly printed anti-drug policy. Just saying "no" isn't enough. There needs to be a written in stone policy that will not flex. Large corporations have them, so why not paintball? And large corporations feel good when they see an anti-drug policy. Adopting the WADA code isn't a bad idea either as it would insure players are clean. SNOWBOARDING has to adopt the wada code!

#5 : A code of conduct needs to be drafted, signed, and enforced. Right now there is no code of conduct. I have challenged tournament players to show me where the league made them sign a code of conduct, and they can not. The only one I know of was the USPL in 2000.

I also believe that a 100% separation of tournament and recreational paintball is in order. This won't make me popular (like I care anymore) but unless you draw the line, anyone can be a pro player. I would like to see a code of conduct that tells tournament players that they may not play "recreational" paintball without written consent from the league. So they may play in a big game, if they can get the league to sign off on it. But not jump in with the renters and go nuts.

But at the very least, a code of conduct of on-field activity needs to be drafted, signed and enforced by the league. LaSoya's little "point blank" incident only drew a penalty, all other penalties were from the team and not the league (assuming my current facts are straight on the incident). In football if player tackled another player after the play was over the offending player would be fined and/or suspended by the league. In hockey players going beyond the game are routinely fined. In paintball? "Boys will be boys". This attitude does not fly with people in large family-oriented corporations.

#6 : The technology either needs to be limited or classed. I know, the "PSP" 15/ second rule is in effect, but what it creates is a game with no real skill. You give a monkey unlimited paint and even they will eliminate people on the break. 1 hopper, 1 pod, more than enough. Nobody wants to DO that, saying "THAT SUCKS!" but you know what? NASCAR drivers hate restrictor plate racing but they do it. If boxers had their way the gloves would be RADICALLY different. And just imagine if a hockey goalie could make their own knee and shin guards?

The problem is the players have been the rule makers and manufacturers for so long, they don't understand how interwoven they are. Since the people that play the game also make the rules and the gear, they can make clothing, goggles, headgear and excessive padding that is "unmodified from the manufacturer". Why do you think that the All Americans bought Renegade in the first place? But that's my opinion.

And there's SO much more that needs to be done, but that's a good place to start.