A Question....

[Urban]

I've spent the last few days watching the Russian Legion thread, and the various follow ups.

One thing seems to be clear out of all this... to the credit of Russian Legion it seems almost everyone in the paintballing world holds them in high esteem.

I have seen on this forum, on WARPIG, and in PGI, the Russian Legion consistantly singled out as the cleanest, most honorable team, certainly in Europe and possibly the world, at the level at which they play.

Robba has refered to them as 'the last bastion of fair play left in this game', Nick refers to them as 'a very clean team in most respects'....

Does anyone else feel that it is rather sad reflection that out of all the teams that play in Europe, one is so clearly out on front in terms of honorability and integrity??

Urban

 

[manike2]

I do believe there are other teams that play hard and clean paintball with honour and integrity, Hardcore come to mind but they are not yet Pro. I've been very impressed every time I watch them.

I think the Russian Legion get put on a pedestal because they are the only team out of Russia that regularly attends European events and because they play such excellent technical paintball. That and maybe the PJ's

It is sad to think it's special, it's especially strange to hear when you are talking to people that play on other teams... You'd expect them to hold their own teams to be the cleanest wouldn't you?

manike

 

[cjohns]

You called Pete Robba!!! Good old Urban. I don't think that the Legion are considered the "ONLY" clean/fair playing team in Europe. They are just considered by most as "THE" cleanest/fair playing team in Europe and in most of the world. A lot of teams these days will do anything to win and that is just the way it is. As ****ty as it is, all you can do as a player is instill in yourself that you will play the game honorably.

 

[Buddha 3]

Urban, I agree.
It is sad that a team that plays at the highest level, but does it cleanly, is noticed primarily for the fact that they are so damn clean (not trying to deter from the fact that they also play a mean game of paintball, but there's a number of teams doing that).
In an ideal world it should be the cheaters that stand out like a sore thumb, but in the weird alternate universe that we live in, it's the good guys that are the exception to the rule...Sad, but true.

PS Robba..Ha! Funny!

PPS Chip, are you no longer with the corrosion gang?

 

[Micah]

Having only written a couple of articles, I'm just getting started on the road to paintball god-like-ness such as Robbo and maybe even TJ and J-LO as well as others, but I would be so willing to write something like that. Only one thing stands in my way, I have no way of proving that who's his face, or that other guy, play dirty. That and ... only two things stand in my way, no proof and a lack of credibility, I mean who am I? I have neother been there nor done that. That and ... only three things stand in my way ....

No one ever expects the Spanish Inquisition ...

oh and by the by, what did people think about my little Warped Kids thingy?

-Micah

 

[TJ 2]

If a player gets

3-4-1'd for wiping, say, it sometimes does get mentioned in tha magazines...it's when a player cheats and isn't pulled out, but the cheat is seen by tha reporter, that things get a little funky...

Bill Gardner gets away with a wipe and tha AAs win tha World Cup; Justin Owen sees the wipe, puts it in his article in PGI and the Editors, after talking to Justin, run with it. Big outcry, but does it change tha result? Nope. Does it do anything more than blot Billy/the team's name for a coupla weeks? Nope.

What it potentially does do is
A - Land tha magazine in court
B - Cause Smart Parts, Diablo and all tha teams sponsors to sever links with PGI
C - Set a precedent so that every single tiny infraction a reporter claims to see, he'll demand to have in tha mag

And C could get things real ugly when you think about the consequences...

So what do y'all think should be tha magazines' policy?

 

[Robbo]

Urbin,
the reason I put them on this pedestal is because I believe that we should all see their choice to play clean as something to be revered and not sneered at.
I am sick and tired of seeing pro team after pro team (amateurs as well, it's just that I watch pros a lot more) bitch, whine, play on, cheat, whatever, all in the name of sport or rather winning!!!!
Now, these occurrences ain't as widespread as perhaps I am giving the impression of, or that others would like to give, but nevertheless, they are there and make a big impression.

When you watch the Russian Legion, it is like a breath of fresh air passing over the pro scene, they don't whine, they don't play on, they always congratulate their opponents (win or lose), the contrast is so stark that it beggars comment.

What makes it even more impressive is that they have attained top pro team status and I mean TOP without any recourse to cheating.
Imagine being on that team and every time you go out to play in the semis and finals, you know damn well, that the other team are going to get up to some **** or other every time they play.

All these guys have to do to win a tournament is to slip ever so slightly into the cheat zone and that elusive first win is in the bag, that's all they have to do, just copy all the others, just an ever sooo slight adjustment and embrace say, playing on, and the win is theirs to covet as all the other top pros have done.

But no, they stand firm amid accusations of microphones surgically implanted, of codes being used from the sidelines, of intentionally running hot guns, for F##Ks sake, if that was me, I'd say 'Bollocks, since everybody says I am cheating I might as well do it anyway' but no, they don't, they get on with their game, put their heads down, and get on with playing fair !!!
Their treatment in Portugal was a disgrace when the letter of the law was so rigidly translated with no recourse to common sense and a penalty so harsh, which what everybody agreed (bar a few) was for an unintentional infraction.

U know what makes me sick in all this, I won't name names but here is what happened, one very well known captain of a Euro team was adamant they were cheating, so concocted an unbelievable scenario where the Russians had microphones surgically implanted so they could communicate to win games.
The irony of this ?
Well, this guy put it about everywhere, blackening the name of the Russians and yet his team ?
Go out and watch them in any game, and you will see, if you wait long enough, wiping, playing on , bitching , and the rest of that sort of **** !!!
Makes me wanna puke !!!!!!!
And yet, we have a team, that for all intents and purposes shows us all how to play the game not just on a technical level but on a sportsmanlike one and what do we do ?
We f##kin try and destroy them.......ring any religious bells ?
But such may be the fate of man or in this case paintball, to lose the one thing that should be held as inviolate!
Robbo

 

[cjohns]

Originally posted by Buddha 3

PPS Chip, are you no longer with the corrosion gang?

No Buddha I am not. I have resigned as captain due to some serious lack of commitment from team members, and I am not going to waste my time and energy into keeping the team together. They can choose to do whatever they want, but I am moving on to bigger and better things. I am going to train/tryout this weekend with a certain Pro team (remain nameless for now) and hopefully I will make the cut and kick ass at the highest level. If not, I have a few offers from some AM teams and I will be more than happy playing with those guys as well. Wish me luck

P.S. I am going to try and hook the Rooster up as well, so if you read this Roo don't worry. I am looking out for you bro

 

[Urban]

"surgically implanted microphones"????? Ooooookaayyyyy... maybe someone's been reading too many Cold War spy novels...

It seems everyone who has replied agrees that Russian Legion are the cleanest Pro team on the current circuit, and that it is a poor reflection on the standards of play across the current Pro scene.

The impression I am getting is that cheating seems to be, though not necessarily widespread in the Pro circuit, certainly (or maybe just potentially) a factor in who takes home the Trophies. So this brings us to the question of how a team that doesn't cheat manages to compete at the top level?

I don't know how any of the top teams train. I don't know if they have organised training sessions, proper drills, tactics training, field layout 101 or whatever. I don't know if their training sessions are structured or ad-hoc affairs. But I'm gonna take a wild guess here on how Russian Legion do it and maybe someone can tell me if I'm right.

If they play clean, and compete against teams that maybe don't play quite so clean, to win they are going to have to be degrees better than the teams they are playing against.

I think they know exactly what they are going to do within each training session before they arrive on the field. I think they have a training program, in the same way athletes or footballers have training programs. I think they turn up, train hard, apply 100% concentration to what they are doing, and probably keep doing it until they get it right. I think maybe they have dedication and disipline that very few other Pro Euro teams can match.

Is there anyone out there that can objectively compare and contrast Russian Legions training regime against any European one... because I think there will be some very defined differences...

Urbin

Damn! Got me at it now!

Urban

P.S. 'Robba' was a genuine spelling 'msitake'.... honest!

 

[Al Woods]

Clean play

is tough.

I got as lot of respect for the Legion and their clean play policy. They beat teams up with clinical moves and some seriously good shooting. They don't move (individually) or look half as cool and flamboyant as most of the yank teams or some of the european/brit teams but they don't seem to cheat anywhere near as much, if at all.

The sad thing about a lot of the new teams, let alone the established teams, is the way they view cheating. I aint gonna name any names, they know who they are, but there seem to be more and more teams that just try it on. We like to consider ourselves as a very clean and fair team and we simply do not cheat. Ok we might argue a result or kick off with other players (not physically) ocassionally but only when it is called for. Wiping, playing on and playing the rules aint something we practice.

The worrying thing for the future of the sport, I'm just talking about the uk scene because I don't know about elsewhere, is that the smaller tourneys are getting more and more teams cheating like mo'fos. Then we wonder why they get ripped at bigger events. If teams have to cheat like f*k to get a result at smaller tourneys then how on earth do they ever expect to pull a solid result at more controlled events such as millennium series.

I think all teams with any self pride and respect for themselves should learn to play and win fairly. It's a case of change the record for f*ks sake as this subject gets dragged out time and time again but is important for our own game. The Legion are a good team to set standards from but are a fair distance away for local, new teams to actually see and learn from. We need more clean teams. Period.