Beyond 2002 - Beyond A Joke

[Dannefaerd]

I've just finished reading the event report from Beyond 2002 on the Warpig site (READ THE ARTICLE HERE) - and then spent a bit of time looking at a couple of message boards which have some discussion on the happenings. Couldn't spot a thread here on it, so thought I'd start the cries of amazement and disbelief.

Personally I find it amazing that what is said to have happened here (and usually Warpig are pretty objective about their reporting) actually happened.

There are reports of the usual cheating ... which is disappointing, don't get me wrong ... but also of referee's assaulting players, teams emptying the dead-box for full on fights at the end of the games, players on teams being arrested for different offences at the event, and the list goes on.

This event was held in the best possible position to highlight paintball to the media and the world ... and while it looks like we could have taken a good sized step forward, several people have forced us to take a giant step backwards.

Have a read of the article (there is a link above) and then post your thoughts here ....

 

[nickp]

It hurts to read that such an excellent oppatunity to promote paintball is marred, by a few players/refs. The people who where watching, could have been parents who will now never let their children play... as they will only see the violence between players/ and Marshalls, not the actual game.

 

[Mark/Static]

It was not pretty to witness, but the common denominator was control, or the lack thereof. Players are to blame for the physical contact, reffs are to blame for letting them cross the field at each other, promoters are to blame for not having experienced reffs and a lot more of them, and for not sticking with the original plan, and my team was to blame for allowing an idiot to travel and associate with us.
I just can't help but wonder about the conflicting scenes of Ice T belting out the foulest, woman-degrading lyrics, while the typical paintball wives/mothers are standing around watching paintballers go to blows with each other for some transgression, both real or imagined. This of course is the most intense cross section of the entire weekend, but it was still bad for the game.
Talking with Maurice Gibb was an honor though, he was adamant that the event he's planning will have musical performances AFTER the days games are complete. He didn't strike me as a Snoop Dog fan. He seems to be planning something huge in July at Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

 

[Dannefaerd]

Mark - Nice to get a first hand view on this stuff. Thanks for the reply.

Martin

 

[Billteamdirt]

Well in the long run perhaps the events at beyond 2002 and some of the other notable flame outs this year will hold the seeds of change?

As long as we can learn from this and grow and not just say "well that's paintball" i think this can be a good thing in the long run.....there's nothing like shooting yourself in the foot on the break to make you more carefull next time (hopefully)


Bill=uber optimist

 

[John Molloy]

Once again the minority give the rest of us a bad name the sad part is they probably feel justified in their actions I can see no justification in carrying an argument off the field and chasing a player when I martial a game and someone disagrees with a call its tough I get over it and so does the player.
I have seen fights at tournies and don't like 'em they spoil everyones day (including the losers) i feel any action like that should receive an imediadte ban and ejection from the site.

so much good work spoilt on the last day a true waste and a shame

I share Billteamdirt's hopes for the future but I am too much the cynic to think it will happen over night

 

[Mark/Static]

I agree that there are some who, under the present circumstances, ruin it for the rest of us. But to take it a step further the only reason they behave this way is because they can .
I'm not saying that that behavior should ever be accepted, but to pretend that it's only a few wacko's bent on bringing our sport down is, I think, the wrong presumption to take. It seems to lead to the thinking that it's something that cannot be planned for, let alone prevented.
Sure there needs to be harsh penalties for this behavior, but there also needs to be control maintained to ensure that it is stopped before it happens. Look at the different sports; Hockey, Basketball, Baseball, and Football (NFL).
The NHL seems to encourage fights because they rarely prevent them from happening, and hardly ever try to stop them once they begin (hard to do on ice I guess).
The NBA instituted a 3 game suspension for anyone leaving the bench if a fight breaks out. Even if they try to break it up.
The NFL has perhaps the most control; Officials amazingly can keep relatively tight control on players with roughly 3 times their body mass.
MLB seems to tolerate pitchers throwing the ball inside to imtimidate, if not outright hit the batters.

 

[Al Woods]

**** man

All ballers love showing off in fornt of a crowd, that's all part of the whole game to me, a bit of flamboyance and fun thrown in with a bit of attitude is good but kicking off just aint called for. These guys need to ask themselves some serious questions about why they're actually doing this and at their level should be ambassadors for us up and coming tourney players rather than ruining it all for everyone else.

Sounds like it was a cool event though, Strange rippin it up as always.

The suckas who messed up...you're all fags dudes, sort your **** out.

L8r