Sorry if I put out the impression that I was angry over this whole thing...for whatever reason you seem to respect me, and I you so as far as I'm concerned there won't be any sort of problems between us. Since Bryan's post was originally part of another, and put into its' own thread in the interest of generating healthy debate and putting the difficult questions out there, I really don't think B was expecting everyone to agree with him, nor did he think he'd make himself popular for asking.
I'm not speaking for him here...B is quite capable of speaking for himself. However, don't think for a moment that I'd associate with someone whom I didn't agree with most of the time. His post regarding Dynasty, Mr. Hendsch et. al was written because it was a question worth asking. If Mr. Hendsch and Team Dynasty are offended by the question or perceive it as a hit on them, then so be it. In my post later in this thread I said pretty much what B had said (intentionally) just packaged a bit differently and with a somewhat different tone. I noticed as of yet that there's been minimal response to that particular post regarding its content.
*sigh* I dunno. As Lambini stated, the question has been asked and answered, so I suppose realistically it's a dead issue. The perception is still out there, but there's not alot that can be done about that. Now there's a perception that B's a lying slag, a hack, a muckraker. And because I'm associated with him I'm sure that perception will attach itself to me as well. I promise you, we're quaking in our little paintball booties at the thought. I recently had a story I'd written spiked because of the content of it...it was all factual, and the presentation of those facts was fair and unbiased, but the story was spiked partially because of a phone call we'd received, and realistically it could have been seen as beating a (nearly) dead horse. I didn't like it, I fought against it, but I was outvoted. The phone call that we received sounded remarkably like some of the posts here...the whole hack, muckraker, S.O.B., why-are-you-associating-with-these-people bull**** game that alot of people play in an attempt to manipulate the press. It's a dirty nasty business, and it changes your outlook in some ways. Speaking for myself, I never got into the media side of the sport looking to make a name for myself or get famous. Right now, the only way to do that is to play professionally on a top team. I initially started doing my show to advertise my shop in Oklahoma, and I enjoyed it. My goal wasn't to have people asking for my autograph, etc. or to get myself in all the magazines pulling l33t-ninja-style moves on some poor sod unfortunate enough to warrant my wrath. Believe it or not, the goal was to get the "Oh ****...it's HIM again" reaction. Thus far I've been pretty successful getting that reaction, and along the line I've managed to get genuine respect from some members of the industry, the players and even from my fellow members of the media.
Anyways, I've rambled on long enough. For the record, Byran's opinions are his and his alone, as are mine. I don't regulate the content of what he writes, and he doesn't regulate the content of what I write or what I say on the show. When I signed on to Paintballchannel.com I made a point of having it put in the contract that I'd retain editorial control of the content of my show. TJ, sorry for the misunderstanding...I'll run the idea past Bryan today about putting a story in the editorial section regarding the content of his opinion regarding Hendsch, etc., or I may just write one myself. The newest show went up last night...look on the left side of the page under my blue and black logo there. You can either stream or download the show.
And Duffistuta...keep an eye on the west coast of FL in 2004...perhaps you'll see some of the answers to the questions you're posing here.
...if you only knew the number of 'those' calls, the lawsuits, the threats (physical and financial)...when I write my memoirs of my time on PGI I'll reveal all...
