Pete, it's too bad that the extent of our personal contact has been approximately 60 seconds when I introduced yourself to you and you spent that 60 seconds asking over and over again if it was really me - apparently not believing I wasn't too "scared" to say hi. Newsflash: I'm not scared of you.
Really, I've been around the internet a *LONG* time, and there are quite a few people I don't "get along" with online who I get along with quite well in person (Steve being the notable exception
) - I know we disagree quite a bit, and I know you like to throw every bit of effort you can into belittling me, but as you can tell, I could really care less.
As for your list of the accomplishments I should have - I have zero desire to be a pro player. For one, I have a career that involves 40+ hour work weeks and does not lend itself well to 5-10 weekends a year of events, international travel, and still having any time left to see family and the like. For two I absoutely hate the way the game is played at the pro level, although I'm glad to see it's on the path to rapid improvement. And for three (and you're not going to like this)...
Players are expendable. If half or even almost all of the pro players stopped playig right now, including you, it wouldn't matter. Pete Robinson never plays Pro again, the sport couldn't care less, makes no difference, someone else will step up. Jessica Sparks stops fighting legislation, Jerry or Chuck stop running events, the guy who has been slaving over running his own local league that just barely breaks even, THOSE guys go away, and that actually affects other people. If I were you, which I'm obviously not, I wouldn't view being a Pro as an accomplishment, but as a means to getting to do what are your accomplishments. I'd pay much greater defference to my involvement in the organization of the European paintball scene, regular hard-hitting coverage of events, etc, than how I played on the field. But I'm not you.
As for why PSP is the only league using the system right now: I have to start somewhere. The biggest reason is Lane wanted to do it, and I convinced him I could. I'm working with NPPL on it, I'm offering it to EPA, and I've had a few regional/local leagues around the country asking about it. I'll be adding a league in MN this weekend.
But also because it's a new system, and bugs need to be worked out, and far better to do that with one league than 10 at once, because PSP is to a certain extent the "bait" for everyone else (the value in the system is that local promoters can actually KNOW if there's a Pro or Am showing up to play), and because a lot of people out there want to see something work before they'll try it themselves (which is perfectly reasonable.)
We've got the system there, it works, it's a lot more polished than it was a week ago, it's got 1400 players in it, and we're going to put it into practice in Chicago.
As for the whole post in the first place, I'd been up all night throwing in that new feature, and I'm honestly a little proud of it. No, it's nothing fancy, but it *IS* something cool. It was a way to solicit some feedback, toot my own horn, and piss off Steve and Pete. THREE birds with one stone!
- Chris
