NPPL on ESPN

[dr.strangelove]

UAPL was a good format for TV. 3 man, small field, quick action, and lots of cameras. The NPPL is awesome for me to watch as someone who plays, but I don't think it would be much fun if you didn't (kind of a novelty thing, like the lumberjack championships. You put it on just to wonder who the hell spends their entire life dedicated to something like that). And the NXL I never got a chance to see, but my personal view of the X-ball format is that it's ****. It's supposed to be this great, spectator-friendly, made-for-TV format, but to be honest, I think it sucks to watch and I don't think it's going to be the savior of paintball that gets everybody on TV with big fat checks rolling in like it was supposed to be. The thing is though, if they televise golf, bowling, or the Winter Olympics, then why not paintball? I sincerely doubt the paintball market is any more niche than those. All we need is a more unified structure and rules book, and for the people who play "Professionally" to not act like 3 year old children on TV (a huge stretch for "Professional" paintballers, to be sure).

 

[Crusher]

Sorry

My opinion and that of a few friends who watched the first one last night, is that for sheer watch-ability, UAPL has everything else licked.

It interested me as I wasn't there and I know the teams and the history etc. but for the average Joe to watch it, it was hard to follow.

Lets wait and see what the next 9 shows brings

Its looking like the plethora of DVD's out there, if you aren't a player your ain't gonna be interested.

 

[cremuzzi]

ESPN review

After watching the first episode i have to say I was very impressed. They did a great job a showing breakouts, field positioning and showing how people battle head to head. The part when they would zoom out and show what bunkers people were in the with the bullseye was awesome. I watched it with several non paintball people and they picked up on the format almost immediatly. "Like chess" and "its all about field position" were several comments that to me indicated that the production of the show had indeed done its job.

There were certain parts that even showed the chaos of the games as bodies started droppin all over the place then the next thing you know it was a 2 on 2. This is the thing that I think they are going to have problems if the NXL ever gets a shot at the big time again. I know what i am looking at when i watch an NXL match and sometims i cant ever tell who shot who or whats going on, with people sprinting all over the place fullauto machine gunning.

The pace and tension build up of 7 man makes it easier from a production stand point of picking which elimination shot to use, moving up the field etc. Plus the field design was not that great in Miami. Imagine if they had ESPN camera in HB for those XSV Dynasty matchups. 2nd game rusty running to the midddle wedge then gunning down all of the dynarats trying to take the snake. Now thats just plain good TV. The field design is so crucial in 7 man. To make it possible for people to get close to each other (ie head to head in a snake) and have the tension build, is an integral part of the 7 man game.

Overall though i have to say that they did an excellent job. The games might not have been that exciting due to the field but add some good camera work, very professional sports style commentary from Matty, and good post production work and I think it worked great. Overall i have to give the 1st show a solid A

 

[manike]

Definitely the best tournament representation on TV so far!

Overall I was very impressed. Would have been nice to see more of the graphics showing who was shooting which lanes etc (and as Baca pointed out... as they were doing it, not when they looked another way ), but in general that was very cool the way they added all the graphics, player images, and player count.

Also more footage in line with the players, some of the best stuff to show what was happenind in the play was when the camera was in line with and showed the shooter and what he was shooting at. We need more of that!

I have to say though, wow did Corey call out Warren! Kind of harsh, but made me laugh. Sorry Warren! (and thanks for repping the goggles. )

Was hilarious to see the replays of the cheating incidents. Even I missed the dead player from the Bushwackers shooting the first few times they showed it! Instant replay rocks.

 

[PSPLane]

Great show. Definitely the best paintball on TV yet.

The big question is -- will having a good "tournament paintball" TV show do anything for the industry and tournaments? We'll see.

It's a little of a double edged sword from my stand point. I've always thought that maybe we weren't getting the goodies from outside the industry because we hadn't shown we could put on a good show in the most important medium. I believe this was a very good show. If big things don't come out of this, it will be worriesome indeed.

Again, from my viewpoint, it was a very good show. Even if nothing big comes from it, they did a great job with the production.

 

[PSPLane]

Cheating on Tape

Manike -

I agree. The cheating stuff was great.

I think the McInnary/McIllany guy from Bushwackers will go down in history as the first person to "do the deed" on national TV, get caught, get penalized, get commentated about, and get replayed......again ........ and again......and again. And then get interviewed about it. I don't think he had accepted the reality of what would show on TV during the process.

 

[Baca Loco]

Manike -

I agree. The cheating stuff was great.

I think the McInnary/McIllany guy from Bushwackers will go down in history as the first person to "do the deed" on national TV, get caught, get penalized, get commentated about, and get replayed......again ........ and again......and again. And then get interviewed about it. I don't think he had accepted the reality of what would show on TV during the process.

Not to change the subject too much but what's the guess there are other "incidents" in the thousands of feet of film that won't make the shows cus nobody but the camera "saw" it?

And, oh yeah, care to comment of the new NXL/ESPN deal?

 

[PSPLane]

1. There may be room for Dick Clark in paintball after all. Tournament Paintball Bloopers, Mix Ups, and Cheating.

2. No

 

[duffistuta]

2. No

Can we quote you on that?

 

[Duncster]

Ahhaaaaaa - I see what all the fuss was about now!!! (got there in the end...)

so - is this show available for download anywhere???

D.