Nxl 2005

[Nick Brockdorff]

I wonder.....

.....When the NPPL will introduce a "no x-ball" clause to their top 18 teams, to try and put X-Ball to rest

That would leave the NXL a ******* league with a few teams doing their own thing, with no affiliation to the rest of the paintball world....... kind of like the Harlem Globetrotters to Basketball.

I doubt the last swordstroke has been made between the PSP (and X-ball) and the NPPL and 7-man..... too much money and too big egos are involved.

And Duff is right, if the ESPN2 show makes a big impact, and the gravy train seems to be going afterall for the NXL owners, it WOULD be prudent (businesswise) for them to re-instate the exclusivity clause.... and this time around, players would have to chose between being on TV and their freedom to play what they want... not just between smoke, mirrors and their freedom

Nick

 

[HERMITT]

One day someone will realise that getting paintball on television is not the answer to our problems. We are all chasing the gravy train without asking if gravy is what the sport needs most.

Lets fix the main problems ourselves and let TV find us. Be sure that when the people in charge feel we are really worthy of investing in then they will be quick with their cheque books!

Paintball is not a sport akin to Football, Soccer or Hockey. Coverage will come in a form closer to snowboarding and BMX. Teams will very soon realise that making a decision based on what TV exposure they might get is ultimately futile.

Flame away!!!

 

[Manning26]

The NXL is tv worthy, and, contrary to what many say, so is the NPPL's 7-man format, provided it's handled properly (whole other subject). What we have in common with the NBA, NFL, MLB, Blabbity-blah, is that we're a team sport, not just individuals doing stunts. There's more drama in the man vs. man, team vs. team, Philadelphia vs. Detroit, America vs. Russia (ahem, Boston is it?) than Skateboard Guy A's flippy trick vs. Skateboard Guy B's flippy trick.

I've made this point before and I'll make it again; think how many friggin' Paintball videos are sold, how many different companies are making them and tell me there's no demand to watch our games. Yes, the people buying these are paintballers, but look at how many paintballers there are! Joe Schmoe isn't buying because he doesn't even know about 'em. It's all about marketing, people won't buy it if they don't know it exists, they won't watch it if they don't know it's there.

Regardless of where the sport has gone, Paintball still has a mass appeal, you can still get out there on your home turf and mix it up whether your a senior citizen, or packin' a few extra pounds. I wonder what the percentage is of NFL viewers who couldn't even make their high school squad, or have even warmed the bench at the Pee-Wee level. I'd wager it's high.

How many people watch who don't even have a local team? I've even watched Arena League Football on a few occasions, and I couldn't even tell you the names of more than two teams! Point is, it's all in the way it's packaged, the drama, the action, the big plays, the personalities, the grudge matches, it's all there, the people just need to informed.

Gah! I just wanted to take a break from writing, and here I am writing!

 

[duffistuta]

Originally posted by Manning26


I've made this point before and I'll make it again; think how many friggin' Paintball DVDs/videos are sold,

OK, I'm thinking of a number - but judging by the tone of your post, my number is just a little bit lower than yours...so come on then Jason, enlighten us: just how many Paintball videos are sold?

 

[stongle]

Not as many as DVDs, I bet.

 

[Buddha 3]

Originally posted by Manning26
Point is, it's all in the way it's packaged, the drama, the action, the big plays, the personalities, the grudge matches, it's all there, the people just need to informed.

Don't agree...
I think your judgment is biased for the simple reason you ARE a paintballer.
There are no big plays in paintball. There may be some to us, but all the rest of the (rather uncaring) world sees is a guy running down a field, pointing a stick at some other guys. Wow...

In football you have big VISIBLE plays, same goes for soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey, whetever.

At least you can SEE the flippy trick in skateboarding and sometimes somebody messes up and lands on his face, all paintball shows is a bunch of guys running around... We don't even have the common courtesy to land on our faces... (Except Steve Morris, who did a rather spectacular Superman slide last year.)

 

[Manning26]

Man, I hate you guys.

Enough Paintball videos (DVD!) are sold to keep the companies that make them in business which has to be more than, you know, eight. The Warped Sportz by me goes through those things like mad, so someone's buying 'em up!

No big plays? I'd say Olly Lang reloading while running full stride then bunkering someone's pretty big, or Lasoya sprinting up the middle of the NPPL field blasting out two Dynasty players, even something as simple as a sweet one-ball to the gog's draws ooh's and ah's from an audience (Cereal Killerz Premier, and yes, it was paintballers). These are things anyone can appreciate, and did you miss me saying the public should be informed? If handled professionally and intelligently it can really draw any regular person in.

From my personal experience of showing friends and family PUSH and Sunday Drivers (quiet, Duff) they've come to appreciate what the sport side really is, A SPORT! Cereal Killerz will do that every bit as well.

 

[Buddha 3]

Oh, so easy to take apart this one...

Originally posted by Manning26
1) Man, I hate you guys.

2) Enough Paintball videos (DVD!) are sold to keep the companies that make them in business which has to be more than, you know, eight. The Warped Sportz by me goes through those things like mad, so someone's buying 'em up!

3)No big plays? I'd say Olly Lang reloading while running full stride then bunkering someone's pretty big, or Lasoya sprinting up the middle of the NPPL field blasting out two Dynasty players, even something as simple as a sweet one-ball to the gog's draws ooh's and ah's from an audience (Cereal Killerz Premier, and yes, it was paintballers). These are things anyone can appreciate, and did you miss me saying the public should be informed? If handled professionally and intelligently it can really draw any regular person in.

4) From my personal experience of showing friends and family PUSH and Sunday Drivers (quiet, Duff) they've come to appreciate what the sport side really is, A SPORT! Cereal Killerz will do that every bit as well.

1) Love you too. Been a while though, stranger.
2) I ain't arguing against that (never have). But the fact of the matter is that they only sell to other paintballers.
3) I see you are agreeing with me, you just don't know it yet. Even if people get "edumecated", what it will still look like (and actually is) is Olly Lang running downfield waving a plastic cup (his pod), pointing a stick at someone, and the guy consequently raising his hand and leaving the field. There is nobody getting beaten to the ground, no physical risk, no real focal point like a ball. If you are gonna argue that Joe Schmoe will think this is on par entertainmentwise with some dude doing a kickflip on a vert ramp, you are truely insane. And I know you are not... The unwashed masses might enjoy CLEAR shots of paintballs hitting goggles, but the novelty of that will wear off rather quickly.
4) Okay, so you've got them convinced PB is a sport....and? Nobody said it isn't. I'm just saying it ain't the most spectator friendly sport around. Push was boring to most of the paintballers I know, Sunday Drivers somewhat the same. So yeah, your friends now know paintball is a sport. A boring one, played to a predictable punk wannabee soundtrack, taking place in slow motion...

Again, people don't need to be educated in so far as paintball being a sport, that ain't the problem. The problem is that most people will only see a bunch of people running from a fence, sitting behind some blow uppy stuff for a few minutes, running hither and yon at times, and some people walking off with their hands up. Wow. My heart bursts with excitement.
The only way paintball can be televised properly is when it's heavily edited (like those DVD's you mentioned) and only shows the good stuff, which will be less than 5 percent of the footage shot.

If people can pick between watching some kid on a BMX doing backflips on a vert ramp, or some guys shooting paint at eachother, you know as well as I do PB will get the **** end of the stick.

I wish I was as optimistic as you are, unfortunately experience has made me somewhat cynical.

 

[Manning26]

Holy crap...

1) Yeah, what, you can't return e-mails?

2) Yeah, I know, but what I'm ultimately getting at is that if the match I saw between the Oakland Assassins and Detroit Strange at 'Cup were shown (properly) on television and a non-player saw it, I think they could easily become engrossed. Right now it would just make said person interested in potentially playing, not necessarilly going out and buying a paintball video, but hey, if he starts playing then he's no different from the people picking them up now.

3) Listen, as you know I have a decent amount of contempt for the human race, but I really think you, and the many, many others who share your opinion are simply not giving people enough credit. Joe Public will more than likely figure out that this Olly guy is reloading his gun while running then sticking his gun into another guys back. It isn't rocket science. You ever see Platoon ? Remember when, oh crap, what's his face was running through the woods by himself cutting down NVA en route to his extraction point a la Lasoya? Essentially, this is what will register with someone who's never seen paintball before, it would really take someone exceptional to only see a guy running with a stick, you know, like Piper exceptional. Dude, when was the last time you saw a Paintball video? The 300FPS video from Derder has all sorts of very clear shots of people getting their heads shot off.

4) Gotta admit, not a huge fan of most Paintball soundtracks, although I am a bit of a music snob maybe. You're a lost cause if you didn't atleast like PUSH, there's nothing I can even say to you. It's like arguing over religion at this point.

Dude, you need to get over here and watch some good paintball, then you'll see things how I see them. The NXL finals, you know, when they finally meant something, teams were actually being eliminated, were outstanding. Detroit fighting their way through as the underdog needed no editing. The see-saw battles were exciting, and all those games that come down to the final seconds, well, what more can you ask for. I really think I'm onto something here, you're just watching boring ass Paintball on your side of the Atlantic. I doubt I'd want to watch it myself. I'd probably prefer to watch people I've never even heard of play Arena Football.

Oh, and your comparisons to BMX, skateboarding, all that stuff, have you, or anyone you know ever watched an entire one of those competitions? It's decent eye-candy, but that's really all it is, and like all sweets, you can't live on it. Hell, even that guy that does back-flips on his dirtbike, that's unassailably cool, but you know, a couple times is good for me. I think I could go the rest of my life withoout seeing that again and be okay. I'm sorry to be a broken record, but the drama of teams fighting it out for first place has a lot more staying power for me than guys trying to one up each others' tricks.

Purely my opinion mind you

 

[duffistuta]

Holy crap...

Originally posted by Manning26
You're a lost cause if you didn't atleast like PUSH, there's nothing I can even say to you. It's like arguing over religion at this point.

There you go again, confusing religion with sexuality. PUSH majored onthe homoerotic vote; obviously, you put your little X right there...