Sandbaggers

[Baca Loco]

You people and your whining about sandbaggers . . .

Originally posted by Johan - Backlash
Hello!!!! what about Kapp and Scharpshooters.......
And wicked in the Am B

What are you yammering about, Johan? KAPP is a very good Am team over here--so what? Sharpshooters are an average Am team. And what about Wicked? They play Am B (Novice) over here? Are you claiming they are too good or that they had players rostered who didn't qualify?

 

[jonhaley]

Originally posted by Andy - Quest
Jon Haley

Why would Draxxus VIP qualify for that award.
...
There inexperience showed as a team during the semi finals when they got mullered in all three games.

I take Jon you must be on a team that didnt do to well against them.

Ok, answer me this: Who would win a five aside match between i) a scratch team made up of Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea players who have never played together before and ii) my local sunday league team that play together every week?

And no, we didn't play against Draxxus VIP. I would, however, gladly do so as personally I don't give a stuff who I play. You're quite right, we play this sport for fun.

 

[DMZ Hasse]

It is always easy to drop names, but seriously I think:

* Millennium Novice and AM b are mainly opportunities to benchmark your abilities compared to those of other teams. And to get valuable high-level tournament experience.

*At the end of the season, most top ranked AM b teams are (should be) sandbaggers. Because they will (should) move up to AM a next season.

I could say that the final standings for 2003 Millennium AM b was somewhat affected by a sandbagging russian and american team. But that is not very true, we ALSO want to benchmark against our US and russian equivalents, If they are better, then it just suggests that we need to get better at certain things in our game, not that these teams necessarily are sandbaggers.

Let's not create a culture where we make it a habit that we, after every Millennium tournament, belittle those who makes it to the finals.

About Draxxus VIP: Aren't those guys rewarded by Draxxus mainly because they sell a lot of paintballs, not because of their mad gun slinging skills?

 

[jonhaley]

Absolutely. Divide any bunch of teams into divisions and by definition you will have good teams and bad teams within that division in relation to the average.

That said, there is a difference an established team reaching the peak of their division e.g. being known as a 'good' novice team, and scratch teams of experienced players entering under a new team name. Incidentally, I'm not accusing anyone of that. Just saying that that is when people start to get upset.

Finally, i agree...lets not deconstruct every tourney into who sandbags, who cheated, which were the good marshals. CC was a top class event won by top class teams.




Re DVIP, I think if you look at the team members you wouldn't find a shortage of experience between them.

 

[Andy - Quest]

In reply to your last post Jon. So what you are saying if that is the case is that Draxxus VIP are made up of players who are the caliber of Chris Lasoya, Ollie Lang and Co and decided to play novice for the glory.

How very wrong my friend as Evolution said we are field owners and distributors. who spend a few pounds with Draxxus each year. Its known in the industry as a "Perk".

The team consisted of no pro's, no am's or anyone else who would be recognised in the paintball hall of fame.

They were just 6 guys and 1 lady who were fortunate enough to be invited to play for fun only, just like the majority of all the other players who played at the CC. Someone has to qualify and win everyone cant be at the same level. Hey next time it may even be your turn team.

Experienced players, right ok breaks down like this:

4 players over thirty- two playing regulary for a novice team and two who only play very ocassionally.
1 x 19 year old guy from finland who has only been playing for 1 year - no millenium events and speaks very little English.
1 x 21 english guy who i admit who plays novice once a month - No Millennium events played ever
1 x 21 year old lady who has been playin for a couple of years - No Millennium events played ever.

Hardly a recipe for a World Cup winning team.

End of justifacation.

Its was a great event and they all enjoyed it obviously apart from the preverbial sandbagging slander, which is just plain old noncence.

 

[Manning26]

All you guys need are roughly 70 more divisions.

Liz said it this thread, and I've seen others say it elsewhere, if these teams aren't actually breaking any rules, then they aren't sandbaggers. It seems pretty simple to me.

If they are, then report them. If you think the current rules should be changed, then get them changed. If you're team isn't very good and you're looking for an excuse, then get your facts straight, or don't play in the big leagues.

I'm not trying to, or even wanting to slam anyone here, but come on people, get your facts straight. Don't sit around whining, do something constructive.

 

[Mike (Exodus)]

My take on the Novice thing

Yes there were teams in there that shouldn't have been. In a perfect world the Novice division would be won every year by a team most people haven't even heard of. This is what happened at the weekend and I have nothing but respect for Zone who deserved it 100%.

To everybody that played Novice that shouldn't of done - You know who you are so do most of us. Was it worth it? All you have proved is you can't beat guys who've just started out

 

[mikeyR]

US team Wicked have been mentioned in this thread a couple of times. I watched them play four games on Friday afternoon, winning all four including beating Storm Pro. I heard some of their opponents saying that they should of been Am A, not Am B. Yes they were something else when it comes to playing but its not their fault what divsion they are in, its the different rankings used by NPPL/Millenium.

Nppl - Millenium:

Pro - Pro
Amateur - Amateur A
Novice - Amatuer B
Rookie - Novice

As you can see they were playing in their respective divsion, it was just a different name. Until this is resolved, players/teams could always be wrongly accused of sandbagging, when they play trans atlantic tournaments.

If any of the Wicked guys read this, thanks for posing for a team photo, my son was well pleased and we both thought you were one of the most exciting teams we saw all day, including most Pros!

 

[brian]

Sandbaggers???

Originally posted by Andy - Quest
Jon Haley

Why would Draxxus VIP qualify for that award.

They are a Team entered by Draxxus in a couple of the Millennium Events made up of customers, to thank them for their custom. No two team is ever the same and mostly made up of different nationalities and 9 times out of 10 they dont even know each other until shortly before their first game.

Why place them in AM B to get slaughthed, remember we play this sport for fun.

Im sure they dont fly people in from Finland, Sweeden, Norway, Iceland, France, Germany and every other european country who has played for them to train and play in tourneys every month like most Am B teams do.

Personally I beleive they deserve to be where they are.

There inexperience showed as a team during the semi finals when they got mullered in all three games.

I take Jon you must be on a team that didnt do to well against them.

.........................We played you guys(Red Heat)and it was a top game.......plus we mowed you!!!!!lmao

 

[kidzero]

MAK! on my first tourney there were said to play teams with splatmasters and pumps...when i went there with a brandnew spyder i thought we would kick ass in loads as we had one cocker in the team. when we came there, what did we see? cockers and even a shocker(they were brandnew and top of the edge that time) and promags all over the place. and still...when i go to tourneys in germany(nearly 3rd world paintball in some regions) all i see is teams that play for a couple of month in the most shiny and blinkiest gear you dream of. people over here tend to start out with alien timmys and cobra IR3's. so no way can the equipment make the division, na mean?

btw, did you miss me at our little race? well...i have some problems over here(money...) so i couldnt make it this time.
greetz
lars