Okay, so we know that sideline coaching and signalling is what makes X-ball fun for the crowds. My mind flashes back to the Sweden - Denmark game in Amsterdam, where someone, not saying any names (Ed), did a perfect imitation of the horn that's supposed to start the games. After the game one of the Lundquist boys came over to him to cuss him out, but he was shoo'd off by the audience. The funny thing is that the only team to get into trouble because of it (twice!) was Denmark, and they all seemed to think it was a hoot! Particularly Soren, of Ducklings fame, made a point of coming over to the guy and complimenting him on how good an impression of the horn it was, and that he thought it was hilarious.
Okay, so we've established that crowd participation in X-ball is fun. And I personally think that without it X-ball has about as much chance of drawing crowds as a picture of Robbo at a lesbian's conference.
Yet in regular paintball, sideline coaching is still VERY MUCH against the rules. Teams have been warned, and indeed have had players removed in the past, just because the spectators may have said one or two things.
Now what I would like to know is why do some teams actually bring someone with them to engage in this nefarious activity? Why does a team "employ" a guy to point out the opposition? Why does a team choose to come up with a list of handsignals to be able to communicate with a person on the sidelines? In order to be able to work with these signals, these people must have trained on it as well. In other words, they have actively trained on cheating! To me a team like this is not above wiping, playing on, and kicking puppy dogs.
Don't think this is just some random rant that I just felt like spewing forth, it's something that's happening now, and not per se in the pros!
So let's hear what you guys have to say about sideline coaching in regular format paintball. Good or bad?
Okay, so we've established that crowd participation in X-ball is fun. And I personally think that without it X-ball has about as much chance of drawing crowds as a picture of Robbo at a lesbian's conference.
Yet in regular paintball, sideline coaching is still VERY MUCH against the rules. Teams have been warned, and indeed have had players removed in the past, just because the spectators may have said one or two things.
Now what I would like to know is why do some teams actually bring someone with them to engage in this nefarious activity? Why does a team "employ" a guy to point out the opposition? Why does a team choose to come up with a list of handsignals to be able to communicate with a person on the sidelines? In order to be able to work with these signals, these people must have trained on it as well. In other words, they have actively trained on cheating! To me a team like this is not above wiping, playing on, and kicking puppy dogs.
Don't think this is just some random rant that I just felt like spewing forth, it's something that's happening now, and not per se in the pros!
So let's hear what you guys have to say about sideline coaching in regular format paintball. Good or bad?
