Style v Functionality

[Phoenix]

Alright, I have been playing paintball since 1996. Not a tremendous amount compared to the geezers like Robbo, but I have decent amount of time under my Redz belt. Well, I have come to several conclusions in my years of paintballing. Our sport is all about style. We watch in awe as LaSoya makes a phenomenal run, we gather at the flashiest-anodized-electro-obscenely expensive-marker that is released, we all have jersies that scream "I AM A BADA$$!!", and we relish in the welts we give/receive. Granted,we all could have matte black markers, one team could wear blue and the other red, and we could still get the same performance... BUT WHAT THE FUN IS THAT?!! Give me my KAPP Flame Matrix, my Raven Freeze Jersey, my JT Spectra Proteous goggles, and my Avalanche sponsored Vans. I want to ease onto the field and exclude the aura of business. I want people to turn their heads, blink twice, and then stare. Everything goes to slow motion as I drop my mask onto my face and the doves fly past me. OK, maybe that is a bit too John Woo, but you get the point. Yeah, there are going to be the nay sayers out there, the traditionalists (there is nothing wrong with that), but man I will laugh if I ever see anyone in a Gilly Suit. So, give me my jersies and flash, I will leave my BDUs back in my closet. See you all stylers on the field.

 

[MidgetFista]

Totally with ya there buddy.

Alot of this sport is indimitaion. If u can indimidate the opponeuts with your uber cool style and equipment, alot of players will start doubting their own kit, OR even worse, they will start to convince themselves that they *WILL* lose, due to you having all the lastest equipment and markers.

1/2 the battle is before the actual match!

Althougth, I wouldn't wear those vans if my life depended on it, they real ugly fool!



Midge!

 

[Robbo]

Originally posted by Phoenix
Alright, I have been playing paintball since 1996. Not a tremendous amount compared to the geezers like Robbo, but I have decent amount of time under my Redz belt. Well, I have come to several conclusions in my years of paintballing. Our sport is all about style. We watch in awe as LaSoya makes a phenomenal run, we gather at the flashiest-anodized-electro-obscenely expensive-marker that is released, we all have jersies that scream "I AM A BADA$$!!", and we relish in the welts we give/receive. Granted,we all could have matte black markers, one team could wear blue and the other red, and we could still get the same performance... BUT WHAT THE FUN IS THAT?!! Give me my KAPP Flame Matrix, my Raven Freeze Jersey, my JT Spectra Proteous goggles, and my Avalanche sponsored Vans. I want to ease onto the field and exclude the aura of business. I want people to turn their heads, blink twice, and then stare. Everything goes to slow motion as I drop my mask onto my face and the doves fly past me. OK, maybe that is a bit too John Woo, but you get the point. Yeah, there are going to be the nay sayers out there, the traditionalists (there is nothing wrong with that), but man I will laugh if I ever see anyone in a Gilly Suit. So, give me my jersies and flash, I will leave my BDUs back in my closet. See you all stylers on the field.

Dammit Phoenix, a Yank who can not only write well but comes up with a subject that is original and interesting.......you have unsettled me
But to answer your question, for what my opinion is worth anyway, since everybody knows I am both the master of style and the field......oh yeah and full of sh#t, I nearly forgot my most important attribute.
I love the idea of people 'stylising' their game, it can infer upon them a degree of respect from others that perhaps their playing ability might not attract.
Might as well look good at least if you are gonna get your ass handed to you on a plate and if you do manage to win, no better way to do it than draped in 'Extreme' attire rainbowing your way down the field
And to that end, what the hell do you think I been doing all these years ?
Looking good and shooting fools, that's what I been doing
Well ok, till the alarm goes off that is !
Laterz
Robbo
PS Phoenix, good post man, got any articles up your sleeve you wanna send in ?

 

[scribble]

its a good question...

My answer is....

well personally i go out onto the field usually very hung over or very deprived of sleep and more than usually a combination of the two...so for starters i probably dont look that great...i bought the team "Ignite" some trousers which they refused to wear point blank and i now continue to wear...thats probably why people keep walking up to me and asking me if i work for the local plumbers or electrician company or if i have raided my grandads closet but heh they fit and I dont think they are too bad plus they are streamlined...Top are all the same and masks are a hotch potch of colours but all Jt. As a team we probably look quite intimidating shame we dont play like that...LOL the rest of the team stay up most nights cleaning their guns and making sure everything is clean and sparkly...i dont.
sos just to recap-i look like crap and play like crap(most of the time....)
sometimes myself and the team can get it together and look good,play well and remain modest...
How you look isnt the be all and end all.the psych is important and sometimes it can and does win games but at the end of the day both teams start equal as in five on five and then the play divides them. Just cos someone looks cool doesnt mean they will play well everytime or even at all,it also doesnt mean paint doesnt bounce off them every time...the individual is the final portrayer of how they play not the marker or how they look...also the team is important.
A psych reversal is possible if a team goes onto the field hung over looking like crap,dirty markers etc.there opposition thinks this will be easy (To their peril-shame on them) and then get their asses painted technicolour because they were luuled into a false sense of security...
u see my point???

take it easy peeps,

Scribble

Ps Robbo you looking for articles...

 

[Tyger]

See, I'm the other way around, sorta. Barring my ears and tail, I like subtle guns.

You know what I want? I wan to get a '93 cocker body, as stock as I can get it. Then beat the hell out of it so it's bodywork is chipped, scratched, and so on. Then I want to hop it up. Shocktech bolt, rat valve, everything. All under the hood, ya see. Then cover the regulator and 3 way with a shroud. Then take a stock WGP barrel, and slide a Palmer or J&J brass job in there.

Why? Because I love sleeper guns. The guys who spend $1000 on a splash job scoff at any guns not as pretty as the one they have. I like them to. They get cocky, they get full of themselves, tehy get to wear whatever paint I'm shooting. And I love that.

Function follows form in paintball. I prefer it the other way 'round. And I don't own a shaggy camo suit neither.

-Tyger

 

[Buddha 3]

To continue on the psyche bit, I have to add this. Looking good means something different for every person. Although there is ofcourse the general consensus thing, which defines the general attitude of 'this looks good, and that doesn't'.
For a lot of people looking good is important, because it makes them feel good. And that is the most important aspect of looking the bee's knees! Not intimidating the other guy, although that's a welcome side effect. If you feel you look sharp, you'll feel better about yourself. Feeling good about yourself makes it far easier to focus on the job at hand, because you get less distractions. Simple really.
Look at the top American Football players. They can have the crap kicked out of them, but the first thing they do after taking a hit, is pull their socks up straight!

Oh yeah, better believe I look good when I enter the field! Ask one of my teammates about the girls that were hanging out at some site we were playing, and they just kept hanging around us because they felt like we were putting up a fashion show...

 

[TJ Lambini]

Let's face it

No-one looks as cool as that black dude with the custom Arnie-sniper TS-1 and body armour in Joe Schmoe a coupla PGIs' back.

Next to that cat, we're all amateurs...

peace

 

[Diggie]

Amen TJ. He'd put Denzel to shame.

And Buddha3, the reason why they felt we were putting up a fashion show was because they knew cack about paintball and the only thing they had ever seen was cammies and Tippmanns wrapped in strips of olive drab cloth.

 

[Buddha 3]

Yeah, but we DID look good! Like we always do.

 

[Diggie]

Big up to that, brotha.