Center50 Weekly

It's just my opinion....but it's right: Rant 4: WWF to WTF

2011-02-20T20:01:00.003-08:00

It's just my opinion....but it's right: Rant 4: WWF to WTF: "I loves me some wrasslin'. 1997. Wrestlemania 13. Canadian legend Bret 'the Hitman' Hart has 'The Texas Rattlesnake' Stone Cold Steve Aust..."

It's just my opinion....but it's right: Rant 3: The Good, The Bad, and The Indie

2011-02-20T20:01:00.002-08:00

It's just my opinion....but it's right: Rant 3: The Good, The Bad, and The Indie: "I loves me some Canadian music. Be it the hardcore awesome of Fucked Up and Cancer Bats, the wicked lyrics of Shad and Rascalz, or the cor..."

It's just my opinion....but it's right: Rant 2: Careful what you wish for. You might get a...

2011-02-20T20:01:00.001-08:00

It's just my opinion....but it's right: Rant 2: Careful what you wish for. You might get a...: "I loves me some television. Not so much anymore. After 2004 people became obsessed with reality TV. Now we're willing to watch everyday pe..."

It's just my opinion....but it's right: Rant 1: Eminem factor

2011-02-20T20:01:00.000-08:00

It's just my opinion....but it's right: Rant 1: Eminem factor: "I loves me some hip hop. Public Enemy, Wu Tang Clan, Beastie Boys, Ice Cube, Cypress Hill, Eric B and Rakim, Kanye West, Common, Nas, Noto..."

NPPL Schedule released

2010-12-26T23:42:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a Happy Holiday and a Safe and Happy New Year!

My gift to you is the 2011 calendar dates for the NPPL Super 7 World Series. This is your official invitation to play and participate in the greatest paintball events on earth.

Event 1 Surf City USA Open
Huntington Beach, CA. April 1st - 3rd.
Event 2 Mid West Open
Chicago, IL May 20th-22nd
Event 3 Capital City
Washington D.C. September 16th - 18th
Event 4 Paintball World Championship
Las Vegas, NV November 11th- 13th

Will your team be the next NPPL Series Champion?
PS Rumor has it the large gap between event 2 and 3 may be due to an unnanounced event. Possibly a made for tv pro-only event. Neat!

Jennifer Ulich Cute girl, good baller.

2010-11-17T13:21:00.000-08:00

Plays at the college level, NCPA, for the TCU Horned Frogs.

Russian Legion in the news

2010-11-17T11:35:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been gone so long :( I really just lost motivation to do this for a while, but I'm back.

Here's a good segment on Russian Legion in the news overseas in Russia Today. Apparently RT is huge over in russia and eastern europe, so thats great publicity. Great coverage of the sport to newcomers. Gongrats to them on their win at World Cup in Florida. Plus the newscaster's voice is amazing. Enjoy.

Story: "Paintball has become a regular outdoor activity over the past few years, here in Russia. But in some cases it is a real sport, and not merely a walk in the woods.

Every boy's dream of playing soldiers and shooting enemies for fun -- without serious consequences -- of course, has come true in the form of "paintball".

The discipline involves teams competing with each other to shoot their opponents. They use a gun-like device called a marker, which has pellets containing paint.

There are different kinds of paintball, but as a sport, paintball was first played at the beginning of the 1980s in the US.

"For me it's a mixture of everything -- hobby, sport and fun. More games, more paintballs, means more fun. It's an extremely interesting pastime. However I started with it as a sport, and that kind of paintball is more professional than just for fun," Vasily Panteleev, Russian Legion paintball team member, said.

It is not surprising the Americans became the trend-setters with a big industry and the best league -- almost like the NBA -- for paintball players.

And all the sport's fans gear up, once a year, for what has become the greatest and most anticipated paintball event -- The PSP World Cup in Orlando.

Teams from all over the world come to outshine their rivals and prove that they belong at the top.
Most of them are from North America as the level of their performance is much higher, except for one team -- the Russian Legion.

This is a professional paintball team from Moscow that set themselves the aim of becoming World Number One back in 1996, and were crowned World Champions for the third time this year.

The Russians continued to make history by thrashing all their opponents. As a result, in the final it was a paint massacre, with the Russian Legion side winning it seven-nothing.

"The truth is that the best league with the best players is in the US where paintball is very popular. We are delighted to beat them all on their home ground but, of course, we would like to have a strong league here in Russia. And I hope the sport will grow to be popular and lots of youngsters will get involved," Maksim Preobrazhensky, Russian Legion head coach, said.

And, if the Russian Legion team continue their winning ways, they could well achieve their aims of making paintball even more popular here in their native land."

Cassidy's PSP World cup mix #1

2010-10-31T07:40:00.000-07:00

Phresh new mix of the PSP World Cup, by Cassidy of HKArmy / PBfashion.com, Check 'em!

NPPL Featured on G4's Attack of the Show TONGIHT

2010-10-27T14:30:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, at NPPL Las Vegas, many took note of the G4 Camera's and mics seen around the main field... and even more took note of Sara Underwood (*suggestive grunt*). Well, it appears to be just as many had suspected, G4tv's "Attack of the Show" will be airing a segment on the event, featuring game footage and interviews with the proffessional players. Rumored to be included are Sacremento XSV captain Rich "Franchise" Telford, and DC Arsenal player Oliver Lang.

Show airs at 7:00pm Eastern on G4TV! Be there! And if you cant... TIVO it!

Sara Underhill

Oliver Lang Rich Telford

Taking paintball to the top

2010-10-22T15:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry its been so long folks, besides falling behind in pretty well all of my courses, I also was away in the far away land of Toronto, sans laptop.

So anyways, back to the question of how we get paintball back to where it once was, closer to the mainstream.
Well, how about I do this in list form, as to not confuse my simple mind, and keep things nice and neat and tidy for all y'all.

Part One (in no particular order)

Unification- Two major leagues, two completely different formats, and two companies competing for an very small market. We need one national stage. Even if they end up hosting both formats under one venue. It can be done. Of course nether Paintball Sports Promotions and the RaceTo format or the National Professional Paintball League and the 7man format will budge. I guess it'll take another bankruptcy for someone to give. Hopefully this time the survivor will capitalize on it and buy out the other league (obviously not that simple, but still...). Imagine if we took the best events of both the leagues? We could have an opening event ON Huntington Beach, a solid but less attended middle section with events in Chicago, DC and if we feel like expanding back to 5 events, go back to Charlotte before World Cup in south Florida. AWESOME schedule!

Layout- You wouldn't think this would be that big of a deal, but let me tell you, if we want to attract newcomers to the game, the field design is going to be a HUGE deal.Good layouts promote action much more than any points format or game-clock ever will. Did anyone catch the PSP's MAO 09 webcast? What a snoozefest... Compare that to PSP's World Cup 09. Totally different viewing experience, from the exact same league and the exact same videographers. In my opinion a layout should allow for quick, sneaky bumps up the field - Less chance of being seen, and a smaller window of opportunity for the opponents guns to catch you. Players will be willing to move rather than sitting and shooting a skid of paint per game. People, especially newcomers, love the sneaky aspect of woodsball. Why did we have to lose that as we transitioned to high speed tournament ball? One of the most viewed paintball videos of all time was a play that was based on a quick sneaky move that caught everyone off guard.
Big bunkers, small gaps, easy viewing from the side. Make it happen leagues.

Atmosphere- Seriously, Where tha party at? I love to see leagues bringing festivities back to their tournaments, and it should continue. Hell, bring non-paintballers into it too. Get word out on the street that theres gonna be a massive party, with cheap booze, hot models and a DJ.. and hey, theres gonna be some paintball beforehand if you wanna check it out. It's not even very expensive. We already have models at the vendors' stands. Working out a deal with a local club should be pretty near free, as it offers an ASSLOAD of extra business. Getting people excited about every event should be top priority- Bring local ballers out to the national stage more than once in a lifetime. Make it worth coming back.

More to come folks, but for now, I leave you with a gift:
Keely Watson is hot as hell! Get some!

Coming up: How Can Paintball Make it Big?

2010-10-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

I've decided for my first opinion piece, I'd tackle one of the most talked about topics in tournament paintball: How do we make it big? With absoloutly no credentials, and a comparitively small amount of experience in paintball, I will be writing an entire series of articles completely based on my opinion.
Paintball had a high point between '05 and '07, followed by an equally impressive drop off, set off mainly by the recession. Now that we are coming out of the woodworks of our economic crisis, how do we bring players back to a game that costs so much, and offers so very little in return?
Make the game FOR THE PLAYERS. Not for TV (which has failed miserably so far to bring in any outside attention), not for making money, and not to be a prime time sport. If that is ever going to happen, it will happen on its own, not by forcing it.
We need paintball players filling the grandstands before we can get "paintball fans" taking those seats, or watching from home.
The answer to gaining more fans is simple- gain more players. Easier said than done, I know, but I know if we work together and do whats for the greater good we can make it back to where we were, and beyond.

And now, a great NPPL Vegas mix by Cassidy of HKArmy.com / PBFashion.com
Completely switching gears from my last video post.

DQ Films: End.

2010-10-14T04:22:00.000-07:00

End from DQ on Vimeo.

One of the best paintball mixes I've seen in a long while. Check it out. Really hits home.

Photographer spotlight: William Liu Photography @ Vegas

2010-10-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

One of the first guys to post up their photos, and some amazing action shots at that! Thanks for the great work WLP! If you'd like to see more check out the site @ williamliuphotography.com. Also if you're in California (Davis, to be exact) and need professional photos for any occasion, give the man a call!

Congrats NPPL Vegas Winners!

2010-10-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Tampa Bay Damage for their NPPL Las Vegas win, and NPPL 2010 series win. Damage pulled through for their 3rd consecutive NPPL event win; a particularly important win, with the top 4 teams seperated by only 2 series points! LA Infamous,San Diego Dynasty, Tampa Bay Damage,and Edmonton Impact all could have taken the championship with the event win. Oakland Blast and St.Louis Avalanche were also in the chase for the series championship.Congratulations to all the winners!

Event Standings: PRO
1st: Tampa Bay Damage
2nd: Oakland Blast
3rd: Edmonton Impact
4th: St. Louis Avalanche

D1
1st:: Off in the Woods
2nd: Naughty Dogs Silver
3rd: Rockstar Factory
4th: HK Army

D2
1st:: Paradox
2nd: Capital Edge Hustlers
3rd: Impact Echo
4th: Critical Wrecking Crew

D3
1st:: Noobies
2nd: Warped Kids
3rd: Lotus
4th: Tsunami

Welcome!

2010-10-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

This blog will cover everything related to paintball- News, events, opinions, and more!- all from the perspective of yours truly, an everyday paintball player, with plenty of opinion of the goings on in tournament paintball. Every week (give or take) I will be posting my thoughts, for all you greatful (give or take) readers to enjoy. Be talking to you soon!

Also congratulations to TAMPA BAY DAMAGE for their win at NPPL's Las Vegas World Paintball Championships, and thank you to NPPL's webcast crew who put on a hell of a show!