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So how was tha event itself?

cjohns

Platinum Member
Aug 16, 2001
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As the mad cow said, the true story will come out in the mag in the near distant future. I have one big gripe myself. I know everyone always complains about the refs, no matter if it was good or bad due to biased opinions. But the refs on two fields (I won't name them yet) were ridiculously 1 for 1 happy and it cost a LOT of teams games that would have different outcomes. I spoke to many teams who were not happy with these refs. I mean hell. The Turtles got 4 for 1'd because 3 different refs pulled a guy when only 1 was supposed to be pulled and even that was questionable. I just fell the results might have been different if this had not have taken place. The fields were good, the atmosphere was awesome, the food was typical, and the competition was great. Many Pro's got ripped by their AM and Novice teams and it just goes to show that anyone can beat anyone at any time. More to follow in the pages of PGI including an interview with B Real who I have to say is a cool mofo.:D
 

shamu

Tonight we dine in hell
Apr 17, 2002
835
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Now-Cal
Just got back...

Well, I'm (finally) back from Vegas, so here's my impressions of the event...

- Site layout was once again excellent. The central players area made it easy for players to keep their stuff safe, get to fields, air, etc. It was nice to have all the major stuff (netting, fields, etc) done on Wednesday for teams to start walking fields.
- Spectators - there weren't as many as HB, but I didn't expect there to be. Still, it seemed like there was a pretty good non-paintball turnout on Saturday and Sunday.
- Announcing - I didn't pay attention to much of it, as I was busy reffing. What I did hear was good - announcing teams and games on different fields (dynasty v. legion on the raven field, etc), calling teams to fields, etc. I knew it was Wilrocs on the mic when I heard "tricknology" :p
- Field layout still seems to favor smaller, more aggressive players but not to the same degree as HB. There were actual standup cans on some of the back lines. The Angel field (which I've never liked - Sorry Bart) wasn't too bad. It wasn't as much of a stalemate field as before and once teams figured out how to play it.
- Reffing - Since I was reffing, I can really only talk about the field I was on (Angel field). I think we did pretty good overall. We had some screwups, but I don't think it was anything that changed the outcome of a game. I heard lots of talk about the judging on another field being substandard.
- Other stuff - It's always nice to meet people from the boards at these events, like Baca, Fotoguy and Paintballma.
 
Originally posted by cjohns
As the mad cow said, the true story will come out in the mag in the near distant future. I have one big gripe myself. I know everyone always complains about the refs, no matter if it was good or bad due to biased opinions. But the refs on two fields (I won't name them yet) were ridiculously 1 for 1 happy and it cost a LOT of teams games that would have different outcomes. I spoke to many teams who were not happy with these refs. I mean hell. The Turtles got 4 for 1'd because 3 different refs pulled a guy when only 1 was supposed to be pulled and even that was questionable. I just fell the results might have been different if this had not have taken place.

Hmmm.

We had Turtles on our field (Raven) - and they got 2 1 for 1.
So if this is the one you are talking about this is what happened.
The player up in the Tipi got hit and kept playing on. - 1 for 1
The ref ran to the closest player, but he started running too and got hit before we took his armband so he (the ref) ran to the third player and took his armband. The centerback got hit and startet arguing and swearing on the field and that is also a 1 for 1.

I hope this clear it up.

Steinar Tuft

Headmarshall on the Raven field
 

cjohns

Platinum Member
Aug 16, 2001
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Griffin, GA, USA
Fair enough. There are always 2 sides to the story. But can you explain the crushed ball on 1 of my players hands that had no shell broken but paint leaking out where he had put his hand down to wrap around a bunker. He looked up at the ref to get clarification and he 1 for 1'd him??? Was that called for? All I was saying, is there were a lot of questionable 1 for 1's and my team caught the bad end of it as well as other teams. I will imagine if you look across other forums, you will see the same response. I have the utmost respect for ref's because of the job you do. It is a tough one and I hate doing it. Overall it was good, just too many 1 for 1's that weren't necessary in my opinion.
 

shamu

Tonight we dine in hell
Apr 17, 2002
835
0
0
Now-Cal
Originally posted by cjohns
Overall it was good, just too many 1 for 1's that weren't necessary in my opinion.
You may be correct but remember, the refs are looking at the game from a different perspective than the players. Also, we were instructed to be strict with the 1 for 1s. I'm not saying there weren't some bad calls or overuse of the 1 for 1 rule, just that's the way we were told to run it.

I had several calls on the Angel field that players didn't agree with. For example, a player got hit doing a superman slide so I pulled him. He demanded to see the hit, which had been rubbed off when he slid. Does he think it was a BS call? Almost definitely (considering he called me a few impolite names). Was it the right call? In my mind, yes.

One thing I've seen a lot on the boards is about cursing. We were given specific instructions before the event and again on Friday - pull anyone who uses the F word (and I don't mean "friend" ;) ). About mid-day Saturday we were told to only pull players if they used it to verbally abuse another player or ref. That's fine, I just wish they were consistent with their instructions to the refs. It makes us refs look bad when they change the interpretation of the rule mid-way through the event.

BTW, I was on the Angel field. Any feedback on how we did?
 

cjohns

Platinum Member
Aug 16, 2001
1,133
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Griffin, GA, USA
I didn't play the Angel field so I can't judge you guys, but most of the complaints that I heard of were the Raven and NPPL field. I know refs have to make split second decisions and I understand how hard it is, but from a player and a journalists point of view, I just had to say that the 1 for 1's were excessive and some definitely not called for. I knew Chuck's rules were stringent, but you have to use some common sense on some calls. I am going to leave it at that. It is over and done with.;)
 

Baca Loco

Ex-Fun Police
Originally posted by shamu
1---You may be correct but remember, the refs are looking at the game from a different perspective than the players. Also, we were instructed to be strict with the 1 for 1s. I'm not saying there weren't some bad calls or overuse of the 1 for 1 rule, just that's the way we were told to run it.

2---I had several calls on the Angel field that players didn't agree with. For example, a player got hit doing a superman slide so I pulled him. He demanded to see the hit, which had been rubbed off when he slid. Does he think it was a BS call? Almost definitely (considering he called me a few impolite names). Was it the right call? In my mind, yes.

3---One thing I've seen a lot on the boards is about cursing. We were given specific instructions before the event and again on Friday - pull anyone who uses the F word (and I don't mean "friend" ;) ). About mid-day Saturday we were told to only pull players if they used it to verbally abuse another player or ref. That's fine, I just wish they were consistent with their instructions to the refs. It makes us refs look bad when they change the interpretation of the rule mid-way through the event.

4---BTW, I was on the Angel field. Any feedback on how we did?
Right. I wasn't going to get into this on the boards but here goes anyway--:rolleyes:
1--didn't begin to happen on other fields. Very inconsistent enforcement. Some fields were even inconsistent from one end to the other in calls that were made. and on the fields where it did happen some of the calls were plainly absurd. Example--player on Raven field gets clipped on outside edge of visor. Looks around (for teammate?) Turns to ref and points to visor. Ref runs over, pulls and pulls next guy. For what? Guy didn't move, didn't try to remove the mark, didn't talk, didn't shoot his gun, nothing.
2--and did you 1-4-1 the guy calling you choice names? If not, why not?
3--didn't matter. most fields weren't enforcing that call anyway. Zap field didn't even enforce physical contact penalty (course the guy doing the contacting was a Joy Division player--)
4-- what I saw was generally okay but Angel field was easiest one to ref, IMHO. Refs were still out of position a lot and a number of times gave away positions of players the opposition didn't know had moved (into lay down A's)

So what's the point?
1) Only institute rules that you can and will consistently enforce 'cos it otherwise undermines the refs authority across the board.
2) With the field layouts NPPL seems to favor 6 refs zoned the way the NPPL is doing it isn't enough to the job right particularly at many of the wire 50's and obvious run thru lanes.

Shamu--was anyone on your field checking markers? We didn't play Angel field but nobody took more than a cursory look at any of our markers during the tourney.