The *REAL* reason paintball will never be an extreme sport

[Tyger]

ESPN is airing "Bike Stunt Virt" right now. And I've been thinking about this for a while, but this aced it. You wanna know why paintball will never be a widely accepted "XTREME" sport?

We don't have cool moves with cool names.

Let's look at skate / snowboarding. They have TONS of cool names and cool moves. I snowboard, the best stunt I know is a stalefish to melon grind. (grab the heel edge of the board in the air behind your back foot, then I landed on my head. Thank gods I bought a helmet...) But you've got airs like the "Rocket Air", "Madonna", "Stalefish", "Fresh Fish", "Indi", "Method", "McTwist" and my favorite snowboard air the "Flying Squirrel Air". And I'm not even talking about grinds (50-50, 5-0, boardslide, darkslide, lipslide...)

Speaking of grinds, inline skating has GRINDS with names. The "soul" grind, the "kind" grind being two of 'em. They also have air trick like the "Lu Kang", "Viking Flip", and so on.

Paintball has no cool names for moves. Hell, we barely have any moves to brag about. "Bunkering" being about the only one, and even then it's not an intresting name. "Mugged" or "Bunkered" is ok, but it doens't have that punch of a good nickname.

It's for this reason that paintball won't be an extreme sport. We don't have moves named after food products. ("Fakie Stalefish to Roast Beef on Rye with a side of mustard!")

-Tyger

((And, for the humor impared... ))

 

[goose]

also....

I'm not one of the humour impaired, but to get serious for a sec. I don't think paintball is an X-sport at all.

The general idea of an x-treme sport is something dangerous/foolish/downright frightening. Also if you look at the X-games, I think it is safe to say that in any of the x-game sports YOU COULD END UP DEAD!!

Think about that the next time we are comparing welts and trying to call paintball an extreme sport.

goose

P.S. You don't see too many overweight, outta shape 40-50 year olds in the x-games like you do at some pball tournaments (yes both Millennium and NPPL)

P.P.S. Maybe we could name some of our moves after some of the players, like the Bob Long "Long Shot" or the "Lasoya Sprint"

 

[Tyger]

I've always seen "Extreme" sports in the truest definition of the word "extreme".

But, then again, I was introduced to extreme skiing by BJ, who told me the mantra "You fall, you die." By the way, BJ injured himself, skiing, by slamming into a boundary rope at speed and ripped nerves loose from his backbone.

This is why I'm hesitant to think of paintball as extreme. No chance of injury beyond a strain or a welt.

I had another thought I wanted to add, the only real nicknames we got are for the BUNKERS, not the MOVES.

And I think it should be the "LaSoya Sashay".

-Tyger

 

[crashdeamon]

seroiusly paintball needs to stop trying to be an extreme sport cuz its never gonna happen there is nothing extreme about it. sure paintball is one great freaking game theat is fun as all hell. but to call it the next extreme sport is moronic. we neeed to look at a different pitch for this sport we all play.and for god sakes lets not bring military terms into paintball cuz then those ufking christian fundamentalists will make our sport out to be work of the devil


Just my rant

 

[rancid]

What's wrong with lumping it in with xtreme sports? It's a term kids are used to; it's generally taken to be 'cool'; kids are attracted to cool - more people playing. Am I not following the argument here? 'sides, what else could you link it up to? The most obvious comparison from anti-joe-public is 'shooting', and we know what that spells - well at least for Brits.

As far as not using military terms, Crash, what about the Iron man motto. Crikey, can't get more military than that.

X-treme means nearly ending up dead? When I started playing we used to face the Nam and Nightmares every week. I'm telling you, if you beat them, you nearly ended up dead! Those were the days.

 

[JanSolo]

Paintball is JUST as dangerous as X-Sports.

When was the last time you saw anyone die at the X-games? I never have.

The worst injuries are usually broken legs, twisted ankles or dislocated joints.

Now lets see... what are the most common paintball related injuries... Well bugger me if they're not the same as the above!

We've all seen at least one of the above in paintball (Anyone at mayhem will recall Chris Cole vs Snake...).

The fact is that while paintball is probably less likely to actually KILL you, it's just as dangerous as any of the other 'real' extreme sports.

Plus, we get to fire big shiny guns at each other.

Heh.

Jan.

 

[Buddha 3]

I don't like the name extreme sport anyway. If you use the above guidelines to define extreme, something 'mundane', like American Football would be extreme too. The only reason sports are called extreme, is because they are done by a relatively low number of people, and they look a bit scary.
You know what would qualify as an extreme sport too? marshalling..........

 

[Tyger]

Death and extreme sports

Let's look at injuries for sports.

Football. Lots of injuries. American and euro footy have slamming injuries, broken parts, and lots of abrasions.

Baseball. Today in the highlight reel was a pitcher who was hit IN THE FACE by a line drive, and is now sporting 13 stitches. And, agian, lots of abrasions, cuts, and the occasional wall slam.

Paintball. a welt or two. Occasionally some yabo slams into a tree. That's it.

Skateboarding has a lot of injury potential. So does skiing, inlining, snowboarding, and other sports. Why? Because you're doing something "cool" in the air. IN THE AIR. Falling doesn't injure you, it's that sudden stop at the end. Paintball just doens't have airs. We can't. It's not allowed in the rules. Look 'em up, MOST rules won't let you go flying over a bunker.

Most. I'm not current to NPPL, but I know they don't allow slamming. (USPL does, and that Brimstone player I sent into orbit will agree...) Nothing extreme about playing twitch. Nothing extreme about shooting a guy. Nothing extreme there.

What do I compare it to? Watch a Warren Miller film, and pay attention when they go to Whistler Blacomb or out on a glacier in Alaska. You make a mistake, you die. THAT'S extreme.

-Tyger

 

[-Pikachu-]

would paintball be classed as extreme without the safety equipment then, e.g mask? But then again that would just be plain dumb...

 

[Buddha 3]

Another thing: most of these extreme sports appeal to a certain type of person. Skateboarders all dress the same(ish), mostly listen to the same type of music, and so on. This applies to other extreme sports quite often as well. (Hell, skateboarders and snowboarders are almost interchangable) Paintball is a game that is played by so many diverse people, that it is difficult to point at the strereotype paintballer. Most of us look the same on the field, but that's because 'paintballfashion' is limited. There's only so many companies that produce jerseys, and then most jerseys are the same model anyway (V-neck, breathy nylon material, you know the deal) But get us off the field, and you will have a hard time identifying a paintballer (unless it's at a tourney, because we'd all be wearing our sponsor's leasure gear, I'm talking away from the gaming fields here....)
A sport that is practiced by people from all walks of life, instead of a specific demographic group, is hardly extreme, because Joe Avarage is not extreme! For the same reason sports like Yanky football are not considered extreme, they are practiced by all layers of society, even though the chance of getting injured is pretty well present.
The most extreme thing we do is shoot a soft goo filled ball at each other (sometimes at close range, but that's as extreme as it gets).
Picture this: you get two teams of 11 guys on a field, they line up in front of each other in several rows. Up front there's a row of 4 guys facing a row of 5 guys, separated by about a yard of neutral terrain. You are on eof those 4. At a signal you storm forward, and try to get passed the 5 guys in front of you, because you want to get to some guy carrying the ball. However those 5 guys (who are rather big) will not let you go unpunished. They punch you, if given a chance. you get your fingers caught between helmets, 300lbs guys step on your toes, with cleats on! Finally, after doing some headbutting, you get past them. You see a powerfully built guy holding a ball, running straight at you. And he's running fast! I'm talking haul ass here! what do you do? Step aside, because you don't want to get hurt? Hell no! You run straight at him because you want to knock his @ss in the turf. So you slam your head against his, wrap your arms around him, and the momentum of the both of you throws you to the ground. You fall on top of him, but you get one of his knees in your ribs!
Sounds extreme? It isn't. It's a mundane game of American Football. We play an old people's game really......