Quote:
Originally Posted by sliver1489
hahahahaha
paintball is a sport that is played as a hobby and can also count as a profession for very few, but warhammer is definitely not a sport, neither is magic the gathering or warcraft, hate to break it to you lol
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Obviously, but you are missing the point. I am not on these forums arguing whether or not paintball IS or ISN'T a sport. I am also not suggesting it be lumped in with Warhammer 40k and Dungeons and Dragons and Chess and Bingo, etc.
I am merely pointing out that we talk about community and professionalism as though this were a major sport. It isn't. When you talk about the pathing of a baseball star, hockey star, football star, or basketball star, almost everyone has the same concept as how you go from "little guy" to "professional". In football, you start out playing pee wee Football, start playing in School, continue on to College, and from there either get drafted or don't. It is a very simple road that some will choose to travel down. Same thing with Basketball, except sometimes you don't have to go to College if you are that good.
There is a general age range, ability set, path in place, and other factors that are common to your "rise to the top". Less traditional sports don't have these things in place, and paintball sure as heck is really lacking any sort of "system". I am not suggesting it have a system, I think honestly paintball is played the way it is meant to be played for 99.9% of the people out there. Casually, for fun, either in the woods or on a speedball field, and tournaments should be designed with that in mind. I know folks like TBO admonish the captains of the NEPL for not allowing PROs in, and so do I IF there goal is to be a competitive road to PRO STATUS. However, if that is not most people's goal, then it makes sense for 99.9% of paintball to exclude that .1% who want to do it differently.
If I sign up for a tennis league at my local park, Roger Federer doesn't get to play just because he's bored and needs something to do. Abby Wambach (women's professional soccer and also a friend of my wife's) played High School Soccer but was so good she pretty much only focused on travelling teams. Did it suck she had to miss out on High School? Yes. But she was willing to do that to be the best.
Winner's self-select. Benny Carrol self-selected. Blake Rice self-selected. Matt Darula and Tom Buckley and Billy B. self-selected. I am positive not one of them would say "but I wish I could play NEPLs too!" with any real conviction. You have to sacrifice to get to the top.
I think that is honestly what held Roger back. He talks a big game here on the net, but when I was around him (you Roger, I won't talk like you aren't here) it always felt like he was looking for the next ship to jump on. Yeah, if you jump ship enough you'll eventually become a captain, but with what crew?
Paintball either needs a system in place or it doesn't. Frankly I don't care so long as people enjoy what they do and find the right place to do it in. Hold strong, the economy is getting better, this sport will work the kinks out, and soon we'll have a bevy of little AGGLETS running around biting at Nick DeFranzo's ankles. Then I'll quit.
