[sublimeswell]

Hey All,

Let's stir up the nostalgia: anybody else miss the mainstream 10-man days, when it was THE format to play, from around 1999 to 2003, when we had fully transitioned to strictly airball and hyperball fields? Man, that was the pinnacle of paintball, if you ask me. The NPPL 7-man was a close second.

This will seem like NXL hate to many, but ever since the PSP came on the scene and exchanged 10-man for the "ADHD" 5-man format we've inherited today, paintball went downhill. Gone are the days of long, drawn out matches with an ebb and flow, where you might be firmly in control for 4 to 5 minutes, and then completely on the defensive for the rest of the match, where maybe one or two of your back guys ended up pulling it off with 30 seconds or less on the 10:00 clock. When those guys hung the flag over your dead box when the majority of your team was sitting there in hopeful desperation, THAT was emotion!

Again, this dates me, for sure, but I feel that we've gone from a game of grand strategy (who remembers having the "cut off" time, when your team HAD to start making its hard pushes downfield after a certain amount of time? Or "hold sides" and "push sides?" Or Team Strange's clinical defensive game, which chewed up Dynasty in several events?), tactics (nothing like the cooperation between a mid/back player and front player to get up the field), and volume (perhaps the only thing that's stayed the same: there is SO MUCH paint in the air in 10-man, and it was crucial if your back players were able to get eliminations in every match; Dynasty had those kinds of back players and that's why they rocked for a while) to a Twitch-optimized, 12-year-old-pleasing game that can only be played if you're young and in tip top shape, lest you break your femur.

I don't know what it is. There just isn't that "epic" feeling in NXL matches, when it's "ride or die," when the whole tournament could be decided by a few eliminations, when each and every match was a unique artifact, and people would tell the stories: "Man, you remember in LA, when Brad Maugham got the long-ball shot on Bob Long in the back center dorito, and won the match?" Stuff like that.

Maybe I'm just older now. But I definitely feel that if today's players had experienced those glory days, they would call that format back. Not as a side show, like the ICPL today, but as the main event?

Anyone else in agreement?

[tweeter4]

Im in pretty firm agreement. I think when 10man and even 7man began to be phased out we saw a stark change in the game. The obsession to become a mainstream sport is what killed alot of that fun to me and many player.

In 10man and 7man you didnt have to have every guy on your team be an elite athlete at the highest level, and bigger/older guys with elite paintball IQ could be just as, or if not, more effective than the ultra athletic guys of the time.

The sports need to be "tv ready" hurt it because this sport in its current style will never be mainstream. I feel it went from that sort of rebellious, aggressive, and "cool" thing of the early 2000s to its now clinical and boring state. Skateboarding survived and then became mainstream because they embraced street skating and the origin roots of their sport.

Paintball needs to embrace those origins as well. Its no secret that funding and involvement from older guys went away with the death of 7man. Imagine the current league with guys like Bart and Randy, the entire 10man and 7man league used to have guys like that on every team not only funding them, but playing on them as well.

It went from a sort of epic and rebellious culture and game to a game that is trying to be built for the mainstream by a bunch of guys with no knowledge on how to do that over the years. It needs to first be fun for the players before it can be fun for the fans. Not many are having fun in the current style.

[sublimeswell]

Nice to hear. Thanks for the reply! I play in the Baltimore/Maryland area, if anyone else wants to link up.

[Christian P]

I believe the Iron City Classic is 10 man woods ball format outside Pittsburgh this August.

[jobtreejobsforsale]

Loved it when it worked, but it was so hard to get 10 people to practice or do anything as a "Team".

[sublimeswell]

Yeah, woodsball isn't really my thing. I think I got into the 10-man scene after woodsball was passing. That's like, even older for me. I'd play it, though!

The Iron City Classic would be awesome! What is the lowest division that you can play there? LOL. I only recently got back into the sport, and am still building up, but I have some residual skills and paintball IQ left over!

[Ol_Skool]

5 man is fast but pretty boring. I prefer watching rec ballers close out a 15 on 15 game over the 5 on 5 repeat games that is the common format of today's tournaments. Crazy thing is, that i prefer to play 7 on 7 or 5 on 5 myself because it feels like there is more control of the game, but 10 on 10 is my all time favorite to watch.

[Torque]

Personally, worry about spectators/fans, at all, is the wrong mentality to have. Paintball became a sport because the people who played it were passionate about it. I played from '94. At one point, I was very excited to see the sport going more mainstream. Then, I saw all of the innovation be bought out, all the small companies that were the heart and soul of the sport disappear, and the player base go from being a mix of all ages to nothing but young kids.

[Mr Pbgunny]

Originally Posted by jobtreejobsforsale

Loved it when it worked, but it was so hard to get 10 people to practice or do anything as a "Team".

Truth spoken here.
Played in a league called MPA (Michigan Paintball Association) from 1992 thru 1996(?).
Also played NAPSA tournaments & finals for a number of years.
Biggest problem was just keeping 10 guys on the field at one time.
Our first game in MPA was because another team was missing over 1/2 the players to finish out the season.
If you finished the season out, you got the original registration fee back at the end of the season.
I remember the last year we played 10 man NAPSA we were in the top 10 teams for that year.
Shortly after that, everything changed to 5 man and short fields.
Easier to get 5 or even 3 together to go play than it ever was for 10.

[Babyjuice419]

10 man is alive! ICPL and ICC all 10man events. Amateur and Pro. Hybrid, hyperpipe, woods, and mounds feilds. check it out! ICPL sunshine classic was this past weekend. I play for Brimstone Smoke and we took 2nd in the pro division after Aftershock

[Mr Idiot Box]

Don’t know how well ICC is going to hold up after two venue changes to one that has issues with parking for Woodsball World Cup with a 1/8 of the 10 man teams. Jerry is going to have his hands full if they all show that’s for sure. Isn’t much for place’s to stay within 45min to an Hr from that field. Better hope the collage don’t have anything going on or you won’t find a place to stay. I’m 20min from it probably just gunna go watch it after fielding two 10 man and one 5 man teams every ICC event. Hope they add some more bunkers in the middle to make it more interesting 90% of the woodsball World Cup games ended in stalemates due to the large gaps. They are going to have to add fields and update that Hyper pipe field if they get the numbers. They got there work cut out for them that’s for sure. PSI isn’t a bad field but I can’t see how they are going to host ICC without limiting teams. It moved 11hrs closer and I’m sad because it will never be the same. Pittsburgh Has better beer girls #ChangeMyMind

[Matt HKD]

The main thing I don't really like about the current format is how cluttered the fields are. you get into the snake or the doritos and you can only get like 1 shot across the field and everything else is just blocked out with random bunkers. I don't really like how those games play out, but maybe I'm just out of it since I stopped playing competitively years ago.

[Fat Joe]

When I was a kid in the mid 90s, they had those "concept fields" which were basically stand up plywood bunkers barely wasit high, and the Ironmen went at with the Parapalegic Turtles at 3 AM on ESPN2 on some random *** Monday night in mid July. To us, that was at the time, the coolest ****. We dreamt of getting on those fields and playing with those players.

Fast dforward 3 or 4 years and the game made so many strides it was incredible. 2001 10 man was, IMO, the pinnacle of pro paintball. Every field was different, whether it was SupAir or hyperball (or the mounds field in Pitt), each field had a grand 50 and some neat *** bunker shapes.

Those early 2000s 10 man events were the pinnacle of teamwork and dedication, but 7 man to me was the best format because it allowed for more spectacular games. The fields were a little smaller than 10 man but still allowed players the freedom to move without being a supreme athlete, it blended the speed of Xball with the strategy of 10 man and to me, it was the GOAT format. If paintball ever wants to be a true spectator sport that still allows all players to participate in what the pros do, embrace 7 man.

[()VV/\/E|) ?]

I loved playing in the TITS - Ten in Texas series - Remember it was ref'd by the Texas Storm guys. We placed 2nd in an event in Nov. when we combined our team. Had a fkin BLASTTTTTTTT!!!!

[TheBroz]

The ICPL isn't a side show, they are great strong events that exist in their own right.

Over in the UK we have the ECPL 10man events which have been awesome and is even hosting a leg of the ICPL with US teams coming over.

The Pittsburgh Open Classic (the closest we have to the ICC) this last weekend looked like a success.

10man is back and it isn't going away.

[AKAMedia]

Originally Posted by TheBroz

The ICPL isn't a side show, they are great strong events that exist in their own right.

Over in the UK we have the ECPL 10man events which have been awesome and is even hosting a leg of the ICPL with US teams coming over.

The Pittsburgh Open Classic (the closest we have to the ICC) this last weekend looked like a success.

10man is back and it isn't going away.

Yup! Ten man is back and growing again. So happy because its the best paintball ive played in years

[jtwoody]

Check out WCPL paintball league. You wont be let down

[ockid]

100%. Just had jaw surgery and in my recovery i’ve reconnected with paintball after a long time. Watching Push, World Cup 2000, 2001, and 2002 brought back so many amazing memories and made me wish paintball was still played in that format and in that way. It wasn’t all about athleticism and paintball was for everyone. The fields were massive, the guns shot much slower, and the sport was alive and in my opinion its prime (I agree with NPPL 7 man as a close second). Something about the early angels, the autocockers, impulses, matrixes, intimidators on a hyberball field or early inflatable bunker field is almost romantic. I guess that’s exactly what nostalgia is. All I can say is that i’d love to have played those world cups as well as the French 7man world cup in Toulouse in 2002. Everyone is absolutely right in that when the focus shifted away from “for the love of the game” to the shining appeal of commercialization the game began to die. I hope the future is kind to the sport of paintball and that its best days are not behind it.

[zinger565]

Originally Posted by TheBroz

The ICPL isn't a side show, they are great strong events that exist in their own right.

Over in the UK we have the ECPL 10man events which have been awesome and is even hosting a leg of the ICPL with US teams coming over.

The Pittsburgh Open Classic (the closest we have to the ICC) this last weekend looked like a success.

10man is back and it isn't going away.

Took pictures at ICPL Chicago this year, it was crazy. Super busy, tons of teams and folks playing, and even a few groups of people there to hang out and watch. These events definitely hold their own and hopefully they continue to see some growth.

[aBeegBoi]

Good times