To make the "fans don't care" even worse is the fact that our sport is split in two. We have made strides in the past year or so in getting the scenario/big game crowd acknowledged at all by the manufacturers, but that's mostly out of necessity in this economy. Given their druthers, I still think the industry would ignore scenario if they could afford to. There is even less glory to be had there, fewer stories that mean anything to be told. And the average scenario/big game/recreational player couldn't care less. Mostly as a reaction to being the red-headed step child for so many years. "They don't care about us? Fine, I'll care about them even less." To them, tournament players are just a bunch of cheaters anyway. They don't play this game with honor. All they want is a free handout they don't love the sport above themselves. They don't love the sport the way I do. They aren't even that good because they have to cheat to win. Yes, these are all things I've heard. I wish there was more I could do to change their minds other than tell them flat out, "You're wrong." But that doesn't carry much weight and it certainly doesn't instill within them an admiration and passion for the sport played at the highest level.
In many ways, they are exactly like the tournament players they dislike: they are very "Me Me Me!" They tend to only seek out media coverage for events they were a part of. I'm guilty of it. I never read the articles about the scenarios I didn't go to. They're boring! Yeah yeah... there was some sort of story, a bunch of people in camo show up, there's lots of people shooting each other, some nerd does something with a cap gun or water bottle, everything comes down to the final battle, everybody has nice things to say about each other afterward and they gave out some good prizes. Oh, and maybe Greg Hastings was there. Do you see? I'm apathetic and the media is failing me. We are failing each other. There's a good chance someone was playing in their first scenario or even paintball game. There's even a decent chance that someone experienced something that gets them addicted to the sport. A new fan is born. A new chance to tell someone our story. But I'll never know. Because the guy writing the article probably didn't even go to the game. If he was there, he certainly didn't go in search of these kinds of stories, and I'm not going to read the article anyway because there won't be a picture of me in it.
So, what's the fix? Where do we go from here? How do we get people excited about the Who and the What, and how do we effectively give it to them? This is the part of the equation I am weakest at. I'm good at finding the problems, but horrible at finding the solutions. It's easy for me to be passionate about what the pros are doing and what they've done in the past because that's just my personality. I'm a sports fan, and approach my chosen sport in the same way I approach those sports I'm just a spectator for: Pick a home team and favorite players, and root for them until it hurts. And, I have a hard time understanding why everybody else isn't the same way. I hadn't met a single pro when I chose the Ironmen as my favorite team. I chose them because I was reading an article about the founding of the NXL, and I'm from L.A. Seemed like a no brainer for me. So I looked up the roster, and they were some of the same names I learned about in PUSH. So I started following Matt Marshall and Micah and Telford. I didn't need a personal connection for that to happen, but I feel that maybe some do.
Being as involved as I've been in this sport since I first bought a Spyder and wrapped it in camo netting so I could be a "sniper" (I've come a long way. A long, loooong way), I've had the privilege of meeting guys I'd only read about in magazines. It's becoming harder and harder for me to root against any teams. I'm a homer! I like rooting for my team and hoping the other teams all die in a fire. But that is hard to do when you know the players on those other teams. At PSP Phoenix this year, I got to know Nick Slowiak a little bit. Great guy. Now, how the hell am I supposed to root against Aftershock? Tim Montressor? Really cool guy. Now I can't hope Philly's Luxes all get replaced with airsoft guns and they lose. There's almost nobody left I can root against!
And maybe that's the secret. Maybe more of those camo nerds need to get to know these tournament nerds. I've been to scenario games that had a wide range of Pro players, past and present, but there was almost zero interaction between the commoners and the pro's. Except for on the field, where the pro players proceeded to lay waste to the regular folks. But, getting shot by Max Lundquist isn't the same as sharing a soda with him. He's such a nice and charismatic guy, you can't help but like him. Even when he's stealing your girlfriend, you are almost rooting for him. He could walk out of any woodsball event with a ton of new Joy Division fans if anybody actually took the time to socialize and mix it up. But, the pro's tend to keep to themselves and the scenario teams tend to keep to themselves and the divide gets even wider. Even on the field, the competitive nature takes over and the tournament players tend to all team up because they are more effective that way. But, as ambassadors, shouldn't they all split up? Shouldn't each pro find a kid and drag that kid everywhere with them, showing them how to play and keeping them up front and in the action? Shouldn't they play for different sides so the game is even and everybody gets a chance to meet and play with these guys? It can only help. Every pro I've personally met seems to have gone to the Rocky Cagnoni School for Fan Interaction. They're all great guys. (Yes, even Brandon Lambertson.) And if I were a kid or new to this sport and spent a weekend with Todd Martinez, sharing a bunker and a burger with him... what do you think the chances are that I'm going to take time out when there's a PSP or USPL tournament in my area to go and root for Dynasty? Aren't I more likely to consider Luxe or Empire as my gear of choice? Don Saavedra is a nobody, but every chance I get when I go play walk-on I trade guns with someone with a rental. I have no idea how many Ego's I've sold that way, but you'd think Planet would be pleased. Imagine if Nicky Cuba let me use his DM9 for half a game? I'd be hooked! Not only on Dye, but on anything Ironmen and Nicky Cuba.
Ok, I've beaten that idea to death. But, like anything else, I get passionate over what I think might bring this sport together. I'm a crossover guy, and I think we should be One Sport. United in our love for everything this sport has to offer. We need to get the dialogue started. About what's going on. About what it all means. So that 10 years from now, we can argue with some kid about how good Oliver Lang really was compared to whatever stud is top of the game now. So that those kids can be passionate about their guy, too, and tell us old guys that we are biased. The movement to start keeping stats will help tremendously in this area. It's the only way you can even hope to compare Stan Musial to Tony Gwynn. Right now, it's purely conjecture to compare Rich Telford to Gary Noblet. But, that will serve for now. We just need to get the proper forum for such discussions and put some butts in the seats. And get it sponsored. So I can make some money so I can not care about you guys or this stupid history stuff.
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1 comments:
Great story, and you hit the nail on the head. As a guy that's played competitively since 93, I remember all the old stories . . . and no one tells them anymore. At least not to a mass audience.
I think part of the problem lies in the media, but not in the way you are describing it. Mainstream sports have always had video (at least over the last 30 or so years), so it's easy for Bob Costas to point to classic Pete Rose video and compare it to video of the slugger-of-the-moment. We don't have that . . . just dusty magazines talking about how someone smashed a 7oz tank over someone else's face at a Lively event. Or how Bob Long was walking fields in Chicago with a dixie cup on a stick finding the best crawling lanes. Or how the A's were the first to get caught cheating on tape during the Reno open (I think 'Shock was shooting typhoons back then). Or 2E and his crazy tattoos. Or Oliver Lang being the youngest pro player. But you are right . . . there are living legends in this sport, but no one is telling the story in a way that captivates today's ADD kids.
I don't know the answer. Watching old Trauma Head videos hurts my head at times (Even though Danny Manning is the man). And while those videos are great, a kid with a cell phone is likely to catch more action than what was captured back then. Not to say that those videos weren't good, it's just that the game has changed a lot over the years. Faster, as you mentioned. So how can we compare the past to the present?
Baseball has been baseball forever (minus the asterisk). Football and soccer are the same. Paintball continues to have growing pains, and as such will have a hard time chronically its past in the digital media of today and the future.
Just my .02. Love the site, and love posts like this. Thanks for putting these words out there.
Also, I enjoyed the pic of Robbo being all skinny next to Jerry Braun :) I laughed.
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