OK, OK! I know what I said in the last post - but this is BRILLIANT!
Paintball gun or deadly weapon?
And Mom has the balls to say, "A little scary that he would have been shot for no good reason," says Bonnie Davis.
Help me get on the first page - Vote here
There is certainly no shortage of bad news these days. For what ever reason it's human nature to key on the worst that is happening while forgetting to count our blessings. I have to admit I'm no different. Regarding paintball, I've been off and on maintaining a blog site titled Bad Boys (and Girls) of Paintball for some time while totally overlooking stories like Paintball for Children's Miracle Network. While it's true we learn from the bad I think it's also good to rejoice in the positive.
I'm going to work on that.
Thank you Cheat River Outfitters.
It's that time again. The temperatures hovered around 100 degrees here at the field this weekend. The mister is set up. Extra freeze pops have been stocked (we give them away between games) and the heat advisory sign is out. I remind the refs of the heat exhaustion symptoms - pale, flushed skin, confusion, vomiting.
Be careful out there. For more information: First Aid for Heat-Induced Illnesses, Tips for Training and Playing in the Heat
Billy Bob and Jethro were hunkered down in a paintball bunker one day and Jethro looked at Billy Bob and asked, "How come these balls are 68 caliber instead of something even like 70 caliber?" Billy Bob thought for moment and then swatted Jethro on the top of the head. "Ya dang fool. They wouldn't fit in the gun if they were 70 caliber!"
(I'm dying here, folks.)
Check out Paintball’s Bad Boys (and Girls)
From October 29, 2008
Snif. Phew. Snif...
I don't suggest you show up at the field with something like this but I thought it too funny to not mention.
Paintball books, tips and information
I will never understand what people are thinking when they point to one field or another and say, "That field is a paint monster!" The length of a field or lack of length, it's number of bunkers or layout, whether it's a "speedball" field or a woods ball field - none of this means a thing regarding the amount of paint you need. I get a kick out of telling players, "There's eight on each side. You only need eight paintballs right?"
Of course players shoot allot of paint in the woods. They spend the first half of the game shooting from out of range. And yes, of course players shoot allot of paint on the speedball course. They feel "threatened" from the git-go and find comfort in shooting at everything that moves.
Don't stand off to one side mumbling to your friends, "He's taking us to that course so he can sell us a bunch of paint." Check your attitude. Check your twitchy finger. Buy a pump.
Visit the T2 Paintball Web Store
Minimum wage goes up in July here in Arkansas. I'm going to have to let a ref or two go.
Minimum wage pisses me off. Sweat shops and abusive child labor makes me angry, too. But where's the middle ground? I employ young people. For 99 percent of them this is their first paycheck. Most of them are minimally aware of the responsibilities of holding a job. I'm not paying them an "allowance". There are additional responsibilities involved. Most are not even aware of the number one rule. Get to work on time. Or the second number one rule. Don't call your employer a half hour before opening time to let him know you have a family obligation (or you have Saturday school detention).
I take my responsibility to these young people seriously. I prepare them for the real world of employment. I allow them to make mistakes. I give them second chances. I tutor and mentor them - on my time.
Should they be working for free like interns? I don't think so. They have a tough job and deserve compensation. But should they be making minimum wage before the are minimally experienced?
I don't think so.
Pet peeves have been a theme of sorts this past month - here and here. Lets try another:
(sarcasm on) I love to see players holding fifteen hundred dollar guns in one hand while they search through my tools for a three dollar hex set. (sarcasm off) Touch their gun and they will cry "FELON" while thinking nothing of walking off with my tools. Most of them, to their credit, don't actually steal my tools. I find most of them left behind on the tables outside.
Tech T Cylone Feed Squishy Paddles - 98, X-7, A-5
Take Dad paintballing. (And Mom, too!)
Happy Dad's Day.
Three minutes and seven seconds of blurry tournament paintball bloopers.
Paintball Smart Parts Sleek Lube (Large)
From Jun 19, 2005:
Dad comes in with four kids...
They’re hardly tall enough to see over the check-in counter so I check their waiver cards to make sure they’re old enough to play. No problems.
The kids are fired up, ready to play. Dad looks over at a group of players near the T.V. that are watching the safety brief - 17, maybe 18, wearing camo and setting up their own guns.
"You kids sure you want to play against those guy?" Dad says hitching a finger toward the T.V.
And it happened in an instant. I saw it in the kid's eyes. The fun and fire turned into doubt and apprehension.
Dad says, "We want to play as a separate group."
"Sorry, Sir. You need 12 or more to make a group."
"I’ll pay for 12!"
"Well, Sir, if I could spare a referee that would mean 12 times $15."
"I don't care about the money."
"Sorry, I can’t pull a walk-on ref for a group of five."
"Well. It doesn’t seem right that these kids have to play with those adults" (ummm, hello. YOU plan to play with the kids!)
Later, I over hear Dad trying to cajole a couple of my younger refs into letting them play as a private group!
I stepped from around the corner of the gun shed and addressed the four boys. "You guys grab your gear and go out there and show those big guys how to play paintball. The refs will make sure everyone plays fair and safe!"
Man. I was fuming. I headed for my office to calm down. I didn’t care for Dad’s arrogance, I didn’t care for him putting doubt in the kid’s minds and I sure as heck didn’t care for him going around me and trying to push his way past my refs!
Four hours later I happened to be standing outside when Dad and the four kids were heading for the parking lot.
The kids were chattering away, one saying, "What a blast! - while another was telling his friend, "I’m gonna have my birthday party, here!"
Ok...I'll say it.
Sometimes I wish the Dads (and Moms) would stay home!
Ben's 100 Max DEET Tick & Insect Repellent Spray
Thought I'd share this blog entry with you all.
(Bukit Jalil is a suburb about 20 km south of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.)
I don't wear an aluminum foil hat (all the time) or believe in (most) conspiracy theories (I only believe in three of these) but something evil lurks among us. And to make matters worse, now there is BING - it makes decisions for us so we can better make decisions!
Just beam me up, Scotty. There's no intelligent life down here.
From 68Caliber:
Just wow!
(Keeping in mind it's a Lebanese paper but the writer is from either London, New York or Stockholm.)
I mentioned a pet peeve awhile back. I have others.
Don't bring me a broke gun and then stand over me while I'm fixing it, telling me how to take it apart and put it back together. After all, you are the one that put the bolt in backwards and got the springs mixed up and used the wrong oring on the striker and...
Borrow a rental. Go play.
From September, 08:
Why it's best I leave it to my employees...
The first thing anyone who works here at T-Square learns is SAFETY is the first priority - followed by CUSTOMER SERVICE. My employees seem to have no problem making the two work together.
I, on the other hand, am not always such a patient person.
Recently, when one young player decided he didn't need to watch our "stupid" safety video and then started cutting up while it was playing my Field Manager stepped in to reprimand him. Mom felt she had to say, "We are paying customers and I don't think you need to be so stern."
My Field Manager tactfully handled the situation, the young player watched the briefing and all went well.
I would have told Mom he either sits down, shuts up and watches the safety video or you can take him home!
Safety first.
Press release:
Are you ready to hang all of your present paintball equipment on a museum wall and buy completely new stuff? Read here.
As a ref one of my pet peeves is hearing, "REF! MOVE. GET OUT OF THE WAY."
Intellectually I understand. The player has laid down some hard earned cash for a chance to shoot his buddies and he doesn't need me standing around blocking his shot.
Emotionally my first reaction is to tell the player to bugger off and move to a better position - after all, I have a job to do here and I'm in a spot where I can see a majority of the players. Later, I would remind the player that a ref is no different than a tree or bunker. You wouldn't holler at a brush pile to get out of your way, right?
But that's not right. Much to arrogant. So where is the middle ground?
There is none. I move to a different spot where I can see a different majority of the the players. The customer is always right.
T-Square Paintball Field opens for play at noon on Saturday and Sunday.
It amazes me how people will show up at 11:00 or 11:30 ready to play.
"We want to get a few games in before the rest of the guys get here."
Well...that would be great if we were ready. There are guns to chrono and masks to clean and safe zones to set up and fields to be inspected. There's paint to ready and tanks to fill and the food concession to set up. (Those hot dogs don't cook themselves, you know!)
Oh, and look. There's a limb that fell last night and took out some netting and the air fill whip just decided to spit a crucial oring across the gun shed room. One of my refs called to say he has Saturday detention and can't come in while another is tossing up bad sushi behind the bathroom building.
And even if none of that mattered - T-Square Paintball Field opens for play at noon on Saturday and Sunday. It's on our signs, it's on our fliers, it's on our answering machine and it's on our web site.
So there!
I chatted about this in an earlier post - how it frosts my behind to place a pro-shop order and have that order filled from multiple locations. The combined shipping is always more than if it was all shipped from one location.
Recently I ordered 26 items from one of my major suppliers. I received 6 of them. Thinking the rest of the order might arrive on a different shipment I waited a couple of days before I called to find out what happened to the rest. The explanation - the twenty items were out of stock!
Ten of those items were ordered from a sales flyer. I understand how sale items can fly off a shelf. First come first serve. But the other items? Packs. Goggles. An HPA tank! Not exactly uncut diamonds or uranium ore.
Not the service I expect from one of the "big boys." And to add insult to their inefficiency I placed an order from two other suppliers on the same day and they both came through 100 percent. AND this big boy supplier comes up short on nearly every order I make from them. If it wasn't for the big boy having decent stuff that my customers want I would say the heck with them.
And to add insult to my injury this same supplier announce today in a press release the hiring of two new employees. They are not going to have much to sell if they are sales people. Maybe, with a little luck, they are logistics specialists.
I can understand shipping paint from multiple locations. (Another post entirely. I hardly ever find 80 cases of anything from a single location.) I want the paint to arrive fresh with as little road rash as possible. But the hard goods? I don't need overnight delivery. I just want one shipping charge and a complete order.
I really don't think that's to much to wish for.
Yeah, I know. School is out for most of you youngins'. But humor me. E-mail me at tsp8ntball@aol.com and tell me in 100 words or less why your paintball field is the best paintball field in the world.
Read more...A newbie team was considering a local two-day tournament. The first prize was $100,000.00, and it only cost $100.00 to enter a team. You didn't have to pre-register, just show up on game day and the best part was you could bring your own paint.
On the day of the tournament they were lead into the woods and were set upon by several people and clubbed unconscious. Twenty minutes later a professional team was lead into the woods and given the same treatment.
Two hours later the players of both teams started to wake up and the newbie player asked, "Are they going to serve lunch at this tournament?"
"I dunno," the professional team captain remarked, "They didn't last year."
Heckler & Koch, Inc. is suing BT Paintball Designs, Inc. and Tippmann, Inc for trademark infringement. I've been saying all along - paintball guns look to real.
From December 20, 1995:
After ranting a couple of posts back about how I only sell the best paintballs here at T-Square my daughter found this little gem in a factory sealed bag of 500 this past weekend.
To be fair, it was not found in our field paint but rather in a box of "backyard" paint that I sell the economy minded player.
It's actually two paintballs that were found stuck together. The bottom one is fairly intact and round while the top one is flattened and shaped into a perfect little hat! (The black marker features were added by one of our artistic field workers.)
Not necessarily something that made me mean and grumpy. In fact, I almost smiled when I saw it!
When ever I work on a Tippmann 98 the first thing I do is remove the elbow and hopper. I get a kick out of the customers reaction when I press on the front site latch and swing the elbow/hopper down and off the gun.
"WOW, I didn't know that came off like that!"
The first thing I do when I receive a new gun (the TPX sitting behind me is next) is tear it apart. I feel it's important that I know everything about anything I plan to sell. I don't expect my customers to do this, in fact I ask them not to after I show them the general maintenance requirements, but it would be nice if they at least scanned the owner's manual.
I've had a few customers who had no idea the barrel screwed off. Give yourself some points if you know the TAC-5 can be set up as left, right or center feed. And before you go tearing apart that A5 read up on how everything important slides right out the back end.
Oh, and yes. Paintball guns do need to be cleaned from time to time.
Stress Relief Paintball
Put paintball at the top of the sports list. Vote here
I have allot of personal opinions about paintball and seeing how they are opinions I certainly don't expect anyone to take them for gospel. But I have to wonder sometimes. Had a young man and his Dad in the shop a few days ago. The boy asked for a particular gun by name. After telling him (with Dad within earshot) why I don't stock that gun and how it's unreliable and not very maintenance friendly he looked at his Dad and said, "Let's go see if they have it at (insert competitor's name here)!
The situation got me to thinking so I put together a poll. It's a bit self serving and I don't put much stock in polls - they are after all, personal opinions, but it might be nice to see what you think.
So, Bo tells me the venue at the Bitburg Millennium Series was smaller than he expected. Had more of a local tournament feel than an international event. The new Impulse looks like any other current high end gun and at $999.00 it's a bit of a yawn. The wife was not real anxious to make the hour and a half drive to Bitburg from Ramstein but when they left Saturday she said they definitely needed to go back on Sunday. And no swag! Nothing that said "Millennium". No t-shirts. Disappointing. I'll leave it to the other blogs to report on the winners and losers and player whining.
Read more...When I first started this blog I thought the term blog sounded so corny that I refused to call it a blog. The whole concept still amazes me - part public diary (an oxymoron), part editorial, part informational with a mix of ego and angst and for some (not me), a source of income.
For me venting on the keyboard at the beginning of the day is a way to clear the senses. I never thought much about someone stopping by to have a read. I had the comments option turned off because it didn't matter to me if anyone agreed or disagreed with what I said.
But lately, more and more I'm getting a kick out of the number of people stopping by (there's that "mix of ego" part) and the comments are becoming more important. I've also seen a surge in over seas visitors and that's very cool. Brazil, Australia, Malaysia, India, Iraq, Finland, Netherlands, United Kingdom (Hello Myron), Switzerland, Germany (Hello Bo) and friends in Canada. I would love to get more comments from all of you. Paintball is something we all have in common.
Guest bloggers are welcome. Some bloggers have their "minions" and spies and enlistees. I just call you all friends. I have one friend in Germany who is at the tournament in Bitburg Germany today who I hope will report back to me when he checks out the debut of the new Smart Parts Impulse. If you have news, rumors or just something to say be sure and drop me a line.
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