The National League... (of paintball). MAO part 3

Saturday morning, round 2 for all Xball teams, and the beginning of Race to 2 games. Saturday also brings more spectators and a certain group of people. There seems to be a distinct difference between Thursday and Friday, when the Xball prelims are played, and Saturday and Sunday, where all the spectators and 5-man teams arrive. On Thursday and Friday you have the serious players, the guys who have usually played for about 2 or 3 years, and have usually have played multiple National events, the Xball players. Most of the Xball players tend not be very flashy, they all wear proper paintball apparel (such as C9 or Eclipse name-brand playing pants, jerseys or long sleeves). Then you have the 5-man or Race to 2 teams, they are by far a different crowd, whether it be a younger crowd, or less experienced what seems to be the resounding explanation, they are the "agglets".

I've usually had a problem with this group of the paintball community, they focus on clothing, "rare" gear, custom anno'd guns, and bad playing habits, not progression of the sport, or even playing well. I tend to be a traditional player, I wear actual playing pants, I where a normal mask, (granted I put a flashy lens on it, it's a factory part, it's not custom or home-made), a normal jersey, and cleats. I focus on progressing the sport and playing the best I can. I don't care if people take pictures of me, (but it is nice sometimes) or whether my shoes match my gun. But these kids try to look "good", to me it's a joke. I would probably think differently if these kids were actually good and actually played well, but the fact is they don't.

Saturday morning the Semi-Pro team played, and I did as much as I did as much as I could, without being staff on the roster. I drove guys to the field, carried paint to the pits and coached on the spectator side. RNT did well and moved on to Sunday.
In the meantime I was able to check out the trade show and Pro games.

Trade show

Dye booth-
Dye had the largest display of the event, a full tractor trailer with tent. The usual Dye display with pounding music, flat screen TVs, and large product displays. On Thursday and Friday the large flat screen played promo videos and for the weekend played the PSP Webcast. Dye really didn't have a new products except for the Multi-tool, which was on my "buy it" list, but I was too distracted by the $25 Aftershock C9 Jerseys.

Luxe-
DLX had the usual "Luxe Manor" display, with Luxes lining the perimeter and at table in the back. Color kits, grips, batteries, chargers, Raza lazer engraved Dynasty Luxes, and other bits and pieces were for sale. Also a TV displaying the webcast was up, a nice touch. The tech tables were set up outside on right of the tent. I was having bolt stick issues with my Luxe from the last practice and I brought it to them on Thursday, they had it ready in 20 minutes, no charge, awesome customer service. On Saturday at noon Luxe had a Dynasty poster signing without a hitch.

Planet Eclipse-
The gentlemen from across the pond brought all the new stuff, the SL94, the gem studded Argyle Ego9, Etek2 and Geo. They also had a large flat screen displaying the webcast. Egos and Geos were displayed on the wall behind the counter and product such as hoodies, shirts, playing pants, jerseys, and gear bags lined the walls of the tent. Eclipse also had their tech tables set up, working on Egos and Geos all weekend.

Virtue-
Virtue, with licencing from the PSP had all the event apparel and I had to stop by to get an event t-shirt. They had all the OLED and other boards on display, as well as casual apparel. The Ulralite OLED board was unveiled over the weekend. The Crowns were also there, and the new Crown for the Dye Rotor.

The rest of the tents were MWAG, Mac Dev, Bob Long Technologies, Der Der, Empire/ Halo tech booth, Bad News, Feed Fast, Guerrilla Air, and Seventh Element.

Sunday rolls around, RNT beat XSV and moved on to play the undefeated Aftermath II, who barely beat RNT in overtime in the prelims. But the finals game was a complete one-sided match from Aftermath. They won 7-0.

After the final game I loaded up my 4Runner and drove about 6 people to the airport and proceeded on my way back to Florida. It was an uneventful ride, and I arrived back a little bit after midnight.

Overall it was a great week, and a lot of fun to be a part of. It was also, for me, the begining of playing national events.