Just call yourself out

by Dutch on February 8, 2010

Paintball is a fast and sometimes painful sport which are probably the number 1 and 2 reasons millions more people don’t play which is fine with me. Most will say “yeah I might play but don’t those paintballs hurt?” And others say they aren’t in shape or too old to run around the woods. In my mind either reason is Ok for a person to stay off the field and find something else to do for their recreation. For these people I have respect because getting shot does hurt (although not bad) and yes if you want to be good at it you’ll need to run around a bit or at least be smarter than your competition so if that’s not what you’re looking for why don’t you just not play?

Who I don’t have a lot of time or respect for are the people who come out to play a scenario game and do nothing but whine. Now to qualify what I’m saying and this is all just my opinion anyway-but, kids and the Dads playing with them are exempt and that’s about it as far as I’m concerned. Not so much the Dad is if ‘he’ gets lit up but he has every right to complain or set you straight if you over shoot his child. Kids can hear the rules many times and it still doesn’t always register and especially in the heat of battle it might be a little much to expect a young kid to remember to call himself out or put his hand in the air to signal you and stop firing. I’ve got in a few faces for this type of thing for both my boys and would expect nothing less from any other father. Also you might notice I said ’scenario’ game. Scenarios are a win or lose competition and NOT just a friendly rec day with church members, that’s why people travel sometimes 1000’s of miles and spend just as much money to play. They want to win and they play hard, been that way for years and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.

No, who I classify as whiners are the teens or adults who even with their $400 dollar guns get shot out and claim foul right away. They instantly say you were shooting hot, were to close or didn’t take the hit like you were suppose to. They bitterly complain to a ref, scream bloody murder at you or pout all the way up the trail and run to find someone who’ll listen to how they were unfairly eliminated. Are there times you you get overshot, shot from to close a distance or a take the hit backfires on you? Yea, and it will happen again so don’t be fooled into thinking it is exclusive to one field or one team and player.

It’s funny how these people are ‘rules aficionados’ after the fact and have all the exact play by play and no one else could be right. It amazes me because they usually have their backs turned or aren’t paying enough attention and let a guy get close enough to them to say ‘take the hit’ but suddenly it’s all clear and they know every detail. Oh and of course every shot they shoot is golden, their aim always hits it’s mark and the guy behind the tree must be wiping because they never miss. When a whiner takes more than a shot or two he cries aloud “overshooting” not realizing that 3 balls were in the air for every second he squirmed around in indecision and by the simple act of raising his gun in the air or calling himself out the firing would stop. Not good enough for the whiner, no they see only their little sphere in the world and all else revolves around them and when that sphere is bruised they cry foul and blame their inability on others.

It’s very simple, if you’re in scenario or competitive paintball, play by the rules but realize this game goes fast and in the heat of things you just may have to deal with better players, it’s how you get better too. You can’t stop a paintball that’s already flying and you can’t make someone take the hit and you may not have seen everything if your back was turned so stop whining, put your gun in the air and call yourself out. If this won’t satisfy you and you still think the world is wrong and you are right then why not put your equipment on e-bay and again, call yourself out, it will do us all some good.

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