Another one bites the dust...
Yes... it is true. Steve is selling his TON TON Shocker and retiring from paintball. For more info email him at steve@ripfactor.com
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Friday, March 17, 2006
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
End of an era?
Yes… end of an era.
Bye bye paintball. There’s no turning back now because my beautiful red Ton Ton Shocker is…
SOLD!
Okay… I’d only sell my Ton Ton for this price for a few people I know. The few people – close friends. And our little friend Ryan (14) was the right person to trust who’d take care of my ‘baby’. He’d also have two Shocker Geeks to watch over every little detail ready to ‘tech’ the gun at moments notice… Dale and Dean. I saw Dean at Dale’s birthday dinner. I go, “what’s up?” He replied with, “I’m not going to talk to you, I’m just going to give you bad looks.” He couldn’t believe I was quitting paintball.
Quitting hockey was hard. Really hard. Quitting paintball was not so hard. No regrets, no remorse, no denial. I still have hockey gear in the garage that I can sell but am keeping ‘just in case’. I loved my Ton Ton Shocker. It was awesome. We shot many players together.
In one memorable moment Dale and I were dealing with a guy who was snap shooting at us. Popping his head in different places and taking a shot. He was doing the right thing. His one mistake – timing. There’s a pattern to everything. And there was a pattern forming here. I picked my spot and right before he popped up I shot two shots. I nailed him right on his goggles as he came up to shoot. It was an amazing shot. The ref gave off an “OHHHH!” And in the middle of battle, Dale and I were cracking up. Oh the good old days…
So it sold. My beautiful Red Ton Ton Shocker that I paid $1100 for back in January 05.
The deal went to good old (or young) Ryan…
What did he get? My Red Ton Ton Shocker (originally $1100), a Freak Kit (originally $100) with all the inserts, two paintball jerseys (originally $20 each), a harness and five pods (originally $30), a throat protector (originally $10), a WGP tank (originally $210) and a Stiffe barrel (originally $70)…
What did I get in return?
A check for $760 + two $150 Clipper Tickets and as Ryan says – Free Food at the Clipper Game with his food “hook-up”. See, Ryan works as a towel boy for the Clipps. What an awesome job. Great kid, a great up and coming paintball player with a great dad that takes him to the field every Sunday to hang with us old guys.
So its gone. I officially do not have a 30 bps marker.
One thing I’ll miss from Paintball is those times in between games when Dean makes us laugh as we kick back under the tent. I’ll miss seeing Steve run up in front of me paving the path for me to fill in. I’ll miss seeing Ryan hanging back and yelling at me about who he sees and who he shot. I’ll miss wondering where the quiet Chip is on the field and realizing he’s filling in just like he’s supposed to. I’ll miss Dale telling me where to go and what to do in the heat of battle. I’ll miss wondering whether Sang will show or not. And I’ll miss running through the sidelines in speedball and wiping up the other team.
But I won’t miss those Sunday’s where I have to ‘gear up’. Or the cost of Paintball cases. Or cleaning my gear. Or cleaning my marker. Or leaving the kids on a Sunday for five or more hours. Or the welts, the dirt, the grime, the stupid refs and stupid players. Or even Dale shooting me as he’s shot me more than anyone else has on the team. (I got him back once shooting him in the back of the head by accident during a speedball game. Yikes.)
I won’t miss the yelling and my aggressive behavior either. I’ve done tons of yelling at stupid players and almost got into one fight with one on the field. He’s the one who charged me. It would have been fun to take the guy down but stupid at the same time. I doubt I’ll ever have a confrontation while racing in a Triathlon. At least I hope I don’t. And that’s good.
Dale is a pretty non-aggressive guy. He’s not confrontational at all. So another thing I’ll miss is Dale getting into all these arguments with refs and other players. One, because its funny to see him get all mad at someone. Two, if he gets into a fight at least its not my fault and it’ll give me an excuse to get a couple of punches in to protect my best friend. LOL.
Two things I regret not doing in Paintball…
One, winning a big money tournament. Two, shooting “Roger the Ref” a couple of times ‘by accident.’
So that’s an end of an era… That is until Jake is ready to play. Well, I guess I can just have Uncle Dale take him since Dale expects to play this game as an old man. I can see it now - Dale shooting ropes as Jake runs down as far as he can and Dale saying, “You’re just like your dad. He liked running down the middle and getting shot at.” Until then it’ll just be Jake and me playing paintball on the XBox.
And that, as they say is, that.
Anyone want to buy my Blue Nasty Impulse???
Bye bye paintball. There’s no turning back now because my beautiful red Ton Ton Shocker is…
SOLD!
Okay… I’d only sell my Ton Ton for this price for a few people I know. The few people – close friends. And our little friend Ryan (14) was the right person to trust who’d take care of my ‘baby’. He’d also have two Shocker Geeks to watch over every little detail ready to ‘tech’ the gun at moments notice… Dale and Dean. I saw Dean at Dale’s birthday dinner. I go, “what’s up?” He replied with, “I’m not going to talk to you, I’m just going to give you bad looks.” He couldn’t believe I was quitting paintball.
Quitting hockey was hard. Really hard. Quitting paintball was not so hard. No regrets, no remorse, no denial. I still have hockey gear in the garage that I can sell but am keeping ‘just in case’. I loved my Ton Ton Shocker. It was awesome. We shot many players together.
In one memorable moment Dale and I were dealing with a guy who was snap shooting at us. Popping his head in different places and taking a shot. He was doing the right thing. His one mistake – timing. There’s a pattern to everything. And there was a pattern forming here. I picked my spot and right before he popped up I shot two shots. I nailed him right on his goggles as he came up to shoot. It was an amazing shot. The ref gave off an “OHHHH!” And in the middle of battle, Dale and I were cracking up. Oh the good old days…
So it sold. My beautiful Red Ton Ton Shocker that I paid $1100 for back in January 05.
The deal went to good old (or young) Ryan…
What did he get? My Red Ton Ton Shocker (originally $1100), a Freak Kit (originally $100) with all the inserts, two paintball jerseys (originally $20 each), a harness and five pods (originally $30), a throat protector (originally $10), a WGP tank (originally $210) and a Stiffe barrel (originally $70)…
What did I get in return?
A check for $760 + two $150 Clipper Tickets and as Ryan says – Free Food at the Clipper Game with his food “hook-up”. See, Ryan works as a towel boy for the Clipps. What an awesome job. Great kid, a great up and coming paintball player with a great dad that takes him to the field every Sunday to hang with us old guys.
So its gone. I officially do not have a 30 bps marker.
One thing I’ll miss from Paintball is those times in between games when Dean makes us laugh as we kick back under the tent. I’ll miss seeing Steve run up in front of me paving the path for me to fill in. I’ll miss seeing Ryan hanging back and yelling at me about who he sees and who he shot. I’ll miss wondering where the quiet Chip is on the field and realizing he’s filling in just like he’s supposed to. I’ll miss Dale telling me where to go and what to do in the heat of battle. I’ll miss wondering whether Sang will show or not. And I’ll miss running through the sidelines in speedball and wiping up the other team.
But I won’t miss those Sunday’s where I have to ‘gear up’. Or the cost of Paintball cases. Or cleaning my gear. Or cleaning my marker. Or leaving the kids on a Sunday for five or more hours. Or the welts, the dirt, the grime, the stupid refs and stupid players. Or even Dale shooting me as he’s shot me more than anyone else has on the team. (I got him back once shooting him in the back of the head by accident during a speedball game. Yikes.)
I won’t miss the yelling and my aggressive behavior either. I’ve done tons of yelling at stupid players and almost got into one fight with one on the field. He’s the one who charged me. It would have been fun to take the guy down but stupid at the same time. I doubt I’ll ever have a confrontation while racing in a Triathlon. At least I hope I don’t. And that’s good.
Dale is a pretty non-aggressive guy. He’s not confrontational at all. So another thing I’ll miss is Dale getting into all these arguments with refs and other players. One, because its funny to see him get all mad at someone. Two, if he gets into a fight at least its not my fault and it’ll give me an excuse to get a couple of punches in to protect my best friend. LOL.
Two things I regret not doing in Paintball…
One, winning a big money tournament. Two, shooting “Roger the Ref” a couple of times ‘by accident.’
So that’s an end of an era… That is until Jake is ready to play. Well, I guess I can just have Uncle Dale take him since Dale expects to play this game as an old man. I can see it now - Dale shooting ropes as Jake runs down as far as he can and Dale saying, “You’re just like your dad. He liked running down the middle and getting shot at.” Until then it’ll just be Jake and me playing paintball on the XBox.
And that, as they say is, that.
Anyone want to buy my Blue Nasty Impulse???
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Friday, February 17, 2006
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Weekend Wrapup for Sunday 2/5/2006 by Ryan I.
Dale, Dean, and Ryan had another great day of paintball at Conquest despite the warm weather which caught up to Dale and Ryan.
We all used RPS premium with pink fill. It worked great. Nothing can replace Anrachy's thick and bright fill though.
Due to a late start we missed the first game but were able to play the second. Ryan and Dale ran to the left teepee but not for long because our team tore up the right side in about 2 minutes and the game ended.
Next came Vietnam. Dean couldn't play becuse he had some regulator problems. Dale showed Ryan some good spots on the field and decided to use the spots during the game. Off the break Dale and Ryan went down the middle to the spool. Dale watched the right side while Ryan watched the left side. Ryan was able to eliminate a few guys making thier way up the river side.
Both Dale and Ryan could hear someone shooting at the river so Dale decided to run across the left side and get him. He got him but a newb who was laying down right in front of Dale shot Dale. Eventually the newb stood up and Ryan got him. Our team ended up winning.
Now to the second game. Both Ryan and Dale stayed near Juan but the game ended in about 1 minute. I dont even know who won. Dale do you?
River field came after Vietnam. Dean came up with a great idea to go to the middle spool and shoot a lot of paint at the far left bail so the other teams players would be trapped in that postition. It worked! While Dale and Ryan were on the left side they were both able to get a bunch of guys. With Deans ropes of paint going to the bail we Ryan and Dale had to just wait wait for the guys to try to move and had a clear shot of them. Finally the left side was ours ( Thanks Dean for all that shooting to the far left side) and we started to round the corner then Dale and Ryan heard game over. We realized about a minute later that was for another game. Bummer! In a few seconds our game actually ended. We could have won that game!
In the second game Ryan, Dale, and teammates dominated the same side once again. (Dean couldnt play because he was out of air and paint). Dale was able to eliminate some key players and our strong push led to another win for our team.
After a brief rest we were ready for Tournament field. In the first game we had a strong push up the right side. Dale carefully sniped out about seven dudes on the far back right tape side. Chris (Jon's bro) moved ahead of Dale to the center while Dale went to the right side. Chris told Dale the coast was clear so Dale kept pushing down the right side when all of a sudden a bunch of paint flew at Dale from the bamboo island. Dale didn't know that Chris had just been eliminated by the same guy. At this time Ryan didn't know there was guy at the bamboo island so he made a push up the right side too. Ryan was three fourths the way up the right side when about 5 balls flew at him and hit him on his right side. Ryan stood up and started to walk out without holdingn up his gun when Juan said none broke so Ryan jumped back in and the Ref said OK. The female who works the shack was playing and tried to bunker the guy in the bamboo island but got "lit" up. After this happened Ryan tucked the guy in and leaned out then leaned out a little further and waited for the guy to come back out. At the guy back up Ryan was able to shoot the guy in the elbow in a single shot!. With about 1 minute left Ryan made a run for it and got one of the last people left in back teepee . Then time expired. Ryan was totally tired after this game and he had to get a breather in the parking lot before the next game.
In the second game Dean, Dale, and Ryan made a push up the opposite side. Dean was at the right bamboo island while Dale was on the far right and slowly making his way up along with Ryan. Dale made it about all the way up when finally time expired. Dale was exhausted! Ryan tried to run to the parking lot to get Dale some water but all he could do was walk because he too was exhausted. Finally Ryan brought the water and gatorade to Dale. Dale drank it then we all went and rested at the tent.
We rested so long we missed both River games. We then decided to play some Speedball and skip Nam. Dale did good. So did Dean. Ryan was still used to the rec ball style of play. In most of the games Dale and Ryan got eliminated early and Dean was the last left and eventually got shot. Ryan and Dean made there way to the parking lot to get ready for the next game on Tournament field.
In the first game we had another push up the right side. We would have had an easy win if it wasnt for the reincarnation of the dead players on the other team. After the game Juan told Ryan some tips about how to play the Tournament field. The tips were very helpful and i want to try some new things on that field.
In the second game it was pretty much all reincarnation of the dead players so the game didn't go anywhere. Even Dale reincarnated! Eventually the game ended and we were ready to end the day at Conquest and go home and watch some of the Super Bowl.
Dale had the guts to use his Silver shocker. Before the first game Dale and Ryan took Dale's silver shocker to the chrono to test it out. It worked awesome. There were about four shots straight of 262 fps. All day his silver shocker worked great although some FSDO came during the end of the day.
The teams were fair for change. Juan thinks Dale is my Dad! Thats crazy
We all left at around 4 30! That is probably the latest we have ever stayed.
We all missed Glenn and Chip. We also hope Sang and Steve will be joining us at Conquest soon.
We all used RPS premium with pink fill. It worked great. Nothing can replace Anrachy's thick and bright fill though.
Due to a late start we missed the first game but were able to play the second. Ryan and Dale ran to the left teepee but not for long because our team tore up the right side in about 2 minutes and the game ended.
Next came Vietnam. Dean couldn't play becuse he had some regulator problems. Dale showed Ryan some good spots on the field and decided to use the spots during the game. Off the break Dale and Ryan went down the middle to the spool. Dale watched the right side while Ryan watched the left side. Ryan was able to eliminate a few guys making thier way up the river side.
Both Dale and Ryan could hear someone shooting at the river so Dale decided to run across the left side and get him. He got him but a newb who was laying down right in front of Dale shot Dale. Eventually the newb stood up and Ryan got him. Our team ended up winning.
Now to the second game. Both Ryan and Dale stayed near Juan but the game ended in about 1 minute. I dont even know who won. Dale do you?
River field came after Vietnam. Dean came up with a great idea to go to the middle spool and shoot a lot of paint at the far left bail so the other teams players would be trapped in that postition. It worked! While Dale and Ryan were on the left side they were both able to get a bunch of guys. With Deans ropes of paint going to the bail we Ryan and Dale had to just wait wait for the guys to try to move and had a clear shot of them. Finally the left side was ours ( Thanks Dean for all that shooting to the far left side) and we started to round the corner then Dale and Ryan heard game over. We realized about a minute later that was for another game. Bummer! In a few seconds our game actually ended. We could have won that game!
In the second game Ryan, Dale, and teammates dominated the same side once again. (Dean couldnt play because he was out of air and paint). Dale was able to eliminate some key players and our strong push led to another win for our team.
After a brief rest we were ready for Tournament field. In the first game we had a strong push up the right side. Dale carefully sniped out about seven dudes on the far back right tape side. Chris (Jon's bro) moved ahead of Dale to the center while Dale went to the right side. Chris told Dale the coast was clear so Dale kept pushing down the right side when all of a sudden a bunch of paint flew at Dale from the bamboo island. Dale didn't know that Chris had just been eliminated by the same guy. At this time Ryan didn't know there was guy at the bamboo island so he made a push up the right side too. Ryan was three fourths the way up the right side when about 5 balls flew at him and hit him on his right side. Ryan stood up and started to walk out without holdingn up his gun when Juan said none broke so Ryan jumped back in and the Ref said OK. The female who works the shack was playing and tried to bunker the guy in the bamboo island but got "lit" up. After this happened Ryan tucked the guy in and leaned out then leaned out a little further and waited for the guy to come back out. At the guy back up Ryan was able to shoot the guy in the elbow in a single shot!. With about 1 minute left Ryan made a run for it and got one of the last people left in back teepee . Then time expired. Ryan was totally tired after this game and he had to get a breather in the parking lot before the next game.
In the second game Dean, Dale, and Ryan made a push up the opposite side. Dean was at the right bamboo island while Dale was on the far right and slowly making his way up along with Ryan. Dale made it about all the way up when finally time expired. Dale was exhausted! Ryan tried to run to the parking lot to get Dale some water but all he could do was walk because he too was exhausted. Finally Ryan brought the water and gatorade to Dale. Dale drank it then we all went and rested at the tent.
We rested so long we missed both River games. We then decided to play some Speedball and skip Nam. Dale did good. So did Dean. Ryan was still used to the rec ball style of play. In most of the games Dale and Ryan got eliminated early and Dean was the last left and eventually got shot. Ryan and Dean made there way to the parking lot to get ready for the next game on Tournament field.
In the first game we had another push up the right side. We would have had an easy win if it wasnt for the reincarnation of the dead players on the other team. After the game Juan told Ryan some tips about how to play the Tournament field. The tips were very helpful and i want to try some new things on that field.
In the second game it was pretty much all reincarnation of the dead players so the game didn't go anywhere. Even Dale reincarnated! Eventually the game ended and we were ready to end the day at Conquest and go home and watch some of the Super Bowl.
Dale had the guts to use his Silver shocker. Before the first game Dale and Ryan took Dale's silver shocker to the chrono to test it out. It worked awesome. There were about four shots straight of 262 fps. All day his silver shocker worked great although some FSDO came during the end of the day.
The teams were fair for change. Juan thinks Dale is my Dad! Thats crazy
We all left at around 4 30! That is probably the latest we have ever stayed.
We all missed Glenn and Chip. We also hope Sang and Steve will be joining us at Conquest soon.
