Posted by: Chow on July 21, 2003 at 12:10:15

Ok, first off, I really like going to the IAO. I live south of Pittsburgh and as far as paintball goes, that tournament is my Mecca. That said, I will never play there again. I will go, ill watch, but stuff, but ill never take the field. My first litle gripe was the reffing. I realize that many teams were very hapy with the refs, but I conject that these teams were those that were acustomed to wiping and playing on, because that was the best way to win this year. To this I blame debora's poor ref recruitment and compensation (she paid them 15 bucks a day and a case of paint). Field 5 and most especially field one were very poor. Second, do you realize how much we are all spending on thet tournament? Is 100 bucks a game, PER TEAM, worth it? I think not. The paint was poor, at least the inbferno was. We did have better sucess after switching over to blaze and hellfire. Next, the players party. What a joke! Does anyone remember the partys of old? The ones ranked among the world's best? This was nothing more that cheap food, awards, and a guy from Doc's Raiders singing James Brown Kareoke(Which was really good, props to him). It is my experience that the IAO is about cutting corners and pinching pennies at every possible turn. Did anyone notice that the campground spots were rented out in 4 person units? Thus, a five man team had to rent to campground slots. For teams with alternates, it was an extra 25$, and for what? The 3 dollars spent on the player's party mel and the 8 spent on the giveaway bag? That bag, which contained a tube from Allen Paintball($1, maybe), a cheap t-shirt ($5), a five minure phone card( hmm, lets see, at ten cents a minute thats.... nothing), and a free magazine. At 700 a team, that seems like a little much to add extra team members, which causes minimal extra cost or hassle to them. For the money, which I estimate is near 1 million, that Debora makes, she certainly works hard to squeeze dry all of us faithful players. Thanks Debbie, you never fail to dissapoint me.

Follow Ups: Now your learning about promotors megabyte 12:51:58 07/25/03 (0) Re: IAO- Worth the hassle? Susan Haynes 10:53:36 07/22/03 (0) Re: IAO- Worth the hassle? newbolt 00:51:46 07/22/03 (0) Re: IAO- Worth the hassle? Jim Colvin 13:54:03 07/21/03 (6) Re: IAO- Worth the hassle? SPLASH 14:11:33 07/22/03 (0) Re: IAO- Worth the hassle? GumbyX 23:24:36 07/21/03 (4) Re: IAO- Worth the hassle? MAJOR ICE 00:26:13 07/22/03 (3) Re: IAO- Worth the hassle? SPLASH 09:57:39 07/23/03 (2) Splash? type something!! TeamPredator99 14:00:09 07/23/03 (1) iao SPLASH 21:17:37 07/23/03 (0) Post a Followup Show your name as: DefaultRealnameBothNickname E-Mail address (eg: joeschmoe@aol.com): Show your e-mail address? DefaultYesNo Your Password: Don't have a password? CLICK HERE - Forgot your password? CLICK HERE Subject: Subject:Message: : Ok, first off, I really like going to the IAO. I live south of Pittsburgh and as far as paintball goes, that tournament is my Mecca. That said, I will never play there again. I will go, ill watch, but stuff, but ill never take the field. My first litle gripe was the reffing. I realize that many teams were very hapy with the refs, but I conject that these teams were those that were acustomed to wiping and playing on, because that was the best way to win this year. To this I blame debora's poor ref recruitment and compensation (she paid them 15 bucks a day and a case of paint). Field 5 and most especially field one were very poor. Second, do you realize how much we are all spending on thet tournament? Is 100 bucks a game, PER TEAM, worth it? I think not. The paint was poor, at least the inbferno was. We did have better sucess after switching over to blaze and hellfire. Next, the players party. What a joke! Does anyone remember the partys of old? The ones ranked among the world's best? This was nothing more that cheap food, awards, and a guy from Doc's Raiders singing James Brown Kareoke(Which was really good, props to him). It is my experience that the IAO is about cutting corners and pinching pennies at every possible turn. Did anyone notice that the campground spots were rented out in 4 person units? Thus, a five man team had to rent to campground slots. For teams with alternates, it was an extra 25$, and for what? The 3 dollars spent on the player's party mel and the 8 spent on the giveaway bag? That bag, which contained a tube from Allen Paintball($1, maybe), a cheap t-shirt ($5), a five minure phone card( hmm, lets see, at ten cents a minute thats.... nothing), and a free magazine. At 700 a team, that seems like a little much to add extra team members, which causes minimal extra cost or hassle to them. For the money, which I estimate is near 1 million, that Debora makes, she certainly works hard to squeeze dry all of us faithful players. Thanks Debbie, you never fail to dissapoint me. [ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ WARPIG Tourney Talk ]