Link: http://www.bullrun.com/

Well, once again I was watching Bullrun and once again, paintball markers played a part on the show. What do they have a contract with Tippmann to get so much airtime for their 98 Customs? This time the contestants had to navigate a dirt course and shoot a couple of stationary targets with the markers along the way.

I think the bus takedown was better.

Link: http://www.bullrun.com/

Okay, so I admit I watch reality TV shows. Big deal. However it seems like lately the reality TV show is needing to make up on it's paintball quota.

Last week it was Bull Run. If you haven't seen this show here is the rundown. 12 teams of 2 participate in a 4,000 mile rally with their cars. The cars, naturally, are not your normal, everyday vehicles and neither are the teams your normal, everyday people. This season, there is a Ferrari 430 Spider, a 2008(?) Shelby Mustang, a Lexus is250, a Mitsubishi Evo, a 1971 Panterra, a 1970 Dodge Dart, a 2002 Porsche 911 C4S, a 2001 Corvette (with a very Strange but very cool team headed by a guy named Elvis), a 2007 Avalanche, a Pontiac Solstice (my choice as I own a Pontiac and use to have a Kappa platform Sky), a 1967 VW Bus, and a sweet looking 1969 Camaro. The teams have to go from point A to point B and usually have to hit a checkpoint or two along the way to make things interesting. First team there wins...

...but there's a catch. The last two teams to make it to the end of the leg get thrown into an elemination challenge. After all, what's a reality show without an elimination challenge. Also, the first place team then gets to pick a third team from the remaining teams to also be in the elimination challenge. Well, last week in episode one of the new season, the challenge was called Bus Takedown. Team Porsche and Team Shelby were the last two to the finish and Team Solstice who finished first decided to throw Team Ferrari into the mix.

Well here is how the challenge went down. The event took place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Bus would pass a certain point and that was the cue for the driver to take off in persuit. The driver first had to pull up on the left side of the bus and the navigator, equipped with a Tippman 98 it looked like, had to shoot a target on that side of the bus. Then the driver had to break, move around behind the bus, and then run up and hit a tube of glass that was dangling from the right side of the bus. Once hit, the team had to repeat these feats two more times at which point the clock would stop. The team who completed it in the fastest time won.

Now I don't know if the bus shot back or the people in the cars just never had held a gun, paintball or otherwise, before because each team came back to the pits with the passenger's side windshield splattered with orange paint hits.

The second Paintball reference was on Sober House. I'm not going to get into it too much but imagine a bunch of celebrity recovering addicts and you get the idea. Well, they went to play paintball in the last episode at Paintball USA which, I believe, is up by Magic Mountain here in Los Angeles. Well, at one point one of the Celebrities, Amber Smith a former model, gets hit in the neck and one too many times. She responds by throwing off her mask in the middle of play. Well, the refs were on it and in the background heard clear as day even over the player's yelling, you could hear the ref "GET THOSE GOGGLES BACK ON!!!" Good job ref!!! It was an interesting episode and showed what rec paintball is about but the attitude of some of the people playing it from the show was attrocious. Hope they see how rediculous they look on the show behaving like that.

I don't have a real links page on this site just...well...because I don't feel like having one. So I figured that since I have a blog now why not put down a few links here so that if someone had an overwhelming desire to figure out some sites I think are important they can. Why someone would ever need to do that I have no idea but what the heck, I need to put something up here now and again, right?

A5 Owners Group - Great site for those of you with a Tippmann A5. Even if you don't own one this is a great resource for Woodsball players and scenario people as that is the principle focus of the forum.

MilSim Empire - If you are into MilSim style play this is THE place for you. Tanks, LAWs, SAWs, and just about anything else you can think of can be found here. Want to see some INCREADIBLE modifications? Check out the Marker of the Month!

Tippmann - Great forum and what can you say...everyone has owned a Tippmann at one point in time or another.

Paintball Nation - The Nation. If it is happening in paintball they are talking about it on the Nation. Mainly speedball oriented and the crowd is a bit young but the information that can be found over there is just second to none. Just be forwarned that the forum they have runs on Drama 2.0.

Paintball Photography - Gary Baum has had his work featured on every major paintball magazine in the country. He covers events all over the world but, lucky me, he is based in Southern California and is always on hand for the local events. Planning on attending a paintball event and would love to have an awsome shot of you playing taken by Gary? Well, just sign up on his forum and put in a request. You may be on the next cover of your favorite paintball mag!

PBLive! - Oh, if you haven't sat in on a live broadcast with Ryan "the Mighty" then you don't know what you're missing. Top scenario producers, manufacturers, and anyone who is anyone in the paintball community have been featured and interviewed on Ryan's show. The "live" show is on Wednesday nights at 7 pm PST (that's West Coast time, fyi...) and podcasts of past shows are available as well.

SoCal Ghosts - Hey, what's the use of having your own website and blog if you can't pimp your hommies? SoCal Ghosts are a Southern California (shocker, I know...) Scenario paintball team that yours truely has had the pleasure of joining recently. If you are the type that plays with honor, is all about having fun no matter how absured it may be, and are into helping your local community then the Ghosts are your kind of paintball players.

Ariakon - Ariakon seems to be DOA as of late but this is the forum where this site and these guides got their start so I have to say something about them. A milsim company that manufactures M4, MP5 and pistol style paintball markers Ariakon use to be a fairly major player in the MilSim business.

Warsensor - This forum is even more dead than the Ariakon forums but they still produce a good product. I have two markers from them (the WS-66 and then when the name changed, the MilTec MT-66) and can't say enough about their quality. Now they focus more on MilSim/Scenario supplies such as tactical vests and equipment bags but their products are still top notch and worth checking out if your in the market for new tactical gear.

Well, these are just a few for now and they are in no particular order. I may add to this...or I may just leave you to your own devices because if you can't find a reference to it from one of these sites it may not exist.