Off Season

Hey guys,

So it's finally come, the off season. It was a long tough season, but we grinded through it. I wouldn't change anything. Now, it's time to enjoy the holidays. I took the weekend after SD off and this weekend off because I was back in boston for the holidays. I needed to heal a bit too....Now comes the personal training and the long wait for next season. Until then, I'm going home again for christmas, finishing my semester of school, then going to germany to hang out with Comin' At Ya', my millenium team. Can't wait. happy holidays!

Ironmen. Champions.

Fishing

by Mike Paxson
After World Cup, Mr. U and I drove to Tampa to go fishing with Rocky. The weather was cool and the wind was blowin', but we still caught fish. Tomorrow, we catch more fish with Nicky. Next up: Travel to San Diego for the Super 7. See you in SD. I've got pics up at my website of World Cup.

WORLD CHAMPIONS 2008!

Getting ready for World Cup!

Hey guys, I unfortunatly did not make it out to the Paris event, but i have been at home training for one thing, and that is to Win World Cup. World Cup is the biggest event of the year, it is where all the teams go to fight for one thing, to be crowned World Champions. I know from personal experience how good this feeling is and want to experience it again with my brothers. For the past few weeks I have been putting myself through a hell week type mini training camp. Ill give you the rundown

8:00 am - I get up and make a heart healthy breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs with whole wheat toast. 

9:30 am - I go for a run outdoors, I have many hills by my house so i run sprints as fast as i can up the hill then jog back down, I do this to the point of exhaustion knowing that at World Cup I will be ready for every possible situation. 

4:30 pm - Its time to train again and i kick this off by going to one of my favorite spots, LA Fitness. Depending on what day it is i will either workout my upper or lower body, then follow it up by swimming laps in the pool. Now that i am exhausted it is time to start the real training. 

6:00 pm - I head over to my other favorite spot across the street where i take my Mixed Martial Art's class. This really kicks my but especially after training all day and already being tired but again the only thing in my head is winning world cup. Keep in mind this has only been my routine for the past few weeks and will stop once Cup is over, then i will go back to my one a day workouts which are plently. Anyway we usually start out with the jump rope, anyone who has never used a jump rope and thinks it is easy, think again. We get in a good cardio, then its time to fight. I have much more respect for those guys who fight UFC now, the endurance you need to last a full round is incredible, anyway once i finish the class im ready to pass out. I go home, dream about World Cup, then repeat the next day. 

This is my routine during the week, minus school. On the weekends i have been training out at velocity paintball and was lucky enough to wear the new i4 goggles. Dye has really outdone themselves this year, i have been shooting a DM9 for a while now and have to say it is nothing less than amazing. To be honest im really exited for World Cup for another reason, and that is to wear all the new gear. Ive seen most of it and must say it looks great. 

P.S: Scott tries to copy my workout.. hard. 

Paris

Just got back monday night from my long journey to paris! It was an adventure being in such a well known place like Disneyland Paris, but it was a great event. B-short's Nexus won the pro division, and my team, Offenback Comin' At Ya took 3rd in the semi-pro division. That bumped us into 3rd for the season, and we're hoping to get an invitation to the pro division for next year! I also got to wear the new I4 dye goggles and absolutely loved them! they look great and are very easy to wear. Now I'm just counting down the days until World Cup! Hope to see everyone there!

Greg

Trip to Paris

Hi everyone, just got back from Paris for the Millennium event. It was pretty cool to be in Paris for paintball, especially since I've never been there before. But It's always good to be home, especially after an 11 hour flight. I was guest staring with a team from Portugal called the Lisbon Titans. Great group of guys. We didn't do to hot this event but it was still a good experience. This event had more American players than any European event I've been to, which made it pretty fun for all of us. Half of the Ironmen roster was out there and a few dye employes from America as well.
I was pretty excited to use my new I4 goglges that I just received last week. I got to use them In our last practice against Dynasty and I felt that these are not just Dyes best goggles made but paintballs best goggles to this day. These goggle are the most comfortable goggles I have ever worn, they are supper light and have a lens that is much larger to give you maximum field vision. But my favorite part is that they look really cool, and we all know that every kid on the field wants to look his best!
In Paris all I could think about was whats to come next week, WORLD CUP!!! The largest tournament of the year. I have been training harder then ever these last couple months to be in tip top shape for this. This last week at home before cup is going to be nothing but exercising twice a day and strict eating regiment of only the healthiest foods. (o ya and a little bit of school) I want to win this tournament more then anything, and until we do its going to be on my mind every minute.

Scott Kemp
Team Ironmen

Hey everyone, Just settling down from a long flight and a hectic last
event in Paris.
We had a great season but let it slip through the cracks during this
last event.
The one up side is I did get to use the new I4 goggles which I love.
They are now my favorite goggle system out on the market, they are
light, comfortable, sleek, and the new lens and vision capability is
unreal. I hope you guys all get a chance to try them on and see why I
like them so much.
One week until World Cup, going to have a serious week of training to
get ready for capturing that NXL title again, but I look forward to
seeing some of you there and using all the rest of the 09 Dye gear.
Take care
Ollie

Just in time for Hurricane Ike

By Mike Paxson
Never in the history of any major paintball event have they ever canceled an event. Initially, I argued that they would never even consider canceling it because of issues like players having to cancel flights, car rentals, and hotel reservations, then refunding entries, on top of the big loss of money that the NPPL would have to suffer without, but seeing what Ike left behind, it was the best decision for them to cancel. What's worse? Having an event that sucks with extra issues like no power, bad traffic (because of no power), no water, low water pressure, or contaminated water, OR just canceling an event and blaming it on extremely bad weather?


The morning after Ike, we were one of the lucky few to still have power. We (Bea and I) stayed with Diego from Thursday, Sept. 11, before Ike came (Saturday night) all the way until Sept 23rd. Over 2.1 million customers of the local electric company were said to have no power out of the total customer base of 2.9 million.


We were also lucky to all have taken showers before the water pressure dropped, but later that same day, the water pressure for us returned. However, water contamination was a concern, so they issued a boil-water warning.


Diego, who came from Brazil four years ago, didn't have his windows covered with board nor did he have any kind of coverage, for that matter. So, Bea kept on asking, "Should we go to Tank's or to John and Matt's since they have their windows boarded up?" Diego was all, "Nah. We'll be fine." Sure enough, Tank, John, and Matt, two different households, were both without power, but not us! We woke up to the air-conditioning, which was blasting at 68 degrees!


Tank, by the way, is that big guy that worked for Archon and then worked for Procaps after the merger? Well, now Tank just got released from Procaps. I have a feeling, though, Tank wasn't surprised. Procaps just let go of Craig Miller, too, someone who's been with the Draxxus side of Procaps for a very long time. As for who John and Matt Jackson are, John helps manage a paintball store in Houston, and Matt aka "Fuzzy" is real close to playing pro. Both the brothers also formed the team Archon Army a few years back, but is no longer in the circuit. They both still actively play, though, and we got a chance to play with them over the weekend when the NPPL Houston event was supposed to take place. (Picture by Matt Nelson: At Tank's Paintball in Katy, TX)


For the next 5 days after Ike, there was at least a 2-hour wait to get gas. Some gas stations were running out of gas, making it more difficult for people to get it. Grocery stores were out of power, too, and some corner gas stations were trying to do their best to at least sell dry goods. Even from the day that I left for San Diego for a DYE photo shoot, Houston still looked like a quasi-ghost town - stores were still closed because of a lack of electricity. The traffic lights, too, were still out at 4-way intersections, making it really difficult to get around.


Most of the hotels were out of electricity, so even if the NPPL event still would have gone on as planned, teams would've had to scramble to find a place to lay and bathe. The driving situation to and from the venue would've been a herendous experience, too, but because FEMA was taking up the parking lots at Reliant Stadium. Most of the restaurants in the area were closed, as well. And anyway, can you imagine us having a paintball event during a time when everything else in the city was basically out of comission? We probably would've had no real local spectators who had money to spend for vendors to sell to, either.


So, even though I thought they never would've done it, I'm in full support of the NPPL canceling the event. I'm sure that no one lost more money on the event canceling than the NPPL and Pacific Paintball. I heard people were complaining about having to pay a change fee of anywhere between $75 to $300 (international travelers). Well, I lost just as much, if not more, but bitching about it does me no good. We stayed an extra weekend to play at Tank's Paintball in Texas (like I mentioned earlier), and held a clinic on Saturday for real cheap and played along side and against Houston locals on Sunday.


I'm glad I went to Houston and even got to meet old friends, and be introduced to new ones, all because of Ike. Sucks we didn't get to compete, but now we can save it for World Cup and San Diego. Oh, and finally, the hurricane winds were similar to what we went through in Florida when Fay came through the Sunshine State. We were west of the City of Houston. The areas to get it the worst were east and south (Galveston) of Houston. Hopefully they'll get back on their feet soon. Just be glad you didn't have to suffer the loss that the people of Galveston did.


See you at Cup. I'm in Florida now until Disney's Wide World of Sports opens its grounds up to us. If you want something to do in December, and feel charitable, it'd be great to see you at the Lauren's Hope event at the Carolina Paintball Park in North Carolina. Fly into Charlotte and play 3-man PUMP X-Ball, a race to 3 - yes, an X-Ball event using pump guns.

Blog quote for Johnny Perchak

New I4 goggles look Rad! Cant wait to get a pair at World Cup!

Johnny Perchak

CSP Chile 9/5-9/9

Last week Xalo and I traveled down to Santiago Chile for the 3rd leg of the CSP South American series. It was a quick 4-day trip that ended up being one of the best trips ever.
We got in to Santiago Friday morning. It’s always a good sign when you make it to your final destination and you have all your bags. Even though some guy scammed Xalo and I going through customs, and we had no idea where we were going once we got our car, we were still excited about the trip. I mean they didn’t loose our bags we were set.
We head outside to get our rental car and it starts raining. The guy brings the car around and it’s making some loud noise. The guy assures us it’s nothing to worry about; yeah right he’s not the one in a foreign country. Here’s a quick run down on the car. It’s a tiny little Nissan that’s about 9 years old with 90 thousand miles on it, parking break light won’t go off, the wipers squeegee the wind shield about as good as a hair brush, and the gas gauge doesn't work. Safety first! Xalo and I decide, screw it, we are there for an adventure and this car is defiantly going to make the trip interesting. We load up and take off
Xalo and I somehow find our way to the hotel, if you are ever in Santiago and need room check out the Atton El Bosque, I highly recommend it. At the Hotel we meet up with the Jungle Boys, Xalo’s old team from Brazil, and the team we are playing with at this event.
Later that afternoon Xalo and I headed to the field and hold a short Pro school. It was pretty cool because the promoter set it up so that the school was included in the regular tournament entrance fee. The best part was that I had a personal translator so the class could understand me.
The next two days were a blur, full of playing paintball, fixing guns and meeting some really great people. There was a good amount of young players; it’s always good to see paintball growing. Quick shout out to Radio ramping, you guys are awesome. At night we sampled the traditional Chile food, and checked out the city. Over all we laid low. Last thing we wanted to do is show up tired or hung over and throw away a tournament.
Sunday afternoon we ended up playing the Mercenarios (Ryan’s team) in the finals. It was a best of 3 finals format, and we ended up beating them in two games. They made it a little easy on us by getting a one-for-one in the second game. Either way it’s always fun to win a tournament.
After winning the event Xalo and I thought we were done playing for the weekend, instead a bunch of the kids at the event decided to challenge Xalo, Ryan, and I to a match. It was a blast, 9 little three-foot tall kids on the three of us. We made short work of them the first game, but the second game didn’t go so well and the kids beat us down, I still think they cheated.
Ok, so I said this was one of the best trips ever. Now it’s always a real good thing to win an event, but to be honest winning this event isn’t quite equal to winning world cup, so it wasn’t the win that made this trip so cool.
The trip really started getting good Sunday night after the event. South Americans are fanatical about their soccer, and Xalo being full blooded, born and raised Brazilian, is no exception. It turn out Brazil’s national soccer team was in town to play Chile. Of course nothing is stopping Xalo and the Jungle Boys from going to the game and supporting their team.
We show up outside the stadium and it’s like being in war zone. There are no streetlights; the streets have been blocked off so there are not even headlights from passing cars. The area is barren, worn down to dirt and concrete. Anything trying to grow has been trampled by the masses. In the shadows pass large crowds waving Chile flags and chanting in Spanish about death to Brazil. I can understand most of their chants not because I speak Spanish, but because I took the time to learn all the REAL bad words and phrases in high school. The only light outside the stadium is from the spotlights of two large military Helicopters hovering over the crowds. The Police are in full riot gear; many of them on horse back, trying to keep the crowds under control. Suddenly wearing a bright yellow Brazil jersey seems like an extremely bad idea. I quickly zip my jacket up.
Once we get inside we are separated for the crowd and quarantined, for our protection, in a small section of the bleachers with other Brazil fans guarded by the police. We sit down just in time for the opening ceremonies. I’ve been to a few ball games in the states like most of us have so I don’t think to take notice of the fans in the stadium. But as soon as they started announcing the Chile players and playing the Chile national anthem, the fans made themselves known. The entire stadium erupted, chanting and singing in unison. 62,000 hard core Chile fans. It was deafening! I have never seen or heard anything like this it was unbelievable. That’s also the time I realized that the small section of Brazil fans that we were sitting with were the only Brazil fans. We found out latter About 1,500 Brazil fans were at the game most of them were bussed in and out of the stadium under police escort for safety.
So it’s 1,500 against 62,000 OK no problem. Brazil proceeds to put on a clinic for the Chile team and their fans.
Final score: 3-0 Brazil.
As the last minutes tick off the game clock Xalo, the Jungle Boys, and the rest of the Brazil crowd are all pumped up and chanting back at the Chile losers. While I sit there and wonder how we are going to make it through the war zone outside the stadium alive, especially now with 62,000 angry Chile fans roaming the streets. I quickly zip my jacket back up. Luckily we didn’t have to worry about this. About 5 minutes before the game ended the Police showed up and would not let anyone leave our section. We were detained for over an hour until the stadium and streets were emptied of Chile fans.
This was one of the coolest experiences ever. The US thinks we have sports fans but we’ve got nothing on South America soccer fans.
By the time we got back to the hotel it was almost Midnight. We got a quick bite to eat and crashed out. We wanted to be ready; we had big plans for tomorrow.
I have decided that Xalo is the ultimate South American tour guide. The plan Monday morning was to head up to the top of the Andes Mountains and do some snowboarding.
We got up at 7am, met up with Ryan Greenspan, and one of Xalo’s Dealers from Peru, and headed for the slopes. I don’t think the road trip could be beat. From down town Santiago to a secluded ski resort at 10,000 feet in less then 1 1/2 hours. What such a treat to be boarding the first week of September, in Chile no less. There was more snow on the mountain then you could ski in a week, and the weather conditions were about perfect. Ryan and Xalo are pretty good. I on the other hand am horrible and spent most of the day hurting myself. At the end of the day Ryan and I packed up and headed for the airport. Xalo and the Jungle boys were lucky enough to have another day of skiing planned.
This was one of the best trips ever. Even the rental car didn’t give us problems. I can’t say enough about how well we were taken care of by the CSP and everyone else in Chile. Everyone we met was friendly, laid back and had endless patience for my gringo butt, and my complete ignorance of the Spanish language.