2004 PSP Mardi Gras Open
By John Amodea

The first major event was finally here and I couldn't have been more ready. After almost four months off, tournament paintball made a splash in New Orleans…literally. What used to be sunny and warm New Orleans weather has somehow turned to cold and rain the past two Mardi Gras Open (MGO) events. This year the rains came and almost washed away the event entirely. Finishing the event was only possible because of the work of Lane Wright, Rosey (Bob Rose), "Boogie, and Lawrence "LD" Dickerson, who each went above and beyond the call of duty getting the fields in playable (barely) condition. They each (and others) worked tirelessly before and after the games each day moving tons of dirt and sand and digging draining ditches, both by hand and using Bobcats.

This is the part of the article where I usually criticize the promoters after producing a less than adequate tournament. However, an announcement made at the MGO made that a moot point.

Steve "Rab" Rabackoff, the MGO's original promoter of the event, announced that he has bought the event back from the PSP and plans to either move the event indoors at the Alario Center or move it downtown to a different indoor venue. Rab also announced that he already has 10 motorcycles as prizes for next year's event. "It's killing me watching what happened to this event. I want to bring it back to its glory days," Rab told me.

Thursday - Day One
With the pro, amateur, novice and rookie five-man events scheduled for Friday through Sunday, only the NXL and a One-on-One Top Gun competition were scheduled for Thursday. Illya Shulkin took first place in the Top Gun in a very small field of players.
Detroit WHO? Detroit Strange, that is….
From Bea Youngs
What happened to Detroit Thunder? According to Blake Pruitt, former Detroit Thunder player, "It was a big surprise. I thought we had a team. Tim, Jason, L.P; they really tried their best to keep it together," said Pruitt. But to their dismay, time ran out and Crossman already made the decision to go with Strange whose new name is now Detroit Strange.
What are the former Detroit Thunder players doing now? For Pruitt, he's happily made the transition to Aftershock, and so did Paul McCord aka "LP." Only a few days before Mardi Gras Open, they contacted them to come and play on the team just shortly after they found out that Detroit Thunder was no more. All Americans picked up Tim Mentresser and Jason Trosen is with Baltimore Trauma.

NXL Thursday

Miami Effect squared off and won 9-8 against the LA Ironmen, who have undergone a complete makeover starting with their new coach/captain Shane "Shaner" Pestana in the first game of the event. Shane was a member of the Ironmen back in their heyday with Bob Long (Oakland Assassins) and Daryl Trent, who now coaches the Philly Americans. When I asked Shane about the team's new roster he told me, "We have two 16 year-olds and only three players over the age of 19 on our roster. We're going to get better and better with each game, but we are already better than we were last year." The second game featured a tough battle between the Oakland Assassins and Baltimore Trauma. The Assassins held on to win that game 10-9. Nick Matthews of Trauma has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing chemo treatments, and in a show of unity, the entire team either shaved their heads or were sporting Mohawks at the event. We wish Nick the best.

In their first NXL game ever, Team Strange, now known as Detroit Strange, tied the Philly Americans 8-8. Strange is being coached by long time Rage player Tony Mineo (who looks like Doug Flutie's twin brother). In a very late 5 PM game, New York Xtreme (NYX) beat Chicago Aftershock 7-6. Completing what felt like a family reunion, Gary Noblet (the best back player ever) was on hand to coach 'Shock. He later told me he would probably coach the team throughout the entire 2004 season.

It's All About the Coaching

NXL teams seem to be putting a premium on coaching this year, with many former star players doing the sideline shouting at the MGO. Take a look at who coached the eight teams…

Team Coach
Aftershock Gary Noblet
NYX Nicky Cuba/Gary Shows
Assassins Bob Long
Americans Daryl Trent
Strange Tony Mineo
Miami Effect Greg Pozzi
Ironmen Shane Pestana
Trauma Rotating player coach
Legacy is the Ninth NXL Team??

A rumor circulating the Alario Center grounds on Thursday had Gary Shows and his Legacy team buying into the NXL and taking a ninth team spot. On Sunday the rumor was confirmed and Legacy will field an NXL team for the PSP Pomona, California tournament in March. Legacy you ask? Not the Naughty Dogs, Dynasty, TonTons, or Russian Legion? While Legacy is not nearly the caliber team of the four mentioned above, the team's roster will likely change dramatically with the NXL news. Word is Legacy will hold open tryouts and have already picked up several "star" players from other teams.

Friday - Day Two
NXL - Friday
The first game of the day featured Chicago Aftershock versus Baltimore Trauma, with both teams looking for their first win of the season. Unfortunately for 'Shock, they lost their second straight one-point game 9-8. Next up was Detroit Strange versus the LA Ironmen and with it came the first blowout of the 2004 NXL season. Strange took that game 13-6. NYX continued their aggressive and winning play defeating last year's champs the Philly Americans 8-7. Oakland then beat Chicago by a single point keeping 'Shock 0-for-the-season with three one-point losses. The last game of the day was another great on-pointer as Miami edged out Strange 9-8.
An interesting note: Tyler Harmon became the youngest professional player in history at 14 years of age Friday when he made his debut with the Oakland Assassins. All he did was shoot Ryan Williams, one of the game's best players ten seconds into his first pro game. The game's previous youngest pro play was Justin of Team Image, who played pro at age 15.

The Five-Man - Friday
The four-team pro division included the Naughty Dogs, Legacy, GodSpeed, and Ferg's Paintball. The 'Dogs got out to a big lead by the end of Friday, winning all four of their games. Legacy and GodSpeed lost two of their first four and Ferg's Paintball won only one.

Evil Odyssey was the only Amateur team of the seven to win their first three games and only Evil and Diesel/Shocktech won their first two. With the muddy fields play was slowed down on Friday and teams were reluctant to use the middle of the fields where the water was at its deepest.

Amazingly only three novice teams managed to win their first three games - Push, Momma's Boys and Surge (they won all of their first day's games). Blackout Kids played great in the rookie bracket winning all of their day-one games, as did the Pan Handle All Stars, Granite and Ratco.

Saturday - Day Three
All night Friday rain drenched the playing fields. Although the five-man teams played a full schedule, the NXL teams decided not to play. One of the PSP "execs" told me, "These NXL teams are spoiled brats. We're not playing today because THEY decided they didn't want to get wet....babies."
Five-Man - Saturday

By the end of the day on Saturday the Naughty Dogs looked like the team to beat in the pro division with eight straight dominating maxes. Their only tough game came against Legacy as the game came down to a one-on-one. The rest of the pro division wasn't a factor on Saturday. No amateur team won more than two games on Saturday either and none looked like they should be playing amateur ball.
The novice bracket was very competitive as Diesel, Momma's Boys and Push all finished with seven or more wins in their eight prelim games. Likewise Blackout Kids, Fuel, and Granite each won seven or more rookie games.

Sunday - Day Four
NXL - Sunday
After working on the fields all night and early in the morning, NXL games continued Sunday with three games on the schedule. The first game, Miami versus NYX was a classic. This game was a back and fourth battle from the first second to the last with Miami's "Johnny Paintball" hanging the game-winning flag with two seconds remaining in the game. "This was the hardest game I've ever played in. They [NYX] battled us for every single point in the game. I'm just glad it's over and we won," Chris Lasoya told me after the game.
That game was a tough act to follow but LA and Baltimore did just that. This was another one-point classic battle with the Ironmen (Ironmen Kids?) getting their first NXL win of the season 10-9. With four minutes left in this game the Ironmen had a two point lead, but a crucial five minute penalty gave Trauma some life. Playing five on four for the remainder of the game Trauma took the next two points and tied the game. Somehow the Ironmen fought back and won the final point even playing with only four players. Like the game before it, the Ironmen hung the final flag with three seconds left on the clock.

The NXL last game of the day pitted the two top teams of 2003 - the Assassins versus the Americans. During the pre-game warm-ups the Americans we talking about how they hate the Assassins. On the other side of the field the Assassins were yelling "FSP." If you don't get that, the last two letters stand for Smart Parts….
The early part of the game was close. The Assassins were up one point in the second half when the Americans pulled away and won 8-5, continuing their dominance over a very strong team.

Five-Man - Sunday
Only the rookie and novice brackets played semifinals in this event as the amateur and pro brackets were too small to warrant playing the extra games.

In the pro finals the Naughty Dogs were the clear favorites having won all eight of their preliminary round games. In a two-minute final round game Legacy gave the spectators and the 'Dogs a wakeup call, handing the Dogs their first loss. Legacy went on to win their remaining two games and took home the first place trophy, leaving the 'Dogs only second place.

The Amateur final round consisted of Blackout, Diesel, Doc's Raiders and Evil - all of whom were playing very well. Blackout took two of three, which was enough for first place. The novice and rookie winners were Momma's Boys and Blackout Kids respectively.

The 2004 Mardi Gras Open (referred to as the Muddy Gras Open) was not a great event, but there was some great ball played, some very interesting news, and it was the first event of the year. I'm sure the rest of the season will be dryer and warmer.