Die amerikanische Tageszeitung „The Oregonian“ hat einen Bericht über Rocky Knuth von dem US Pro-Team Naughty Dogs veröffentlich. Es geht um dem internationalen Ruhm den die Dogs geniessen aber kaum jemand in Oregon davon weiss das ein Team von Paintball Superstars in ihrem Staat lebt:Rocky Knuth is used to celebrity. The fans. The clamoring for autographs. The continual posing for photos. When it comes to paintball, Knuth is an international superstar. But you'd hardly know it in Oregon. The state is home base to Knuth's team, the Naughty Dogs, which is the only professional paintball team in the Northwest. Here, they exist almost in obscurity outside the paintball world. The 14-member Naughty Dogs aren't good just by Northwest standards. Last year, the World Paintball Federation ranked them No. 2 in the world. „If you say this name anywhere in the country, they know who they are,“ says Mike Blasdel, a south-central Washington man who drives his 17-year-old son, Jake, more than four hours to Albany almost every weekend to practice with the Naughty Dogs. „If you're in France or Sweden or Russia, they'll know.“ To understand the world of Knuth and the Naughty Dogs, one must first abandon the stereotype of paintball: men in camouflage outfits stalking one another in the woods. Today, competitive paintball is a sport played by 12 million men, women and children around the world. Players battle on soccer-like fields covered with large inflatable obstructions called bunkers. They use paintball guns that rely on computer chips and can cost hundreds, even thousands, of dollars. Spectators watch from grandstands and, on occasion, on Fox Sports Network. Sponsors pick up the cost of fielding pro teams — $250,000 a year, in the Naughty Dogs' case. The prize money can seem substantial — $35,000 one recent month. But his share of the money still isn't enough for Knuth, 28, to quit his day job as a research-and-development technician at Hewlett-Packard. „We're not doing it for the money,“ Knuth says. „We're doing it for the love of the sport.“ Knuth's face is a fixture in paintball magazines. His voice is heard on Paintball Radio, an Internet radio program. His name appears on numerous Internet paintball forums. Knuth and the rest of the Dogs — men from Eugene, Salem, Dallas, Albany and other Willamette Valley towns, plus three from out of state — began in the mid-1990s by playing together in local tournaments. „We were pretty much obsessed with it,“ says Mike Bates, who quit the team in 1998, when balancing work, a girlfriend and paintball became too difficult. The Naughty Dogs moved up through several levels of competition, going pro last year. Now with members mostly in their late 20s and early 30s, the team continues to be ranked among the top half-dozen teams on Earth. As a further sign of fame, the Naughty Dogs' name and paw-print logo is featured on the new $1,500 Naughty Dogs model of the Bob Long Intimidator paintball gun, one of the most revered guns among serious players. The country's largest paintball distributor, National Paintball Supply, sells out of the guns as soon as they arrive at the New Jersey warehouse, says B.W. Dunn, the company's Northwest regional representative. Last year, the Naughty Dogs thrilled fans when they became the first pro paintball team in history to win four major categories of the sport — professional 10-man, seven-man and five-man paintball and Division 1 X ball, which borrows elements of hockey and other sports to generate faster action and more thrills for game-watchers. „The Naughty Dogs represent the state very well,“ says Camille Baker, marketing director for the National Professional Paintball League. „I would say they are probably the most polished representatives in the sport.“ Much of the reason for the Dogs' success is their work ethic. The team practices nearly every weekend at its home field, Albany Outdoor Paintball, 20 acres of paintball fields and woods owned by Knuth's stepfather and mother, Lee and Sherry Ingram. Three players usually fly in from Seattle, California and Utah to join practices when they extend over both Saturday and Sunday. Practices start with exercises, followed by running-and-shooting target practice, and scrimmaging among themselves and against others. On a recent Sunday, the Naughty Dogs' sidelines were alive with more than two dozen players, many of whom had driven hours for the chance to match up against the Dogs in scrimmages. Four members of the MafiaPaintball.com Factory team drove up from Medford. Eight members of the Nurv team drove down from Portland. Several members of the Naughty Dogs Junior team showed up, as usual, for some action. „The competition doesn't get any better than this,“ Nurv's Kyle Kimmerle, 28, said of the Naughty Dogs. Both MafiaPaintball.com Factory and Nurv are novice-level teams, which means they play two steps below the pro teams. Another Oregon team, Bonebrake Factory, sponsored by Dan Bonebrake Airsmithing in Salem, is amateur level, one step below pro; Dan Bonebrake himself is a former pro player. Knuth almost missed a paintball career altogether. Eight years ago, Lee Ingram introduced Knuth to paintball, after a co-worker introduced the sport to Ingram. „I thought it was crazy,“ says Knuth, who was 20 at the time. He wore headphones and listened to music while playing his first time. „I played with (Lee) against (Rocky), and I shot him,“ Sherry Ingram says of Knuth. „He was the first person I ever shot. It was so fun.“ Knuth thought it was fun, too. As soon as he heard paintball was a competitive sport, Knuth, a high school wrestler and football player, was hooked. Knuth hopes to introduce his 9-year-old son, Dashaun, to paintball when he grows older. Someday, Knuth dreams of their playing on the same team: the famous Naughty Dogs, of course. „Everybody knows who the Naughty Dogs are,“ says Ryan Kuehn, who co-owns Portland Paintball, an indoor field in Northeast Portland, with Sarah Miller. „Everybody.“ Steve Woodward: 503-294-5134; [email protected]
