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Die dritte „Ausgabe“ des P8NT Magazine: Ride or Die Online ist erschienen. Wer mehr über Miami Effect Spieler wissen will die Deckungen putzen oder gerne lesen mag das San Diego Legacy als Trash Kids auf dem Cup arbeiten sollte das Folgende aufmerksam lesen:Welcome to the third installment of Ride or Die on PBStar.com, the on-line version of P8NT Magazine’s News & Rumors page. In the spirit of the long-deceased “Monday Report,” PCRI’s “On The Edge” and “Podbitch,” every Monday night (or Tuesday night, when we're late) we’ll have the latest info on new product releases, tournament results, team changes and industry news, as well as the occasional interview or special feature. Be warned that though we would never lie to you, many of the items discussed here are rumor, speculation and opinion. The following is presented for entertainment purposes only.THE OFF DAYWorld Cup is too long. Eight days is too much for anyone, including players, vendors and media. The extended schedule also made for some ridiculously long waits, with many X-Ball teams playing only one match per day. The weekend to weekend schedule was no doubt meant to accommodate the 200 or so 5-Man teams, but surely there is a better way. Does anyone really want or need an „Off Day?“A BASE OF WHAT?The Dick Clark/Beau Carson camp have repeatedly emphasized the need to create a „fan base“ for the NXL and X-Ball, in order to facilitate future TV deals. One has to wonder if they were still around, three hours after the anti-climatic NXL finals, to see the mob of fans crowding the Dynasty pit after their final victory over the Russian Legion?SMART SWEEPIn addition to Dynasty's win in Pro Division X-Ball, the Philadelphia Americans' NXL first place finish and Detroit Strange's second place NXL finish made for a virtual Smart Parts sweep of the event for the second year in a row. Conspiracy theories aside, no one could have predicted the all-Smart Parts finals for the NXL Play-Offs. Detroit Strange put together an improbable run, upsetting Baltimore Trauma and the Oakland Assassins (the two teams many picked to make it to the final match) while the Philadelphia Americans did what they had to in knocking off the #5, #6 and #7 seed teams to become back to back NXL Champions. Congratulations to all.The unexpected final match-up in the NXL meant that all three Smart Parts teams were on the field for the ESPN 2 filming on Saturday. How's that possible? Well, while the Philadelphia Americans and Detroit Strange were fighting it out for first . . . .YOU KNOW YOU'RE A REAL SPORT WHEN:NXL franchise and Smart Parts sponsored team Miami Effect were drafted as the on-field cleaning crew, wiping down bunkers between points. It was nice to see the NXL finally trying to keep the field clean, but surely someone else could have been brought in to do the job? No word yet as to whether or not Legacy was part of the trash pick-up crew.NO LONGER THE RED (HEADED) STEP-CHILDWhile everyone (even us) will no doubt be making a big deal about the all-Smart Parts finals in the NXL, keep in mid that while Smart Parts legitimately has claim to the Philly Americans and Miami Effect, the Detroit Strange franchise is technically owned by Game Face. Smart Parts is just one of Strange's sponsors, albeit one of their more visible ones. With a limited high-end product line, Game Face has had difficulty in making a connection in the eyes of fans between the team and the company. In the wake of the team's stunning World Cup performance, no doubt everyone will want a piece of them now. It will be interesting to see if Game Face is able to better emphasize its connection to Strange, while Smart Parts will surely try to play up its connection.JEREMY SAIDHow did Jeremy Salm's predictions measure up? He was right on Aftershock vs. New York Xtreme ('Shock in three), but his long-shot prediction of Miami Effect vs. the Philadelphia Americans didn't pan out, nor did his call of the San Diego Legacy over L.A. Ironmen. He was also wrong about Oakland vs. Detroit, but he did nail one of the biggest upsets of the Play-Offs with his prediction that Detroit Strange would win over Baltimore Trauma.NO LONGER THE WILD, WILD WEST?After giving up on trying to regulate „cheater guns“ in the NXL, the PSP decided to crack down on them in 5-man, 10-man and Divisional X-Ball. Some reports have the number of illegal guns pulled at World Cup as high as 80, though that seems a bit much. A quick check of the 10-Man scores shows 10 teams were caught with „illegal“ guns. Players caught with illegal guns were assessed a one game suspension and the team lost all its points for the game in which the player was caught. Keep in mind that in the NPPL all 10 of these teams would have been ejected from the event. What sort of impact would that have had on the final results? First place Rookie team Cartel Kidz and third place Novice team Dominion V3 were both caught with illegal guns . . . .Also keep in mind that in the PSP, all gun checks are done without the use of a „robot“ or any other shot measuring device. It's purely up to the referee to evaluate each gun, based on observation. After numerous complaints, the World Cup refs did finally loosen up a bit on the rule. Only two teams were penalized in the 5-Man semi and quarter final rounds, and no 10-Man teams were penalized beyond the prelims.Any ambitious readers out there want to analyze the 5-Man scores and tell us how many gun penalties there were?THE SHOWFor once, the World Cup trade show delivered. There were a ton of new products on hand, including the DM5, the Proto Matrix, the V-Force Vantage, new Extreme Rage goggles, the entire Dye 2005 product line (which is massive), the entire Empire 2005 product line (also massive), Mantis shoes, the Shocktech Shocker, the partial JT 2005 product line and the new Derder DVD „RoadKill.“ Compare this to the almost non-existent product launches at this year's International Amateur Open and it becomes apparent where the focus, industry wise, is. Just about every paintball site imaginable has images of these products on-line already, so we won't bother you with them here. If you're honestly too lazy to do the work yourself, you can click here.GHETTO FABULOUSWhile some companies (Dye, National) had huge complexes in the main vendor area, a number of smaller vendors were forced to set up in a long row of tents across the road from the main area and were all but out of sight. Quickly dubbed „the Ghetto“ by the vendors who were exiled there, traffic was slight to non-existent. Vendors reported that sales were a fraction of what one would normally expect, and they were vocal about their dissatisfaction with the organizers' decision to separate them from the main event. The tents were set up opposite a row of X-Ball fields, but none of the marquee games were scheduled on them. One Saturday these fields weren't even in use, and many of the vendors didn't bother to set up for the final day.There were quite a few companies confined to the Ghetto, including some big names: WDP, Planet Eclipse, Hybrid, Bunker King, Abstrakt, Bad News Paintball, Nelson, Traumahead, and 720 Video.I know I'm forgetting some of them. If you were a vendor who was confined to the Ghetto at World Cup, email [email protected] with info on any new products you have or photos you took of your booth and we'll get them in an upcoming edition of Ride or Die.THE COOLEST NEW THING THAT DIDN'T DEBUT AT WORLD CUPBehold the new Planet Eclipse Gun. Designed entirely by Jack Wood and the Planet Eclipse team, this is the first scratch-built gun from one of paintball's premiere aftermarket gun houses. Look for it at the San Diego NPPL.Runner Up: The new Jawwbraker DVD (episode 4). Shipping and production problems delayed the Saturday debut, but we've been assured that everything will be delivered in time for the San Diego NPPL event next week.NO FIGHTS, NO SNIPERSYou would actually expect a post-World Cup Ride or Die column to be quite a bit racier than this one, but the truth is this year saw a remarkably calm World Cup that was virtually controversy free. Sorry.SELF PROMOTION IS THE ONLY KINDThe one product launch (or re-launch, as the case may be) that all the on-line news sources have missed so far:Have any good information of your own? News, rumors or gossip? Any news items that you want to hear the real story behind? Email [email protected] more news and rumors, along with in-depth product reviews and comparisons, feature articles, interviews and photo, subscribe to P8NT Magazine at http://www.p8ntmagazine.com.