Paintball: The Sport of Gentlemen
I added a new category to the blog called “Repository of Useless Information.” No, that is not my middle name, although some may think it is. I love trivial facts, and there will be some trivia to be gleaned here before the post is over. I’ll be adding more to the category from time to time, so read it and be prepared for your next party.
In my aimless wanderings, I stumbled by an online paintball store. It made me marginally nostalgic for participating in laser tag birthday parties, as at such parties we were imagining or hoping that we were really playing paintball. We weren’t interested in hunting. We didn’t want to harm animals, we only wanted to hit eachother. Although laser tag gave us that feeling that we were actors in the “Tron” movie of our youth, it lacked the requisite supplies and messiness. We would also argue the fact that the sensors fired by accident and would argue and cajole our way back into the game.
There is no “gray area” with paintball. The paint makes several things irrefutable. Firstly, the fact that you are “out”. Secondly, the Tippmann x7 sniper paintball guns and others firmly indicate to your friends that you are in fact an “army guy,” or a special opps person. With laser tag, half the time is spent arguing because they can’t tell that you were obviously supposed to be Luke Skywalker, and there can only be one Luke!
What is the point of all this?
Did you know that paintball wasn’t just a 1980s invention? Paintball actually originates in the 1940s from the forestry industry. Something was needed to mark trees a little more clearly and efficiently. Thus, the paintball gun was born.
I wonder who the first person was who decided to shoot their buddy to find out if it hurt or not. The recipient of the blow would have probably been the one decide that you need some sort of tactical vest or face protector. Well, maybe that person didn’t think of that, as their thinking cap probably wasn’t ready for the adventure of creativity. They probably were just complaining about how much it stung.
Of course, paintball didn’t make its way into bachelor party outings or corporate events until after 1981. Thus, it causes us to associated the activity with modern life, versus something gentleman and ladies in the middle of the century would have thought about doing after their weekly bridge game.
That’s the historical Tippmann for the day. I mean historical tip, man.
Until Next Time,
It started out as a bottle of beer…
Did you know that if you were scuba diving in the Pacific you could take home a WWII souvenir? No, I am not talking about looking for buried vessels. While you are walking along the beach in your flip flops, or whether you are snorkeling, it is possible you could find black sea glass. Normally, you would find translucent whites and ambers and pastels. Why black and what does this have to do with World War II.
You see, the composition of glass bear bottles was different than today. When the glass broke and was smoothed by the natural erosion of the sand and sea over the course of time, the glass remained black. The composition was only used for a short time, due to different materials made scarce by the War. The material decomposed a lot more rapidly.
So, therefore, a World War II private could have made his choice of light versus dark while on his shore time. He could have told a few tales, and tossed it into the sea for good luck. Then, on the way down, it could have broken on the rocks. Then, about 28 years later, a member of the first club devoted to collecting, The Eastern Coast Breweriana Association (ECBA), could have scooped up the treasure in the club’s 1970 charter year. In fact, they were the first such club ever.
Twenty years after that, perhaps one of the members lost their interest and sold part of their collection at a yard sale. During that time, it was the height of the era of filling glass bowls with seed balls, sea glass, and potpourri, and displaying them on your coffee table. Fully 28 years later than that fateful yard sale, you read this blog post. You think nothing of it until Sunday dinner at Grandma’s house. You spy the sea glass in a glass beaker on her coffee table and suddenly remember this blog post. You ask Grandma if you can have a piece. After telling this tale, you all have a toast to the person who threw the bottle into the sea in the first place.
Which reminds me…
There is a contest that I hear about. It is actually a mobile survey on beer. It is limited to 1500 participants, so you have a 1 in 1500 chance in winning. The winner receives a $300 Amazon gift card. To enter and take the survey, just text the word “beer” to 247365. For contest rules CLICK HERE. You only have until midnight, March 14th, to enter.
What will you do with your gift card (Hint: They sell everything discussed in this posting, except a World War II private. You can always buy a book about them, however.)