Man carrying toy gun flees police (The Sacramento Bee)

A toy gun and quick feet caused a stir today after a 22-year-old man believed to be carrying a gun took off running as Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies approached him at 8 a.m. near the intersection of Watt Avenue and Auburn Boulevard.

Paintballing - Everything You Ever Need To Know

So, how does this fun sport work? Players can eliminate other players by making sure they are visibly hit with a paintball. As the paintball will break apart on impact, it is easy to see that they have been hit. However, if the paint splatters on a nearby player, it is not another hit. In fact, hits are only valid if they hit the torso, clothes, gear or even something the player is wearing, like a backpack, something they are carrying like their marker.

Paintballing - Everything You Ever Need To Know

Elimination involves the elimination of single or team players. King of the hill is about multiple teams capturing one or multiple bases, but the game is only done when the team has been able to hold onto more than one base for a longer period of time than the other team(s). Speedball engages the use of bunkers whereby whole acres of playing field may be involved and may include natural or manmade formations that allow players to clearly see each other and thus make the game move along faster. In fact, speedball is so well organised that it is played professionally. Stock paintball restricts the game to the old 1980's markers and pump action guns holding a limit of ten paint rounds only. Woodsball allows for more military style play with ambushes, fortifications, assaults and the protection of senior players, leaders or VIPs.

Paintballing has many variations, including capture the flag, elimination, king of the hill, speedball, stock paintball and woodsball. Capture the flag involves capturing the opponent's or opposing teams' flag from the other side of the playing field.

Tournaments in paintball began in 1983 with the National Survival Game National Championship. Today, most paintballing is played at commercial facilities and parks where admission fees are charged. Paintball parks can have varied themes, including historical battlefields, cities, jungles and woods. Referees are involved in all games and instruction is a mandatory part of the game. Major tournaments are usually played at stadiums, military bases and fairgrounds. Insurance is always provided.

Paintball equipment can be different for each level of play or the skill of the players. However, the mandatory equipment includes a mask, paintball marker and paintballs. Gear can run as high as a few thousand dollars or as low as one hundred dollars.

The Image of the National Basketball Association

These guys already wear uniforms, so is it really necessary to give them a dress code? If anything, making them dress fancy will hurt the NBA's image. Showing players who dress casual and listen to music will help relate these people to the fans. But outfitting them in $1000-suits will only intensify our opinions of them as snobby jerks.



And that's not all. NBA players will be required to attend even more sessions of community service, because David Harrison doesn't have enough to do.



It's not like improving the NBA's image is a bad thing. Looking at the stats, the sheer number of fines and suspensions given weekly is astounding. In total money fined from the athletes last year, the MLB collected a total of $170,725 from all fines. The NFL collected roughly $3.3 million. The NBA gathered a whopping $13.9 million from league infractions in 2004. Stern fined Jeff Van Gundy $100K alone when Van Gundy suggested that the games were rigged. Not once since the start of the regular season did the NBA go a 2-week period without a suspension/fine.



Besides their drug policy, the NBA does a good job policing its league, but having the players wear suits won't help the NBA's image at all. The only good thing coming from this new dress code is the humor we'll experience seeing these guys in suits. Could you imagine Allen Iverson, Dirk Nowitski or Yao Ming in a tux? That's some funny stuff.

The Image of the National Basketball Association

You may not like Trading Spaces, but you're going to see a house cleanup anyway if you're an NBA fan. Thanks to Ron Artest and Latrell Sprewell, the NBA's reputation isn't perfect anymore, and David Stern is out to change that. Starting last Thursday, NBA players will be fined if they aren't wearing formal outfits during pregame.



It's true that NBA players have the reputation of being overpaid jerks, but having them put on a Giovanni suit isn't going to change that. Does the NBA think I'll think more of Ron Artest if he dresses like Donald Trump? Remember when Vernon Maxwell, Dennis Rodman and Bill Laimbeer played? Yeah, those guys were the model citizens that these youngsters could learn a thing or two from.



Believe it or not, the war on fashion and leisure has been going on for a while in the NBA. Since last year, players can't listen to walkmans in pregame sessions, something that Vince Carter found out. Chris Gatling was policed a couple years ago when his orange headband didn't match the Cavs team colors.