Tonight SMP released the first statistics ever available in the airball era of paintball. This is a bit of a monumental achievement as it represents a point that the sport has been striving for, for several years. Now thanks to the talented crew at SMP, it is a reality. But is paintball ready for “fantasy” paintball? Not quite yet. Currently SMP is providing the point number, time on the clock, winner of the point, resulting score, and if a timeout was called in a quick over-view of a match. They are also providing a penalty summary as well as personal stats that include: Player number, name and position; number of games played, a Win/Loss of games played which includes a +/- count; a “G” count (elimination count); Performance percentage (similar to a quarterback rating we assume), and how many times each player was hit off the break.
Many of these categories make sense, however is there really a reason why we must insist on calling the elimination count “G’s” ? If the goal of these statistics are to help bring paintball to the masses, we have got to drop some of the paintball vernacular; and with eliminations being such a crucial part of our sport, why not simply call them what they are – eliminations. No need to hide important information.
One thing that I would love to see SMP incorporate is which players played what point or just more point by point analysis. It is great that we are now able to see how many kills a player got a game, and if they got shot off the break (or not), but what does it matter if we can not see which points these things happened during. I am sure this is something they are working on, but for as much work as they put into the game summaries already, I do not understand why they would not include point analysis. You have got to put the statistics into perspective for them to mean anything.
However, these are paintball statistics and it is a step in the right direction for all involved. I am especially excited to see what the numbers can reveal over an entire season, as well as some other information that I wont disclose quite yet (be on the lookout for some really neat articles to come soon though!) You can check out the current crop of statistics at PaintballAccess.com, click “Stats” and then select the game you wish to view.
PSP/PaintballAccess.com Stat Sheet:
Stat sheet is copyright PSP/PaintballAccess.com. Used for informational purposes.
Sorry to break the “first ever” bubble, but statistics for professional paintball were first published in 1990 on a National basis by the NPSRS, which changed its name to the4 World Paintball Federation a year later and eventually became part of the first incarnation of the NPPL.
The stats were prepared by Steve Davidson (now with 68Caliber.com) and were published by every single print publication then serving the industry, a feat never repeated again.
WPF also produced a quarterly print magazine containing all stats for all teams (amateur and pro).
It’s good that stats are coming back, but they were first introed in 1990 and were a lot more comprehensive than what is being published currently.
can you expand on ‘more comprehensive’?
Steve,
Excuse me as I bow to your knowledge of the game. We will make an editorial mark to correct.
-Lawrence
That’s awesome, Steve!! I’d be interested in learning more about that history myself like what kind of stats, exactly?! Thanks for sharing and hope to see you soon!!!