I was a little disappointed in the vendors at the tournament . Not the people that showed up , they were terrific . Especially FreeFlow , their new tent was incredible ! No , I was a little disappointed that more vendors didn ’ t come . It felt weird to have that many players and not have gear stores . The Ally Remembered Booth had some MacDev and Virtue gear there . We sold some markers , a few pod packs and such but we didn ’ t bring a lot with us . There were customers looking for more .
The ICC however isn ’ t about stuff . It ’ s about people and competition and in that department it excelled . I think that the thing nobody ever talks about with regards to the ICC is how the players hang out between games . At NXL events the big teams have private tents and such but here … people just flop everywhere . In the wooded areas surrounding the fields and vendors , in the parking lots , and places like that . Everyone is approachable . ( Just remember that this IS a tournament and many teams do not like being interrupted when focusing before a match ).
There were so many great moments at the ICC . Some of my favorite moments were walking with Tom Cole and having some random person shout how much they loved my podcast . Tom turned and looked at me , I just smiled . My second favorite moment was having Rocky Cagnoni grab my arm and say come with him . When I asked what ’ s up , he replied “ I gotta get somewhere and if I ’ m with you , people won ’ t talk to me as much .” My response was “ DUDE ! You are using my like hot chicks use their ugly male friends to avoid stalkers !” We laughed A LOT ! Meeting Nicky Cuba finally was just awesome and getting to meet Rich Telford face to face .
My absolute favorite moment though had to be getting to spend some time with Robert “ Rosie ” Rose . Rosie and I have crossed paths a few times back in the late 90s but we never knew each other . There are very few people that I respect as much as Rosie . The man just does his thing and he ’ s honest to a fault . He ’ s a typical “ passionate ” New Yorker which means he WILL let you know exactly how he ’ s feeling in the best and worst possible ways and I love that . Regardless , in paintball , there are some people that you just click with . If you have played this sport for any length of time , you know exactly what I mean . www . paintball . media
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