Every Monday night starting April 10th at 10PM, ESPN2 will air coverage of the 2005 National Professional Paintball League's (NPPL) U.S. Paintball Championships held at Miami's Bicentennial Park.

From exciting duels in the snake to long-range sniping, ESPN2 captures the fast-paced action. Featuring a $50,000 cash prize, the largest prize in NPPL history, the round robin tournament features eight of the world's best professional paintball teams:

- Chicago Evil Factory, a tough group of vets led by John Rathbun;
- London Tigers, Paul Cain's surprise entry;
- New England Hurricanes; the youngest pro team in paintball today;
- OC Bushwackers, a paintball staple;
- Portland Naughty Dogs, the tournament's #1 seed, captained by Rocky Knuth;
- Sacramento XSV, Rich Telford's squad and the favorite of many;
- San Diego Dynasty, three-time defending champs;
- Stockholm Joy, the most successful European team in the league.

Each seven-person team will try to capture the other's flag, without losing all its troops, in a format sometimes called "Speedball". The top 4 teams from the best of three match-ups move on to the semi-finals.

only the 2005 events? Dosn't espn 1 allready air some nppl events. I remmber watching speedball ata friends house on espn 1. when will they upgrade to the current year?

-proudly sponsored by Hammer Head barrels

i dont know, i wonder that myself. Looks cool though i might watch one or two of them

Drew

I don't think ESPN has ever hosted paintball tournaments.

Awesome cant wait to see it.

they did an Xball event last year, and hosted the NPPL's final tourney in 1994, and 1 tourney in 96 i want to say.

ESPN aired many games in the past, but most of you are too young to remember. That was in the early to mid '90's before the falling out between NPPL and ESPN.

do enlighten us with your knowledge oh great and mystical deepfreeze. Ive seen it on ESPN but not too often, and ive seen it on SPIKE before

PS I hope your not crashing too many plains. and enjoy the warm weather

take it easy

Drew

Personally I have never crashed a "plain." Then again, I prefer glazed donuts....Now if we are talking about planes.....lol

ESPN used to play the NPPL world cup in the early and mid '90's. There was a falling out between the two entities and ESPN stopped airing them. I will do a little digging around and give you more details when I get a chance. I don't recall the exact reasons for the falling out right now, and I would hate to give bad info. It may take me some time, as right now I am pretty busy with D-side school and trying doing everything I can to ensure Congress does something about the FAA's trying to force a new contract down our throats that would basically cut our pay by 40%.

sorry for the indiscretion, my brain ceases to function sometime in the evening. Thanks for the info. I didnt know any of that.


Drew