• Paintball Jobs: Get your resumes ready! JTUSA is looking for product engineers to join their loader and goggle development teams. Dig up your resume and head over to the JTUSA careers website.

• Food for thought: Jeff Stein of the New England Hurricanes wrote an thought provoking article on team owners and the value of franchises.

• Paintball Rumor of the week: Richmond Italia of G.I. Milsim bought into Smart Parts. The story has been updated with a semi-official statement from pr-man Sean Scott of Smart Parts.

• Paintball News story of the week comes directly from Art Mendoza of Miami Rage on the status of the team. Check out the exclusive statement from the Miami Rage team owner and find out what pro team will be filling in for Miami Rage at the USPL’s West Coast Open.

• Paintball Photography: Matt Dawson and Brandon Mason posted up our final photo highlights from the PSP Chicago Open. These are photos you won’t want to miss!

• Featured Video of the week: Roamin’ Germany. The Roamin’ crew has released the latest webisode in their pro paintball documentary. In Roamn’ Germany, pro player Justin Cornell is joined by several players from the Copenhagen Ducks and Edmonton Impact. Watch as the crew ‘ball it up in Germany and party their lights out in Amsterdam. Good times!

We have some great stories planned for this week. Check back for the latest news and results from the WCPPL event, a follow up on the USPL Pro teams practices for the West Coast Open, a new photo of the day and much much more. Stay posted as ProPaintball.com brings you the latest in paintball news.

Rage will not be attending the next USPL event due to the fact that are players are finding other things in life to do. I no longer have enough time to run the team and Chino who is a chief fire fighter, field owner and proud parent does not have the time either. We are not selling our spot. We are going to see if anybody wants use it for the rest of the season free of charge. Rage by no means has financial problems if we did we would try selling the team. We just don”t have the resources (player wise) to compete. We are completely behind the USPL and continue to support it and will not sell are spot under any circumstances. We would like to thank all of our sponsors and apologize to them. The USPL and 7 man is what paintball has always meant to Chino and I and we will be die hard advocates for it as long as we are associated with paintball. Most importantly we would like to thank our fans because they are what its all about.

Thanks!
Art Mendoza
Miami Rage

Stay posted as we continue to bring you the latest paintball news and paintball rumors.

However, it does not sound like Art will be away from the sport for too long. Before the end of our conversation, Art mentioned:

“I will have a team at Cup like I always do and will continue to have a team at cup as long as I am alive.”

We look forward to Art’s quick return and wish the best of luck to both Mr. Mendoza and Miami Rage!

As of writing, both Miami Rage and Art Mendoza were unavailable for comment. We will be sure to share any and all updates as they develop. Stay posted.

Players:

Danny Alvarez

Justin Bogeajis

Connor Coine

Robby Coxe

Travis Day

Orestes Guada

Travis Madrid

Adrian Mederos

Justin Werner

Missing: Art Mendoza

Miami Rage will be combining their prize fighter Division 2 squad (which won the last NPPL series, ever.) with elements from their Pro team. Aside from participating in the USPA/NPL/T4 League, Rage will be stepping it up and taking the battle across the pond in 2009 to compete in the Millenium Series.

NPPL San Diego @ Qualcomm Stadium

Earlier this week the schedules were released and much to everyone’s discrepancy, the Semi Pro teams will be playing their preliminary games on Friday. Spyder Cup is hosting their grand finale event Saturday and Sunday. They will be utilizing the Spyder field for the preliminary games and the NPPL field on Sunday for the two teams competing for the grand prize, Mazda 3′s.

The day before the final event of the season, we were able to see the booths and tents being set up for the trade show that takes place during the days of play. Much to our surprise Hybrid is rumored to be making a return for 2009 and has a trailer here at the San Diego event!

Over the past weeks plenty of discussion has been filtering through View From the Deadbox & PBreserve regarding the relegation zone. The final decisions for next season  will be made in the coming weekend. Keep that in mind and turn your attention to not one, or two, but multiple PRO teams seeking two spots for next season.

Miami Rage setting up for big moves in 2009

Art Mendoza is said to be in the works of securing two PRO spots for 2009. With his dominating Division 2 team that has extensive financial backing, it seems feasible. The current Miami Rage Pro spot is in 16 of 18 overall, and only 4 points under Tampa Bay Damage. Seeing that they are currently in the relegation zone, the team will have to have a solid turnout at this event to keep from being bumped. Jason ‘FK’ Edwards is playing with the Rage pro squad, look for him to do some damage in hopes keeping this team alive.

San Diego Aftermath are currently in 6th place overall and will have no problem keeping a tight hold on their spot for 2009. Among others, they are trying to get a hold of a 2nd spot for 2009. This will allow Mike Hinman to swap players around with ease. Aftermath now has a team in every division besides Semi-Pro, look for them as a new farm in 2009.

Speaking of farms, Ron Kilbourne and his Bushwackers are also seeking a second pro spot for 2009. This might be quite the feat for their semi-pro team currently sitting in 9th place overall. Also note that two of the top players from his Pro team, Corey and Jason Bornstein, have recently left to play for Blast in Commanders Cup, and the 2009 season.

The Dynasty camp is in the position to seek a 2nd pro spot for 2009 assuming Entourage pulls their weight at this event. They currently sit in 4th place overall, but look for them as a threat with the return of Mikey “MROD” Rodriguez and the pick up of Ronnie Fillipone.