RC landed in Dallas with a lot to prove
coming off a disappointing 2nd Place finish at World Cup 2012.
Dallas provided the first tournament for the 2013 PSP season and opportunity
for RC to start the year of with a convincing win. The Dallas team consisted of CMcD, Amish,
Pigpen, Left Ear, Nenji and for the first time Jake Levy. Chrispy provided the
snake side coaching with Casey Taylor, aka MoneyShot helping us out in the
pits. 
For Left Ear and Casey it was their first
national event and they took advantage of all the vendors and sponsors in
Dallas. Left Ear was able to meet Houston Heat and get all their autographs. We
went through all of our normal pre-tournament rituals. We tested paint, watched
the pros and divisional games, cheered on Richmond Rage and DC Devastation and
got our jerseys silk screened with G.I. logos. We capped off Saturday with a
trip to Olive Garden where we met Kim, our male waiter who we turned into an RC
fan. Everyone headed back to the hotel and double checked, or in my case triple
checked, their gear and headed to bed. 
Sunday morning everyone was up and heading
to the field. Our bracket consisted of 10 teams, with 5 teams in each bracket. The top two teams from each bracket would move
on to the semi-finals. RC hit the ground running from the very first point and
quickly went 4-0 in the first half. The second half we made some little
mistakes and were 2-2, eliminating two of our opponents. We lost our third game
to Freestyle, but won our third against Protagonist to end the bracket play 3-1
overall with a 4 point margin placing us at the top of our bracket. The four
teams moving on from bracket play would be RC, Asylum TrueBallers, Protagonist
and Blitz.
In the semis, RC faced off against
Protagonist to determine who would move on to the finals against the
TrueBallers. RC carried the momentum from early in the game quickly dispatching
Protagonist 2-0 and moving into the finals. In the finals we found ourselves facing
the same team that beat us at World Cup which was exactly where we had wanted
to be since landing in Dallas: facing
the TrueBallers for first.
The buzzer sounded and we were scrambling
off to our bunkers. I really can’t remember exactly who shot who, but RC quickly
shot up the TrueBallers and hung the flag for a quick point. The second game
did not go as planned. The TrueBallers bounced back shooting some of us on the
break and after a drawn out fight hung the flag. Pigpen, as the last player to
get eliminated that game, watched the TrueBallers hang the flag and saw that
the referees called a dirty hang on the TrueBallers. After some on field
discussion the referees decided against the Trueballers and did not award them the
point. 
We moved on to the third point with a 1-0
lead. Knowing that the TrueBallers had to score and score quickly,
all of the RC team took extra paint expecting an intense battle. RC broke out
five alive and so did the TrueBallers. RC was able to get the first kill
quickly and put the TrueBallers on their heels. Shortly after RC scored another
kill out of the snake and continued with five alive. The TrueBallers,
sensing the urgency after losing two players, rallied and were able to knock
out two RC guys. Pigpen shot out and traded with the TrueBallers Captain, who
was not happy at all, which left Amish and Jake in D1 and snake corner to
finish the game. TrueBallers made quick moves up the field grabbed the flag and
were swarming around Jake in snake corner. Amish all of a sudden popped up and
blasted the last two Trueballers who didn’t seem to know that Amish was still
alive. With no TrueBaller left alive Amish and Jake began to celebrate while
time expired giving RC 1st Place in Dallas. 
Rockin’ Cocks would like to thank all of
our sponsors especially, Pev’s Paintball, KPS, G.I. Sportz, St!ffi, Exalt and
Amish’s Pickles. Thanks to the Richmond Rage for cheering us on and coaching us
on to our 1st Place victory. We will see everyone at MAO where we
look to defend our 2012 1st Place finish.
