Since Hurricane Ike forced NPPL to cancel the Houston event, some problems have occurred. From what I have been told, top of the line paint is made specifcally for national events (ie X-ball gold, ultra evil). The paint companies made truckloads of paint for the Houston event but for obvious reasons, were not able to sell their paint. So as of now, the paint companies have tons of paint and nothing to do with it. I’ve been told that the local fields and stores have not been contacted for paint sales from the paint companies, thus leaving me to believe that all the paint made for Houston was a waste of money and resources.
Also, many teams paid for NPPL Houston but since the event was a no go, refunds are in order. The only thing is that NPPL seems to be slacking with the refunds. NPPL is offering refunds to teams but apparently it’s taking a while, as in it’ll take at least a week before refunds are administered, at least that’s what my team was told. Another option that NPPL is offering is to transfer team payments to payments for NPPL San Diego. It’s not a bad idea but from what I saw, the majority of divisional teams were from Texas so I’m thinking that they wanted to play NPPL Houston because it’s relatively close to where they live and would not have to pay for a flight. If they were to transfer their money to San Diego, then teams would have to get more money for flights, request time off from work, and figure out school arrangements.
NPPL 5-man will make its debut in San Diego on November14, 2008 since Houston was canceled. The divisions open to the 5-man format are D3 and D4. In 5-man format, it is center flag rather than the opposite side, and there is a 5-minute time limit instead of 7-minutes. Teams have a choice of what day they want to play their 7 pre-lim matches, Friday or Saturday with finals on Sunday.
Entry fees:
Div3 – Friday/Sunday – $1000 before Aug. 29, 2008 $1100 after
Div3 – Saturday/Sunday – $1100 before Aug. 29, 2008 $1200 after
Div4 – Friday/Sunday – $900 before Aug. 29, 2008 $1000 after
Div4 – Saturday/Sunday – $1000 before Aug. 29, 2008 $1100 after
Division 3 qualifiers – (For players who have never played D2 or higher in the NPPL)
Division 4 qualifiers – (For players who have never played in the NPPL before)
21 teams were signed up for D4 Saturday/Sunday for NPPL Houston. There were no teams registered for the other division or other days. This may have been due to lack of teams so all the teams were combined into one division.
VIP ticket holders get the chance to meet the pros, get autographs, network, negotiate deals with companies, and watch the webcast on a tv. Also, you get free snacks and drinks served by the NPPL hotties. Not only do the pretty ladies of the NPPL VIP section bring food and drink but they will also be throwing free stuff.
Save $10 on VIP tickets when ordered online before the event.
VIP tickets are limited to 150.
I assume that if you bought tickets for Houston, you will have the option of a refund or a transfer to San Diego since that what the options are for teams and their entry money.
Most of Houston is still without power. There are still problems with the water supply. And our $352 million stadium, who’s parking lot was going to host the NPPL, is broken. Great job, architects. And FEMA (aka the fun police) is using the parking lot for whatever they’re doing or not doing.
There will be no replacement for this event. The next event is San Diego, November 14-16.
They make no mention of any sort of refunds, though of course they are going to have to issue them. Plane tickets and hotel reservations are also going to need to be sorted out.
UPDATE: Ok, so NPPL could be canceled… Houston is totally out of power.
“The transmission trouble is primarily south and east of that line, running from the Astrodome area to the Ship Channel and encompassing neighborhoods from Bellaire to Baytown” (Houston Chronicle).
For those who don’t know the Houston area, the Astrodome is right next to Reliant Stadium. So no power at Reliant = no power for the hotels near Reliant.
“it could take a couple of weeks to bring those installations back to working status… The power companies are warning resident it will be a long, painstaking restoration process to get power flowing again” (Houston Chronicle)
NPPL could relocate to Katy, a suburb of Houston, because as of now, Katy has power. The event could be held at the Merrill Center, thier parking lot seems likes it can accomodate the vendors and field set-ups. Granted a relocation would cause some problems with hotel reservations but a cancellation or postponement would cause the same problems as well.
Also, Chad’s, our graphics designer, family is in the areas of Houston where there is no power. James’ house lost some shingles off the roof. And I still hate you Hurricane Ike. FUCK YOU!! Hurricane Rita was a category 3 upon landfall and did less damage than you. You fucked shit up as a category 2 upon landfall.
As many people should know, a hurricane, Hurricane Ike, made its way to Houston last night. Some talk has been going around that this hurricane could have screwed things up for NPPL Houston. Well, from the looks of it, Ike did nothing major to prevent the event from happening, unless NPPL had plans of putting center court in Reliant Stadium because that’s not possible seeing as Ike sort of fucked up the stadium. $352 million building ruined by a weak ass hurricane. Ike broke the retractable roof of the stadium.
The storm tore chunks off the stadium’s retractable roof… The retractable roof on the $352 million venue rolls open in nine sections, five of the sections were missing and large pieces of debris had fallen into the stadium(The Associated Press).
OH NOEZ LOOK AT THE DAMAGE TO RELIANT STADIUM
Some news I just heard in the middle of writing this post: the roads to reliant have been blocked due to debris and some random trees. I assume that this debris can be cleared up within 4 days. Just send a bull dozer down the street. That should work.
Debris is the Streets of downtown Houston
Not only did Hurricane Ike fuck with Reliant but it damaged my parents house as well. FUCK YOU, IKE! You owe my parents a new fence and shed door and you knocked over my basketball goal. Also, you tore down James’ grandmother’s fence. On another note, DirectTV, I don’t like you either since your signal cuts out when it rains and gets really windy which left my parents with no tv to watch which is pretty much the only thing you can do when there is a hurricane. Comcast, I dislike you as well because your service zone ends one fucking block before my parents house. Or I assume it does since my parents got DirectTV after the buy-out. Not that I have to deal with DirectTV that much, only when I visit my parents but none the less, DirecTV sucks ass.
Ike also brought him in…watch out! They are the #1 threat to America especially since now they are willing to swim across rivers, climb a dock, jump on a boat, maul you, and refuse to get off with people fighting to pry you two apart.
