Driving around Los Angeles at 4 in the morning looking for an In-and-Out Burger, we realized that none of us had ever been to Los Angeles, we didn’t have a map, and that the men in the car next to us were not smiling and waving. Going to a national paintball tournament is always an adventure. The combination of young people traveling more or less on their own, the ever-present need to save money and the fact that most paintball players seem to be just a little bit crazy makes for interesting times. This realization was only reinforced that night as I fell asleep in a hotel room along with 12 other people and all their equipment. One player staked out the closet, using a backpack for a pillow, while a teammate slept underneath the hide-a-bed that was occupied by two more players. At other events I have seen people sleep three to a bed, in the rental car and once, in the bathtub.

I flew to Los Angeles with Gary Reiersen, the owner of Air Assault Paintball field in Maple Plain, Minnesota. With us came the eight players of the Air Assault team, another Minnesota player that would be refereeing the event and one extra player to coach. We were joined on the plane by the members of the MN Frozen Militia, another local team and Aaron Tholey, who would be playing the event with Team Speed. The members of the Air Assault team ranged in age from 14 to 26, with the majority under 18. It fell to Reiersen and the two oldest players to maintain some semblance of control over the kids.

Air Assault Paintball was playing Division 3 5-man at the Paintball Sports Promotions Los Angeles Open, held at the Home Depot Center on Mar. 1-4. 130 teams faced off for more than $100,000 in cash. In addition to Air Assault, Minnesota was represented by the Annandale Warbirds and MN Frozen Militia in Division 4, Aaron Tholey and Kaarin Schroepfer on Team Speed and Carl Markowski on Avalanche X in the Open Division. Pat Roberts and Todd Hugo played for the Philadelphia Americans in the National Xball League.

The MN Frozen Militia team was thrown together because Mathew Meillier (aka Frenchy) had never played a national event and is about to be deployed to Iraq.

The Open division and NXL players started on Thursday, with Avalanche X losing to San Diego Aftermath and the Palm Beach Vipers and Team Speed beating Quiet Storm. The Philly Americans beat Las Vegas LTZ in the NXL. The rest of the Minnesota athletes spent the day browsing the vendors and watching the professionals play. The division 3 and 4 teams would not start playing until Saturday. Friday morning both Avalanche X and Speed lost all their games, leaving just one for Saturday. Saturday would prove interesting as Tholey and Schroepfer faced Schroepfer’s boyfriend, Markowski.

For the Los Angeles event, the PSP purchased artificial turf for all of the fields. The event was held in the parking lots so the turf was meant to cushion the playing surface, but I don’t think things went quite as planned. The turf was not thick enough, and some players were taking hard falls. As the tournament wore on, paint began to saturate the turf, making it very slippery. The normal soccer-type cleats that many players had brought were ineffective. After watching player after player end up on their ass, Gary decided a team trip to the local Sports Authority was in order. While at the store, we ran into several members of the Los Angeles Ironmen, the professional team that would later win the event. They were doing the same thing as the Air Assault players, looking for better cleats. After a lengthy debate on cleat style and type, most of the Air Assault players ended up buying golf shoes. Imagine these players, all ready to go out and kick some ass on the field, all geared up, with spotless, white and gold golf shoes on. They looked ridiculous but the team didn’t have any significant traction problems.

That evening we discovered that there are no Perkins, Applebee’s, TGI Fridays or any other similar restaurants in southern California. After almost an hour of searching, dealing with half a dozen hungry high schoolers, we found nothing and settled for Marie Callender’s, a foreign and scary place for us Minnesotans.

Saturday morning, as the rest of the Minnesota players began their preliminaries, Avalanche X smashed Team Speed 8-1. Both teams ended the prelims with one win, which was not enough for them to advance. Air Assault, the MN Frozen Militia and the Warbirds all had solid showings in the prelims, but Air Assault and MN Frozen Militia missed the cut by less than a game each. The Warbirds took the 7th seat into the quarterfinals, which would be held on Sunday with the semifinals and final rounds.

On Sunday morning all the Minnesota players were there to spectate and cheer for their friends and favorite teams. The Warbirds went 2-3 in the quarterfinals, but lost all three semifinal games, putting them in the losers bracket playing for third and fourth. They won their first finals game but lost the next two, giving them fourth place. Reiersen and the guys from Air Assault spent the day on the sideline coaching the Warbirds.

Sunday evening I loaded up along with Air Assault and the Warbirds in three vans to head for LAX and our flight back to the frozen north. As we packed up, the older players regaled the younger ones with stories of how paintball used to be. In just five or six years the game has changed immensely. Gone are the heavy mechanical triggers, replaced by triggers lighter than a mouseclick. Huge 10-man fields replaced with tiny and brutally fast Xballs. I think some of the younger guys were convinced we were making things up. I was exhausted and ready to go home, but this being a paintball trip, nothing could be so simple. An attempt by one van to give a friendly shove to the other ended in a not-so-minor dent when we were just minutes from returning the rentals, and we arrived at the airport to find our flight home delayed by an hour. Some players slept, some played poker and some amused themselves by censoring another player’s dirty magazine with paintball stickers, then placing it back in his bag to disappoint him later. Finally at 2:30 in the morning we all shuffled onto the plane to go home, barefoot in the case of one of the Frozen Militia players who had misplaced his shoes. The next thing I remember is being startled awake as we touched down in Minneapolis, home at last. Over the past four days I spent almost 40 hours on the paintball fields, and I had taken more than 5000 pictures and had been shot dozens of times by players from all over the world.

Playing a national event is the goal of many Minnesota paintball players. Few will win and fewer will place. This doesn’t stop them from going, because whether they win or not, it is still an experience that most players will never forget. The chance to see the professionals play, to wander the vendors and see the hottest new guns and gear and the chance to meet more people that love the same game that you do.

The University of Minnesota men’s baseball team looks like a solid squad again this year. The team returns 12 seniors and a potent offense that looks to help the Gophers to a Big Ten title and an NCAA bid. This year’s team has loads of talent and experience, but the season may rely upon the emergence of young pitchers.

Manager John Anderson has been impressed with the pitching thus far, but the group has some work to do.

“You can’t beat quality teams unless you pitch well,” Anderson said.

Nearly half the pitching staff is comprised of underclassmen and the staff has performed well, posting a 4.22 ERA thus far. The squad has enjoyed success in the early season based upon solid performances from the pitchers.

While some may worry about the youth of the pitching staff, the veterans have no doubts about their ability.

“I have as much confidence in [the young pitchers] as anybody on the team,” said senior pitcher Marcus McKenzie.

The Gophers have played their best against their toughest opponents this year. They have defeated three Top-25 ranked teams on their way to an 11-5 mark bolstered by strong outings from the pitching staff.

The offense looks stout with senior Mike Mee setting the pace for hitting. Performances by Matt Nohelty, the freshman All-American last year, and Derek McCallum have also shown that the Gophers have no problem producing runs. The only is question is just how many they will need to earn victories in the Big Ten this season.

Michigan and Ohio State loom large as conference play begins in late March. The Gophers will have tough challenges ahead as those two teams were predicted to finish first and second in preseason polls. Michigan beat Minnesota in the Big Ten tournament last year, and the Gophers will look to exact revenge in Ann Arbor in early April.

Minnesota has a legitimate chance of doing some damage in the Big Ten this year with its experience and developing pitching staff.

“We’ve got a chance to do a lot of great thing and have just a fun, great year for all of us, and have a good going-away year for all of the seniors,” McKenzie said.

The pride of seniors having a good final stanza will play an important role for everyone else on the team to ensure they have a proper send-off year. Their experience will carry the team far this season, but the question remains how far.

A Big Ten crown is not out of the question for the Gophers, nor is a bid to the NCAA tournament. If they continue to play as well as they have against ranked opponents once the Big Ten season kicks off, watch out. The Gophers will be rounding bases all year with strong bats in the lineup. As long as the pitching holds up throughout the season, Minnesota will make some noise in the Big Ten.

I watch ESPN or any other channels showing sports when I see too many cartoon reruns. In these moments of boredom I wear down the TV, searching for snowboarding events, boxing matches or figure skating competitions. The buttons on the TV remain slightly depressed because of my indecisiveness; I frequently switch back and forth between two different sports. If the TV were alive it would hate me.

I was a spectator who viewed all sports as nothing more than games that people play. No matter how much publicity the Super Bowl or any other sporting events received, I thought them no more important than sources of entertainment and easy ways for talented athletes to make lots of money. To me, only marketing advertisements and athletes truly seemed to benefit from sports with potential revenue as the main advantage.

I even treated ice-skating frivolously until I interviewed Kristina Lambert, the founder of the Synergy Synchronized Skating Team. I might have continued to misconceive ice skating and to stereotype athletes, but breaking my stereotypes about ice skaters made me doubt the assumptions about sports that I had before this interview.

While questioning Kristina and listening to her answers, I learned not only about synchronized figure skating but also the individuality of her team. She compared synchronized figure skating to a “dance line on ice,” which I found interesting. I cannot think of many other sports that bear so much resemblance to dancing and allow a whole team of people to work together at the same time. She further impressed me with her discussion on the technicalities of the sport and the practice that her team does to prepare for competitions, which brought me to the conclusion that ice skaters do more than jump and spin all over the ice. Somehow, I expected that ice skaters did not need to do anything else. Perhaps, the images of Sasha Cohen, Kristi Yamaguchi and Scott Hamilton executing double axles, triple axles and gliding have embedded deep into my mind from replays on TV.

Kristina told me that she and her team execute “intricate footwork and make circles.” I had never paid attention to the footwork of any ice skater until Kristina mentioned it. She also says “more footwork tends to score higher in competitions.” Her team of two local coaches and 18 full-time University students participates in two to three competitions a year.

Kristina told me that she “personally skated for 20 years and specifically engaged in synchronized ice skating for 15 years.” She founded her team because she “could not find anything else like it at the U.” She also revealed that she enjoys “performing as a part of a team in front of a crowd” rather than skating alone.

Kristina says that she views synchronized skating more as a sport than as an art, because it involves balancing and turning as well as muscle and flexibility. She says skating requires power. According to Kristina, the workout for her team involves weight lifting, running, cardiovascular exercises and extensive practice on ice. Members on her team “practice two and a half hours on ice and two hours off ice,” two days a week. Although her team has not held practices yet, she says tryouts begin in April.

They hold three-hour tryouts on ice to test individual skating skills, team maneuvers and skaters’ ability to make circles on ice. Even with the amount of work that they put into synchronized skating and exercising, her team has the technique that attracts people to join and others to watch. Perhaps I will watch them too.

A tumultuous season of Gopher basketball finally concluded, leaving much more to be desired for next year. Coach Dan Monson resigned seven games into the season and left Jim Molinari to pick up the pieces of a struggling ball club. The team dealt with injuries, a transfer and mounting frustration. This group faced tall challenges all season and did the best they could with the talent they possessed. Jamal Abu-Shamala summed the season up as disappointing but added that it might help build character for next year. The most positive thing this team will take with it from this season is the experience it gained and the fact that everyone is returning next year.

Dan Coleman, Spencer Tollackson, Lawrence McKenzie and Abu-Shamala will all be in Gopher uniforms again next fall. Coleman played solid ball all season and Tollackson appeared dominant inside at times against opponents. But the biggest surprise was the play of Abu-Shamala, who finally showcased some of his scoring ability in games against Northwestern and Michigan. If he can continue that type of shooting on a consistent basis next year, this team will be pretty tough.

McKenzie was supposed to be the next Vincent Grier, a junior college transfer with the ability to score. He played well for the Gophers at times, but his inconsistency (0-10 against Michigan at home) opens a field of questions for next year. Much of the future success for the squad begins with McKenzie.

Molinari deserves a lot of credit for keeping the team’s spirit up while the losses were adding up. He’s a veteran coach who tried different tactics to keep his team competitive. An early strategy was maximizing each Minnesota possession to keep scoring low on the other end of the court. Although it achieved little success it went a long way in showing the character of Molinari. Molinari has said his message has always been to improve everyone on the court and off the court. He also said that he hasn’t had any conversations with Athletic Director Joel Maturi about coming back to coach next season and he hasn’t considered the job. If Minnesota doesn’t land a big name coach for next season, Coach Mo will be a fine candidate with his passion for the game and respect for the players.

The Gophers do need to improve to keep fans coming to the games. It’s not that attendance has waned, but patience certainly has been taxed in recent years. The state hasn’t officially seen a talented team since we’ve had to start saying officially when referring to the Clem Haskins era.

One area the team must work on is defense. Minnesota gave up way too many points in order to be successful in the Big Ten. With the Big Ten, often one player can beat you (i.e. Adam Haluska) and the team has to help play defense. The guards must defend on the perimeter and the big men come in and block shots.

Another area the team struggled with all season was turnovers. The Gophers averaged nearly 15 turnovers a game. This simply will not cut it if they wish to play competitively. Minnesota gave away far too many easy buckets for opponents off of turnovers. Their ball handling skills must improve next season and this starts with guard play.

The transfer of Limar Wilson will affect the team because he gave the Gophers another option at point guard. Kevin Payton and Lawrence Westbrook will compete to see more action next season. They need to elevate their play to the next level in order for their minutes to increase.

This team has a terrific opportunity to get together as a unit because they all went through the growing pains of this season. The most important thing for the squad will be playing as a team. Fans got a taste of this mentality on occasion when someone was having a rough night and someone picked up the slack to keep the Gophers in the game. The future is not as bleak as many make it out to be and under the tutelage of Coach Molinari, Minnesota has a strong opportunity to become a decent, scrappy team in the Big Ten. By playing better defensively and limiting turnovers, the Gophers may turn some heads with some upset wins next year.

Minnesota’s indoor lacrosse team, the Swarm, have looked for quality opportunities for the public to take notice of their achievements throughout their infancy. The team made the playoffs last year at 8-8 and lost their playoff game to the Buffalo Bandits by one goal. The games between the Bandits and Swarm have started to become a rivalry since the playoff loss the Swarm suffered last year.

On March 4, the Swarm played the Bandits at home, looking to exact some revenge. What transpired on the field, though, seemed a replay of the playoff game with the Swarm losing by one goal again. The Swarm dug themselves an early hole and faced a 6-3 deficit after the first period. They fought valiantly to get back in the game, outscoring the Bandits in the third period, but failed to find the equalizer in the fourth. Observers have noted the Swarm start slow in the first five minutes of periods and this game proved no different. Buffalo scored 6 of their 16 goals in the first five minutes of periods.

7,504 fans swarmed to the Xcel to get a taste of the lacrosse action and see what the sport had to offer. Fans were treated to a great game and atmosphere. A fight erupted early in the second period with the team trailing 4-8, energizing the crowd to get behind the team as they fought off the Buffalo assault. Minutes later Dan Teat scored for the Bandits and a cowbell over the PA system noted the goal. Then towards the end of the second period Brett Bucktooth sent a shot to the back of the net and the chorus of “Dueling Banjoes” poured over the sound system.

Before the game, General Manager Marty O’Neill spoke about the team not capitalizing on opportunities to gain more exposure.

“Last March we had a chance to take first place against Buffalo. The Wild weren’t going to make the playoffs and the Gophers had just lost in the NCAAs. The community needed something positive and we missed an opportunity. It’s like the tenth chance of making a first impression and there aren’t many chances left,” O’Neill said.

The Swarm is an up and coming team looking to insert itself among the premier teams in the league. Coming into the Buffalo tilt they were second in the league at 5-3. With the win the Bandits overtook second place with a record of 6-4.

Minnesota plays in the toughest division of the league. Most of the teams are east coast teams with an established lacrosse scene. Since 1998 only two Western division teams have won the championship, O’Neill said.

They have the youngest team in the league with an average age of around 25. Many of the players remain from the inaugural season and the experience has served as an important step in building team chemistry.

“The first two years the core of the team lived here in Minnesota,” said forward and rising star, Sean Pollock.

Playing in Minnesota has been a problem for the team as they miss out on regular practice, because most of the team flies in for the games on the weekend. O’Neill said that players on other teams all live in their market and are able to practice on a regular basis. Although they lack the ability to practice often, O’Neill says fitness hasn’t been a problem because the players have been working out on their own.

O’Neill has orchestrated magnificent roster moves since taking the helm in 2005. The Swarm did very well in the expansion draft and cut their chops in the first season. In the next year he made some trades for veteran players like forward Ryan Ward, an all-star player. Then this year O’Neill traded a little-used player for Portland leading scorer, Mike Hominuck. He also gave up draft picks to trade for defenseman Ryan Sharp, who O’Neill says is a superstar in the league.

Through O’Neill’s prowess and the solid base of young talent, the Swarm positioned themselves to make some noise this year and build upon their success last year. O’Neill credits the maturation of players. The players are no longer content with just being in the league they want to play hard and compete.

Minnesota looks like they’re ready to take the next step and make a deep run in the playoffs.

“We have to fight and claw to establish ourselves. Instead of being next in line, we have to prove our metal,” O’Neill said.

From the first kick to the final whistle” are words of wisdom every soccer coach has bestowed upon his players. It’s also the first line of text in the movie Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, and an indication of things to come. Directed by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno, this movie cites only one actor in its cast: Zinedine Zidane. He’s a man among boys on the pitch and a god among mortals in France. Though he’s Algerian by descent, the French love him enough that they would likely elect him president if he so desired. He led his nation to a World Cup Championship in 1998, with two goals in the final against Brazil. He’s been crowned the FIFA World Player of the Year three times, first in 1998, again in 2000 and finally in 2003. He received the Golden Ball, awarded to the outstanding player of the World Cup, in 2006 for his heroic play, leading his underdog French team to the finals. It is a sad and embarrassing fact that many will know him only as “that guy who head-butted the Italian.”

The French reaction to the incident was the polar opposite, in no way a defamation of Zidane. “The violence would not have surprised anyone who knows Zizou (his nickname in France); he acted like a human being, not a star,” stated a French journalist who holds a close relationship with Zidane. “For France, Zizou is a child of the Republic, a product of colonialism and a legacy of Napoleon. We French see his reaction as a magnificent message.”

The “portrait” of Zidane is a real-time account of a Spanish Premiere League game played on April 23, 2005. Seventeen different cameras were on him throughout the match. It took years for the directors to gain his approval and many trips to Madrid to negotiate and connect. When he finally relented, it was to the delight of soccer and cinema fans worldwide. The action in the film switches from an at-home television view, Spanish announcers included, to some of the most intimate sports shots ever to grace a screen. Zidane’s every thought, glance and emotion is captured over the 90 minutes, with the music of Mogwai aiding in the progressive cinematic beauty. Their expansive bass, drums and guitar melodies play throughout the film, often fitting the mood of the moment perfectly.

Aside from the cameras, 80,000 rabid fans filled Real Madrid’s awe-inspiring Bernabeu stadium to watch this ordinary match against Vinnareal. Real Madrid are like the Yankees of Spanish soccer. Much like Chelsea of the English Premier League, they’ve got the deepest pockets around and won’t hesitate to prove it. They can afford the best players our world has to offer, though as of recent it seems they’ve been opting for the most famous. Zidane received 66 million Euros as his transfer fee in 2002, a world record intact to this day. After watching this film, you’ll realize he’s worth every cent.

He was never the fastest player, nor the most physically imposing. He stands 6’1”, and claims a body lacking in muscular definition. Yet somehow he’s dominated game after game for over a decade. He’s leader of all leaders, yet scarcely offers more than a word, usually indicating his position to a teammate. He lets his play do the talking: every touch on the ball perfection, every through ball or cross surgical. The film correlates his genius on the field to that of a painter on his canvas. Towards the middle of the second half, down 1 – 0 at the time, Zidane broke through. Gaining procession, he takes his man down the left side to the corner of the 18. He shows middle, steps over with his left foot, than explodes to the end line. His defender watches helplessly from his seat on the grass as Zidane crosses the ball just inches off the goal line, just out of the reach of the keeper, and finds an airborne Ronaldo at the back post. In typical Zidane fashion, he offers not even a smile. Merely a fist pump and hugs for his teammates. After his team goes up 2-1, he shares an uncharacteristic on-field laugh with Brazilian legend, Roberto Carlos. It was the only part of the film Zidane did not appreciate. This is despite the fact that he is seen throwing an off-ball elbow, and later on, in the final minutes of the game, is sent off with a red card for involving himself in a post-foul scuffle. His teammates David Beckham and Figo are shown attempting to calm him down, but he casts their arms aside. Zidane has been, and forever will remain, a true original and one of the greatest futbolers of all time.

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait is part of the Expanding the Frame series at the Walker Art Center. Several more films in this series remain. For more information go to walkerarts.org or call 612.375.7600.

From a front corner of the balcony, I watched three men in black tube-top dresses and red stilettos walk across the stage. The women on stage were dressed in the same attire, but naturally, the men in women’s clothing caught my eye.

A dancer since the age of 5, I have learned that modern dance choreographers always have a feeling to express, a narrative to tell or a point to make when creating a dance piece. Unfortunately, the purpose isn’t always easily understood by the audience. After 15 minutes of the University Dance Theater’s (UDT) Dance Revolutions (post guys-in-heels), I thought that it was going to be one of those shows where I continuously say, “I don’t get it,” which ultimately makes it less enjoyable. To be honest, I really had no idea what the hell it all meant.

But it was enjoyable and I came to the conclusion that the dancers themselves are what made the show so fascinating. You could tell with every step, every movement of the arm that every muscle in each of their bodies was working. Energy was running through every inch of them and releasing through their eyes, coming out their fingertips. Every movement came from within, from their core. The whole body was involved. As dancers tend to do, they made everything look effortless—like it was something anyone could do … when in reality, that is most definitely not the case.

Now in its 20th year, UDT presents Dance Revolutions annually, featuring dance majors at the University. Dance artists from around the globe are brought in to choreograph and teach modern dance pieces to perform in the show. Jeremy Bensussan, a junior student majoring in dance, was one of the 20 plus dancers who performed in Dance Revolutions, which was held at the Rarig Center over the first weekend in February.

Bensussan agrees that the pieces in the show may be difficult for an audience to comprehend on their own and some people might not have understood the purpose behind the different pieces. “You have to stand back and think, ‘What should I be getting out of this,’” he says. “It takes work and willingness to interpret something like this.”

The dress-and-stilettos piece, titled Faith, was done by Pat Graney, a Seattle-based choreographer. Bensussan, one of the three men who danced in the piece, was able to clarify the meaning of Faith, or what he acquired from working with Graney. Bensussan explains that the piece is a statement on sexuality. In our society, there is so much emphasis on looking sexy and being attractive to other people, he says. He adds, “There are women who do this everyday. They don’t eat anything, but God knows what’s in their hair and tan themselves until they get cancer. All for what?”

So what about the guys? “As a society, we cannot separate the high heels and black dresses from sexuality,” Bensussan says. He goes on to say that when a girl wears that kind of clothing, it is sexual but it’s more expected of them. However, a man wearing such an outfit is a sexual statement.

Happy, a piece choreographed by resident artist Uri Sands was my personal favorite. The individuals danced for nearly eight minutes on stage, with no sign of dwindling energy. Their smiles never left their faces. Bensussan calls it the “most embracing” of the pieces. Based upon the audience’s enormous applause and cries, I would say it was well received.

Khonj, or Search, was the third piece performed and required the dancers to learn classical Indian dance technique. This involved learning all new vocabulary and different positions of the body, which proved to be difficult, Bensussan says. “The technique asked us to show power in sensuality,” he adds.

The last piece performed at Dance Revolutions is titled Rooms, originally choreographed by Anna Sokolow, an extremely well known choreographer in the modern dance world. Lorry May, the artist who came to UDT this year to teach Rooms, carries on Sokolow’s work and keeps her career alive. Bensussan danced in Alone and Desire, pieces within Rooms.

Working with May was about the emotion first and foremost, and then the actual movement, Bensussan says. He adds that this concept forced them to learn a whole different way of moving, which was difficult and frustrating at times. “We would say, ‘we have been training all our damn lives and we are having trouble walking?’”

Profoundly affected by May, Bensussan calls her a “remarkable woman” and says she taught him about what being a dancer means. He says he now has a better understanding of himself as an artist. “The act of dancing makes you more human than any other activity,” he says. “We are doing silly shit like jumping in the air or spinning on the ground but in that process it’s yourself and yourself.”

Combining amazing choreographers and exceptional dancers, UDT produced a wonderful presentation of this year’s Dance Revolutions. Although some audience members may have struggled grasping the meaning of it all, the performance was fantastic.

“We rehearsed 18 hours every week. That is what it took for us to put on this show,” Bensussan says. “But we were devoted. We did it.”

Herpes is spreading quickly across the state, and it seems possible that cage fighting will do the same very soon and be just as nasty.

Thursday night at the Myth Nightclub, Elite Fighting X-treme celebrated its one-year anniversary the only way they know how: they hosted a jaw-dropping, tongue wagging, drooling spectacle of mixed martial art fighting along with strippers and ring girls dancing between matches.

The crowd, sufficiently amped and drunk, enthusiastically cheered for every takedown, haymaker and arm-bar inside the octagon. The action was quick inside the cage with all but three fights lasting past the first round. The arena was peppered with yells of “KICK HIS ASS!!!” and incredulous reactions to the violence.

Twelve matches took place that night with many memorable moments of stark reality and brutality. In one of the early matches, Rich Taylor squared up against Zeb Hansen. This match was over as soon as they rang the bell. Taylor rushed Hansen, unloading fists of fury upon his skull until Hansen fell. Hansen wrapped his legs around Taylor while on the ground. Taylor then picked Hansen up and dropped him on his neck. It looked as though his spine was sure to snap. After that Taylor continued to pummel Hansen’s face until the referee stopped the match.

One Thursday a month, EFX overtakes Myth and provides fans an up close view of an emerging sport that may replace boxing in popularity. EFX draws over 1,000 people on a Thursday night.

“We came up with a whole new concept as far as doing it on a Thursday night rather than a Friday or Saturday night, which is pretty typical. We tried to make something so that it was continuous throughout the year. We do the show once a month, ten months out of the year. We’re trying to make Thursday night the ‘it’ night,” said Nick Gamst, co-founder of EFX.

Gamst worked as a promoter across the Midwest before beginning the EFX endeavor with co-founder Carey Thul, who also worked as a promoter for nightclubs. Gamst said he is trying to take the local mixed martial arts fighting scene to a different level by making the events more of a show for everyone to enjoy.

“We try to make it more of a show than just a fight with a lot of give-aways and dancers who perform on the stage,” Thul said.

Through their connections, Gamst and Thul proved to be the perfect combination to increase the popularity of cage fighting in Minneapolis. Gamst knew plenty of free-style fighters from his promoting days and Thul knew a healthy amount of wrestlers across the metro area from his days in the ring and as a wrestling coach. That combination brought in two modes of fighting that appear complementary inside the octagon because while there may be the guy throwing haymakers to KO an opponent, the wrestler employs wrestling moves like shooting his opponents legs to get him to the ground and then KO him.

Gamst and Thul have used every play in their books to establish a good crowd for each event from giving away tickets to helping develop local, recognizable talent. They have attracted advertisers by giving away tickets to shows and other bonuses.

“We’re advertising for these people for pennies and then giving them tickets to the show so they get jacked about it and want to do business with us in the future,” Gamst said.

Perhaps the strongest method of attracting people stems from having local fighters appear on a regular basis. The local fighters bring in their friends and introduce them to the sport while telling others. Among the local talent is former wrestling standout Marcus LeVessuer, the four-time Minnesota state wrestling champion.

The local influence was evident throughout the night, especially when fighters from the Rice Street Gym entered the caged octagon. Some in the crowd began chanting “Rice Street” to encourage fighters like Frank “The Tank” Johnson.

Johnson attempted to defend his EFX Lightweight Amateur title against Richard Silva from Northfield. Silva handed Johnson his first defeat and took his title in one of the better fights of the night.

Johnson had the height advantage and looked larger than Silva, but Silva, with his wrestling background, shot at Johnson’s legs immediately and took him down. Johnson tried to escape from Silva but ended up getting stuck in an arm-bar and subdued. The fight looked like a chess game, each fighter able to counter the other’s moves.

Understanding the mind of a fighter resembles studying the mind of a drug addict, because they search for an indescribable rush that no other activity really provides.

“I’m pretty calm until they say fight and then I get a shot of adrenaline. Then it goes away real quick. My heart makes two pumps ‘bump, bump’ that I can hear and it seems like the loudest thing in the world. Then by the time I get to my opponent it’s all gone. It’s a weird kind of rush I’ve never really experienced before,” said Brock Larson, a UFC fighter and EFX referee.

Chris Barrera, the EFX Lightweight champion prepares himself for a match by thinking about his children.

“I think about my kids running around with the belt and if I lose they won’t be able to do that anymore. That and the embarrassment of losing are my motivation inside the ring,” Barrera said.

Larson, a Minnesota native, began his career in a jiu-jitsu dojo competing in those tournaments. He won many of the tournaments and talked to others about the next step, which was fighting, he said. He started working with Sean Sherk, another Minnesotan and Lightweight UFC champion and eventually was noticed in some smaller events like EFX, he said. He’s had success in the UFC, compiling a 13-1 record along the way.

“If I win my next match I would have grossed $20,000 in a six month period. The pay is starting to get up there,” Larson said.

One component to the sport is the competition between the different schools and gyms that train the fighters. “There’s animosity and respect for the other schools. A few months ago we fought Team Bison and won two belts,” Barrera said.

Although the teams fight each other, he was quick to add that the schools help each other out in any way they can. A member of Team Bison rubbed down one of Barrera’s teammates before a match that same event, he said.

“There’s about five or six schools for full contact fighting,” Barrera said.

It’s difficult to say a sport with so much carnage resembles a sport, but fights like Johnson versus Silva remind people that although fighting typically proves fruitless, it’s quite impressive to watch two intelligent fighters, like Ali and Frazier. If this sport is going to grow, this is how it will do so. It rivals boxing now because boxing hasn’t had accessible champions since Ali, Foreman and Leonard. With our culture’s acceptance of more violence, mixed martial arts fighting does look like a viable vehicle in sports. Many people enjoy watching fights whether in a cage or on the street, and EFX unabashedly allows these people, along with the people who enjoy strategy fighting, to revel the event.

Every weekend all over the country, if you know where to look, you can find a motley assortment of warriors preparing for battle in brightly colored arenas. As the seconds count down, plans are made, equipment is checked and cleats are dug into the turf. When the horn blows, it’s high noon at the OK Corral. It’s Pearl Harbor, Rorke’s Drift, the Battle of the Bulge. In less than a minute, several thousand projectiles fill the air.

Paintball, with over 9.8 million players around the globe, is the third largest extreme sport in the world behind in-line skating and skateboarding. Paintball players are stereotyped as camouflaged militia-wannabes, and while that is true for some, there is a completely different side to the game. Thousands of people participate in competitive paintball, played on small, spectator-friendly fields often shown on ESPN.

The National Professional Paintball League (NPPL) and Paintball Sports Promotions (PSP) run five national events every year. The 2006 PSP World Cup at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida brought more than 350 teams to determine who is the best in the world.

Local paintball is thriving as well. Major Minnesota tournaments include the Polar Bear Circuit, the Annandale Youth Series and the Splat Tag Rookie Cup. Players can start in Young Guns or Rookie events and move up the ranks to Novice and Amateur. Playing in a local event can cost anywhere from $100-$300 per player with some tournaments offering cash or equipment prizes. The equipment can range in cost from $100 to several thousand dollars and can be accessorized with several hundred dollars-worth of customizable parts. Most of the markers used are fired by electronics, making the trigger pull lighter than a mouse-click. This allows players to fire a constant 15 balls per second—faster than many machineguns.

A few Minnesota teams and players have made a name for themselves on the national level, playing for professional teams or helping local teams reach national tournaments. In 2004 Team Splatball, from Splatball Inc. in Minneapolis, and Zumbro Factory, from southern Minnesota, tied for fourth place in the PSP’s Novice season rankings. At the 2006 NPPL Boston event, Air Assault Factory took first place in the Division III category. Air Assault Paintball is an indoor field located about 20 minutes from the Twin Cities. Since the Boston event, Air Assault teams have performed well in several other national events. Minnesota athletes have also played on professional teams like the Philadelphia Americans, Chicago Aftershock, Las Vegas LTZ and more.

Recreational paintball is also popular in the Midwest. Events like the Splat Tag Giant Big Game in Hudson, Wisconsin draw as many as 800 players who duke it out in massive battles. These battles often involve radio communications, tanks, military tactics and many-acre playing fields. Organized teams, like the Wild Bunch and MN Militia, spearhead maneuvers and take the role of Special Forces, seizing and holding important objectives.

If you are interested in paintball, whether tournament or recreational, the best place to learn more is the Minnesota Paintball Internet Guide (www.mnpig.com). MNPIG has a comprehensive listing of paintball fields, stores, tournaments and other events, and there is a message board where local players can get answers to almost any paintball-related query. It is also a good idea to stop by a local field and talk to players and employees. Air Assault Paintball () and Northside Sports () are two good places to start.

So the football analysts and pundits finally got what they needed in order to crown Peyton Manning the greatest quarterback of all-time. Yes, he still must win the Super Bowl, but as soon as he does the talk will begin.

Manning finally decided to step up and play the game rather than whining about non-calls against his wide receivers. He led his team to victory like the quarterback we came to know during the regular season. The feat he accomplished should not go unheralded, because his team looked flat in the first half. Whatever somebody said in that locker room certainly made the Colts get their shit together quickly, because they came out like the team that ought to have shown up in all the previous playoff meetings against the Patriots.

The Bears, on the other hand, looked like the Bears. During the NFC Championship game, their offense did just enough to win while their defense dominated as usual. Yes, they put up a lot of points, but they came well after the game was decided and against a Saints defense that had been on the field way too long because their offensive line couldn’t give Drew Brees any time.

The four turnovers by the Saints did not help their cause, but their defense held strong against the Bears, holding them to field goals early. It could have been a great game until the Saints gave up the safety.

The Bears remain an enigma because they find a way to win when it matters, so this Super Bowl will be an interesting match-up.

We all know the strengths of each team coming into the game, but it will be fascinating to see how the weaknesses of each team play out. The Colts defense did not look as good as they did in the previous rounds, but they limited the run game of the Patriots. That is a huge advantage for the Colts coming into the grand finale. Rex Grossman looked decent against the Saints because he didn’t make any big mistakes, but with Grossman you never know which Rex will show up.

This Super Bowl will look ugly in the early going unless the Colts can rush the ball. The Saints were unable to do so against Chicago and got stuck passing. The offensive line of the Colts did little to quell the Patriots pass rush, so the run game will need to be established early for the Colts to be effective.

The plan for the Bears should remain as it was against the Saints, not only because it worked, but also because the game is out of Grossman’s hands. The Bears must have their running game working like it was against the Saints in order for the Bears to have a snowball’s chance. Their offensive line must dominate and take advantage of the tendency of the Colts’ defensive line to over pursue.

Look for the excitement to begin during Prince’s halftime show, especially if he decides to go raunchy. Let’s all hope he does for the sake of entertainment. The second half should produce some good moments if Manning exploits the Bears’ secondary, but we’ll be stuck watching field position for much of the game.

On paper this looks like a push with a great offense against a great defense, but let’s not forget this is Peyton’s game. Football often looks like some cheesy Hollywood movie with all of the drama surrounding the hype and some player finally receiving the ring he so richly deserves (e.g. John Elway, Steve Young, etc…) so don’t be surprised if Manning pulls this one out of his ass like the AFC title game. This way we don’t have to listen to Berman, TJ, Ditka, Jaws (I’m purposely excluding Irvin because I’ve never heard anything resembling an intelligent thought come out of his mouth) and all the other windbags go on about how Manning is a choke artist. Final score: Colts 27, Bears 13