Editing 2004 PSP season

The '''2004 PSP season''' was a five-event United States paintball championship series organised by [[Paintball Sports Promotions]] (PSP). It included five-player, ten-player and divisional [[X-Ball]] competition, alongside matches in the separate [[National Xball League]] (NXL).[1][2][3][4]

[[San Diego Dynasty]] won the PSP professional X-Ball season championship, while [[Philadelphia Americans]] retained the NXL championship. The season concluded at [[2004 PSP World Cup|World Cup]] in Florida.[5]

== Calendar ==

The main championship series comprised five tournaments. PBLeagues preserves the event dates, while contemporary WARPIG reports identify the venues.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

{| class="wikitable"
! Round !! Dates !! Event !! Venue !! State
|-
| 1 || 3–7 March 2004 || [[2004 PSP Los Angeles Open|Los Angeles Open]] || Fairplex, Pomona || California
|-
| 2 || 27 April–2 May 2004 || [[2004 PSP Orlando Open|Orlando Open / Orlando Cup]] || Disney's Wide World of Sports complex, Orlando area || Florida
|-
| 3 || 23–27 June 2004 || [[2004 PSP Chicago Open|Chicago Open]] || Badlandz Paintball Field || Illinois
|-
| 4 || 25–29 August 2004 || [[2004 PSP Northeast Open|Northeast Open]] || Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, Farmington || Pennsylvania
|-
| 5 || 23–30 October 2004 || [[2004 PSP World Cup|World Cup]] || Disney's Wide World of Sports complex, Orlando area || Florida
|}

The Orlando tournament replaced Las Vegas as the second main event. Chicago returned to Badlandz after using Maywood Park in 2003.[2][3]

=== Mardi Gras Open ===

The [[2004 Mardi Gras Open]] took place from 12–15 February. PSP produced it as a standalone tournament outside the five-event championship series, although it hosted the opening NXL competition.[6][7]

Its appearance in the wider PSP event archive should therefore be distinguished from membership of the main championship series.[6][7]

== Formats and classifications ==

PSP continued to offer conventional five-player and ten-player tournaments alongside divisional X-Ball. At Los Angeles, five-player and ten-player preliminary scheduling returned to groups in which teams played the other entrants in their group, replacing the previous cross-divisional scheduling system.[1]

The first four main events offered Division 1, Division 2 and Division 3 X-Ball. Before World Cup, PSP created a separate professional X-Ball division and redistributed teams among the classifications. Teams moving from Division 1 into Professional retained their series points; other moves involved adjustments to points.[5]

Consequently, the classification in which a team competed at an early event was not necessarily its classification in the final season standings.[8]

== Event results ==

=== X-Ball ===

The table preserves the division names used at each tournament. The World Cup Professional category should not be confused with the separate NXL competition.[1][2][3][4][5]

{| class="wikitable"
! Event !! Division 1 winner !! Division 2 winner !! Division 3 winner
|-
| Los Angeles || Dynasty || PBfanatics Twisted Revolution || Crisis, as reported by WARPIG
|-
| Orlando || Dynasty || Team Ultimate || Team CDR
|-
| Chicago || Avalanche || Team Ultimate || X-Factor
|-
| Northeast || Russian Legion || Hogan's Alley Factory Team || DC Devastation
|}

WARPIG named Crisis as the Los Angeles Division 3 winner, recording an 8–6 final against East Coast Fury. The surviving APPA season standings attribute the Los Angeles first-place points to X-Factor. The records therefore differ in the name attached to that result.[1][8]

World Cup used the revised classifications.[5]

{| class="wikitable"
! World Cup division !! Winner
|-
| Professional X-Ball || Dynasty
|-
| Division 1 X-Ball || Hogan's Alley Factory Team
|-
| Division 2 X-Ball || Diesel
|-
| Division 3 X-Ball || X-Factor
|}

=== Ten-player ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Event !! Pro/Am winner !! Novice winner !! Rookie winner
|-
| Los Angeles || Diesel || Momma's Boys || Cartel Kidz
|-
| Orlando || Justice || Momma's Boys || Cartel Kidz
|-
| Chicago || Mantis Factory Team || Enemy || Cartel Kidz
|-
| Northeast || Fusion || Enemy || Cartel Kidz
|-
| World Cup || Justice || Derange || Cartel Kidz
|}

Sources: contemporary tournament reports and APPA season records.[1][2][3][4][5][8]

Cartel Kidz won all five Rookie ten-player events, receiving 250 season points.[8]

=== Five-player ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Event !! Novice winner !! Rookie winner
|-
| Los Angeles || Team Savage || Kamikaze Kids
|-
| Orlando || Hi-Tec Factory Team || Evil Empire
|-
| Chicago || NebraskaPaintball.com || Kamikaze Kids
|-
| Northeast || NebraskaPaintball.com || Team LTZ
|-
| World Cup || NebraskaPaintball.com || Northwest-Paintball.com Factory
|}

Sources: contemporary tournament reports and APPA season records.[1][2][3][4][5][8]

World Cup also offered a five-player Pro/Am competition, won by Naughty Dogs Inc.[8]

== Season championships ==

The contemporary APPA post-season table recorded the following leaders. The archived page was explicitly labelled “Season Rankings Currently Unofficial”; its original points are reproduced here rather than the different totals displayed by the present-day PBLeagues archive.[8][9]

{| class="wikitable"
! Competition !! First in contemporary season standings !! Points
|-
| Professional X-Ball || Dynasty || 478
|-
| Division 1 X-Ball || Team Ultimate || 432
|-
| Division 2 X-Ball || Team Xtreme || 241
|-
| Division 3 X-Ball || X-Factor || 430
|-
| Ten-player Pro/Am || Justice || 217
|-
| Ten-player Novice || Enemy || 224
|-
| Ten-player Rookie || Cartel Kidz || 250
|-
| Five-player Novice || NebraskaPaintball.com and Team Savage || 209 each
|-
| Five-player Rookie || Team LTZ || 223
|}

WARPIG independently confirmed Dynasty's professional title, Justice's ten-player Pro/Am title, Enemy's ten-player Novice title, Cartel Kidz's Rookie sweep, Team LTZ's five-player Rookie title and a shared first place in five-player Novice.[5]

The APPA table listed Naughty Dogs Inc. first in five-player Pro/Am with 50 points, all earned at World Cup. This was a single-event category in the main series table.[8]

== National Xball League ==

NXL regular-season matches ran alongside PSP tournaments and established the rankings used for the World Cup play-offs. They did not produce a separate NXL tournament champion at each PSP stop.[4][5]

San Diego Legacy made its NXL debut at Los Angeles, losing 17–7 to Baltimore Trauma.[1]

=== Regular-season honours ===

The Northeast Open concluded the regular season. Oakland Assassins secured the Commissioner's Cup by defeating Baltimore Trauma 8–7 and also held the Western Conference title. Baltimore won the Eastern Conference, clinching it with an 11–7 victory over Chicago Aftershock.[4]

=== Equipment rules ===

Before the Northeast Open, the NXL introduced a maximum firing rate of 15 balls per second. Markers had to fire their first three shots semi-automatically, stop when the trigger was released and return to semi-automatic operation after a one-second trigger release.[4]

=== Championship ===

Philadelphia Americans defeated Detroit Strange in consecutive World Cup championship matches, winning 9–7 and 11–3 to secure a second consecutive NXL title. The scheduled Oakland Assassins–Chicago Aftershock third-place match was cancelled.[5]

== See also ==

* [[Paintball Sports Promotions]]
* [[National Xball League]]
* [[2003 PSP season]]
* [[2005 PSP season]]
* [[2004 NPPL season]]
* [[Paintball in the United States]]

== References ==

# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/psp/2004/la/index.shtml WARPIG — “PSP LA Open 2004”, 3–7 March 2004. Contemporary report covering the venue, scheduling changes, divisional winners and NXL matches.]
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/psp/2004/orlando/index.shtml WARPIG — “PSP Orlando Open”, April–May 2004. Contemporary tournament report and winners.]
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/psp/2004/chicago/index.shtml WARPIG — Dawn Mills, “PSP Chicago Open”, June 2004. Contemporary report; photographs by JJ Ontiveros.]
# [https://www.warpig.com/paintball/tournament/psp/2004/nemacolin/index.shtml WARPIG — Dawn Mills, “PSP Northeast Open”, August 2004. Results, NXL regular-season honours and equipment-rule changes.]
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/psp/2004/cup/ WARPIG — “PSP Paintball World Cup”, October 2004. Reclassification, event results, season championships and NXL finals.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/leagues/1 PBLeagues — PSP Events archive. Dates for the 2004 tournaments.]
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/psp/2006/texas/ WARPIG — “PSP Texas Open”, February 2006. Historical account distinguishing the 2003 and 2004 Mardi Gras Opens from PSP's five-event championship series.]
# [https://web.archive.org/web/20041101033436/http://paintball-players.org/scores/L1/seasonrankings.html American Paintball Players Association — “Paintball Sports Promotions: 2004 Season Rankings”, archived 1 November 2004. Contemporary post-season table, labelled unofficial.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/league/1/seasonRankings/2004 PBLeagues — “2004 Season Rankings: PSP Events”. Present-day historical standings, including classification-movement annotations.]

[[Category:Paintball Sports Promotions]]
[[Category:Paintball tournaments in the United States]]
[[Category:Paintball tournament results]]
[[Category:2000s in American paintball]]
[[Category:2004 in paintball]]